Man pleads guilty to murder in Hawaii after killing lover and encasing his body in tub

Baron pleaded guilty to murder on Monday, March 18, 2024. Photo / AP

A man pleaded guilty to murder on Monday, about two years after his lover’s decomposing body was found encased in concrete in a bathtub in one of Hawaii’s most exclusive gated communities.

Juan Tejedor Baron, now 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Gary Ruby, 73. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors won’t seek a sentence of life without possibility for parole. Prosecutors will recommend a minimum term of 20 years to the Hawaii Paroling Authority, according to the plea agreement.

According to court documents in 2022, Baron killed Ruby, poured cement over his body and planned to fraudulently take ownership of his car and home in Honolulu’s Hawaii Loa Ridge neighborhood. Property records showed Ruby purchased the house in 2020 for nearly $2.2 million.

According to a Honolulu police affidavit, Baron told a Los Angeles police detective he became angry with Ruby after sex.

“Baron stated that soon after, he noticed Gary choked on food, and Baron reacted by placing a belt around Gary’s neck and tightening the belt until Gary lost consciousness,” the affidavit said.

He allegedly dragged Ruby to a bathtub and used a kitchen knife to stage a suicide, then filled the tub with concrete he found in the garage, the affidavit said, but that only partially covered the body.

So Baron drove to a home improvement store and purchased four additional bags of concrete to fill the tub, the affidavit said, and “he used coffee grounds to cover the cement in an effort to conceal the smell of decomposition.” The court documents don’t specify when the murder allegedly took place.

Ruby’s decomposing body was excavated by authorities in March 2022 from a standalone soaking tub, after his brother told police he hadn’t heard from Ruby in weeks. Ruby’s last email to his brother mentioned he had “met a new love interest named Juan” who was significantly younger, police said.

US Marshals and Los Angeles police arrested Baron after finding him in a crawl space at the back of a Mexico-bound bus in Anaheim, California.

Baron had long wanted to take responsibility, but Baron’s lawyers had discovered evidence of possible prosecutorial misconduct in the case, said defense attorney Kyle Dowd.

The plea agreement says Baron’s attorneys will withdraw a motion alleging that a former prosecutor on the case showed photographic evidence during presentations to community members, which could have tainted the jury pool.

Baron is considered to have overstayed a visa, according to the plea document. If he’s granted parole, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will take custody of Baron and start removal proceedings. Baron is from Colombia, Dowd said.