SCRANTON, Pa. — The disappearance and murder of Robert Baron has been one of the most high-profile cold cases in our area.
It all began in January of 2017, went cold for years, and then got hot again about a year ago when Baron's remains were found, and an arrest was finally made.
The Baron family did not want to speak to our cameras after Justin Schuback was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of their dad Robert Baron.
But the family did talk to us nearly every year that Baron remained missing, hoping to draw attention to the cold case.
Five months after Baron's disappearance, in the summer of 2017, Robert's son Bobby and wife Maria took us inside the scene of the crime, Ghigiarelli's Pizza in Old Forge. They had plans to reopen the restaurant and a renewed effort to find Robert.
"He was our whole world," Bobby Baron said. "He did the same for all of us, would have said the same for all of us. We're not going to give up on him either."
"Never," Maria Baron said. "It's never going to die."
"Make sure these people go down," Bobby added.
Ghigiarelli's never reopened, and the signs advertising a reward for information have become weathered over the years.
Investigators say they never stopped trying to solve the case. But there was no movement until 2023. Developments in cell phone technology allowed the FBI to track suspect Justin Schuback on the night Baron vanished. That led police to Baron's remains near Pagnotti Park in Old Forge and gave them enough evidence to finally arrest a man who had been tied to the case from the very beginning.
Justin Schuback's defense focused on the possibility that someone other than Schuback was involved. Prosecutors maintain that Schuback acted alone and told us on Wednesday that the Robert Baron case, more than seven years later, is closed.