SCRANTON, Pa. — The Lackawanna County district attorney's office on Wednesday celebrated the "team effort" behind the six-year-long investigation of Old Forge business owner Robert Baron's murder.
Two weeks after convicted killer Justin Schuback learned he will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing the 58-year-old restaurateur, District Attorney Mark Powell called attention during a news conference to the work of "hundreds" of people whose efforts he said solved the case.
"Their relentless pursuit of justice for the Baron family solved this case and led to the successful prosecution of Robert Baron's killer," Powell said.
A jury convicted Schuback, 38, on May 15 of first-degree murder, robbery and burglary after an eight-day trial. Prosecutors alleged Schuback — broke and in need of drugs — killed Baron at the end of January, 2017, during an after hours break-in Baron's restaurant, Ghigiarelli's.
After the murder, Schuback moved Baron's body and tried to clean-up the crime scene. Baron's skeletal remains finally turned up in 2023 in Pagnotti Park in Old Forge, where cell phone location data showed Schuback's device had been.
On Wednesday, Powell gave special recognition to Lackawanna County Detectives Lisa Bauer and Sheryl Turner, FBI Special Agent Michael Sabric, Pennsylvania State Police Cpl. Greg Allen, Deputy District Attorney Sara Varela and the New York State Police K-9 Unit.
After the news conference, Baron's daughter, Brittany Baron, expressed her thanks for the law enforcement team.
"We would like to sincerely thank everyone who helped us get to this point and bring our father, husband, brother...beloved Robert Baron, home," she said. "And putting that thing away for life."
