SCRANTON, Pa. — A waste of life. Scum. A thing.
Those barbs were hurled Wednesday at convicted killer Justin Schuback by the family of Old Forge businessman Robert Baron, whose murder seven years ago touched off an agonizing mystery.
Baron’s wife, brother and daughters spoke at length in Lackawanna County Judge Terrence Nealon’s courtroom, two months after a jury found Schuback guilty of that murder and moments before Nealon put Schuback in prison for the rest of the 38-year-old’s life.
"It was an opportunity for the Baron family to express who their dad and husband was and what he meant to the community," Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell said. "And it provided some closure to the family."
The Baron family declined to comment as they left the courthouse. They had plenty to say inside.
Schuback’s arrest last year seemed to provide an answer to the question haunting Old Forge: What happened to Robert Baron?
A jury two months ago agreed with the prosecution’s case — Baron died at his restaurant, Ghigiarelli’s, at the end of January 2017. He'd been murdered in a robbery-gone-bad carried out by a Schuback. However, his remains vanished. It'd be years until the police finally found them.
Maria Baron and daughters Nicole and Brittney each described how the 6 years in between Baron’s disappearance in 2017 and the discovery of his remains last year near Pagnotti Park were like a waking nightmare.
A scheduling conflict kept Baron’s son, Bobby Jr., away but he wrote a statement that called Baron his hero and role model and expressed his hope that Schuback lies awake each night gnawed by guilt.
Maria Baron, clutching a picture of her late husband, called Schuback "garbage" and said he walked the streets "six years too long."
Nicole Baron recalled the last conversation with her father. She planned to buy a new vacuum. He updated her on his search for a new car.
His last words to her: “call me later.”
Baron soon vanished.
It’d be years before his loved ones knew why.
"It will never heal but it’s a step and time has a way of helping people grieve and face adversities, like they have," Powell said. "But they are a wonderful family who had never given up and their father, Robert Baron Sr., had a huge impact on their life and I don’t think that’ll ever be filled unfortunately."
Defense attorneys Bernie Brown and Jordan Leonard defended Schuback during the trial. They’d hoped to persuade the jury that others must have been involved in Baron’s death and disappearance.
With a conviction of first-degree murder, the sentence of life in prison was expected. They said they are weighing an appeal.
"We kind of knew what was coming," Brown said. "also understand the statements of the family. They obviously went through tragedy and had their father and patriarch of their family taken from them."
Judge Nealon also tacked on another 7 ½ to 15 years to Schuback’s sentence to account for the crimes of robbery and burglary, which the jury also convicted him of back in May.
Meanwhile, Powell said Baron’s remains were recently released back to the man’s family. About three weeks ago, after years spent agonizingly questioning where he was, Baron’s family finally laid his bones to rest.
Schuback had nothing to say in court. He also declined to participate in a pre-sentence investigation, according to the judge.
"There's no point," he reportedly told the interviewer.