SCRANTON, Pa. — Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell cautioned Bobby Baron that some of these questions might get personal.
That word of warning came just as Powell, in the third day of trial for the alleged killer of Bobby Baron's father, began to ask the 37-year-old about his past history of drug abuse.
Before he left the witness stand Wednesday, he'd face worse.
Wednesday was the third day of testimony in Lackawanna County for the trial of the man investigators say killed an Old Forge restaurant owner.
Among those on the stand on Wednesday was Robert Baron's son, who was friends with Justin Schuback, the person police believe is responsible for Baron's murder.
Robert Baron's son, who goes by Bobby, was a prosecution witness.
Bobby Baron described his dad as his hero and best friend. He's been sober since his father, Robert Baron, was killed in 2017. But Bobby's testimony took him back to a time when he was using heroin and crack cocaine.
He worked with his father at Ghiagiarelli's Pizza. He described the last time he saw his father alive and when he discovered that his dad had gone missing.
When it was the defense's turn to ask questions, Bobby Baron flatly denied allegations he may have had a role in his father's death. Defense attorneys Bernard Brown and Jordan Leonard have sought during the trial to present the jury with an alternative theory of the case.
Newswatch 16 first met Bobby Baron a few months after his dad, Robert, disappeared. Back then, Bobby alleged his father's disappearance may have been related to a robbery at the family's restaurant, Ghiagiarelli's Pizza.
"He would have just given them money if they wanted money. I don't understand why these people had to go in there and bother him," Bobby Baron said in 2017.
We now know from his testimony in the trial for his father's murder that Bobby Baron suspected the defendant Justin Schuback from day one. Bobby described Schuback as a former friend who had robbed Bobby during a drug deal the night before Robert's murder.
Bobby Baron admitted on the stand that he was accused many times by many people of being involved with his dad's disappearance. He was interviewed by police, his phone was seized, and his apartment was eventually searched.
But when Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell asked him under oath if he had anything to do with his dad's disappearance, Bobby Baron said no. He was then asked if he felt he had any responsibility.
He said, "We were raised better than this. I brought these people into our lives. That's where I feel a sense of responsibility."
Those people he's referring to include Justin Schuback. Prosecutors allege Schuback killed Robert Baron in a robbery gone wrong and that Schuback was in search of cash to settle a drug debt.
Schuback's defense focused heavily on cash and who had it after Ghiagiarelli's Pizza was allegedly robbed and Baron disappeared.
Witness Pat Boyle, Schuback's former drug dealer, told jurors it was well-known that Robert Baron kept large amounts of cash at the restaurant because he didn't believe in banks.
Schuback's cousin, Jason Cistola, also testified. He admitted that he spent thousands of dollars at casinos a month after Baron's murder.
Bobby Baron admitted to giving his mother "cash" — he disputed defense attorney Bernard Brown's characterization the amount was $5,000 — and testified he paid no bills, so he managed to accumulate funds.
He provided money to his mother because his parents did not want him holding onto that cash because of his drug habit. She put it in a safety deposit box.
Years later, detectives received a search warrant to open the safety deposit box and seized approximately $22,000. Two $100 bills had blood on it, but Detective Lisa Bauer testified the blood did not match anyone involved in the case.
In photographs displayed in court Wednesday, the bills did not appear to be obviously bloody.
The authorities still have the cash, Bauer testified. The exact reason they sought to seize it was not clear.
Attorneys for the prosecution and defense declined to comment after Wednesday's proceedings.
Bauer also shed new light during her testimony on video surveillance evidence first shown on Newswatch 16 more than three years ago.
In the video clips, captured by cameras nearby Ghigiarelli's Pizza, two men are seen strolling about the area. One of them wore shorts. Another smoked a cigarette and wheeled a suitcase behind him.
Bauer testified that the man in the shorts is actually Boyle, who was captured on camera walking to and from his meeting with Schuback to sell him drugs.
Boyle testified Wednesday that Schuback sent him messages seeking drugs shortly after midnight. He threw on some clothes and went to meet Schuback, who paid Boyle the $60 he owed him and bought more than $100 worth of heroin.
To this day, it remains unclear who the man is wheeling a suitcase down Main Street in Old Forge shortly before 1 a.m. on a winter morning, Bauer testified.
The trial, which is scheduled to last through the end of next week, resumes Thursday morning.
The attorneys told the judge the jury on Thursday will likely hear from Schuback's former cellmate at the Lackawanna County Prison, to whom Schuback allegedly confessed to the crime.