Hawaii Loa Ridge murder suspects arrested in California

The Honolulu Police Department announced the arrests Wednesday in Los Angeles County of two men suspected of murdering Gary L. Ruby, a 73-year-old Hawaii Loa Ridge man.

Police uncovered a decomposed body Tuesday in a bathtub filled with concrete and topped with a layer of coffee at Ruby’s home at 357 Lelekepue Place. Homicide Lt. Deena Thoemmes said police think the body is that of the homeowner.

The U.S. Marshals Service assisted Honolulu police in locating Juan Tejedor Baron and Scott Hannon, and the federal agency and the Los Angeles police arrested both men.

Baron, 23, who Honolulu police said was in an intimate relationship with Ruby, was found in Anaheim, Calif., hiding in a crawlspace under a bench seat at the back of a Greyhound bus bound for Mexico. He was arrested at 2:18 p.m. Hawaii time.

Hannon, 34, was arrested in Inglewood, Calif., at the intersection of West Manchester Boulevard and South Oak Street.

The two men managed to flee from Hawaii to California, even though police said Tuesday afternoon they had contacted airport authorities to prevent them from leaving the state.

The men may have had a head start as the announcement that police had discovered the body came late Tuesday afternoon.

Patrol officers had initially gone to the home Monday morning to do a welfare check on Ruby but no one was home. Ruby’s brother had called police because he hadn’t been heard from in awhile. Missing-persons detectives then went to the home at 4 p.m. Monday, and were met by Baron, who claimed to live at the house. Detectives reported they could not find Ruby.

Police said they later found Ruby’s decomposed body at 2:42 p.m. inside a stand-alone tub filled with a concrete mixture with a layer of coffee on top.

Thoemmes did not say how long Ruby had been missing, but did say that the stench of the decomposing body was noticeable after police began chipping away at the concrete. The coffee, she said, was likely used to mask the odor, and officers initially smelled coffee when arriving at the house.

Thoemmes said the two men left the house together while the investigation was going on, and that police saw the men at 1 a.m. Tuesday in Waikiki, but they were not suspects at the time. Hawaii News Now reported it was officers who transported the two men to Waikiki, but HPD could not be reached Wednesday night to verify the report.

A CrimeStoppers bulletin said the two men were seen near the Hilton Hawaiian Village wearing the same clothes as shown in photographs police took of them.

Former homeowners Keith and Meika Mangum sold the house to Ruby in March 2020.

“He was a nice guy,” Keith Mangum said. “We actually went back to the home last summer and met with him. … He sent Christmas cards and we kept in touch.”

Meika Mangum said, “We lived in the house for three years and raised two kids. It’s been very emotional. We saw him last year, so this is upsetting to me.”

San Diego playwright Roy Sekigahama said Ruby was a good friend of his, and that Ruby had planned to attend the opening of his play and was scheduled to arrive in San Diego on Feb. 18 but never showed up.

He said he called, emailed and texted Ruby, but never got a response.

“I feel really guilty that I didn’t do something about it,” Sekigahama said. He didn’t have a whole lot of friends that I knew of. He was kind of a lonely person and he was looking for friendship.”

Sekigahama said that perhaps that led him to the wrong kind of friends.

“I visited him in November,” he said. “His home was fabulous, but it’s sad to me because he had set up a guest room. It seemed like he was looking for companionship. I felt guilty because I stayed at a hotel.”

He said Ruby sent him photos of Baron and wondered if they might help police in their investigation.

He said he contacted police and was given a number for a detective, but he hadn’t yet gotten a call back.