Man gets 30-year sentence for murder of Home Depot worker

ST. THOMAS — The man who killed 20-year-old Keoner Baron in the Home Depot parking lot three years ago received a 30-year prison sentence Tuesday, but Baron’s heartbroken family said nothing will bring back the beloved aspiring nurse.

Thomas Baron wept as he described the pain of losing his daughter to murder by her ex-boyfriend, Justin Matthews, who stalked and shot Baron 11 times as she waited under a tree for her father to pick her up from work on Sept. 4, 2021. “I couldn’t believe it was my child who got shot,” Baron said. “I just lose my head.” Baron said it’s “very, very tough for all of us in the family,” and they are struggling to cope with the reality that Baron was shot “for no reason,” just as she was set to begin nursing school and start a new chapter in her life.

Matthews’ attorney, Territorial Public Defender Lisa Godfrey, said he was distraught over the end of their two-year relationship, and believed Baron had been cheating on him. During his victim impact statement, Thomas Baron strongly disputed the version of events presented by the defense, and said claims that Matthews doted on Baron and bought her whatever she wanted is “a big, fat lie.”