The San Bernardino Homicide Watch blog will occasionally feature stories of the men and women killed on city streets. This entry looks at the struggles of 2008’s first victim.
Shortly after his mother died, Ronald Baranauskas sought a change of scenery for his star-crossed life.
San Bernardino was the place.
The native of Rochester, N.Y. was well into his 50s when he moved west earlier this decade, looking to escape a past that included drug use, ailments and estrangement from his two grown children, said his older sister, Theresa Antinora.
“There were times when he wasn’t doing good,” said Antinora, who lives in a suburb of Rochester. “He just kind of lost it.”
At age 61, the frail Baranauskas was still struggling to find himself in San Bernardino, friends said.
He was found dead Jan. 3 near 14th and E streets. Police reported that he had suffered a blow to the head, perhaps in a robbery attempt.
The man, who had lived at group homes and collected a monthly Social Security check, was remembered by his last landlord as a gentle tenant who endeared himself to her family.
“I just felt sorry for him,” said Louisa Ortiz, the 79-year-old woman who took in Baranauskas after meeting him at Maria's Bar in San Bernardino. “He was a very lonesome man.”
Recent back surgery had left Baranauskas unable to work and dependent on prescription medication, Ortiz said. She remembers him spending most of his time watching TV in his room -- until he sold it on the street so he could buy cigarettes.
Boredom was common, Ortiz said, but he also stayed out of trouble. A slight man who sometimes used a walker, Baranauskas didn’t pose a threat to anyone and would not have initiated the attack that killed him, said a former roommate.
“The wind could pick him up and blow him away,” said Carson Walker, who lived with Baranauskas at a West Evans Street group home for the disabled for six months.
With no driver’s license, Baranauskas often took city buses or walked to get around. He usually carried little more than a backpack, which detectives say may have been taken after he was killed.
Antinora kept in touch with her brother after his move to San Bernardino, and said his spirits had improved in the days before his death. He had gotten dental work done, had new glasses and was feeling better about himself, she said.
Antinora said that Baranauskas could have had a better life if he’d been born in a later time.
“If he was going to school today they would have realized he had learning disabilities. They just thought he was troubled,” she said. “He took good care of himself but just didn’t understand everything.”
Ortiz, who has been searching for a photo of Baranauskas to aid the police who don't have one, said she hopes the killer found.
“He was an ill man but he didn’t deserve to die the way he did,” she said.
Anyone with information about Baranauskas’ death is asked to call San Bernardino police Detective Timothy Crocker at 909-384-4824.
