Abingdon Man Responsible for Two 2022 Murders, to Face Sentencing in December

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A 35-year-old Harford County man was found guilty of murdering a 66-year-old man and pleaded guilty to killing his cellmate in Baltimore City Circuit Court Oct. 1.

Gordon Zacharie Staron, of Abingdon, Md., pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for strangling 34-year-old Javarick Gantt in their cell in the Central Booking and Intake Facility on the 300 block of East Madison Street after a jury convicted him of the murder of Keith Bell at a bus stop on the 1400 block of East Monument Street. Staron was convicted of first-degree murder and possession of a deadly weapon with intent to injure for Bell’s death.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates worked Gantt’s murder. In a press release, Bates said, “It has been my privilege to work alongside our talented Homicide Team Captain … to deliver justice on behalf of the two families who have lost their loved ones because of this defendant’s violent and unconscionable actions.”

The release stated Bates’ involvement was the first time an active city state’s attorney has prosecuted a case in “nearly a decade.”

Staron is scheduled for sentencing by Judge Althea M. Handy on Dec. 19, when he could potentially receive two life sentences.

According to charging documents, Gantt, a deaf-mute who was in jail for a probation violation, was reportedly banging on the cell door the night of his death nearly two years ago. No one else was in the cell with Gantt besides Staron.

About a month before Gantt’s death, on Sept. 6, 2022, Staron was seen on surveillance footage fleeing the Monument Street bus stop in a silver Toyota Tacoma, per charging documents in that case. Baltimore Police Department investigators used the vehicle’s registration information to find Staron’s residence, where Staron exited carrying a shotgun and pocket knife.