On Thursday, December 05, 2013, at about 10:30 a.m., Sgt. Robert Baron of the Sandoval County Sheriff?s Office was investigating a weather-related crash on Interstate 25 north of San Felipe.

He was walking near the right hand shoulder when a vehicle lost control on the slick roadway and struck him. Sgt. Baron was transported to University of New Mexico Hospital by ambulance. He was in critical condition in ICU in a medically-induced coma until Friday, December 6, 2013, when he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead just before 5 p.m. Sgt.

Robert Baron was hired by the Sandoval County Sheriff?s Office on June 5, 2006, as a Deputy Sheriff assigned to the Patrol Division. On April 4, 2009, he was appointed to the Criminal Investigations Division as a Detective, and on November 9, 2013 he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in the Patrol Division. Sgt. Baron previously worked for the U.S. National Park Service and Federal Bureau of Prisons.