From MTV to Murder—How Baron "Dirty" Colon turned from a TV star to criminal

The focus on Death by Fame Season 3 Episode 5, titled G or Gent, is on Baron "Dirty" Colon, a reality TV star who ended up in prison on charges of murder. The official synopsis of the episode reads,

“Baron ‘Dirty’ Colon goes on the reality show "From G's to Gents," hoping to change his life and take home the $100,000 prize pot; but he's hiding a huge secret about his real motivation for wanting to join the competition show.”

As is clear from the synopsis, the episode deals with what motivated Colon to go to the show and how eventually his downfall occurred. After committing the murder of Marcelo Vera in 2006, Baron was finally put on trial in 2015, and eventually, after being proven guilty, he was given a prison sentence of 30 years. The ID episode dealing with this case aired on March 3, 2025, on Investigation Discovery.

Let us now explore Colon’s case in detail.

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Baron ‘Dirty’ Colon was associated with the murder of Marcelo Vera

Three years before appearing on the MTV show in 2009, Baron "Dirty" Colon was involved with the murder of Marcelo Vera, a Cuban artist. Back in 2006, it was Vera’s former employee Stephany Concepcion who started the plan with the goal of robbing some cash that Vera apparently had in his residence.

In January 2006, Conception, Colon, and a couple of other accomplices went to Vera’s house, and when the timing felt right, they got to the job. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned, and because of Vera’s attempts to stop the robbery, the incident got violent.

Ultimately, Vera was shot dead, and the police were able to arrest Conception right from the scene. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and also gave testimony against Colon. While Conception was given a prison time of 15 years, the police could not get hold of Colon as they needed more evidence against him.

Also Read: A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read on ID – Release date, streaming details, and more about the upcoming true-crime docuseries

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Baron "Dirty" Colon was put on trial in 2015 for Vera’s murder

While he was not arrested, Colon remained a suspect for Vera’s murder, and when he went to the MTV reality show in 2009, he had hopes for turning his life around, as that was one of the motives behind the show as well.

However, unfortunately for Colon, the police finally obtained a crucial piece of information that they could use to incriminate Colon. It came from an undercover agent to whom Colon had not only confessed his crime but also given details of the whole thing, including how Vera was killed.

This led the police to arrest Colon in 2011, almost 5 years after the murder was done. He was finally put to trial in 2015, and the recording of his confession was played as a key part of the evidence. He was heard giving details of Vera’s attempts to stop the robbery, which ultimately resulted in him being shot several times, causing his death.

Colon’s defense had tried to argue on the line of no actual evidence putting Colon in that scene. It was also said that Colon simply wanted to take the credit for the murder because that is the kind of thing that people in those circles do as they increase their value.

However, this argument did not hold, and eventually Baron "Dirty" Colon was sentenced to be guilty and was given a prison sentence for 30 years.

Death by Fame can be streamed on Hulu.

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