Gila Valley man accused of murdering ditch commissioner

SILVER CITY — An elderly Gila resident is being held without bond on murder charges after allegedly shooting an irrigation commissioner and neighbor with whom he had disputed over water access over the years.

Russell “Rusty” Dobkins, 75, allegedly confessed to shooting Esker Mayberry, 63, of Cliff on Dec. 26 after Dobkins called emergency dispatch to report the shooting and a “controlled burn.”

Mayberry reportedly owned land adjacent to Dobkins’ property near the Pinos Altos Mountains and the Gila River. He was also a member of the Gila Basin Irrigation Commission, the nine-member body overseeing surface water distribution in their area.

Testimony at a Jan. 9 pretrial detention hearing indicated Dobkins had long-running disputes with Mayberry and neighboring property owners over access to water that, in periods of drought, grew scarce. Sometimes those fights made their way into lawsuits and numerous calls to Grant County deputies, in which Dobkins was accused of overusing allotted water, trespassing on other properties and even allegedly throwing a rock at a neighbor. Nevertheless, Dobkins has no criminal history.

“This case illustrates dark differences between neighbors living in rural New Mexico and metropolitan New Mexico,” state District Judge Jim Foy wrote in a ruling ordering Dobkins to be detained ahead of trial. In considering whether any conditions of release could keep the public safe, Foy argued that neighbor interactions are “regular and constant” in agricultural communities with shared water use, distant from municipalities and where lawful firearm possession is more common.

“At this point, the defendant is dangerous to the people in the Gila Valley who would otherwise have to regularly deal with him on the ditch,” Foy wrote.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Dobkins told a Grant County Sheriff’s deputy that he was preparing to water his field that morning when Mayberry arrived on Dobkins’ property and, by Dobkins’ account, threatened to “burn me out,” proceeding to pour gasoline on a wooden fence and set it alight. Dobkins allegedly said he shot Mayberry in the head with a .357 lever-action rifle.

Defense attorneys argued at a detention hearing that Dobkins had acted in self-defense. Yet prosecutors stated emergency responders found Mayberry’s body on fire with no evidence that the fence had burned and with no fuel container near his body. Testimony by a New Mexico State Police officer who responded to the scene suggested Mayberry had been doused in gasoline, based on the pattern of his burns. Prosecutors accused Dobkins of murdering Mayberry and attempting to dispose of his remains.

Dobkins’ actions, according to prosecutors, “demonstrate extreme violence, dangerousness, and willful conduct aimed at covering up evidence of a crime.”

His arraignment in Grant County District Court is set for Feb. 2.

Algernon D’Ammassa is the Journal’s southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.