Valencia County Sheriff’s Office investigates suspicious Rio Communities’ death

RIO COMMUNITIES — Four area men have been charged with crimes stemming from a suspicious death investigation in the city of Rio Communities, but no homicide charges have been brought in the ongoing investigation of the death.

In early November 2024, during a welfare check at a home on the 1700 block of Jack Nicklaus Drive, Valencia County Sheriff’s deputies found a man dead in a bedroom closet who has been identified as Robert Galbraith, 68, of Rio Communities.

“The investigation is still ongoing as a suspicious death,” said Valencia County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Joseph Rowland, the department’s public information officer. “The investigation will remain in that status until we can positively rule out homicide. No homicide charges have yet been filed.”

The four men are facing charges consisting of receiving/ transferring stolen motor vehicle, aggravated burglary and burglary.

Rowland said the state Office of the Medical Investigator has not yet completed its report, which will detail both the manner and cause of death of Galbraith.

“In terms of how long Mr. Galbraith had been deceased, we would state it was a considerable amount of time. Likely a year or longer,” the lieutenant said. “We are awaiting OMI’s report to further shed light on that.”

During the investigation, officers were told there were two people dead in the house on Jack Nicklaus, but Rowland said that wasn’t the case.

“There was a mannequin found in the home that was mistaken for a second body, but there was only one deceased person in the home,” he said. “Mr. Galbraith’s mother did live with him at one time, but his brother took her out of the home prior to this, and she is safe and living in another state.”

Charged are Carlos M. Bush, 40, of Los Lunas; Dylan Nathaniel Deucalion, 21, of Albuquerque; Isaac Blake, 32, of Belen; and Ryan Lopez, 29, of Rio Communities.

Bush is charged with burglary and unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, Deucalion is facing charges of aggravated burglary, Blake has been charged with burglary, and Lopez with unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and residential burglary, as well as charges of conspiracy to commit those acts.

Bush was arrested on Nov. 15 in possession of Galbraith’s silver Dodge Caravan minivan. When he was interviewed by VCSO officers, Bush said he and Lopez went into Galbraith’s house about two weeks before his arrest.

The two men took several items from the house including flat screen TVs, a PlayStation 5 and a firearm box containing ammunition and magazines, Bush told deputies, according to the criminal complaint. Bush and Lopez loaded the items into the Caravan and took them to Lopez’s house on Frederico Boulevard, where the stolen items were unloaded.

The two drove to Isleta Casino and, at some point that night, Bush left Lopez at the casino. Bush continued to drive the van for the next two weeks.

Prior to Bush’s arrest, a welfare check was conducted at Galbraith’s home on Nov. 3 after a woman reported she’d overheard a conversation between two people about two bodies at the home.

When deputies arrived, the house appeared abandoned with overgrown shrubs and trees. The officers knocked and announced themselves but there was no answer.

A week later, on Nov. 9, a second call for a welfare check came in indicating there were possibly people dead at the home on Jack Nicklaus and there was possibly an active burglary happening. Deputies parked down the street and approached the home on foot. There were no sounds of a disturbance and the front door was unsecured, according to the complaint.

When deputies entered the home, there was an odor commonly found around deceased people or animals, the complaint reads. While doing a safety sweep of the house, deputies found the body of a man — later identified as Galbraith — in the a closet in the master bedroom. He was siting in a wheelchair that had been tipped over backwards.

The house was in a state of disarray, with multiple open cabinets and drawers open. Deputies found a white cardboard box in the living room that looked like it would have contained either a rifle or a shotgun, but it was empty.

They saw an empty dust spot where a TV once was and in the master bedroom, located a 9mm casing near the doorway to the closet where Galbraith was found.

At the conclusion of the autopsy by OMI, which was observed by VCSO Lt. Ben Lankasky, a single gunshot wound was found in the middle of Galbraith’s forehead.

In the complaint, VCSO Detective Kadin Shain wrote that through his training and experience “a gunshot wound located in this area is not consistent with a suicide, but is consistent with a homicide.”

On Nov. 13, Blake called the sheriff’s office and told investigators he’d heard Bush and Lopez had gone into the house on Jack Nicklaus and found Galbraith dead inside earlier that month.

Shortly after that, Bush was arrested in the van belonging to Galbraith.

Lopez was arrested at his house on Frederico on Nov. 26 and provided more details to investigators. He said around Nov. 1, Bush had told him about the house on Jack Nicklaus, indicating Bush had been in the house before he and Lopez went there.

Lopez said he’s been to the house multiple times and taken items as well as helped Bush start the minivan, which had a dead battery.

While he and Bush were at the house, Lopez said Deucalion arrived on foot and the three of them found Galbraith dead in the closet. There were two guns — a black Glock and a chrome and wooden pump action shotgun with a shortened barrel — near the body, so the men assumed the gunshot wound was self inflicted.

According to Lopez’s statement to deputies, Deucalion took the two guns, and about a week after, he, Deucalion and another man were pulled over by an Isleta Police Department officer during a traffic stop.

Deucalion had the Glock in a black backpack with him in the car, and IPD took possession of the handgun. When contacted by VCSO, Isleta confirmed they had the gun, as well as ammunition and a 14-round magazine.

According to the criminal complaint, the investigation indicated Blake went into the house with Lopez and, at some point, took checks belonging to Galbraith. Blake tried to have another man withdraw funds, but the complaint notes there is no evidence any money was withdrawn from the account.

The sheriff’s office is asking any community members who had contact with Galbraith or saw people on his property to contact VCSO Detective Kadin Shain at 505-866-2400.