APD charges man for June murder at Copper Ridge Apartments

ALBUQUERQUE – APD homicide detectives charged Dorian McCuller, 42, with the June 20, 2023, murder of Richard Cabell during a dispute over a woman.

Police responded to a shooting on June 20 at the Copper Ridge Apartments, located at 557 Tramway Blvd., N.E. They located the victim, later identified as Cabell, 44, on a paved entry way with a gunshot wound. He was declared deceased at the scene.

Witnesses and others at the apartment identified McCuller, whose nickname is “Knot,” and said he fled the area in a red car immediately following the shooting. Residents who knew both men said they had been involved in an ongoing dispute over Cabell’s girlfriend.

As detectives investigated the shooting, they received a call from a behavioral health hospital in Temple, TX, about a patient who was admitted and told staff he may have hurt someone in Albuquerque recently. Detectives determined the patient was McCuller and he was talking about the shooting death of Cabell.

Detectives traveled to the Bell County Jail in Belton, TX, where they interviewed McCuller. He eventually revealed to detectives that he was struck in the face by Cabell at the apartment complex, and as he drove out of the complex, he said Cabell was chasing him. He said he feared for his life, opened the driver’s side car door and shot Cabell twice with his gun. Although McCuller said he thought Cabell had a gun, police did not locate a firearm when they located his body.

McCuller said he did not remember driving to Texas, did not know where his car was, and said he probably threw the gun out of the window during the drive.

McCuller is charged with an open county of murder and tampering with evidence. He was served with the arrest warrant while in jail in Texas.

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