Two 16-year-olds face murder charges in death of one’s father

Thursday, June 17, 1999 | 5:41 a.m.

Justice of the Peace Molly Leddy concluded Wednesday there was sufficient evidence to move forward with a murder trial for Ruben Robles and Kody Iverson in the March 29 shooting death of Iverson's father, Gordon Kyle Kirk.

Leddy charged Robles with open murder with the use of a deadly weapon and Iverson with being a principal to murder with a deadly weapon. Both Elko teens also were charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

Leddy's decision came after a preliminary hearing for the two 16-year-olds in Elko Justice Court.

One witness told the court that Robles admitted the crime during a basketball game on the afternoon of the day Kirk was killed.

Jessica Rees, 15, of Spring Creek said Robles showed her a handgun and said, "This is the gun I used to shoot Kody's dad."

Kirk was killed about 1:30 p.m. March 29.

Rees testified she also had overheard Robles announce his intention to kill Kirk. She told the court she was at the home of her friend, Sara Berumen, 15, at 10 a.m. March 29 when Robles called Berumen and said, "I have to kill Kody's dad." Rees said she overheard the conversation on an extension phone.

Berumen told the court it was around 2 o'clock that afternoon when Iverson, Robles, Martin Garcia and Lionel Pineda came to her Spring Creek home in a truck belonging to Kirk. The six teen-agers went into Berumen's bedroom and Robles said Kirk had been shot at 1:30 p.m., she testified.

Robles told the group he had gone to Iverson's house and his friend's father had asked if he wanted something to eat, Berumen said.

Robles said he replied "no" and shot Kirk in the side and twice more in the head when the victim tried to hide, Berumen said.

Iverson reportedly had been having problems with his father, most recently about skipping school and failing to get a haircut.

Robles told the group to tell anyone who asked that he and Iverson had been at Berumen's house "since noon," Berumen testified.

Rees said that around 4 p.m., the six teen-agers plus a girl identified only as "Hillary" went to Riverview Park in Iverson's truck to play basketball.

Iverson and Garcia left the park for about 40 minutes to go back to the Maple Street home to "clean it up," she said.

After the two returned, Rees testified, the group was playing basketball and she went to the truck and pulled a silver-barreled handgun with a white handle from the glove box.

Rees said the group went back to Berumen's house at 5:30 p.m. and discussed what to do with the handgun.

"Sara volunteered to keep the gun at her house," Rees said, "but Ruben said that might not be such a good idea, so he took the gun."

It was at 9 p.m. that Iverson phoned Elko police to say he could not get into the Maple Street house because he had lost his keys, according to police reports. Iverson said he looked into a window and became alarmed when he saw his father lying motionless on the floor.

Police became suspicious of Iverson's story and arrested him at 10:30 that evening. They found the 9mm handgun the Sunday after the shooting under a pile of rocks under the Fifth Street bridge. Robles was arrested April 7.