Durango man gets 45 years for fatal Wapiti Lodge shooting

Jonnie Cash Kimbrough will spend 45 years in prison for killing Quentin Mayberry in a Wapiti Lodge motel room, a punishment that puts the Durango case near the top of Colorado’s sentencing range for second-degree murder and signals how seriously prosecutors and judges are treating violent crime tied to transient lodging in west Durango.

Kimbrough, who was 20 when the shooting happened and 22 when a jury convicted him in December 2025, was sentenced after a two-week trial in the 6th Judicial District. Police said the shooting was reported shortly after 3 a.m. on Oct. 25, 2023, at the Wapiti Lodge, 21625 U.S. Highway 160. Mayberry, a 25-year-old Durango man, was shot in the head and died six days later, on Nov. 1, 2023, at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction.

The sentence matters because Colorado second-degree murder is generally a class 2 felony with a presumptive range of 16 to 48 years. At 45 years, Kimbrough’s term lands just short of the maximum, a result that will be read locally as more than a routine punishment. For residents who live, work or travel along the highway corridor into Durango, the case reinforces that a motel-room shooting can trigger one of the longest prison terms available short of the maximum penalty.

Prosecutors said the confrontation involved Kimbrough, Mayberry and Hunter Griswold, who had also previously been romantically involved with Mayberry. They argued at trial that Kimbrough deliberately shot Mayberry after a dispute fueled by jealousy and romantic rivalry. The defense countered that Kimbrough acted in self-defense and said Mayberry threatened them and refused to leave the room. Prosecutors also presented jail-call recordings in which Kimbrough appeared to celebrate the killing and said his “mission was successful,” evidence they said showed witness tampering.

Mayberry’s death also drew added attention because his family said he was an organ donor. He was able to say goodbye before being removed from life support, a detail that gave the case a broader human cost beyond the criminal proceedings. The fatal shooting at the Wapiti Lodge, a property just off U.S. Highway 160 in west Durango, has remained a reminder of how quickly a late-night conflict in a motel room can turn into a homicide that reverberates across La Plata County and beyond.