2nd killer sentenced in 2023 case of victim’s body placed in dumpster and set on fire in ‘The Zone’

PHOENIX — A 22-year-old man will spend nearly four decades behind bars after being convicted of a 2023 murder at the homeless encampment known as “The Zone,” which has since been dismantled.

Isaiah Baskin received his 38.5-year prison sentence in connection with the murder of Geoffrey Rugwiro more than three years ago, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

This came after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and kidnapping for the March 21, 2023, murder he committed with Dave Dinkins, prosecutors said.

Dinkins was sentenced to 42 years in prison in January 2025.

What happened before the burned body was found in a Phoenix dumpster?

The victim was a man from Rwanda who immigrated to the U.S. more than 25 years ago, and was sending money back to his home country to help his brothers and sisters, prosecutors said.

Hours before his death, Rugwiro arrived at “The Zone,” a sprawling, multi-block homeless encampment on downtown Phoenix’s west side where about 900 people lived before a judge ordered it dismantled in April 2023 — roughly a month after his death.

Prosecutors said Rugwiro called his brother the night he arrived in the encampment and made plans to leave the next day.

Rugwiro’s family spent months waiting for answers until his body was identified, according to Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.

Baskin and Dinkins beat and stomped Rugwiro before moving his body in a shopping cart and throwing him into a dumpster, prosecutors said.

Police obtained footage showing Baskin using a 2-by-4 wooden plank to strike inside the dumpster, where Rugwiro’s head was, dozens of times. Baskin then gave Dinkins a lighter to set the dumpster and Rugwiro’s body on fire.

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said no sentence can fill the void in the lives of Rugwiro’s family members.

“Geoffrey was dedicated to his family and, as a human being, deserved better than to be beaten and discarded in the trash,” Mitchell said.

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