30 years ago today, Phoenix was rocked by the car-bomb murder of Arizona Republic investigative reporter Don Bolles.
FROM THE ARTICLE
"Initially, the possible suspects in his murder were many and varied. But before long, police and prosecutors came up with what they believed was the correct scenario.
John Harvey Adamson, greyhound owner, clothes thief and street thug, had put the bomb on Bolles' car. Adamson said James Albert Robison, a Chandler plumber, triggered the bomb, and Max Dunlap, a Phoenix contractor and land developer, had hired Adamson to do the killing.
The motive? Adamson said Dunlap wanted Bolles dead because the reporter had written stories that upset wealthy rancher and liquor wholesaler Kemper Marley Sr., Dunlap's mentor. One story, published as Marley was trying to land a seat on the Arizona Racing Commission, noted that Marley had been prosecuted for grand theft when he was a state highway commissioner and had served on the State Fair Commission when the agency got into financial trouble.
Dunlap and Robison were convicted of Bolles' murder in 1977, though defense lawyers argued that Phoenix attorney Neal Roberts masterminded the killing, possibly on behalf of shadowy figures."
For Phoenicians, this became one of those "where were you when you heard...?" events. I was only 10 at the time, but I do remember this being the main topic of conversation all that summer as the entire city followed the investigation, arrests and trial, all the way through the convictions in 1977.
Almost hard to imagine isn't it in this day and age of Faux News and a lap dog press? Today when the country's troubles are the fault of reporters who report the bad news, rather than the circumstances that caused the bad news in the first place!
An Investigative Reporter who actually lived up to his job title. Doing his best to ferret out and expose corruption of those in power to the citizens of the city he served.
And a city who venerated him in doing his job and mourned his loss.
"His brother said Bolles would view all the admiration with typical wry skepticism.
Dean concurred. “He would be saying, ‘Do I deserve this?’ As a journalist he would be a little ashamed of this martyrdom. He has become a white knight in a shining armor but he would say, ‘This is not me, and it will never be me. I’m just an ordinary guy.’”
Thanks Don.
