Arizona Reportedly Reopens Probe of ’76 Slaying of Newspaper Reporter

A state grand jury has begun a new investigation into the 1976 car-bomb slaying of investigative reporter Don Bolles, sources said Thursday.

The grand jury has already issued subpoenas for several witnesses, including people in California or Colorado, said sources familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Although the man who planted the remote-control bomb that killed the Arizona Republic reporter was found guilty and imprisoned, no mastermind has ever been convicted.

State Atty. Gen. Bob Corbin, who has come under fire for his handling of the Bolles case, declined to comment on any grand jury matter, but confirmed that his office had been working on the Bolles case for more than a year.

Witnesses subpoenaed in California or Colorado may be entitled to a court hearing before any Arizona subpoenas are honored, sources said.

Bolles clung to life for 11 days after the bomb went off, repeatedly saying the word “Emprise,” an apparent reference to a company later called Delaware North that runs dog and horse racing tracks.

Racing dog owner John Adamson was convicted of murder for planting the bomb that killed Bolles.

Adamson, testifying at the trial of Max Dunlap of Phoenix and James Robison of Chandler, said Dunlap had asked him to kill Bolles because of the reporter’s articles about a wealthy benefactor of Dunlap unrelated to the company.

Dunlap and Robison were convicted and sentenced to death, but the verdicts were overturned on appeal. Attempts to try them again were put on hold when Adamson refused to testify again unless he got a better deal from prosecutors.