Don Bolles murder: 30th anniversary

Friday marks the 30th anniversary of the day Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles was critically injured when a bomb exploded beneath his car. He didn't die right away, instead he suffered with massive injuries and would have both legs and one arm amputated as doctors tried to save his life. He died, some might say mercifully, 11 days later.

Bolles wrote stories about organized crime and powerful people and it's believed that his investigative work in those areas led to his murder. To this day though, there's no general consensus on the reasons why someone wanted him dead.

To mark the anniversary and Bolles' memory, The Arizona Republic has created a special report which includes stories, slideshows and a look at the current state of investigative reporting. Two of the more interesting offerings are articles about Max Dunlap, the only person who was implicated in Bolles' murder and who is still in prison and a look at whether modern medicine would have been able to do more today for someone with injuries the extent of Bolles' and perhaps even have saved his life.