All told, Tiger Dowdell’s murder at the hands of a police department that had threatened to kill him shortly before his death, his grandmother told the KBI drastically changed the fabric of Lawrence.
A KBI case file leaves one prevailing question which may ultimately be lost to history: Why did Lawrence Police Officer William Garrett shoot and kill Rick "Tiger" Dowdell on July 16, 1970?
Author and history professor Brent Campney said because Kansas was a “free state,” Kansans particularly Lawrencians have maintained the perception that their communities are more welcoming and accepting than they truly are.