A quiet, unpaved road in rural Payne County, Oklahoma, became the final resting place for two men in the summer of 1985. The startling discovery on Monday, August 12, launched a double homicide investigation that has spanned decades, leaving a family grappling with unanswered questions and a community with the memory of a brutal crime for which no one has ever been held accountable.
The victims were identified as Richard Lynn Bolin and his friend, Gary Wayne Garrison. Richard, who was just a couple of weeks shy of his 28th birthday, was a father to a young son, Richard Alan Bolin. He was born on August 25, 1957, to Cecil and Melba Bolin and grew up with a brother, Cecil Dewayne, and a sister, Jean. Over the years, Richard's family would experience further loss, with the passing of his parents and brother, but the pain of his unsolved murder has remained a constant shadow. Gary, born in 1960, was 25 years old.
He was laid to rest at Sunnylane Cemetery in Del City, Oklahoma.
On that August day, the bodies of the two men were found near a dirt road just three miles west of Highway 18. The area, typical of the rolling landscape of central Oklahoma, offered a sense of rural seclusion. It was a place where a violent crime would seem jarringly out of place. The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office determined that both Richard and Gary had died from multiple gunshot wounds. The nature of their deaths suggested a shared, violent encounter, but the official reports released to the public have never detailed a possible motive or the exact sequence of events.
The investigation was taken up by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI), the state's premier law enforcement agency, tasked with handling the most serious and complex crimes. In 1985, forensic science was evolving, but DNA technology was not yet a standard tool for detectives. Investigators would have relied on traditional methods: examining the crime scene for physical evidence like shell casings, interviewing friends and family of the victims to piece together their final days, and chasing down any tips that came in.
Despite their efforts, the trail went cold. The public record offers no information about persons of interest, potential suspects, or what Richard and Gary were doing in the hours before their deaths. The crucial questions of who they were with, why they were on that isolated road, and who would have wanted to kill them have remained unanswered. The silence in the public case file is profound, leaving only the stark facts of the men's violent end.
Decades have passed, and the world has changed dramatically, but the case of Richard Bolin and Gary Garrison remains open. It is now handled by the OSBI's Cold Case Unit, a dedicated group of investigators who periodically review unsolved homicides, hoping that new technology, a fresh perspective, or a long-overdue witness statement might finally provide a breakthrough. As of October 2026, their case is still listed as an active investigation, a testament to the agency's refusal to forget them.
For the families left behind, the passage of time does little to heal the wound of an unresolved murder. Richard's son grew up without his father, and the Bolin family has carried the weight of this injustice for nearly four decades. The lack of resolution means there is no final chapter, no sense that justice, however delayed, has been served. The OSBI continues to ask for the public's help, believing that someone, somewhere, may hold the key to understanding what happened on that lonely Payne County road. Anyone with information is urged to contact the OSBI at 1-800-522-8017 or via email at [email protected].
