On March 22, 1981, 33-year-old Arthur Criswell was shot and killed at Tommy’s Old Fashioned Home-Style Restaurant in Conway, Arkansas. Ricky Ray Rector, then 28, entered the restaurant and opened fire with a .38-caliber pistol; Criswell was struck in the forehead and throat and died of his wounds. Two other men were wounded in the same attack.

Rector fled after the shooting and was the subject of a manhunt. Two days later, on March 24, Officer Bob Martin of the Conway Police Department was shot and killed when he visited Rector’s mother’s home; Rector then shot himself in the head and suffered a severe brain injury. Rector was arrested and charged in both killings.

Criswell’s death left a local restaurant and community grieving. Does anyone have memories of Tommy’s or of Arthur Criswell from Conway in 1981 that could add detail to the timeline or the victims’ lives?