Drugged or drunk?

A young woman went out partying and ended up getting 40 years for DUI manslaughter. Was she just drunk -- or did someone slip her a mickey?

By Adriana Gardella

Read more: Drugs, Health, Rape, Life

Aug. 30, 2006 | Bounded by two rows of towering chain-link fences edged top and bottom with rolls of razor wire, the drab cement-block buildings of rural Oklahoma's Mabel Bassett Correctional Center are a far cry from the colorful family entertainment complexes Emily Dowdy helped design as a young architect. Outside, the temperature climbs to nearly 100 degrees. Inside 33-year-old Dowdy, who shares a 6-by-8-foot cell with a roommate, huddles over the remnants of a Power Bar. At 5-foot-8 and 120 pounds, she's down some 40 pounds from her pre-prison weight.

She doesn't remember the May 22, 1999, accident that landed her here, broke her neck (resulting in the partial paralysis of her right arm) and took the life of 20-year-old Ryan Brewer, the son of an Oklahoma City police captain. An array of factors suggest Dowdy was surreptitiously drugged with gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) that night, sexually assaulted and sent on her way. She says she has no recollection of plowing into Brewer's car, killing him almost instantly. DUI manslaughter charges followed for Dowdy, who was ultimately convicted and sent to Mabel Bassett to serve her sentence.

A few weeks prior to the deadly crash, Dowdy had completed her junior year at the University of Oklahoma's College of Architecture. That Saturday night, Dowdy and a group of colleagues from the hotel where she worked part-time had plans to go out. By 8 p.m., when everyone had bailed except a new employee named Katie Hillin, Dowdy stuck with the program. She borrowed her roommate's sandals, pulled on a black top and the underwear that was to go missing that night, tied a wraparound skirt around her waist and then drove to Hillin's apartment to pick her up around 10 p.m. Dowdy was there long enough for Hillin to grab her coat, offer Dowdy a drink -- which she declined -- and lock up her apartment.

Shortly after 11 p.m., following a quick ATM stop, the two arrived at the Crosswinds Club, a tiny spot complete with disco ball and confetti machine that was known for cranking tunes like "I Will Survive," one of Dowdy's favorites. As usual, the place was packed. Hillin reached the bar first and asked Dowdy what she wanted to drink. The crowd was shoulder-to-shoulder as Hillin handed Dowdy her order -- a cranberry juice and vodka mix known as a Cape Codder -- plus something extra, one of the shots Hillin had decided to get for herself and her new friend.

Dowdy asked Hillin what she'd given her and learned it was a shot of Jägermeister. Grimacing, Dowdy swallowed the shot, her first drink of the evening. The two then stepped onto the nearby dance floor, drinks in hand. It wasn't long before Dowdy recalls "communicating" with a guy dancing nearby. "It was so loud, I remember sort of screaming at each other," she says. She can't recall the specifics of their conversation. "It was just the usual, where are you from, what do you do?" But she does remember the man's face, especially his "strange, wide-set, kind of buggy" eyes. "I have a photograph in my head, even though it's been seven years, it's etched in there." She later worked with an artist to create a sketch -- which her attorney John Coyle never bothered to use at trial -- and swears she would recognize him today.

The next thing Dowdy knew Hillin was racing to the bathroom, violently ill. Based on Hillin's symptoms Dowdy's expert witnesses believe both women were dosed with GHB, which can affect people differently.

Somewhere before midnight, Dowdy and Hillin left the club. Dowdy recalls the bug-eyed man from the dance floor sticking close by as the two made their exit. "He knew Katie was sick, and I assumed he was helping make sure she got to the car OK." The narrow staircase leading from the now defunct Crosswinds Club was treacherous; on previous visits to the club, Dowdy had seen tipsy patrons slip and fall. As she navigated the steps on that night she says, "I never remember feeling even remotely buzzed." But she did recall the man trailing her as she headed downstairs.

Dowdy unlocked her car and Hillin climbed into the passenger seat as the man waited on the sidewalk, about 10 feet away. Hillin insisted she would be OK if she rested for a while. She urged Dowdy to "go back up, dance and have a good time." Dowdy recalls feeling strange about Hillin's request. "Why would I leave her in the car? I can't imagine it -- she'd just been vomiting and for me to leave her seems really weird." Shutting the car door was the last thing Dowdy remembers. "It's like a curtain came down," she says.

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