it isn't just the murder that they must learn to live with, but also the wreckage spewed for howell knows long through the family story. >> i have a motions of happiness, and relief, but still there is some regrets that i did not support roger and pm. from the beginning? >> it changes your perspective on the world. it really does. >> and, by the way, said roger and pm. a little piece of advice. >> if anything happens, and there is anything dealing with law enforcement. don't say a word. and you get an attorney. >> and that's for darla, who had finally found the love of her life. what was there to say? >> that moment of sunshine snatched away? >> yeah. you just take what life brings you. it's not always what you would expect it. when you're a young girl, you have all your dreams of what your life is gonna be and, somehow it just doesn't quite work out that way. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching! >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is dateline. >> they were high school sweethearts. >> we both expected to spend the rest of our lives together. >> but when she was murdered, sympathy turned to suspicion. his palm print was elon the >> murder weapon.

>> no question, it was his. >> but the mystery was just beginning because -- >> the dna was some other male. >> as a town chose sides and families fought for justice. more startling developments in a horrific murder. >> when you've got something that was this bad -- >> somebody's got to pay. >> somebody has got to pay. >> hello, and welcome to "dateline." >> nona dirksmeyer and kevin jones were a couple with a bright future. she was a self-confident 19- year-old known for her beautiful voice. he was her devoted boyfriend with big ambitions. then, a brutal attack their shattered their dreams. it was a crime that would shake a small southern town to its core. and pit a family against the community they called home. here's keith morrison with "what happened to the beauty queen? " >> look at her. look at the young woman at the heart of our story. you can see how lovely she is. the young beauty queen. can you see her vulnerability? by now your first impression is probably locked in. it's very unlikely to change. and certainly, that's how it was in russellville, arkansas.

the town where a first impression hardens like a patch of cement. about her and also about -- for better or worse, the young man accused of killing her. >> the boyfriend who found the body. >> the boyfriend found a body. >> first impressions die hard, including first impressions of murder. and years later in this small southern town, we had to ask, can they ever change. of course that question is quite obvious now to kevin. jones but years ago, he didn't care who he impressed or didn't. all he knew was this, he was going places. he was from a good family. lived near a wonderful city nearby called russellville, and was well liked. oh, and was adored by one girl in particular. his high school sweetheart, nona dirksmeyer. so, she was kind of like a soulmate i suppose? >> yeah, i was closer to her than anybody else.

he was going to marry her, someday. she was after all about the prettiest girl in town. local beauty pageants judges were wowed by her looks employees. they had already crowned her as such. but here's another truth her boyfriend came to realize. beauty really isn't anything. nona was a sometimes troubled girl. given to bouts of emotional turmoil. her mother carol was grateful to kevin for making her daughter happy. >> kevin was really interested in helping nona get through some of these hard times she was having. he seemed to be a really caring person. >> he even brought nona into his own family. his mom janice and dad hiram

treated her as one of their own. >> she was not a girlfriend. she was our family. >> when it was time for kevin to go off to college, he and nona stayed in touch and in love. through a wireless world of late night cell chats and of checks and emoticons. when he didn't respond promptly, she would wag her finger at him. >> she would send text messages saying, "are you still alive? " sarcastically, trying to get my attention. >> which is why he was so taken aback that day, a little more than a week before christmas of 2005. it was december 15th. nona uncharacteristically hadn't reached out to him or answered him since morning. at one point he turned her old taunt back on her texting, "you will alive? " even then she didn't respond. this was not like nona. >> four and a half years we had made a pattern. and that's what we did every day. and if that pattern is broken, it just kind of raises a red flag in my mind, why is she not

responding? >> were you worried? >> i was concerned. >> who knows why things work out the way they do. on that particular night, kevin was supposed to drive his mom, janice, to a christmas party. she remembers being in the car with him. >> i was said you know, there's a lots of reasons why she might not be answering her phone. maybe her plans changed. >> but right now kevin could think of nothing else.

he called his buddy brian who delivered pizza near nona's apartment. asked him to check on her. and ryan call that was something eerie. nona's car was in the parking lot, her house lights were on, but she was an answer the door. >> i said okay well i'm coming over there. >> they pulled up and ryan was still there. >> ryan and i knocked him knock and right through doorbell and nobody came. and we started to get a little frantic. >> so the two men ran around the condo tune nona's back door. kevin says he rushed up to the sliding glass door without taking a moment to look inside. >> so, when i was grabbing the handle, ryan touched me and said do you not see her. and i looked at him and said -- and he said, dude, there she is. and she was laying in her front room. >> nona wasn't moving. kevin through open the unlocked door and rushed inside. >> ryan at one point let my mom in the front door. they called 9-1-1 pretty soon after that. >> her name is nona dirksmeyer. >> nona dirksmeyer?

>> i straddled her midsection -- my knees were on the ground above her midsection. >> he tried cpr. but she wasn't a breathing. and her eyes, usually so luminous, there was no light. there was nothing at all. >> and i talked to her and just prayed that everything was going to be okay until the ems got there. >> soon, the little apartment was overwhelmed by paramedics and police. it was a long before an officer took having a side. janice listened as her son's voice suddenly rose above the chaos. >> then i heard him cry out -- >> a howl? >> yeah, that's what it was. >> and he asked them if she was dead? and they affirmed, "yes she was." >> nona was gone. nothing kevin could do about it. as he tried to absorb the

enormity of what happened, he heard a policeman ask, could he come downtown, please. they wanted to know what happened to nona. >> coming up, did kevin know what happened? police seem to think so. >> you have been in a fight recently or anything? >> i've never been in a fight. >> and watch what happened when police were not asking questions. >> oh, my god. please tell me what am i going to do? >> when "dateline" continues. > what can you do with sensiti cetaphil moisturizing lotion hydrates for a full 48 hours. because a lot can happen in 48 hours. dermatologist-recommended cetaphil. we do skin. you do you. mr. clean magic eraser powers through tough messes. so it makes it look like i spent hours cleaning, and you know i didn't. it makes my running shoe look like new! it's amazing. it's so good. it makes it look like i have magical powers.

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keith morrison (voiceover): in pictures, nona dirksmeyer forever radiates promise and beauty. >> in pictures, nona dirksmeyer

forever radiates promise and beauty. but there is something ugly that lives on too. her death and the way she was so brutally taken. nona's mother carroll knew it was bad. the moment she arrived that night to see police at nona's apartment. >> i told them i wanted to see my baby and of course they said you can't. they had the crime scene tape up. >> the police told carroll it was horribly obvious. nona had been murdered. they were on the case they told her. in fact, they were already trying to break down nona's last moments on earth. >> when had you last spoken with her? >> about 1:00 last night. i called her from my house phone. >> questioning the man who may have known her best. >> you have been in a fight recently or anything? >> i've never been in a fight. >> and kevin jones seemed eager to help the police figure out who killed his girlfriend. he readily agreed to go to the station that night to answer a few routine questions. >> what happened? >> i called her all day and she

didn't answer. i thought maybe her phone was just dead. >> as kevin careened from what looked like disbelief -- to grief. >> nona, i love you. >> to anger. back again. >> couple of questions i want to ask. >> a few questions turned into many. >> did you have a key to the apartment? >> yeah. >> and more pointed. >> i'm not accusing you of anything. did you hurt her tonight? >> no, i promise you. i wouldn't. i would never -- i would -- i would kill myself before i hurt her. they would leave me alone in the room. they would ask me questions. oh, my god. tell me what am i gonna do?

>> after a while the police told kevin he could go home. >> well you're out here. they had other people to talk. two young men nona have been seeing well kevin was away at college. but it was a long before the detectives determine the alibis for those other men checked out. and six days later, as he prepared to say goodbye to nona at the funeral home, police asked him to come back to the police station. >> can i get a drink of water? >> you bet. >> after about 20 minutes where the questions they asked me if

i take a polygraph test. >> what did you say? >> i said sure. >> kevin, i'm going -- attach. >> so, they strapped him up and ran through the innocuous questions. and then -- >> did you cause the death of nona but dirksmeyer? and then they went out analyzed it, came back and said what? >> the man who gave it to me said that he had not seen anybody fail the test worse in his 28, or some odd years of giving light a tech protests. >> kevin, there's no doubt in my mind that you killed her. >> the murder of the beauty queen was very big news in russellville. and given the nature of the crime and the victim, so young and pretty and vulnerable, the pressure to solve it from the public and the press was quite

intense. so, imagine how it was for the lead detective, mark frost, given that this was his very first homicide case. >> okay, we're done. we are done. >> though as he talked to kevin, frost sounded like a veteran who'd had seen it all, and was disgusted. >> you did this. >> no, i'm telling you. >> i'm telling you you're dead wrong. >> you killed her. >> i'm telling you right here. >> point blank. >> no, i'm telling you right here. at this point it was really questioning -- it was more of them yelling at me, telling me that they knew that i did it. >> yet the police didn't arrest kevin that night. here's what they did instead. they told nona's mother that the young man she thought would be her son in law one day was in fact her daughter's killer. >> the first thing that i was

told was that he was a sociopath, with a narcissistic personality. >> nona had been stabbed repeatedly around the neck and chest and bashed on the head. the medical examiner said that was what killed nona. the police told carroll that this had to have been a very personal attack on. not a something a stranger would've done, but kevin could have. so now carroll had to shocks to absorb. >> i knew he had done it. i knew in my heart was something you it was someone she knew. she would never let anyone in the apartment that she didn't know. >> so now, kevin's horrifying discovery was subjected to a dark and troubling spin. detective mark frost said that to him, the crime scene up their looked staged. and a week later, there was a press conference at which the police told the russellville public, don't worry, we know who committed this crime. police didn't mention the suspect's name just then, but it was a long before everybody in russellville new perfectly well that it was kevin jones. this is what appeared in the russellville courier three months after nona's murder. but nona's remains fear. and russellville police to court might request formal charges against one suspect. hiram jones is kevin jones's father. >> they tried convicting kevin within 90 days of it happening. if he was a stranger walking in a coffee shop would you read that? what would you think? >> it bothered but kevin's awful when bumper stickers, "justice for nona", started popping up in public >> coming up. >> the assumption that i formed, and i think many people formed was that justice for nona meant convict kevin. >> topping our news, the police make an arrest in the murder of 19-year-old arkansas beauty queen. >> on march 31st, 2006, not long after that courier article, police finally did announce the arrest of kevin jones for the murder of nona dirksmeyer. whether or not kevin was convicted in the court of public opinion was now apparently irrelevant. he was about to stand trial.

quite possibly be convicted where it really mattered, a court of law. >> coming up -- a palm print in blood on the lamp used to kill nona. guess whose? >> no question it was his? >> no question it was his. >> but on another key piece of evidence -- >> the dna was some other males. >> when "dateline" continues. r males. >> when "dateline" continues. when moderate to severe ulcerative colitis takes you off course. pun check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when i wanted to see results fast, rinvoq delivered rapid symptom relief and helped leave bathroom urgency behind. check. when uc tried to slow me down... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc caused damage rinvoq came through by visibly repairing my colon lining. check. rapid symptom relief... lasting steroid-free remission... ...and the chance to visibly repair the colon lining. check, check, and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer; death, heart attack, stroke,

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keith morrison (voiceover): a small southern city, >> the small southern city.

a local beauty queen murdered. her boyfriend accused of the crime. it was hard to be in russellville in 2007 and not be steeped in the story of nona dirksmeyer and kevin jones. >> this case probably had more statewide publicity than any criminal case in many, many years. perhaps ever in arkansas. >> yet of course kevin had a right to a fair trial and impartial jury. his lawyers argued that would be impossible and a place like russellville. so, the venue was changed to the nearby city of ozark. >> the media spotlight is on ozark -- as jury selection begins. >> to the prosecutor, the trials location mattered little. what mattered was the evidence. and he believed there was enough of that to put kevin jones away for years. jeff phillips was a deputy prosecutor. >> we believed, i believed that the morning of her death, kevin jones came in unexpectedly -- >> when the trial opened in 2007, the prosecutor told the jury the reason for this crime was as old as the bible itself. jealous rage. kevin jones had walked into his lovers apartment that day in december, 2005, and found with and it a cheating heart. >> while there he discovered either a text message from another person and or a used common condom wrapper on the counter.

and things escalated from there. escalated out of control. >> and the prosecutor said with jones repeatedly stabbing nona then crushing her skull with a lap base. he left his pump right on the lamps bulb. >> no question it was his? >> no question it was. the defense didn't even make an issue that it was his. >> but it's what kevin did next the said the prosecutor, that showed how calculating he could be. kevin left, he said, with her dead on the floor, and then waited through the afternoon] until hours later, when he could come back with his mother and friend to find nona's body. >> in my opinion, an intentional attempt to be -- to have someone else find her but him. >> trying to make himself look innocent. if that wasn't telling enough, the prosecutor said, then surely this was. kevin jones's police interview. right there, the prosecutor told the jury, was kevin's capacity for violence. in full view. sitting and listening to this, kevin's father worried how easy it might be for jurors to convict his son. >> it was just a nightmare. >> yet, kevin's parents never wavered in their belief that their son was just as innocent as he told the police he was. they even bet the family farm

on it. >> we put it up as collateral. >> and used the money to buy their son the best defense they could. and he needed it. kevin's lawyers knew their client had become the local poster boy for evil. >> when you've got something that was this serious. that is this bad. this girl was brutally murdered. >> somebody's got to pay -- >> somebody has to pay. >> somebody, but not kevin, said attorney michael robbins. they said the read out of that polygraph to an independent expert who reported that the questions seem designed to make sure kevin fail. the rest of the state's evidence, said the defense, didn't wash either. that bloody palm print on the light bulb of the lamp, the murder weapon, attorney bill russell agreed it was kevin sprint. and no wonder it was. kevin was frantically trying to save his girlfriend's life. so, of course, he could've touch the light bill. >> it is a totally innocent situation. the blood got on the light bulb at the time the body was discovered. >> when he's trying to revive her, you're saying? >> yes -- >> yes. >> the emt said the lamp was withing a foot of the body.

>> more disturbing? the evidence not collected by the police. said the defense, the first time homicide effective mark frost and the other officers in the department mocked up the case royally. >> the only area that was fingerprinted was the area around the body that there was blood near the front door. there was blood on the venetian blinds. an empty condom wrapper a short distance from the body. the police didn't go upstairs to see if that has been flushed. don't fingerprint the flush handle at the commode. don't dna that. don't dna anything up there. >> in fact, the defense did its own dna testing. on that condom wrapper. by the prosecution's account it was a key piece of evidence. the thing that lightly set kevin off on his murderous rage. but think about it, said lead attorney kenny johnson. if kevin actually saw the condom wrapper, he would've picked it up. would have left his own dna on it. but --

>> we sent the condom wrapper to a lab in and they found the dna. the dna was some other males. >> someone else's dna. not kevin's. and probably, said the defense, that condom was used by the color. but who? neither defense nor prosecution had an answer for that. the dna didn't match anybody in the database. and kevin's lawyers did have this. an alibi for their client. kevin's grandmother told the the court he couldn't have killed nona, because he was with her miles away in the town

of dover around the time the state said nona died. >> she is a genuine, down to earth, very levelheaded person. she was an incredible witness on the stand. >> but there was one compelling piece of evidence in the prosecution's case, said the defense, and they just wanted jurors to see more of it. that police video of kevin. >> she didn't deserve this. she deserved a life. >> the defense had jurors, watch all of it. it was betting this image would convince jurors they should change what may have been that first impression. decide kevin wasn't the that prosecutors had painted. but a grief stricken young man, who was innocent. so, what to believe? in the courthouse, the jury wrestled with its verdict.

50 miles down the world in russellville, the town cried for justice. if that meant conviction, well, so be it. >> would jurors convict kevin jones of murder? and whose dna was on that key piece of evidence? coming up -- >> i said, " it matches doesn't it? " >> he said, "well it matches gary dunn." >> who was gary dunn? and what if anything did he have to do with nona's murder?

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two leading candidates for senate. two very different visions for california. steve garvey, the leading republican, is too conservative for california. he voted for trump twice and supported republicans for years, including far right conservatives. adam schiff, the leading democrat, defended democracy against trump and the insurrectionists. he helped build affordable housing, lower drug costs, and bring good jobs back home. the choice is clear.

i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. i'm jessica layton with a look at what's happening. the kansas city chiefs beat the san francisco 49ers in a thrilling overtime super bowl when. the chiefs are the first back to super bowl champ since the new england patriots 20 years ago. a defense secretary lloyd austin has been hospitalized for a bladder issue. he transferred to the two deputy defense secretary kathleen hicks. the white house, the joint chiefs, and congress have all been notified. and now, back to dateline. to d. prosecutors painted kevin as a jealous boyfriend, whose welcome back to the "dateline." i'm craig melvin. kevin jones was on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, nona dirksmeyer. prosecutors painted kevin as a jealous boyfriend whose bloody palm print found at the scene,

was evidence he committed the crime. the defense countered that kevin left the print while trying to save nona's life. it was time for the jury to decide the young man's fate. here again is keith morrison with "what happened to the beauty queen? ". >> kevin jones sat in the courtroom, watched the fight for his life swirl around him, and felt in that uncomfortable chair the withering stares of the jury. >> they can all look at you and if you do one thing wrong, that they deem is wrong, that might sway them the opposite way. >> one facial expression -- >> one click of a pen. one bite off of your fingernail. you never know how people are going to take things that you do. >> he had every reason to worry. later, the jurors would recall how the images of this crime haunted them. >> blood all over the pictures.

>> the palm print in her blood -- >> but to the jurors, the evidence, or lack of it, looked bad for police, too. >> the glass door, for example. where the perpetrator went out, was not fingerprinted inside or out. the kitchen floor would have been excellent for footprints. he obviously walked across there. no luck, no prints were taken. >> they said, that kind of sloppiness made them wonder, what else did the police miss? while other suspects? the police claimed that they had checked the alibis of all these potential suspects. >> as well as they gathered evidence? >> [laughs] >> but what really stuck with them was kevin sitting in the police interrogation room, looking to them genuinely distraught. >> i felt really bad. i was watching him in this little cubicle of a room. >> on balance they agreed, the

evidence pointed more to innocence than guilt. after eight hours, they had their verdict, not guilty. kevin was free. and normally relieved, of course. but also furious at detective mark frost and the russellville police. >> it frustrates me, angers me, that the police didn't care enough to do their jobs the right way. if frustrates me that they didn't find the person who did this. >> but nona's mother carol, believed his old boyfriend had quite possibly gotten away with murder. >> if you think somebody else did it, why are you out there trying to find? >> and now who can begrudge a grieving mother's bitter challenge?. certainly not the jones family. on the day kevin was acquitted, they stood here on the steps of the courthouse and they vowed they would do whatever it took to find nona's killer. kevin's father, hiram, financially wiped out by the cost of the free court case, asked his son's legal team for one more favor. >> i said this is what i've got. don't know how much i need. don't know how i can pay you.

but i need this. >> the lawyers agreed to help. they asked an investigator, this man, to keep working the case. his name is todd stuffy. he's a part-time policeman and kevin's hometown of dover just outside russellville. part-time detective and full- time preacher. what an odd combination. >> i used to say it's the ultimate good guy. >> and right away he knew there was a key piece of evidence that demanded a closer look, that condom wrapper found in nona's apartment. it held somebody's dna, but whose? steffy wondered if police cleared those male friends and neighbors of nona too quickly in the early days of the investigation. >> do you think they have a valid alibi? because either i'm missing something or, you know. so i began to feel that some of those people may be needed to have their dna compared. >> so kevin's legal team rolled up its sleeves and slacks and went diving through trash

belonging to those young men. and they got some dna samples, but none matched the dna on the condom wrapper. steffy, the policeman preacher, needed a lead. you could say he needed a miracle. and wouldn't you know, he got it. it came in the most mundane way. two months after kevin's acquittal and more than a year after nona's death, steffy's police chief told him to question a suspect in a recent burglary, a man by the name of gary dunn. steffy's eyes widened at that. >> my chief and said do you know who he is? i said yes, he was one of the neighbors to nona dirksmeyer. >> gary dunn, a neighbor of nona's. he was among the handful of men had been questioned then cleared by police. steffy knew that dunn certainly would've had the opportunity to kill.

his bedroom window looked directly across the small parking lot at nona's bedroom window. now steffy had to get dunn's dna. >> how do you do that? >> i asked him for it. >> and he said yes? >> basically. i just asked him he would be willing to give me his fingerprints and dna samples. if i could rule him out then, we're done. >> there was a problem. to get that sample steffy processed, needed the cash strapped jones family to pay for. at first kevin's mother hesitated. the test would cost about $600. but the investigator insisted. what did she say? >> eventually she just kind of said, something like oh shucks, it's just money. >> so, she paid for it. and what a good investment it turned out to be. because weeks later, steffy got a call from one of kevin's lawyers. the dna test were back. and wouldn't you know -- >> he said it matches, doesn't

it? >> he said, well, it matches gary dunn. >> the results strongly suggested the dna on that condom wrapper was left by nona 's neighbor, gary dunn. now steffy needed to check out dunn's alibi for the day nona was killed. dunn had told police he was out shopping with his mother. that was his alibi. so steffy wet looking for copies of receipts from those stores to back up the alibi. >> so this is the store were supposedly gary dunn came to do some shopping? >> this was one of the places we had to check out in his alibi. the store had boxes and boxes of records of receipts, it was the old fashioned sign the slip kind of receipt. >> he's not kidding, boxes going back years. steffy rooted through piles of forgotten paper. >> how many boxes did you go through? >> i have no idea. >> i don't remember. >> hours and hours? >> i think i've tried to forget that. [laughs]

>> and just when steffy thought it was all a wasted effort, he pulled out this scrap. >> did you find it? >> i found it. i found it. >> there it was. a receipt that showed gary and his mom were out shopping, all right, on december 13th, not the 15th when they said they were, when nona was murdered. it wasn't the same day all? >> no. >> in fact, none of the receipts from the stores where dunn and his mother said they were shopping for that day gave him an alibi for the time when nona was killed. police and prosecutor didn't it mention that at kevin's trial. but now, a new prosecutor was on the case and he found the dna results and faulty alibi compelling. and one year after kevin's acquittal, gary dunn was charged with murder. many people in russellville struggled to know what to think. their first impression was that kevin jones murdered nona dirksmeyer. could they believe that this latest arrestee was the real killer? and could the state of arkansas

prove it? >> coming up -- gary dunn was the one on trial, so why did it seem as if kevin jones was as well? >> the first thing you get hit with is your son is on trial again. even though he's not on trial, he is. >> when dateline continues. >> when dateline continues. ( ♪♪ )

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94 percent of smart sleepers report better sleep. now, save 50% on the sleep number limited edition smart bed. plus, free home delivery when you add an adjustable base. keith morrison (voiceover): kevin jones's parents had won and lost. they'd won freedom for their son kevin, but had lost a young woman they considered a daughter. orkevin jones parents have won and lost.

they won freedom for their son, kevin, but had lost the young woman they considered a daughter. they wanted justice so badly for nona they spent their last dime to find her killer. they believed their sacrifice finally paid off when police arrested her neighbor, gary dunn, for her murder. >> i believe he committed this crime. that is my belief, based upon what i saw in these trials. >> dunn's trial opened in april, 2010. hiram jones listened as the state had already tried his son, hiram jones now argued that dunn was a sexually violent young man, who was stalking the beauty queen whose bedroom we could see across the parking lot. his own wife testified he was violent in bed with her, and that weeks before nona's death, she caught him hanging around known as front door in the middle of the night.

so said the prosecutor, the jury could be sure that dunn killed nona after entering her apartment with the intent of forcing a sexual encounter, and the condom wrapper proved it. >> his condom wrapper that was found, that have the dna on it, that did not have kevin's dna on it, it had his dna on it. >> so, dna evidence, a disturbing background, an alibi that turned out to be no alibi at all, in short, it was hard to see how dunn's public defenders bill james and jeff rosensweit could argue against their clients lies and dna, but that is exactly what they did. and with gusto. >> what you are saying is the state was simply wrong? >> the state was simply wrong. >> what's more, they could prove it. for starters, they said the state was not being honest about the dna on that condom wrapper. it was only a mixed, partial match to gary dunn they said, which meant -- >> many thousands, millions of

people are also not excluded. >> let me ask you then, is what you are saying that gary dunn did not touch that condom wrapper? >> that is what we are saying. >> gary was nowhere near that condom wrapper? >> well, he was across the parking lot in his apartment. >> minding his own business when nona was murdered. it is true, the defense said, dunn was not out shopping as he first claimed to police, he had simply gotten his days mixed up. it was, after all, two weeks after the crime when detectives asked for a detailed alibi. >> they asked for receipts, they found receipts, they gave it to the police department. >> except it was not for that day. >> well, he cooperated in full, he gave them what they asked him to do. >> the defense told jurors it was not gary dunn's alibi that they should question anyways. if anything, they said it should look at someone else for nona's murder, her old boyfriend.

at that moment, hiram jones realised with dread just for this trial was headed. >> first thing he hit with is, your son is on trial again, even though he is not on trial, he is. that is part of the defense that they use. >> how right he was. dunn's attorneys tried to persuade the jury that kevin jones, the first suspect of the case, had one shaky story after another. the 9-1-1 call, where kevin's mother is crying? >> her name is nona dirksmeyer. >> the defense said janice jones and kevin's friend gave police conflicting details of how they came across nona's body and what they were doing to save her. >> it is a lie, they are lying, all three of them. >> pizza boy is lying, kevin is lying, and his mother is lying? >> absolute liars, without question. >> in fact, the defense detainees tried to claim, you cannot keep up with the joneses and all of their lies. even kevin's grandmother, who said she was with kevin in another town, the morning of nona's death, could not be trusted. >> kevin's mother knows that kevin murdered nona?

>> well, i don't know if they know what they know, but they are covering for him. >> the lawyers say kevin jones cannot explain one thing away, the bloody palm print in nona's apartment. it was his and not garry dunn's. did it work? yes, it did. after three days of deliberations, the jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked the judge declared a mistrial. but the prosecutor was not giving up. he promptly refiled murder charges, and gary dunn's second trial began in 2011. >> now, gary dunn being tried a second time after his first trial ended in a hung jury. >> this time, the judge allowed the prosecutor to reveal a very dark fact about gary dunn. he was a convicted felon before nona was murdered. jurors heard from a woman named kelly jo fitzharris who happened to have the grave misfortune of jogging past gary

dunn on the wrong day, in the wrong place, in 2002. >> it's a popular trail with runners, but very isolated. kelly jo came running by herself from that direction, she saw a man sitting here on this bench. as she ran up the trail this way, she heard footsteps behind her, turned around and the man had a huge stick. he hit her over the head with it, knocked her down, hit her repeatedly. as he beat her, she realized the only way for her to escape was to wriggle free. so she ran up the trial that way as quickly as she possibly could, calling for help, pretending there was someone nearby. the police came a little later. they found gary dunn hiding in the water. they arrested him. he spent 18 months in jail. >> and then, newly out on parole, he moved into nona's apartment complex, set up house directly across the parking lot, months before nona's

death. dunn's lawyers admitted it was a blow to their defense. >> we had to admit it, and not make it any worse. >> or, was it already done? this time, jurors knew the man sitting in the defendant's chair was not just a man prone to violence, he was a convicted criminal. so would a town's first impression, that kevin jones murdered the beauty queen, finally be undone? >> the 12 people who will decide gary dunn's fate weigh the evidence. coming up, the verdict. >> he does not have no alibi, and that looks really bad. it looks really bad. >> will there be justice for nona and her family? >> i knew that they were waiting to see if they would be closure. >> when dateline continues. clo. >> when dateline continues. . cetaphil. we do skin. you do you.

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welcome back. did gary dunn murder nona dirksmeyer? the first jury was deadlocked over that question. but at dunn's second trial, jurors learned he was a convicted felon and heard gripping testimony hewelcome back. did gary dunn murder nona dirksmeyer? the first jury was deadlocked over that question. but at dunn's second trial, jurors learned he was a convicted felon and heard gripping testimony from the victim he attacked. the defense countered that the real killer was still on the loose. nona's loved ones waged a five- year battle for justice. was there fight finally coming to an end? here is keith morrison, with the conclusion of "what happened to the beauty queen? " >> this was the third time the state of arkansas had tried someone for the murder of nona dirksmeyer and the second time gary dunn stood accused.

but when they started to deliberate, his jurors were not thinking about second or third. they were thinking of first. kevin jones, the first suspect in this case. >> were any of you suspicious that maybe it was actually kevin who did this? >> i believe the whole jury thought in the beginning that it was. it was a high probability it was kevin. because the defense did a really good job of giving us evidence that it could be kevin. >> once again, dunn's defense had retried kevin jones for the murder of nona dirksmeyer. but the jurors eventually came to a sort of peace with that. >> it was gary's trial, and we need to look at the evidence that is against or before him. >> once they did, they were troubled. on the witness stand, that jogger described just how brutally dunn had attacked her, just as nona had been attacked. >> that was a really big factor in my thinking about whether he was guilty or innocent, tied into everything else.

bebcause that's what happened to nona, all of those things. >> it showed that dunn was a brutal man, and also a convicted felon when nona died. he even lied about where he had been that day. >> he had no alibi, and that looks really bad. it looked really bad. >> they also talked about the dna on the condom wrapper found in nona's apartment. some believe the dna probably did belong to gary dunn. but that made them wonder as well. >> if this guy was supposedly so careful to not leave no other dna or no other fingerprints in this whole crime scene, then you think he would be smart enough to take the condom wrapper with him. >> so, there it was. dna evidence against dunn, interesting, if perhaps not proof. circumstantial evidence which was compelling. they took a poll, guilty or not? several polls, actually. then on the last go round, they knew that they were finished. they went back to the court room and looked at nona's

family. >> coming up and being in front of her parents was the hardest thing for me. i was very -- it made me very sad, because i knew they were waiting to see if they would be closure. we could not do it, we could not give them closure. >> once again, the case of arkansas versus gary dunn ended in a hung jury. >> the more powerful reason for that? that first impression, among many here at russellville, that it was kevin jones who killed nona dirksmeyer. in the aftermath of the trial, kevin had a day in court. not for anything that he did, but for the damage that he says was done to him, by police. >> they just looked at me and said, he is the one that did it. >> kevin jones always believed the police zeroed in on him as the suspect in nona's death, and never seriously considered anyone else. >> you did this! >> no, i'm telling you you are

dead [bleep] wrong. >> you killed her. >> kevin sued mark frost, the detective with a case against him, and others as well for withholding evidence. a federal judge dismissed the lawsuits because the statute of limitations had passed. through his lawyer, frost denied making mistakes and withholding evidence, and neither the russellville police department or prosecutor would comment on the investigation. meanwhile, kevin has moved on. for reasons, you may understand, he became a criminal defense attorney and get this, decided to practice law in, of all places, russellville. the last time we spoke, kevin told us he has made peace with the one person whose opinion really does matter to him, nona's mother. she no longer believes kevin killed her daughter. in fact, she says she loves kevin. as for the others, they were more cynical. he tries not to dwell on what they think or whisper about him and the girl he once loved.

nona dirksmeyer, the song bird, the beauty queen, the girl for whom justice is denied. in 2018, gary dunn found himself in handcuffs again, after two incidents that occurred on the same night, both unrelated to nona dirksmeyer. dunn pleaded no contest to attempted kidnapping and indecent exposure. he was sentenced to 15 years. barring new evidence, the state does not plan to file charges against him for a third time in the nona dirksmeyer killing. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. hello, i'm craig melvin, and this is "dateline."becc! craig melvin (voiceover): a fire chief, murdered. his wife, the only witness. hello, i'm craig melvin. and this is dateline. >> reporter: a fire chief murdered.