finished with bill. at caleb's eulogy a whole bunch of little kids who play baseball. came because he had that much of an impact to them. we don't have to worry about them being remembered. they are there. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> 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 on 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? >> 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

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learn how abbvie can help you save. >> 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.

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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? when "dateline" continues. attention military personnel, families and civilians who were stationed or worked at camp lejeune before 1988. you may have been exposed to drinking water contaminated with benzene

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here's what's happening. death toll from hurricane ian rose saturday to more than 70. it's now being called one of the strongest storms that hitler hit the u.s.. hitler hit the u.s..

it's expected to we can even. more majority of deaths confirmed are reporting flooded. officials warning that the death toll could still rise. now, back to dateline. >> 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 chimed him 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 and watched the fight for his life swirl around him. and felt in that uncomfortable chair a withering stairs 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 by off of your fingernail. you never know how people are going to take things that you do. >> yeah 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, to. >> the glass door, for example. where the perpetrator went out was not fingerprinted inside our out. the kitchen floor would have been excellent for footprints. he obviously walked across their. 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] >> what's really stuck with them -- was kevin sitting in the police interrogation room looking to them, genuinely distraught. >> i felt bad bad. i was watching him in this little cubicle of a room. >> they agreed, the evidence pointed more to innocence and 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 russell and the russellville police. >> it frustrates me, angers me, that the police didn't care enough to do their jobs the right way. if history's me that they didn't find the person who did this. >> but's mother carol, believed his old bereave friend 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 better talents. 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, ask 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 for. >> all i used to say sales make 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 danny, but who's? 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 missing something or, you know. so i began to feel that some of those people may be needed to have their dna or compared. >> so kevin's legal team rolled up sleeves and slacks and went diving through trash belong 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 police chief told him to question a suspect and recent burglar. a man by the name of gary dunn.

steffy's eyes widened at that. >> my chief 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 but's. he was among the handful of men have been questioned then cleared by police. steffy new that done certainly would've had the opportunity to kill. his bedroom will window look directly across the small parking lot at nona's bedroom window. now had to get dunn's danny. >> how do you do that? >> i asked him for. >> and he said yes? >> basically. i just asked him he fee would be willing to give me his fingerprints and dna samples. if i could rule him out then, were done. >> there was a problem. to get that sample steffy 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. 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 that it doesn't it? >> he said well, it matches gary dunn. >> the result 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. don had told police he was out shopping with his mother. that was his al. alibi so steffy wet looking for copies of receipts from those stores to back up the allies. so this is the store were supposedly gary dunn came to do some shopping?

>> this was one of the places we have to check out in his alibi. the store had boxes and boxes of records receipts, it was the old fashion signed 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 felt it was all a wasted effort, he pulled out this scrap. did you find it? >> i found it. i found it. >> there it was. the 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 was at 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 prosecutors didn't it mention that 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. would they believe that this latest arrestee was the real killer? and could the state of arkansas prove it? who knows. >> 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, this is your son that is on trial again. even though he's not on trial. he is. >> when dateline continues. like that cardboard tv. i told props to switch that out. okay, everyone, that's a wrap. [ bell rings ]

wait, you faked this whole thing? i knew it was the quickest way to see you. i'm sorry, jon, but i'm already in love with insurance. you know that's weird, right? well, any weirder than faking a burst pipe? got a little carried away. yeah. (vo) red lobster's finer points of fun dining got a little carried away. when mouth is full, and shrimp is endless, the "booth bow" is the proper way to say "shrimp me!" ultimate endless shrimp is back, now with argentine red shrimp. welcome to fun dining. girls trip. ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ get fast relief of your worst allergy symptoms. including nasal congestion. with powerful claritin-d. so you can breathe better. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. claritin - d. [music playing] when we first arrived at st. jude it was just claire and i. she was still recovering from her brain surgery and side effects of that surgery meant that she had to relearn how to walk and how to speak.

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i experienced life at st. jude. every dollar that goes to st. jude, goes to a good place. it's keeping families together, during the hardest thing they'll ever face. the first thing i'm going to do when i get home is pet my dog. st. jude saved my daughter's life. i love st jude. please call or go online right now. let's cure childhood cancer together. [music playing] >> kevin 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 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 we committed this crime, that is my belief, based upon what i saw. >> dunn's trial opened in april, 2010. 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 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? >> while 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 an 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

them to the police department. >> except they were if not for that day. >> while 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 she questioned anyways. if anything, they said it should look at someone else for nona's murder, her old boyfriend. in that moment jones revised 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 says janice jones and kevin's friend gave police conflicting details on how they came across nona's

body, and what they were doing to savor. >> it is a lie, they are lying, all three of them. >> all three of the boys? kevin is lying, and his mother? >> 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, but they know 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 -- the judge declared a mistrial. but the prosecutor was not giving up. he refiled murder charges, and garry dunn's second trial began in 2011. >> now, gary dunn was being

tried a second time, after his first trial ended in a hung jury. >> this time they allow 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 happen to have the grave misfortune of jogging past gary done on the wrong day, in the wrong place, in 2002. >> it's a popular trail with runners, but very isolated. kelly came running by herself from that direction, and 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 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, his 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 that chair was not just a man prone to violence, he was a convicted criminal. so, would a town's 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, in 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?

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did gary dunn murder nona dirksmeyer? the first jury was deadlocked over the question. but in the second trial, they 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 that gary dunn was to be 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? >> the whole jury thought in the beginning that it was. he 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. the jurors eventually came to peace with that. >> it was gary's trial, when you 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 thinking about whether he was guilty or innocent, kind of like everything else. but as it happened to know now, 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 talk about the dna on the condom wrapper found in the 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, 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 proved. circumstantial evidence, which was compelling. they took a poll, guilty or not? several polls, actually. then, on the last round, they knew that they were finished. they went back to the court room, and looked at nona's family. >> coming up, being in front of her parents, but 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 hunger jury. >> a more powerful reason for that? but first impression, among

many here at russellville, but it was kevin who jones 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? >> i'm telling you you are dead 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. his lawyer, frost denied making mistakes in 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 who is 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 are 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 who 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 and everyone! i'm julian castro in for elie showman and. as i had this hour! more devastation. i'll speak with a first responder on the ground after dozens were killed by the storm. moving back to puerto rico, where so many are still picking up the pieces from hurricane fiona. plus the fight over documents found that mar-a-lago. why the doj is asking federal court to speed things up. and, babble and abbott face-off. on their first, and likely, only gubernatorial debates. in texas, to shine a light on immigration. this is american voices!