are not required to leave? >> no. >> pretty clear what he thinks and what the actual law says. jerome powell, standing up for the feds independence wins my mvp. my real mvps are this squad. thank you all so, so much, quite a week and it was a pleasure to end it with you. remember, you can catch the nightcap again on saturdays at 11:00 p.m. eastern right here but for now we are all signing off. from all of our colleagues at the networks of nbc news thanks for staying up late. i will see you on monday late. i will see you on monday ya, she was my best friend. i just dropped. i just couldn't believe it. i mean, she was only 19. you get the news that a body has been found, and it turns out that's somebody you know. yeah. no one was expecting what happened.

this is out in the wilderness, in the tundra. why is she out here like this? it was very hard. there is nobody that would want to harm her. kerrie cathcart: an suv or a truck had driven through there. we thought that the person driving that vehicle could potentially be the person that killed her. all of a sudden, you guys are looking for a shooter out there. yeah. reporter: and there's a note. byron redburn: i watch every move you make. i will also shoot you in the head if you get close. it's like something out of a movie. it is. he knew who to prey on. he knew who he was looking at for victims. timayre: i didn't know who i could trust. it's nothing that i want to remember. [mysterious music] reporter: when people talk about alaska, they say it's the last frontier. and they use words like wild, untamed, beautiful.

those people are probably not talking about nome. we're just a couple of degrees south of the arctic circle in a gold rush town whose big money days are probably behind it, a weatherbeaten hamlet that's grimmer and grayer than your picture postcard vision of alaska. the motto here inevitably is there's no place like nome. and that's probably true. this is the end point of the famous iditarod sled dog race. right now, we're closer to russia than we are to the rest of the united states. only about 3,800 people live here. so by lower 48 standards, this is a small town. around here, it's definitely the big city. and like any city, nome has seen its share of evil. maggie ivanoff: where'd sonya go? sonya? sonya?

reporter: sonya ivanoff saw nome as a way station on the route to somewhere warmer. that's according to her best friend, timayre. she definitely knew that she wanted to go to hilo, that she wanted to live in hawaii because we were tired of the cold weather in alaska. and she was determined to make money and go to college. sonya came to nome from unalakleet, a native village 150 miles to the southeast. unalakleet's on a little spit. so you have the ocean on one side and the river on the other side. and it looks like an island, but it's not. it's connected by land. reporter: sonya was the fourth of six kids. older sister, christina and her husband, tom say if you think nome is small, unalakleet is miniature.

everybody knows everybody in a place like unalakleet. you're related to pretty much half the town. and so everybody knew her. mm-hmm. oh, yeah. yes. host: our first contestant is sonya ivanoff. reporter: not long after sonya arrived in nome, she entered something unique to alaska, the arctic native brotherhood pageant. it's not a traditional beauty pageant. nobody's wearing a ball gown, or a bikini, or anything like that. no, they're all using native clothes. her dad, larry says sonya hoped to win some scholarship money for college. these mittens were made from my aunt olga that passed away. reporter: she was proud of her heritage, wasn't she? larry ivanoff: yeah, she was. she was proud to be an alaskan native. you were proud of her. yes. reporter: sonya found work at the admitting desk of a local hospital. and a few months later in the summer of 2003, her bff, timayre also left unalakleet for nome.

and so they roomed together. without a car between them, the two walked everywhere. is it as safe to walk around at night in nome as it is in unalakleet? we thought so. we felt safe walking in nome. it just-- it felt like home too. reporter: well, these were kids from a small village. and sonya's sister and brother-in-law were worried she didn't have the radar necessary for nome. you sat her down at one point, tom. i did. i didn't even know who she was hanging out with. and that's exactly what i said. i don't know who you're hanging out with. if you went missing, i wouldn't even know where to start to look. reporter: there's a crisis of indigenous women going missing in the us. the numbers are hard to pin down. but what's clear is that in alaska, the problem is worse. the fact that native american women disappear at a much higher alaska than almost anywhere else

is not a secret, but it probably was something that she didn't know or think about. no. yeah, no. at the time, we never thought about that. we never thought about the amount of missing women. reporter: soon, they would think about nothing else. sunday, august 10, 2003, sonya and timayre were doing their thing hanging out with friends. in a town that seems to run on alcohol, they were sober. timayre remembers sonya had just one beer. timayre: it was still kind of early. i mean, we went out. i think it was around 11:00-- and that's early for high schoolers-- to a friend's house. and they were playing board games there. reporter: it was summer in alaska. the sun sets just before midnight. around 1:00 am monday, timayre, who had to be at work in six hours, decided to crash at a friend's place. sonya wasn't due at work until tuesday afternoon, so she had

all the time in the world. timayre: she felt like being out. it was actually a little mist raining. she loved the rain, anything with the rain. when we parted ways, i walked towards my friend's house, and she walked-- continued walking down the street, but it was towards our house area. we always had this saying, peace out, pal. and then we go like this, and then like this, and then peace out. and we did that. and she jumped in the rain and started walking. reporter: timayre watched her best friend walk off into the light rain she loved so much. and that was the last time you saw her? yeah. reporter: coming up-- timayre: i didn't know what to do. i did a lot of calling around, and nobody had seen her or anything. reporter: what had happened to sonya? when she didn't go to work, that's when we started looking.

asking people if they've seen her. tom: i actually went to the police station. i just told them i hadn't seen sonya, and they kind of took it like it was a joke or something. reporter: when "dateline" continues. *air wick* how far would you go to set your home ambiance? try air wick essential mist diffuser. it's perfectly portable and glows with a fragrant mist. transform your space with air wick essential mist.

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connectivity is a big part of my boys' lives. it brings people together in meaningful ways. ♪ ♪ timayre and sonya were the type of best friends who were almost never out of touch. they lived together and shared make up, clothing, even a bed, except on that monday morning. when timayre got home around 5:00 am to get ready for work, their bed was empty. sonya wasn't there. you know, we didn't have cell phones back in the day, so i figured she was just at a friend's house. reporter: timayre headed to the aurora inn, where she worked the front desk. i didn't hear from her at work all day. usually, she would call me. but i mean, it wasn't super not normal.

reporter: it wasn't super normal either. timayre was worried enough that she made some calls to try to find sonya. i did call her sister to see if she stayed over there, but her sister hadn't seen her. reporter: tom and christina remember thinking, there's nothing to worry about. sonya's silence could be just a byproduct of teenage drama. my wife and i discussed it. and we were like, well, maybe sonya don't want to be around timayre today, you know? reporter: that was monday. sonya wasn't due at work at the hospital until tuesday. so if tom and christina were right, she was just somewhere else other than with timayre. timayre, though, was getting more concerned. by evening, she knew sonya hadn't just slept late somewhere. and what really worried her was sonya's makeup bag, which had not been touched. i think more in the evening when i hadn't heard from her,

i kind of started to worry because she-- it's not normal for her to not go home and do her hair and makeup. reporter: tuesday morning, still no sonya. timayre went to work. and as soon as she could, she phoned nome police to ask the most unlikely question, was sonya ivanoff in the slammer? the dispatcher told her no one by that name was in custody. timayre: i didn't know what to do. i did a lot of calling around, and nobody had seen her or anything. reporter: by the time timayre's shift was done, her concern had grown to panic. around 5:15, she walked into nome pd, a historically white agency that had a rep for not always taking seriously crimes against alaskan natives. i think i was hysterically crying just because i was so scared because i mean, in unalakleet, we don't have really official officers like what nome does.

i didn't even know where to begin or how to tell them. i just told them i hadn't seen sonya. and they kind of took it like it was a joke or something. they were like, are you sure she's not out partying? and the police were like, there's really nothing to worry about? i felt like they kind of, like, shrugged me off. and i just felt like they didn't take me serious, because i was only 18. i didn't know if they thought it was a prank. or just overreacting. i felt like they felt like i was overreacting. but they took the report? yeah. they wrote something down. reporter: tuesday evening, tom and christina heard sonya never showed up at work. and now they began to worry. when she didn't go to work, that's not sonya. you know, that's when we started looking. asking people if they've seen her, people that we knew she might have been with. we spent the whole--

in the car looking, scanning. reporter: they also tried to think of people she might be with and settled on a guy named koonuk. and he was definitely interested in sonya? oh, yeah. mm-hmm. reporter: and did they get along? they did. oh, yeah. i thought they were going to be boyfriend girlfriend there for a while, but sonya-- she wasn't-- he wasn't her type, so-- reporter: even so, tom thought, maybe sonya and koonuk were together somewhere. i actually went to the police station. i was there just looking for information of maybe they knew where koonuk's camp was. and they say what? they were unconcerned. let's just say that. you don't get the feeling the police were working that hard on it at that point? no, because it was still-- you know, it's only been-- a day. a day. but no one was-- less than 24 hours. timayre was the only one that the alarm was high. everybody else was just kind of warming up to maybe

she's really missing. reporter: nome police did seem to step it up after sonya's boss called to report her missing. on wednesday, an officer named byron redburn came to talk with timayre. he asked about sonya's mental health and how timayre and sonya got along. that conversation was recorded. byron redburn (on recording): generally overall, her mood is-- you guys arguing or anything? timayre (on recording): no. i mean, [muffled speech]. if we argue, then we get back-- we talk about it. reporter: on the recording, you can hear timayre's concern. timayre (on recording): i mean, i can't stand being home and just sitting there because she's not there. byron redburn (on recording): she's somewhere. reporter: that afternoon, the police chief asked the fire department to help with a search. that's when it really hit, reality, was when we saw the search and rescue boats. reporter: timayre was also looking for sonya.

i was driving around with my friend, maya, and we pulled up to the hospital. one of-- i think it was sonya's coworker-- told maya just to bring me down by the police station. and when i got there, there was a big gathering of people. so i was like, oh, great. they found her. reporter: she was half right. they had found sonya, but it wasn't great. coming up-- so we gathered up cameras, and bags, and whatever we thought we needed to document, and we drove here. reporter: down a lonely road near an old gold mine, a heartbreaking discovery. he brought us to our porch. and that's when he told us. i think i just dropped. i just couldn't believe it. reporter: when "dateline" continues. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

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love the love, it was wednesday evening, 2 and 1/2 days since sonya ivanoff had last been seen. nome police had told tom and christina to sit tight. we had quit looking just because they told us to kind of wait at home. reporter: there was no way to prepare for the story that was coming. around 8:30 pm, a volunteer firefighter helping with the search had followed fresh tire tracks down a rarely used road and found something. he immediately went to the police station. officer bryan weyauvanna accompanied the firefighter back to the scene. so we gathered up cameras, and bags, and whatever we thought we needed to document, and we drove here.

the spot would be over there where the taller willows are. reporter: this was on a trail just off an old gold mining track called dredge 5 road. brian weyauvanna: we tried not to disturb any evidence or make new tracks. i saw the body was a naked woman, but i couldn't see the face. i knew most likely, it was sonya. reporter: the chief of police went to tom and christina's. he brought us to our porch outside. and that's when he told us they had found sonya. and she wasn't alive. reporter: tom called sonya's parents. it was the hardest phone call i ever made. reporter: outside nome pd was timayre. i think i just dropped. and i just couldn't believe it.

reporter: while family and friends reeled, a murder investigation began. out on dredge 5 road, officer weyauvanna anew the tiny nome pd couldn't handle this case alone. well, we had to get tarps to cover the trail, so that any evidence that might be there wouldn't get blown away, or if it rained or snow, it wouldn't get washed away. we needed to preserve the scene as best we could for the alaska bureau of investigation team that would come up. reporter: so they covered everything, the road, the trail, and sonya's body. they worried about weather and about grizzly bears. officers took shifts guarding the site. it was going to be a while before the cavalry came. solving crime in alaska is a little different than in the lower 48, isn't it?

it is. reporter: eric burroughs was the case officer for the alaska bureau of investigation. in the investigative world, you know, they talk about the first 24, the first 48 hours and how important they are to a case, which is true. but in many times in cases that i had to respond to, as well as other troopers, the first 24 or 48 hours might just be getting to the scene. that sounds like it's a good place to commit a murder if you're a murderer. it's called the last frontier state for a lot of reasons. it's not like the big city at all. reporter: the crime lab and its investigators are based in anchorage, more than 500 roadless miles from nome. criminalist kerrie cathcart caught the first flight out. as soon as she got to the scene, she saw clues. kerrie cathcart: there's a blood pool kind of close to her body. we could tell a vehicle had driven through that. the tire had obviously gotten blood on it. the tire tracks were still there,

so we documented those. we could tell, like, one of the treads looked different than the other tread. so you're suggesting that it had three of one kind of tire and then one of another? kerrie cathcart: yes. there was at least one tire that looked different than the other. reporter: they found more evidence that a vehicle had recently been down dredge 5 road. there is a paint transfer on a branch on that same road, and it was a little bit higher to suggest that an suv or a truck of some kind had driven through there. and it was a very faint light blue paint transfer. so you're looking for a blue vehicle with mismatched tires? kerrie cathcart: correct. reporter: that's probably your killer? kerrie cathcart: yeah. reporter: then cathcart got to sonya's body, naked except for one sock, bruises on her face and chest, and a single bullet wound in the back of her head. right then, any doubts about whether this was a murder evaporated. and then i'm guessing police come to you and say,

who could possibly have done this? who didn't like her? what problems was she having? timayre: yeah. but she had no enemies. i mean, there was other girls that were possibly jealous of her, but there was nobody in general that i could think of that would even want to do something horrendous or hurt her. reporter: even the night timayre reported sonya missing, the night police seemed so disinterested, no police had asked her to write up a list of sonya's friends. and now that sonya had been found dead, the one friend cops were most interested in was koonuk, real name, daniel angusuc. he always had a hot-headed i'm tougher than you type of attitude. but underneath all that was a big koonuk teddy bear. reporter: fbi investigator eric burroughs says koonuk's teddy bear core was not always evident.

he had a girlfriend. they believe they had a child together. there were domestic violence issues between him and his girlfriend. he had a temper. of course, all this was already known by the nome police department. and so he becomes a person of interest initially that they want to talk to. reporter: and that wasn't just because of koonuk's temper or his interest in sonya. police also learned he drove a blue truck with one tire that did not match the other three. in terms of his truck, it's not just that one of the tires is mismatched. it's that the correct tire is mismatched. correct. yes. exactly. reporter: that couldn't be a coincidence, or could it? coming up-- kerrie cathcart: we pulled a tarp out. there's a significant amount of dried blood on it. there was also three rifles. and one of those had blood on the end. and he had blood on his tennis shoes.

reporter: the evidence against koonuk seems to mount. was this sonya's killer? byron redburn (on recording): is there any reason we might be finding any blood on your vehicle? koonuk (on recording): no. reporter: when "dateline" continues. (♪♪) “the darkness of bipolar depression made me feel like life was moving on without me. then i found a chance to let in the lyte.” discover caplyta. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta is proven to deliver significant symptom relief from both bipolar i & ii depression. and in clinical trials, movement disorders and weight gain were not common. caplyta can cause serious side effects. call your doctor about sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts right away. anti-depressants may increase these risks in young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. caplyta is not approved for dementia-related psychosis. report fever, confusion, or stiff muscles, which may be life threatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements which may be permanent.

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now, back to "dateline" the yer now, back to "dateline" her family made sure sonya was brought home to unalakleet for the final goodbye. we weren't going to have an open casket because of her bruising. and we were like, no. and she liked her makeup, and she liked to look good. and so i did her makeup. and that's how we were able to do an open casket. you did it? i did it. i recognize that as an act of love, but that had to be brutally difficult. it was very hard. reporter: it was all hard. christina ivanoff: there was so many people not just from the village, but from surrounding villages. we held her service.

it was at the school gym. reporter: that would be the same gym in unalakleet where sonya had drained her first jump shots. what did she like about basketball? i think the camaraderie with her teammates is what she enjoyed. tom: and she was super tall, 5' 11". she was 5'11". reporter: while her family mourned sonya, law enforcement kept working. criminalist kerrie cathcart processed the scene on dredge 5 road. and aside from the tire tracks and the blue paint transfer, she found no usable forensic evidence. even sonya's clothes were missing. there was no foreign dna. she didn't have anything underneath her fingernails that wasn't hers. and there was just a lack of evidence. the rape kit was negative? the rape kit was negative. reporter: meaning no evidence of sexual assault. what evidence they did have pointed straight at koonuk.

on the floorboard of his truck, they found what looked like obvious drops of blood. and using a chemical that lights up green in the presence of blood, they saw a lot more. they towed his truck to nome pd. and we examined it. and we pulled a tarp out and what appeared to just have a significant amount of dried blood on it. reporter: as if somebody had driven through a pool of it? kerrie cathcart: right. yeah. and there was also three rifles and just behind the driver's seat. and one of those had blood on the butt end of the rifle. and he had blood on his tennis shoes. reporter: as cathcart worked on the blood evidence, nome officer byron redburn, his tape recorder in hand, went to koonuk's apartment. koonuk (on recording): i haven't talked to her in almost two weeks. the last time i've seen her physically was friday when she was on her lunch break, and i didn't even say hi to her. and that's the last time i've seen her. reporter: koonuk told officer redburn

he was 70 miles outside of town the night sonya disappeared. koonuk (on recording): i took off sunday afternoon, a little bit after 3:00. and we didn't get back until monday evening. reporter: he said he was hunting with friends who could back up his story. then redburn noticed something that looked like evidence. byron redburn (on recording): did you notice a scratch on your back? koonuk (on recording): where? reporter: koonuk said that came courtesy of his baby mama. redburn took koonuk to the hospital-- nurse (on recording): great. want to just drop your pants? reporter: --where his body was examined with the help of a nurse. nurse (on recording): we're just going to check if there's any secretions. reporter: redburn told koonuk the nurse would take a sample of his dna. byron redburn (on recording): that way, they'll have some comparison things to compare to whatever they do find with sonya. and if the two don't jive, then that's good for you.

but if they do jive, then that's not good for you. koonuk (on recording): how can it-- i wasn't even in town when anything happened. reporter: officer redburn told koonuk his truck matched the forensic evidence found at the scene. byron redburn (on recording): there's been some things coming up that make you and your vehicle interesting. koonuk (on recording): what's that? byron redburn (on recording): it turns out there was a bunch of tire impressions out there. they're similar to the tires that you wear on your car. koonuk (on recording): and what's that, mismatched tires? i have mismatched tires. byron redburn (on recording): there was blue paint at the crime scene, ok? reporter: the most important questions for koonuk were about all that blood police found in his truck, in its wheel well, and on his gun.

byron redburn (on recording): any reason that we might be finding any blood on your vehicle? koonuk (on recording): no. reporter: later on, koonuk explained how there might have been blood. he said he'd run over a rabbit, which didn't die immediately. koonuk (on recording): we hit it on the head, so i can put it to sleep. reporter: his story, that blood on his shoes and truck was from the rabbit, or if not the rabbit, maybe from a porcupine. koonuk said he shot one while hunting. we did not think it was a credible story. we thought it was made up. and he drove a blue truck. and it had a mismatched tire on it. and he knew that area. and he knew sonya. correct. yes. everything lined up. reporter: police had the perfect suspect. i mean, didn't they? coming up-- you set this case in a whole new direction. i just gathered information.

reporter: --an intriguing new clue, a witness who saw sonya that fatal night. brian weyauvanna: she speaks to the driver, gets into the passenger vehicle, and then they head that way, north. reporter: when "dateline" continues. resolve! your pet knows if a mess is really gone; if not, they may re-mark the spot. resolve gets rid of pet messes better than the leading competitor. destroying stains, neutralizing odors, and preventing re-marking. love the love, resolve the mess. head & shoulders bare clinically proven dandruff protection with just 9 essential ingredients no sulfates, no silicones, no dyes. dandruff protection, minimal ingredients. job done.

sonya ivanoff was seven years younger than her sister, christina. when sonya was alive, christina and her husband, tom felt protective of her. after her death, they felt a burden on them to find her justice. and so one week after the murder-- you showed up at the police department with a picture of sonya and stuck it on the wall. i wanted to put it up on the wall. my intention was that we didn't want to lose focus of this is who you're working for.

reporter: tom's gesture did not go over well. he says one officer shouted at him and wanted him to leave. they just redid the police station with new drywall. and he's in my ear just yelling at me. reporter: that didn't keep tom from visiting the nome pd again and again. i would go every day about 8:00 in the morning. i wanted to make sure that they knew we were still here. reporter: although they didn't tell tom, nome pd was pretty confident they already had their man, koonuk, or at least, they were confident until the blood work came in. the blood on his gun, the blood on the truck, the blood on his shoes, it's not human, none of it all? yeah, all the blood was animal blood. and the tire treads at the scene do not match the tires on koonuk's vehicle? the tire tracks did not match either. reporter: and the blue paint with an koonuk's truck

wasn't the same as the blue paint that had rubbed off on a bush on dredge 5 road. his story had seemed literally unbelievable, and yet-- it turns out, koonuk was telling the truth. he was telling the truth. reporter: every odd detail actually checked out. they found the porcupine right where he said it was. within, like, a mile or so. reporter: so he's off the hook? kerrie cathcart: he's off the hook. which kind of leaves you with no one. yeah, it was back to zero. after koonuk was cleared, no other blue truck with mismatched tires popped up. and while the case had been all hands on deck at the beginning, that didn't last. it was just as sonja's family had feared, the investigation started to slow down. a week after sonya went missing, only two of the eight nome officers remained on her case, byron redburn, who had interviewed koonuk early on, and bryan weyauvanna, who

was among the first officers at the scene when sonya's body was found. i thought they would assign one of the other officers who were there a little longer. but when they said that i was assigned to that case, sonya's case, i was humbled. i are honored. reporter: christina and tom were encouraged because bryan was a friend. then almost immediately, weyauvanna started feeling frustrated. he says redburn, who worked days, wasn't sharing any information with him. and weyauvanna was stuck on the night shift, not a great time to interview potential witnesses. after 3:00 am, after the bars closed, i worked alone. and i thought, how am i going to work on this? reporter: eventually officer weyauvanna, who describes himself as a laid back type b sis something very type a.

i told my dispatcher, oh, [bleep] this. i'm tired of not knowing anything. i'm going to start this whole case over. i got the folder that had all the information. that review of the file, that's all in the middle of the night? yeah. so maybe working the night shift was good for you? yeah, and maybe not knowing anything was good for me too because basically, i just thought, well, i'm just going to do my job. reporter: in the case file was a handwritten note about a tip that had never been checked out. i don't know when that note was written or who wrote it, but it was there. and i thought, man, we got to look into this. reporter: a woman named florence had called in after hearing of sonya's death saying she had important information. weyauvanna decided he'd talk with florence. and so nearly four weeks after sonya vanished when he was back on the day shift,

weyauvanna giovanna grabbed chief ralph taylor and a tape recorder. i said, ralph, let's go for a ride. you sent this case in a whole new direction. i just gathered information. reporter: the witness's full name was florence habros. she said on the night sonya disappeared, she and her sister had been out on the porch smoking when sonya walked right by them. florence said her sister knew sonya a bit, so they all waved. florence (on recording): i said hi to her. reporter: florence said she also saw a car that night. and although florence could not tell who was behind the wheel, it was clear the driver had an eye on sonya. florence (on recording): he started slowing down, slowed down, slowed down. reporter: the car drove off, only to reappear at the next corner where it intercepted sonya's path. florence was close enough to hear sonya's voice. florence (on recording): she said, what's going on?

and he started rolling down his window down. she speaks to the driver, gets into the passenger vehicle. and then they head that way, north. reporter: that's the direction of dredge 5 road, where sonya's body was later found. florence said she looked at the time. florence (on recording): i went inside and checked. and my sister had watched. reporter: it was 1:26 am, a little less than half an hour after sonya told timayre, peace out. so if florence's story was true, hers was the last reported sighting of sonya. that alone was significant. much more significant was this. according to florence, it wasn't just any car sonya ivanoff had gotten into. it was one sonya had to have recognized. coming up--

someone with that kind of information, they have to be courageous to speak up. reporter: --the tip that turns this case upside down. we needed to essentially start the investigation over. reporter: and then gunfire on the tundra. he says a shot rings out and then another one. all the other officers are concerned. they flip on their lights. they're running code. and they're responding to the scene as quickly as they can. reporter: was the killer hunting a new target? when "dateline" continues. dupixent can help people with asthma breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. so this is better. even this. dupixent is an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that's not for sudden breathing problems. dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. tell your doctor right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines including steroids, without talking to your doctor.

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reporter: the smoker was florence habros, who'd been outside at just the right moment to see sonya getting into a car. it happened right here, and it upended this investigation not just because sonya got in the car, but because of what florence saw on the car, actually, on the door. it was a decal. and the decal said nome police department. florence (on recording): the police officer stopped on the side. and she said, what's going on? reporter: weyauvanna knew florence's called to the cops about one of their own could not have been easy to make. someone with that kind of information, they have to be courageous, to speak up. right after that, you tell your chief, we can't investigate this anymore. this points right back at nome pd. we need to let the troopers know, you know, be transparent.

they have deeper pocketbooks than we do and more manpower. and they're not implicated in the murder. exactly. [suspenseful music] reporter: the nome police chief called in the alaska bureau of investigation to take over the case. tom and christina didn't know any of the details, but they definitely saw that the troopers had returned. there was people everywhere. one of the things that strikes me is that, you know, you get the feeling you could drive from one end of nome to the other in just a couple of minutes. i mean, this is a real small town. it is. and-- reporter: abi case officer eric burroughs knew one thing before he landed in nome. sonya's killer had left very little evidence behind. and that made burroughs think. you thought your murderer was evidence-aware, whoever they were. from the very beginning, yeah, because of the missing clothing. this is not a scene like in a hotel room or a bedroom where you might expect to find somebody unclothed.

this is out in the wilderness in the tundra. you take the clothing because there's the transfer, blood transfer, fiber transfer. you get rid of the clothing because the murderer might have left something on it. absolutely. reporter: burroughs' first priority was to figure out who was driving the police car florence said she had seen. how many other police vehicles are there that have that same similar look? and who else is authorized to take vehicles out, maybe take home cars maybe when they're not on duty? the nome pd had three ford expeditions. and they did-- they had a practice called hot seating vehicles. they only had three, so no one had a take-home vehicle. the vehicle stayed there at the police department. when there was a shift change, they might go pick up the officer at his house and bring him to work and transfer over that way. so this investigation suddenly goes from just about everybody in nome being a potential suspect to two officers who were on duty that night?

correct. i mean, this went from all we have is tire tracks to now we've got two suspects and two credible witnesses. reporter: the two officers on duty that night were matt owens and stan piscoya, each driving his own cruiser. owens had been on the nome force about three years, and he who'd gotten prickly when tom tried to hang sonya's photo on the police department wall. piscoya also had about three years on the force, and he was the officer timayre had described as not taking her seriously on that first day. we needed to essentially start the investigation over, starting over with the two officers. and it was arranged for the two officers to come to anchorage for an interview and polygraph. reporter: and then before either officer could get to anchorage, one more strange thing happened in nome. one of the town's three police suvs disappeared.

it was shortly after midnight on september 23 when a sergeant noticed the cruiser called 321 wasn't at the police department. he radioed the officer on duty, matt owens and asked if he knew where it was. owens said he did not. and when he couldn't find it anywhere else, the sergeant called the chief. it was late september when the sun here sets around 9:00 pm. so they were looking in the dark for the stolen cruiser. pretty soon, there's a fairly large mobilization for nome. byron redburn: for nome. yes. that search leads here? byron redburn: it does. reporter: at 2:51 am, officer owens called in. the radios that he finds the vehicle at a place called the bessie pit. it's a gravel pit. it's actually just across the road from where sonya's body was found. reporter: two minutes later, owens called in again, this time, urgently.

byron redburn: he radios that shots fired. and so now all the other officers are concerned. they flip on their lights. they're running code. and they're responding to the scene as quickly as they can. reporter: by the time the next officer arrived, everything was quiet. owens later recounted what happened. he says, a shot rings out and then another one. and he runs off into the tundra. after the other officers arrived, owens came out of the pit and made his way back up here to the main road. and that's when he confessed something to his chief, something that maybe a lot of other officers would not have. owens said he was really scared back there, and he thought a lot about his four-year-old son growing up without a father. owens said he'd realized something about himself. maybe he wasn't cut out for police work after all. they searched, but couldn't find any culprit. and ominously, they also couldn't find the remington 870 shotgun that was kept in the back of 321.

they did find broken glass. someone had thrown a rock through the driver's side window. a csi didn't find any fingerprints or dna, but there was one obvious piece of evidence. underneath that broken glass on the driver's seat was an envelope for the cops. oh, one more thing. it was from sonya's killer. coming up-- as you can see, it was easy for me to take your car keys right there. it was not her fault. she thought i was a pig. reporter: inside that envelope an ominous threat. byron redburn: you leave me alone, and i will leave you alone. i will also shoot you in the head if you get close. it's like something out of a movie. it is. reporter: when "dateline" continues.

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josh mankiewicz: nome, where the northern lights have seen strange sights, this among them. "i watch every move you make." josh mankiewicz: investigator eric burroughs is reading from a note found inside nome police unit 321. "pigs. i hate cops." josh mankiewicz: it's a message apparently typed by sonya ivanoff's killer, and it's not a thank you note. eric burroughs: "you leave me alone, and i will leave you alone. i will also shoot you in the head if you get close." that's like something out of a movie. it is. josh mankiewicz: the note suggested the killer had stolen a known police vehicle the night of the murder and used it to lure sonya to her death. eric burroughs: "as you can see, it was easy for me to take your pig car keys right there. it was not her fault. she thought i was a pig, and [bleep] just happened.

she was just a person, and i just wanted to see if i could that night." josh mankiewicz: if the note wasn't convincing enough, the author included proof, a souvenir of the murder. eric burroughs: inside this envelope is essentially a sort of id with sonya's picture on it. josh mankiewicz: burroughs soon learned that a theft of a nome police vehicle was not out of the realm of possibility. eric burroughs: what we found out is these vehicles are not necessarily controlled. they'd be left in front of the police department. they'd be unlocked, maybe keys in the ignition. josh mankiewicz: at the same time, he was skeptical of the note and the story it told. eric burroughs: there's not that many officers in nome. everybody knows who the officers are. the evidence says she leans into the vehicle and talks with him, like she knows him. and if it's some unknown person who's just stolen the vehicle, she's not going to react in that way that she was familiar with the person. correct.

she would not have got in the vehicle willingly. josh mankiewicz: burroughs suspected the note and the whole 321 episode might be an attempt to take the heat off of one or both of the officers who'd been on duty the night of the murder, matt owens and stan piscoya. both were scheduled to head to anchorage to be interviewed and polygraphed on august 24. that was the day after the 321 incident. owens said he was shaken up by getting shot at. so instead of getting on the plane, he went to see a therapist who worked with the police department. that meant officer stan piscoya was the first to sit down with the abi. investigator: which vehicle were you driving that night? i don't remember which one. i think it might have been the new expedition. i'm not really sure. josh mankiewicz: investigators dug for details. investigator: do you remember anything significant from that night, sunday the 10th to monday the 11th, over that shift?

matt and i, we were busy. josh mankiewicz: he said he handled a domestic violence call with matt owens. the suspect tried to fight the officers, and piscoya had to pepper spray him. investigator: after this arrest and this fight with this guy, did that take up the rest of your shift, or did you have anything else going on? i think i finished all our paperwork for bar closing about 1:30, a quarter to 2:00. josh mankiewicz: remember, the eyewitness saw sonya get into a police car at 1:26 am. stan says he was in nome pd doing reports during the time of sonya's disappearance. and that's verifiable? as verifiable as you can with what is written in the dispatch log. investigator: did you stop and talk with sonya that night, and did you give her a ride somewhere? no. josh mankiewicz: piscoya said he didn't kill sonya, and he never saw her that night. investigator: who could you absolutely vouch for, for not having done this, besides yourself? the officers. josh mankiewicz: meaning it was no one at the nome pd.

investigator: thanks for coming in here to see us. yes, sir. josh mankiewicz: five days later, matt owens made the trip to anchorage. investigator: how was your flight? it was a little rough, honestly, a little turbulence. investigator: a little weather? [chuckles] josh mankiewicz: as they had with piscoya, abi investigators asked owens about the night sonya was seen getting into a police car. investigator: i want you to run down your shift from august 10th to 11th for me. ok. josh mankiewicz: owen's recollection of the night sonya disappeared wasn't much different from piscoya's. he said it was just another night in nome, some patrolling, some paperwork, and that domestic violence call he and piscoya went on that turned into a brawl. he hits me upside the jaw pretty damn hard. my hat goes flying. my glasses are off. and i'm trying to restrain him. josh mankiewicz: like piscoya, he said they brought the suspect to jail and then went their separate ways. investigator: you know about what time that was?

it's in the dispatch log, sir. josh mankiewicz: owens said he headed out on patrol, then to bar closings around 2:00 am. about an hour later, he drove piscoya home, then returned to the police station. i just walked back in and was going to sit down and write some report and heard this, what sounded to me like a gunshot. josh mankiewicz: owens said he went back out and patrolled nome for about an hour, trying to figure out where the gunshot sound came from. he couldn't find it. then dispatch sent him on a call. and then he came back to the pd. at 7:00 am, when his shift ended, owens said he picked up the sergeant. i picked him up and drove to my house. and i got out, and he got in the driver's seat. josh mankiewicz: nothing owens said put him anywhere near sonya ivanoff. even so- investigator: did you pick up sonya while you were on duty that night? no. investigator: give her a ride somewhere? sonya had never been in my patrol car or my personal car, never anywhere like that.

you know, stan and i are, you know, obviously, not the ones that are doing this. josh mankiewicz: both officers' stories lined up. both maintained their innocence. investigators felt certain one of them was lying. coming up. investigator: on august 11, 2003, did you give sonya ivanoff a ride in your patrol vehicle? no. investigator: in august of this year, did you shoot sonya ivanoff? no. josh mankiewicz: two officers put to the test. which one was telling the truth? when "dateline" continues. [music playing] ♪♪ imagine checking your own heart with medical precision from anywhere. introducing kardiamobile 6l, the fda-cleared ekg that provides six-times more heart data than any smartwatch. and it detects three of the most common arrhythmias in just 30 seconds,

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investigator: you need a drink of water inu visit purple.com or investigator: you need a drink of water josh mankiewicz: officer matt owens didn't know it, but while he was talking to the abi in anchorage, investigator eric burroughs was checking him out back in nome. josh mankiewicz: what was his reputation within the nome pd? his reputation was he didn't necessarily follow the rules. they felt that he would do the right thing in a tense situation with shots fired. he would be adequate for backup. he didn't always do the right stuff, but he was an ok guy. josh mankiewicz: burroughs also learned owens liked the night shift and requested to stay on it. and on those night shifts, owens liked company.

he would often bring a friend with him for an unauthorized ride-along. they had spoken to owens on multiple occasions about not doing that anymore. did that seem to make any difference? no. josh mankiewicz: burroughs had heard matt owens like to pick up women. and after interviewing some of them, he discovered owens seemed to be using his patrol unit like a dating app. josh mankiewicz: we're talking about these women in his vehicle as ridealongs, but it's really more than that, right? i mean, they're not just observing the scenery when they're with him. the initial information that we had is that he was having sex with them on duty. and the stories you were hearing were that the women were doing this willingly or that he was using his uniform and his standing as a police officer to coerce them? it sounded like that it was probably being done willingly because these women were seen in his vehicle. they're not in the back of the vehicle, being arrested or under restraint. they appeared to be there on their own volition.

josh mankiewicz: key to what burroughs heard was this. some of the women said owens would follow them in his patrol car while they were walking and then drive ahead of them to cut them off. i guess what's significant about this is that the story that florence and her sister tell about the police unit traveling around the block and intercepting her is the same story that other women later told you about matt owens. yes, that's correct. josh mankiewicz: burroughs also found out owens and sonya were not complete strangers. sonya worked nights at the hospital. josh mankiewicz: so if he were to bring in somebody who needed to get stitched up, they might have crossed paths. their paths are going to cross. he knew who she was. josh mankiewicz: burroughs relayed this information in real-time to his colleagues in anchorage who were questioning owens. investigator: on your time in nome working this stuff, is sonya a person that you would know if you

saw her on the road, or is she like a complete stranger to you? she would definitely be-- it's somebody i know who she is. josh mankiewicz: owens admitted he knew sonya from the hospital, but said that was all. and if i brought a drunk up there for a title 47 or something like that, and there wasn't a nurse down there, i'd go up to the nurse's station and say, hey, can you get me a nurse down here? other than that, i don't think i've ever spoke two words to the girl in my life. josh mankiewicz: he also admitted he brought civilians on ridealongs. investigator: would it be unusual for you on a patrol at night to pick up women or meet women or give people a ride? no, that definitely is not unusual. i do have people that ride along with me, both male and female. josh mankiewicz: it wasn't the man the fbi wanted to know about. investigator: how would it look if somebody had come up and said that they know that you've picked up girls before? off-duty or on-duty, and that you've taking girls-- you know, gone different places with girls

and had sex with them when you picked them up. on-duty? investigator: mm-hmm. well, [bleep] that'd be crazy. i'm not going around picking up women on-duty or off-duty. i mean, even when i-- investigator: not even once? not that i know of. no, sir. i don't remember not one single time. that's not me to do that. josh mankiewicz: the interview was really part one. in turn, piscoya and owens were each strapped to the polygraph. investigator: is your last name piscoya? is your last name owens? josh mankiewicz: then came the money questions. investigator: on august 11, 2003, did you give sonya ivanoff a ride in your patrol vehicle? no. investigator: in august of this year, did you shoot sonya ivanoff? no. investigator: test the number. please sit still. thank you, matt, for going through that with me. i'll take a little bit of time to run through this, see what it tells me. josh mankiewicz: what do you suppose that would be? coming up.

have there been females in there that i've given rides to? yeah. josh mankiewicz: more questions for officer owens about the women in his patrol car. why do we need to talk about my sex life? investigator: because when your sex life happens on-duty, for example-- my sex life does not happen on-duty. investigator: --it's an issue. i mean, it does. josh mankiewicz: and those gunshots on the tundra? josh mankiewicz: does any part of the story he tells about being shot at make any sense to you? no. josh mankiewicz: when "dateline" continues. (♪♪) “the darkness of bipolar depression made me feel like life was moving on without me. then i found a chance to let in the lyte.” discover caplyta. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta is proven to deliver significant symptom relief from both bipolar i & ii depression. and in clinical trials, movement disorders and weight gain were not common. caplyta can cause serious side effects. call your doctor about sudden mood changes,

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stan piscoya and matt owens, the two known police officers on-duty the night sonya ivanoff was murdered, had both agreed to be polygraphed. stan piscoya flies to anchorage, does an interview with you guys, takes a polygraph, and is cleared. that's correct. josh mankiewicz: that left owens. how does matt owens do on the polygraph? he failed. investigator: to my amazement, you didn't pass those polygraph exams. [bleep] josh mankiewicz: the mood in that room changed. the abi investigators read owens his rights. investigator: you have the right to remain silent. do you understand that right? yes, sir. josh mankiewicz: owens continued to say he had nothing to do with sonya's murder. sonya, again, as i said yesterday, has never been in my patrol car. josh mankiewicz: he did admit he'd given rides to other women. have there been females in there

that i've given rides to? yeah. josh mankiewicz: investigators saw a pretty clear pattern of behavior that matched sonya's disappearance. owens did not. and he didn't understand why that looked exactly the same to you. no. he would say, what does my sex life with women have anything to do with her getting into a vehicle? why is my sex life a part of this investigation or whatever? why do we need to talk about my sex life? investigator: because when your sex life happens on-duty, for example-- my sex life does not happen on-duty. investigator: --it's an issue. i mean, it doesn't. josh mankiewicz: owens also denied having anything to do with the theft of vehicle 321. so you're telling me that i staged that cop car. investigator: i absolutely do. how did i do that? josh mankiewicz: does any part of the story he tells about finding that police vehicle and being shot at make any sense to you? no, it doesn't. i was up there on the highway. i seen what looked like brake lights. eric burroughs: brake lights only flash if somebody's

pressing on the brake pedal. within a minute, you're down behind the vehicle, and you notice the tailgate is up and the shotgun is missing. suggesting that somebody stopped the vehicle, immediately got out, and got the shotgun, and they're armed. right. in all the training any police officer has done, this is not a normal situation. this is a dangerous situation. well, as you come up on the driver's side, are you checking it for occupants? not really. i can't say as i am. eric burroughs: he doesn't clear the vehicle. he doesn't pull out his flashlight. he doesn't pull out his firearm, even though he says he just saw brake lights. which would be standard protocol. absolutely. josh mankiewicz: burroughs says that what owens claims he did after being shot at also makes no sense. eric burroughs: he runs off into the tundra. there is all kinds of abandoned equipment, rocks, piles of gravel in the immediate area, great for taking cover and returning fire if necessary. josh mankiewicz: still, no matter what investigators believed, they needed proof.

and they didn't have it. josh mankiewicz: and he's not facing any charges. not at this point. matt owens had not been charged with any crime. even so, his life was in freefall. he returned here to nome, but not to work. the police department had put him on administrative leave. he was in the midst of a messy divorce and a custody battle over his four-year-old son. he was living in a friend's spare room. more importantly, matt owens was the prime suspect in the biggest murder case nome had ever seen. josh mankiewicz: the abi continued to investigate. they spoke with owens' soon-to-be ex-wife, who mentioned a phone call from matt. owens calls his ex-wife. he has their son. and he says that he needs to drop off their son because there's a missing girl. he has to go into work early, and it doesn't look good. josh mankiewicz: she said the date of the call was easy to remember because it was august 12, matt owens' birthday.

as for the time, she said it was before she left work, around 4:30. josh mankiewicz: and at that point, when he makes that call, sonya hasn't even been reported missing yet. yes. josh mankiewicz: the walls were closing in. burroughs heard from a woman who spent time with owens, who said he wanted her to leave alaska soon with him. the abi wasn't going to let that happen. october 25, 2003, 2 and 1/2 months after sonya ivanoff was killed, matt owens was arrested for her murder. the next day, tom and christina went to his arraignment. we weren't prepared for the greeting we got. which was what? oh, man, we were met with hostilities, for sure. because a police officer's been arrested for a murder, and people are angry at you? they were angry. they were-- he didn't do this.

josh mankiewicz: officer weyauvanna says it was members of owens' mostly white church who spoke up on his behalf. they had their opinions, and they voiced them. they weren't afraid to voice their opinions. the lack of respect on their part was easy to understand if you're native. josh mankiewicz: for timayre, just out of high school when her best friend was killed, owens' arrest was stunning. josh mankiewicz: you instantly recognized that name? you already knew him? i mean, i knew him as a police officer. did that make any sense to you? no, it didn't. i was confused because these guys are supposed to help us. they're supposed to protect us. they're supposed to be the ones keeping us safe. josh mankiewicz: two days after his arrest, matt owens was fired by the nome pd. it wasn't long before some of the women of nome came forward to say that for quite a while, matt owens had been doing the opposite of protecting and serving.

coming up. now we start getting a different set of women coming forward that want to say something, because they felt safe. and these are women who wound up in his patrol car not by their own choice. eric burroughs: that's correct. josh mankiewicz: new accusations and new evidence. we start digging, and literally we treated it like we were panning for gold. josh mankiewicz: what would investigators find? when "dateline" continues. [music playing] dupixent helps people with asthma breathe better in as little as two weeks. when you can breathe better, what isn't better? this is better. this is better. that's better. dupixent is an add on treatment for specific types of moderate to severe asthma. it works with your asthma medicine to help improve lung function. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's proven to help prevent asthma attacks. and doesn't that make things better? dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe.

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billionaire as political power and influence over trump in recent months. and donald trump's election interference case is paused. president-elect trump's reelection makes it unlikely either of the two federal cases against him will proceed. for now, back to "dateline." troubling stories about owens' long nights on patrol. now we start getting a different set of women coming forward that want to say something, because they felt safe. and these are women who wound up in his patrol car not by their own choice. that's correct. in one case, one of them was arrested, and then he sexually assaulted her. it could have been an arrest or just like, hey, do you need a ride to your home? he's on the grave shift. it's the middle of the night. josh mankiewicz: owens denied the sexual assault allegations, including those from a woman who

says that after he forced her to have sex, owens told her no one will believe a drunk alaskan native over a police officer. so here's the really awful thing. owens may actually have judged the situation accurately. the six women who came forward after his arrest told stories that ranged from stalking to rape. one said she'd gone into the police department to file a complaint. another said she'd mentioned owens' behavior to someone else at the pd, and nothing ever happened. josh mankiewicz: eric burroughs was running a murder investigation with a lot of missing pieces. for example, investigators found the shotgun from unit 321, but got no usable forensics from it. and on the cruiser itself, no dna or prints that would connect owens to the theft or to sonya. they hadn't found the clothing sonya was wearing the night she died or the weapon used to kill her. and each missing piece was a problem.

when you're conducting an investigation, i describe it like this. imagine that you have three or four jigsaw puzzles, and all the pieces are thrown into a box. you don't have any idea what the picture is. you're trying to grab all these pieces, and you hope that you can get enough of the right pieces to make a picture that everyone can see and understand. josh mankiewicz: the hunt for missing pieces sent burroughs and his team to an actual hunting camp called coffee creek, 70 miles north of nome. matt owens was known to go there. he was observed burning some gloves that were virtually new. josh mankiewicz: burroughs wondered if owens torched his gloves, what else could be found there? eric burroughs: we start digging up into the fire pit. and literally we treated it like we were panning for gold. and we got some water, and we put some of the ashes in a bucket, swirl it around, and get rid of the ashes

and see what we could see. and i found a eyelet to a shoe. like where the laces go through? where the laces go through, yeah. and i went to the shoe. it obviously had been in the fire, and it was corroded and stuff, but i could make out skecher. josh mankiewicz: sonya was wearing skechers. she was wearing skechers shoes on the night she disappeared. josh mankiewicz: they moved the entire ash pit to nome and went through it for days. the result? more eyelets from skechers, metal parts from a bra, and a metal button with a logo, tilt. then burroughs turned to christina for help. he did come over to the house and showed me a picture of stuff they had found in a fire pit. could you identify any of that stuff? i did. they were the brand jeans that my sister wore. josh mankiewicz: presumably, anybody could have burned stuff there. it doesn't have to be matt owens. right. so it's not the smoking gun evidence that says, aha, matt, this is yours.

josh mankiewicz: then, in the same burn pit, they found a key, and it could be connected to owens. it was for his uncle's post office box. the hunt for the murder weapon was equally painstaking. so we knew from the autopsy that the bullet was a 22 round. which means it's from one of several possible guns. right. josh mankiewicz: at the crime scene, investigators cut back the plants. eric burroughs: and we actually found the bullet casing, or the shell. josh mankiewicz: which told you what? it's an automatic, as opposed to a revolver, where it's going to stay in the weapon. josh mankiewicz: that narrowed down the list a bit. nome police officer byron redburn suggested investigators look for the gun in the nome police evidence room. eric burroughs: so we go up to the nome pd evidence room. the evidence locker and the evidence room key is in one of the sergeants' mailbox. anybody can get it. so pretty much anybody could help themselves to anything in the evidence room

and not get caught. as long as they get into the police department, yes, essentially. josh mankiewicz: in evidence, they found this, a jennings 22. eric burroughs: the firearms analysis gave us a list of guns. the jennings 22 was one of the guns on the list. josh mankiewicz: was it possible owens or someone else had secretly borrowed the gun and then replaced it after they'd used it to commit a murder? that was possible, yes. however, it was hardly-- and forgive me here-- a smoking gun. no forensics linked matt owens to the jennings, and his service weapon wasn't a 22. investigators did manage to tie up one loose end-- the truck with the mismatched tires. so this guy and his girlfriend just happened to park out here, just because they need to answer nature's call. exactly. and they don't realize that they're, what, just a few yards from sonya's body? correct. josh mankiewicz: it was entirely

unrelated to the murder. while investigators were working the case, matt owens was working on bail. josh mankiewicz: officer matt owens is locked up on a murder charge and gets bail. it's ridiculous. in a town of 3,500 people. that was sickening. josh mankiewicz: after two months in jail, owens got what he wanted-- supervised release. he also hired a respected and aggressive attorney and began to prepare his defense. this isn't reporting. this is harassment. we let you take your picture. now beat it. josh mankiewicz: coming up. attorney: you were working the night that sonya was murdered, right? yes, sir, i was. josh mankiewicz: officer owens takes the stand, and the defense points at someone else. he has an obvious and huge motive. josh mankiewicz: was the wrong cop on trial? when "dateline" continues. [music playing] i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

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when sonya stepped into that patrol car that night, it was like she was stepping into her own coffin. josh mankiewicz: the trial of former nome police officer matt owens began on january 18, 2005, 17 months after sonya ivanoff's murder. investigators had assembled evidence like pieces of a puzzle. now it was prosecutor rick svobodny's job to show the finished picture to the jury. he put on nearly 70 witnesses, laying out a circumstantial case against a man

once trusted with a badge. there was matt owen's call to his ex-wife about a missing woman before sonya was reported missing, his incredible story about finding 321, and how owens had ample time to kill sonya and then cover his tracks. on the morning sonya died, the defendant is unaccountable for over five hours. josh mankiewicz: timayre testified about the last time she saw her best friend. rick svobodny: when you left, did you leave together? yes. josh mankiewicz: three witnesses testified they'd seen sonya passing by on foot that night, tracing her path from the time she left timayre, until florence habros saw her get into a police car. rick svobodny: where was sonya when the window came down? on the passenger side. what was the strongest part of your case, do you think? coffee creek.

josh mankiewicz: where owens was seen tossing gloves into a burn pit. they went through it, and they came up with physical evidence. josh mankiewicz: the tilt jeans button, the skechers eyelets, and the key linked to matt owens. after the prosecution built its case, the defense tried to tear it down. owens' attorney called a witness who said he saw sonya speeding past him in a blue pickup on monday night, half a day after the prosecution's timeline had her dead. i had gone down to subway. and when i went in the door, there was a missing person's photo on the door. it just struck me. like, that looks like the girl that was in that pickup. haven't you said nobody will ever make me say it was her? i don't know that i've said it that way, but i won't say that it was her. i already pointed that out. i've said that i wasn't 100% sure it was her. josh mankiewicz: under cross-examination, the state's firearms expert admitted the gun found

in the evidence room was probably, but not absolutely the murder weapon. as for the mailbox key from coffee creek, the defense put on the mailbox owner, who said owens never had a key. and then staring down the barrel of a murder charge, matt owens took the stand in his own defense. attorney: you were working the night that sonya was murdered, right? yes, sir, i was. josh mankiewicz: he told the jury his ex-wife had her dates wrong. his call about the case was a week later than she thought. he did acknowledge an interest in sonya. he admitted looking her up on the police computer. that's right. i think from day one, when he had sonya's name run by the dispatcher, she was a young attractive girl, and he wanted to know something about her because maybe something could happen. josh mankiewicz: on the witness stand, owens did admit he had run sonya's name, just to make sure she was of legal drinking age.

attorney: that was just a matter of curiosity because you didn't see her in the bar or she wasn't in the bar at the time. well, it was a disagreement that officer stots and i had about her age. josh mankiewicz: the sex-based allegations from the six women who came forward were all ruled inadmissible, so owens didn't have to answer for them at trial. under oath, owens insisted he didn't kill sonya ivanoff. and he had nothing to do with the theft of 321. then his attorney presented an alternate theory of the case. a cop may have killed sonya, but it wasn't matt owens. the defense suggested officer byron redburn should have been a suspect. and who was it communicated and coordinated with the troopers about the ivanoff case? officer redburn. josh mankiewicz: he was the one who thought the murder weapon might be found in the evidence room. if redburn, for whatever reason, killed ms. ivanoff, he has an obvious and huge motive. josh mankiewicz: a motive, the defense

argued, to frame matt owens. they told the jury owens had reported redburn for punching a suspect. redburn carried a grudge about that, they said. and he was even angrier because owens was having an affair with redburn's daughter. as he's furious about matt's relationship with his daughter, jennifer shannon. josh mankiewicz: the defense did not offer any solid evidence pointing to redburn. and in case the jury didn't find him to be a convincing suspect, the defense offered the original one for good measure. who does she have relationships with that could lead to homicidal action? well, kunnick comes right to mind. josh mankiewicz: in his closing argument, prosecutor svobodny told the jury that sonya's killer was matt owens and only matt owens. now you've heard the case of a cop who is a killer. josh mankiewicz: after more than 40 hours of deliberation, the judge called everyone

back to the courtroom. counsel, i received a note from the jury, which reads the jury is deadlocked and cannot reach a unanimous decision. josh mankiewicz: the judge declared a mistrial. matt owens walked out the door while sonya's parents' hearts ached. it was hard. and to go through a second trial was just as hard, something you don't want anyone to go through. josh mankiewicz: after the trial, owen's attorneys asked for a change of venue. and so when the second trial began, seven months later, it was in kotzebue, a plane ride away from nome, above the arctic circle. the person who killed sonya was what police call evidence aware. josh mankiewicz: the prosecution's case was a virtual carbon copy of the first trial. no telling if it would result in an identical outcome.

then after prosecutors had rested and the defense began putting on its witnesses, abi investigator eric burroughs got a phone call about new and possibly explosive evidence. josh mankiewicz: you'd never heard that. never had heard that. josh mankiewicz: he relayed the new information to the prosecutor. and he said, you need to get on a plane. you need to go down to nome. and i said, but we've already arrested. what are we going to do with this? and essentially, he's like, you let me handle that part. you do your investigator part. josh mankiewicz: coming up. it was one of those jaw dropping moments. josh mankiewicz: the race is on to find a crucial new witness. then, tears in the courtroom. this time, there would be a verdict, when "dateline" continues. when you live with diabetes, progress is... having your coffee like you like it

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get xfinity streamsaver with netflix, apple tv+, and peacock included, for only $15 a month. [music playing] investigator eric burroughs hurried back to nome, trying to gather new evidence in the last moments of a murder trial. he knew he faced long odds, but he also knew nome gave him one big advantage. nome is a small town, and sometimes it seems that everyone knows everyone. take officer brian weyauvanna for example. he was friends with sonya's family. he was also the first to uncover evidence that a police officer might have been involved in her murder.

now, during owens' second trial, weyauvanna was chatting with a neighbor. and that neighbor told him something potentially explosive about matt owens. he asked, did it ever come up in trial that charlotte calandrelli saw sonya's id in matt's bedroom? it was one of those jaw dropping moments, like. josh mankiewicz: charlotte calandrelli had rented a room to owens after he and his wife split. burroughs believed charlotte was probably talking about the same gym card that was found in police vehicle 321. so it could tie owens both to the murder and the subsequent cover-up. if true, that would be huge for the prosecution. that is, if the judge would allow it into evidence. i mean, this is third party hearsay, right? yeah. josh mankiewicz: burroughs had to trace the new information

back to its source. he first spoke with officer weyauvanna's across-the-street neighbor, a guy named dealy blackshear. dealy blackshear: it came up that she had seen in the area where matt was, in their house-- investigator: the area where he was living? dealy blackshear: yeah, she saw a woman's wallet and sonya ivanoff's id card. josh mankiewicz: crucially important was when charlotte saw sonya's id. dealy blackshear: before the patrol car shooting. josh mankiewicz: meaning before sonya's pool id showed up on the front seat of 321. now, remember, blackshear's story was still hearsay. you got to go find charlotte and get her to repeat that story on the stand. ultimately, yes. josh mankiewicz: burroughs knew the calandrelli's were old family friends of owens, and he worried charlotte would just deny everything. so he obtained a warrant. dealy blackshear: well, charlotte, i may have opened my mouth and spoken out of turn.

josh mankiewicz: which allowed him to record a phone call from dealy blackshear to charlotte calandrelli. dealy blackshear: the conversation that i remember, you were concerned that you had seen, along with matt's other stuff, you had seen sonya's id or red card. and my recollection is that you said, i'm going to go tell the lawyers today. josh mankiewicz: well, charlotte said, she never did tell anyone except dealy, because she thought she'd seen in the paper that the cops already had the id. charlotte calandrelli: so i didn't think any more about it then. josh mankiewicz: here's what's crucial. she did not deny seeing sonya's id. back in kotzebue, the prosecution asked the judge to put charlotte calandrelli on the witness stand, and the judge agreed, except just as burroughs had feared, when charlotte testified-- rick svobodny: did you see mr. owens with any identification of sonya ivanoff? charlotte calandrelli: no. josh mankiewicz: --she denied everything. rick svobodny: did you see him with the wallet

of sonya ivanoff? charlotte calandrelli: no. josh mankiewicz: so the prosecution played the tape of dealy blackshear's conversation with calandrelli. then the attorneys laid out their arguments. she got into a nome patrol car driven by the defendant. and this is the wrong man. this is the wrong cop. josh mankiewicz: once again, the case went to a jury. this time, there was a verdict. man: we, the jury, duly impaneled and sworn to try the above entitled case, find the defendant, matthew owens, guilty of the crime of murder in the first degree. josh mankiewicz: for sonya's family, there were tears, not quite of joy but maybe of relief. we're happy that he got his guilty verdict for being a cold-blooded killer. josh mankiewicz: investigator burroughs believes owens had his eye on sonya for a while, and that when he saw her walking alone that august night, he thought, now's my chance.

eric burroughs: he gets her to get into the vehicle, like he's done with so many others. he probably starts propositioning her about sex. and somewhere in there, she says, not only no, but i'm going to tell. josh mankiewicz: matt owens had picked the wrong victim. she was outspoken. if you made her mad, she would tell you. whatever owens had planned for her, she was not going to just sit there and suffer. no. nope. josh mankiewicz: matt owens was sentenced to 101 years in prison. owens would not speak on camera, but in a statement sent by his brother, told us, he did not kill sonya ivanoff, and he denies engaging in stalking or abusing women in any way. he also said he couldn't get a fair trial in the nome area. ever since the murder, sonya's story has echoed through nome. michael heintzelman is the police chief there now. when former police chief michael heintzelman arrived in 2018, he'd never heard of matt owens or the murder

of sonya ivanoff. that changed quickly. we went to a city council meeting, and we had people standing up, telling them about how they did not trust the police department, and that they remember that a police officer had murdered one of the alaskan native ladies in town. i thought to myself, we're going to have a lot to really gain the trust of these folks. josh mankiewicz: not only did heintzelman have to overcome that history. he took over a department with a dismal record of handling sexual assaults. an internal review found 460 open cases in nome, mostly involving alaskan native women. today, the nome pd has moved into a new building. and heintzelman told us it's a new agency, too. one that knows it has to serve all of the people of nome. though there are no sworn alaska native officers

or investigators, there is an alaska native victims advocate who focuses on domestic violence and sexual assault. like the people in nome who've never forgotten sonya's story, christina and tom also have trouble trusting. they've raised their children with warnings. to be very cautious with anybody. josh mankiewicz: including police officers. my message was that evil comes in different forms. you always got to watch out. josh mankiewicz: timayre says she's still haunted. i had to stop going to college because every police-- anybody in uniform scared me. i mean, i didn't know who i could trust. josh mankiewicz: she's moved back to unalakleet. she feels a little safer there. even so, you don't get over losing your best friend. you have some guilt about this, don't you?

yeah. i think, what if i just would have stayed with her and just walked home? we should have just walked home together. you said it yourself. you felt safe. she clearly did, too. i mean, this isn't on you. it's just something that i really regret. you didn't do anything wrong here. yeah. thank you. it's on you. let's go get some more action. go. josh mankiewicz: sometimes timayre takes herself back to the before times, when she and sonya were both alive and both carefree. she brought that camera on a lot of ball trips. josh mankiewicz: she watches and rewatches the one tape she still has. timayre towarak: she was tall and beautiful

and made everybody laugh. she was a loving and caring person and goofy. she had a big heart, and we sure do miss her. sonya, where'd you go?