the prosecution had made its case that bonnie craig was murdered by kenneth dion. team had a different tale to tell. was there more to bonnie and her life than anyone knew, and would the jury be persuaded? for the conclusion of our story, keith morrison. >> reporter: when bonnie craig's raped and beaten body was found facedown in a creek outside of anchorage, alaska, it was september 1994, and kenneth dion was a 25-year-old cocaine addict on the way down a long criminal spiral. now at 41, he was entering middle age and facing 124 years in prison for rape and murder. >> was bonnie murdered? no. she died accidentally. >> reporter: but not if defense attorney andrew lambert could help it. >> bonnie accidentally fell off the cliff and died. >> after having consensual sex with your client? >> not necessarily that day. >> it could have been a couple of days before? >> it could have been. >> reporter: and that was the essence of the defense of kenneth dion, that he and bonnie had consensual sex and a few days later she just happened to die in a hiking accident. no provable

craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> i can't believe that your baby's lying there lifeless. >> she was everything to me. she was so sweet to everybody. >> the state troopers said bonnieiking accident. >> they said she fell off a cliff. her mother said they were wrong. >> i'm screaming to them, these are defensive wounds. >> no witnesses, no weapon, nothing left behind but a stranger's dna. >> we no longer have some accidental death. this was a homicide. >> they had no suspect, but for