painful. everything s like the day that she was murdered. it s like having everything ripped open again. reporter: the trial finally started in may 2011. she has 11 lacerations on the back of the skull. reporter: it was paul miovas first trial as district attorney in cold case homicide, and he was worried. i went into it with a heavy heart. i knew it would be a task. reporter: because the dna from kenneth dion did not prove he raped and killed bonnie, only that sex took place between them. and beyond the dna, the prosecutor had little to connect dion to the murder. there was no weapon, no motive, no witness to the crime. we not only had to establish that kenneth dion was the killer, but we also had to disprove that it was an accident and prove that, you know, she had been murdered and she didn t fall off the cliff.
alaska. karen s anxiety only grew. i didn t trust the investigation. is the evidence still there? the investigators, the witnesses. can we get a conviction on just the dna? reporter: and to make it worse, dozens of pretrial hearings dragged on four more years. unbelievably long and painful. it s like having everything ripped open again. reporter: the trial finally started in may 2011. she has 11 lacerations on the back of the skull. reporter: it was paul miovas first trial as alaska s assistant attorney general in cold case homicide, and he was worried. i went into it with a heavy heart. i knew it would be a task. reporter: because the dna from kenneth dion did not prove he raped and killed bonnie, only that sex took place between them. and beyond the dna, the prosecutor had little to connect dion to the murder. there was no weapon, no motive,
be thrilled. no. i m immediately so fearful that, oh, my gosh, now we know who s done it. are we going to get him convicted? reporter: a few months later in 2007 kenneth dion was indicted and extradited to alaska. karen s anxiety only grew. i didn t trust the investigation. is the evidence still there? the investigators, the witnesses. can we get a conviction on just the dna? reporter: and to make it worse, dozens of pretrial hearings dragged on four more years. unbelievably long and painful. everything s like the day that she was murdered. it s like having everything ripped open again. reporter: the trial finally started in may 2011. she has 11 lacerations on the back of the skull. reporter: it was paul miovas first trial as district attorney in cold case homicide, and he was worried. i went into it with a heavy
everything s like the day that she was murdered. it s like having everything ripped open again. reporter: the trial finally started in may 2011. she has 11 lacerations on the back of the skull. reporter: it was paul miovas first trial as district attorney in cold case homicide, and he was worried. i went into it with a heavy heart. i knew it would be a task. reporter: because the dna from kenneth dion did not prove he raped and killed bonnie, only that sex took place between them. and beyond the dna, the prosecutor had little to connect dion to the murder. there was no weapon, no motive, no witness to the crime. we not only had to establish that kenneth dion was the killer, but we also had to disprove that it was an accident and prove that, you know, she had been murdered and she didn t fall off the cliff. reporter: his co-counsel jenna gruenstein was an anchorage school girl when bonnie was murdered.
she was murdered. it s like having everything ripped open again. reporter: the trial finally started in may 2011. she has 11 lacerations on the back of the skull. reporter: it was paul miovas first trial as district attorney in cold case homicide, and he was worried. i went into it with a heavy heart. i knew it would be a task. reporter: because the dna from kenneth dion did not prove he raped and killed bonnie, only that sex took place between them. and beyond the dna, the prosecutor had little to connect dion to the murder. there was no weapon, no motive, no witness to the crime. we not only had to establish that kenneth dion was the killer, but we also had to disprove that it was an accident and prove that, you know, she had been murdered and she didn t fall off the cliff. reporter: his co-counsel jenna gruenstein was an anchorage school girl when bonnie was murdered. i remember very vividly how much this impacted the