>> somebody's got to pay. >> somebody has to pay. 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. a town where a first impression hardened like a patch of cement. about her and also, for better or worse, about the young man accused of killing her. >> the boyfriend who found the body. >> the boyfriend who found the 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 give a fig whom he impressed or didn't. all he knew was this -- he was going places. he was from a good family near a wonderful city called russellville and was well liked. oh, and was adored by one girl in particular, his high school sweetheart, nona dirksmayer. >> she was a soul mate, i suppose? >> yeah, i was closer to herb than anybody else. >> what did you expect to become of your relationship over the long haul? >> we both expected to spend the rest of our life together. >> he was going to marry her someday. she was, after all, about the prettiest girl in town. local beauty pageant judges were wowed by her looks and poise. they'd already crowned her as such. but here's another truth her boyfriend came to realize. beauty really isn't everything. 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, dad hyrum, treated her as one of their own. >> she was not a girlfriend or whatever, she was -- she was our family. >> but 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 phone chats and emonth the c. >> she would send me text messages, are you still alive? sarcast sarcastically, trying to get my attention, letting me know she was upset i didn't answer her phone call or respond to it. >> which is why he was so taken aback, that day a little before christmas in 2005. december 15th. nona uncharacteristic hadn't reached out to him or answered him since morning. at one point her turned her own taunt back on her texting, you alive? even then she didn't respond. this was not like nona. >> 4 1/2 years we had made a pattern. and that's what we did every day. and if that pattern's broken, it just kind of raises a red flag in my head, 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. >> and i, you know, said, well, you know, there's lots of reasons why she might not be answering her phone, you know. maybe her planned changed. >> by now kevin could think of nothing else. he called his buddy ryan, who delivered pizza near nona's apartment, asked him to check on her. ryan called back with something eerie. nona's car was in the lot, her house lights were on, but she wasn't answering the door. >> i said, okay, i'm going to come over there. >> they pulled up to nona's front door. >> ryan and i knocked and knocked and rang the doorbell, and nobody came and we started to get a little frantic. >> so the two men ran around the condo to nona's backdoor. kevin said 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 he said, do you see her? and i looked at him and he said, do you see her? >> she wasn't moving. kevin threw open the unlocked door and rushed inside. >> ryan at one point -- they called 911. >> because all i could think about was get her in a transport. >> he tried cpr, but she wasn't breathing. in her eyes, usually so luminous, there was no light, there was nothing at all. >> did you think she was alive? >> i wouldn't let it enter my head that she wasn't that there wasn't some way to save her. i talked to her. just prayed that everything was going to be okay. until the ambulance got there. >> the little apartment was overwhelmed by paramedics and police. it wasn't long before an officer took kevin aside. janice listened as her son's voice suddenly rose above the chaos. >> then i heard him cry out. >> a little howl? >> yeah, that's what it was. and then he asked them if she was dead. and they affirmed that, yes, she was. >> nona was gone. nothing kevin could do about it. and as he tried to absorb the enormity of what had happened, he heard a policeman ask, could he come downtown, please? they had a few questions about what happened to nona. coming up -- did kevin know what happened? police seemed to think so. what started as a few questions turned into an hours-long interrogation. and watch what happens when police weren't asking questions. >> oh my god, oh, what am i going to do? >> when "what happened to the beauty queen?" continues. ♪ ♪ applebee's new irresist-a-bowls now starting at $7.99. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. but when allergies and congestion strike, take allegra-d... a non-drowsy antihistamine plus a powerful decongestant. so you can always say "yes" to putting your true colors on display. say "yes" to allegra-d. to putting your true colors on display. when the murray's head to work... ...their dog michelangelo gets to work, too. today's job? own. the. bed. stink-eee. good thing they use new gain ultraflings with two times the oxi boost and febreze, for ultra-big, ultra-stinky loads. fresh again. gain. seriously good scent. and if you love gain flings, you've gotta try the dish soap. saturpain happens. aleve it. aleve is proven stronger and longer on pain than tylenol. when pain happens, aleve it. all day strong. can you help keep these iguys protected online?? easy, connect to the xfi gateway. what about internet speeds that keep up with my gaming? let's hook you up with the fastest internet from xfinity. what about wireless data options for the family? of course, you can customize and save. can you save me from this conversation? that we can't do, but come in and see what we can do. we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. ask. shop. discover. at your local xfinity store today. beauty. but there is something ugly that lives on too. her death and the way she was so brutally taken. nona's mother carol knew it was bad. the moment she arrived that night to see police at nona's apartment. >> i wanted to see my baby. of course they said, you can't. they had the crime scene tape up and everything. >> the police told carol it was horribly obvious nona had been murdered. but 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 to nona? >> about 1:00 last night, i called her from my house. >> questioning the man who may have known her best. >> you in a fight recently? >> and kevin jones seemed eager to help the police figure out who killed his girlfriend. >> she didn't answer, i thought maybe her phone was just dead. >> does kevin careen from looked like disbelief -- >> got to get out of this room. >> -- to grief? anger? and 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 were pointed. >> did you hurt her? >> no, i promise you, i -- i wouldn't -- i would never -- i would -- i would kyle myself before i hurt her. >> they would leave me alone in the room, they would ask me questions. >> oh my god. please tell me what am i going to do? >> after awhile the police told kevin he could go home. they had other people to talk to, young men nona had been seeing while kevin was away at college. but it wasn't long before the detectives determined the alibis for those other men checked out. six days later, as he prepared to say good-bye 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' worth of questions, they asked me if i'd take a polygraph test to rule me out. because they wanted to start ruling people out, they wanted me to be the first one. >> what'd you say? >> i said sure. i'd never taken a polygraph before. at that point i had -- was under the impression that as long as i cooperated with them, they would do -- i mean, a complete investigation. they would stop looking at me and try to find the right person. >> kevin, i'm going to attach this -- >> so they strapped him up and ran through the innocuous questions. and then -- >> did you cause the death of nona dirksmeyer? >> then they went out, analyzes it, came back, and said what? >> the man who gave it to me told me he had not seen anybody fail a test worse in his 28 or some odd years of giving lie detector tests. >> kevin, there's no doubt in my mind that you killed her. >> but yourself right in that moment, tell me what you were thinking or feeling as he said that. >> i went from being anxious but not worried, to being extremely worried and frantic. and not being able to understand why they thought that i had done this. >> 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 seen it all. and was disgusted. >> you did this. >> no, i'm telling you -- >> you did. >> i'm telling you, you're dead [ bleep ] wrong -- >> you killed her, point blige. >> no, i'm telling you right here -- >> at this point it wasn't really a questioning, it was a -- it was more him yelling at me, telling me they knew 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. >> 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 carol that this had to have been a very personal attack, not something a stranger would have done, but kevin could have. so now carol had two shocks to absorb. >> i knew he -- i knew in my heart it was someone she knew, she would never let anyone in the apartment 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 there 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 wasn't long before everybody in russellville knew perfectly well that it was kevin jones. this is what appeared in "the russellville courier" three months. nona's killer remains free, and russellville police department has requested formal charges against one suspect. tyronn jones, kevin's father. >> they tried, convicted, and sentenced kevin within 90 days of it happening. if you was a stranger walking in a coffee shop, visiting russellville, you we'd that, what would you think? >> it bothered kevin's mother when bumper stickers "justice for nona" started cropping up. afteral, she loved nona too. >> the assumption that i formed, and i think many people formed, was that justice for nona meant -- >> convict kevin. >> convict kevin. >> topping our news, police make an arrest in the murder of a 19-year-old arkansas beauty queen -- >> on march 31st, 2006, not long after that "courier" article, police finally did announce the arrest of kevin jones for murder of nona dirksmeyer. whether or not kevin was convicted in the court of opinion was apparently irrelevant. he was about to stand trial and quite possibly be convicted, where it really mattered, a court of law. coming up -- a palm print in blood on the knife used to kill nona. guess whose? >> no question it was his, no question it was his. >> but another piece of key evidence -- >> the dna was some other male's. >> when "what happened to the beauty queen?" continues. come on. no. no. n... ni ni, no no! only discover has no annual fee on any card. it's either the assucertification process. or it isn't. it's either testing an array of advanced safety systems. or it isn't. it's either the peace of mind of a standard unlimited mileage warranty. or it isn't. for those who never settle, it's either mercedes-benz certified pre-owned. or it isn't. the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned sales event. now through march 2nd. only at your authorized mercedes-benz dealer. if you're living with hiv, and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for hiv in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights hiv to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it can't be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take hiv treatment every day and get to and stay undetectabe can no longer transmit hiv through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. if you're living with hiv, keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. a small southern city alrea. a local beauty queen murdered. her boyfriend accused of the crime. >> 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 in a place like russellville, so the venue was changed to the nearby city of ozark. >> the media spotlight on a small town of ozark -- >> to the prosecutor, the trial's location mattered little. what did matter was the evidence. and he believed there was enough of that to put kevin jones away for years. jeff philips was the deputy prosecutor. >> we believed and i believe 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 lover's apartment that day in december of 2005 and found within it a cheating heart. >> while there, discovered either a text message from another person and/or a used condom wrapper on a counter, and things escalated from there. escalated out of control. >> and then the prosecutor said was jones repeatedly stabbing nona, then crushing her skull with a lamp base, left his palm print on the lamp's bulb. >> no question it was his? >> no question it was his. the defense didn't make an issue it was his. >> it was what kevin did next, said the prosecutor that showed how calculating he could be. kevin left nona's part with her dead on the floor, 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' 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. 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 robins. they sent the readout of that polygraph to an independent expert who reported the questions seemed designed to make sure kevin failed. the rest of the state's evidence, said the defense, didn't wash either. that bloody palm print on the lightbulb of the lamp, the murder weapon? the attorney agreed it was kevin's print, and no wonder. kevin was frantically trying to save his girlfriend's life, so of course he could have touched the lightbulb. >> it is a totally innocent situation. the blood got on the lightbulb at the time the body was discovered. >> when he's trying to revive her or something? >> yes. >> touched the lightbulb? >> the emt said the lamp was within a nfoot of the body. >> more disturbing, the evidence not collected by the police. said the defense, first-time homicide detective mark frost and the other officers in the department mucked 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, even the condom wrap area short distance from the body. the police go upstairs to see if that's been flushed, do not fingerprint the flush handle of 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 had likely set kevin off on his mirt russ rage. but think about it, said the lead attorney. if kevin actually saw the condom wrapper, he would have picked it up, would have left his own dna on it. but -- >> we sent the prophylactic wrapper off to a lab, and they found the dna. the dna was some other male's. >> someone else's dna, not kevin's. and probably, said the defense that condom was used by the killer. 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 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 level-headed person. she was an incredible witness on the stand. >> 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 and decide kevin wasn't the killer the prosecutors had painted but a grief-stricken june man who was innocent. in the courthouse the jury wrestled with its verdict. 50 miles down the road in russellville, the town cried for justice. if that meant conviction, well -- so be it. coming up -- would jurors convict kevin jones of murder? and investigators think they now know whose dna was on that key piece of evidence. >> i said it matches? he said, well, if it matches gary dunn. >> who was gary dunn? what, if anything, did he have to do with done that's murder? when "what happened to the beauty queen?" continues. uhh, excuse me, is there a problem here? you're in a no parking zone. oh, i... i didn't know. you didn't see the sign? that... that wasn't there when i was here earlier. 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(glass shattering) (frustrated yell) (car horn blast) (yelp) ♪all strength, we ain't stoppin' believe me♪ ♪go straight till the morning look like we♪ ♪won't wait, we're taking everything we wanted we can do it♪ ♪all strength, no sweat vo:for president.ver that's mike bloomberg. a middle class kid who built a global company from scratch. mayor of new york, rebuilding the city after the 9-11 terrorist attack, creating 450,000 jobs. running for president - and on a roll. workable plans to deliver on better health care. affordable college. job creation. common sense plans to beat trump, fix the chaos in washington, and get things done. mike: i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message. i'm richard lui. congressman jim cleburne set to endorse former vice president joe biden to be the next president. he's expected to make an announcement ahead of his state's democratic party. at least seven people have been shot at a flea market in harris county, texas. according to the sheriff's office, a man was detained at the scene and people were transported to hol hospitals. some injuries may have been due to a bullet ricochet. kevin jones sat in the courtroom, watched the fight for his life swirl around him, and felt in that uncomfortable chair the withering stares of the jury. >> they can all look at you, and if you do one thing wrong that they deem is wrong, that might sway them the opposite way. >> one facial expression? >> one click of a pen, one bite off of your fingernail. you never know how people are going to take things that you do. >> he had every reason to worry. later the jurors would recall how the images of this crime haunted them. >> blood all over him in the pictures. >> the palm print in her blood. >> but to the jurors the evidence, or the lack of it, looked bad for police too. >> the glass door, for example, where the perpetrator went out, was not fingerprinted inside or out. the kitchen floor would have been excellent for footprints. he obviously walked across there. no prints were taken. >> they said that kind of sloppiness made them wonder, what else did the police miss? what other suspects? >> the police claimed that they had checked the alibis of all these potential suspects. >> as well as they gathered evidence? >> but what really stuck with them was kevin, sitting in the police interrogation room, looking, to them, genuinely distraught. >> i felt bad inside that i was watching him in this little cubicle of a room. >> on balance they deemed the evidence pointed more to innocence than guilt. after eight hours they had their verdict, not guilty, kevin was free. enormously relieved, of course. but also furious at detective mark frost and the russellville police. >> it frustrates me, it angers me, that the police didn't care enough to do their jobs the right way. it frustrates me that they didn't find the person who did this. >> nona's mother carol believed her daughter's old boyfriend had quite possibly gotten away with murder. >> if you think somebody else did it, why aren't you out there trying to find him? >> who can begrudge a grieving mother's challenge? on the day he was acquitted they stood on the steps of the courthouse and vowed they would do whatever it took to find nona's killer. kevin's father hyrum financially wiped out by the cost of all this, asked his son's legal team for one more favor. >> i said, this is what i've got. don't know how much i need, don't know how i can pay you, but i need this. >> i couldn't walk away from the case and say, okay, fine, i'm convinced there's someone out there who killed nona dirksmeyer and it's not kevin jones, and just leave that be. how do i look at my kids, how do i look at people on the street, knowing that this case was solvable, but no one wanted to do it or would do it? i couldn't do that. >> the lawyers agreed to help. they asked an investigator, this man, to keep working the case. his name is todd steffi, he's a part-time policeman in kevin's hometown of dover just outside russellville, part-time detective, full-time preacher. >> what an odd combination, then. >> i used to say, it's the ultimate good guy. >> and right away steffi knew there was a key piece of evidence that demanded a closer look. that condom wrapper found in nona's apartment. it held somebody's dna, but whose? steffi wondered if police cleared those male friends and neighbors of nona too quickly in the early days of the investigation. >> do they have a valid alibi? because either i'm missing something or, you know -- and so i begin to feel like that some of those people maybe needed to have their dna compared. >> so kevin's legal team rolled up its sleeves and slacks and went diving through trash belonging to those young men, and they got some dna samples. but none matched the dna on the condom wrapper. steffi, 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, steffi's police chief told him to question a suspect in a recent burglary. a man by the name of gary dunn. steffi's eyes widened at that. >> my chief looked at me and i said, do you know who he is? and he said, yes. he was one of the neighbors to nona dirksmeyer. >> gary dunn, a neighbor of nona's. he was among that handful of men who had been questioned, then cleared, by police. steffi knew that dunn certainly would have had the opportunity to kill. his bedroom window looked directly across a small parking lot at nona's bedroom window. now steffi had to get that man's dna. >> how did you do that? >> i asked him for it. >> and he said yes? >> basically. >> huh. >> yeah. he came in for an interview on his own. and he and i sat and talked. and at some point i just asked him if he would be willing to give me his fingerprints and a dna sample. i told him, i'm not trying to pin anything on anybody. my goal as an investigator, actually, in the way i was trained to do investigations, is to try to rule somebody out. if i can rule them out, then we're done. >> but there was a problem. to get that sample tested, steffi needed the cash-strapped jones family to pay for it. at first kevin's mother hesitated. the test would cost about $600. but the investigator insisted. >> what did she say? >> eventually she just kind of said something like, oh, shucks, it's just money. >> so she paid for it. and what a good investment it turned out to be. because weeks later, steffi got a call from one of kevin's lawyers. the dna tests were back. and wouldn't you know -- >> i said, it matches, doesn't it? he said, well, it matches gary dunn. >> the results strongly suggested the dna on that condom wrapper was left by nona's neighbor, gary dunn. now steffi needed to check out dunn's alibi for the day nona was killed. dunn had told police he was out shopping with his mother around the time of the murder, december 15th. that was his alibi. steffi went looking for copies of receipts from those stores to back up the alibi. >> so this is the store where supposedly gary dunn came to do some shopping? >> this was one of the places we had to check out in his alibi. the store had boxes and boxes of records of receipts. it was the old-fashioned sign, the slip kind of receipt. >> he's not kidding. boxes going back years. steffi 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 have tried to forget that. >> just when steffi thought it was all a wasted effort, he pulled out this scrap. >> did you find it? >> i found it. i found it. >> there it was. a receipt that showed gary and his mom were out shopping, all right -- on december 13th, not the 15th, when they said they were, when nona was murdered. >> wasn't the same day at all? >> no. >> in fact, none of the receipts from the stores where dunn and his mother said they were shopping gave him an alibi for the time nona was killed. police and the prosecutor didn't mention that at kevin's trial. but now a new prosecutor was on the case, and he found the dna results and faulty alibi compelling. and one year after kevin's acquittal, gary dunn was charged with murder. many people in russellville struggled to know what to think. their first impression was that kevin jones murdered nona dirksmeyer. could they believe this latest arrestee was the real killer? could the state of arkansas prove it? coming up -- gary dunn was the one on trial, so why did it seem as if kevin jones was as well? >> first thing you get hit with, your son is on trial again. even though he's not on trial, he is. >> the defense digs in. >> the state was simply wrong? >> the state was simply wrong. >> what you're saying, gary dunn didn't touch that condom wrapper? >> that's what we're saying, never -- >> never was anywhere near that condom wrapper? >> he was across the parking lot in his apartment. >> when "what happened to the beauty queen?" continues. butter poached, creamy and roasted. or try lobster sautéed with crab, shrimp and more. so hurry in and let's lobsterfest. or get it to go at red lobster dot com with hepatitis c... ...i ...best for my family.my... so hurry in and let's lobsterfest. in only 8 weeks with mavyret... ...i was cured. i faced reminders of my hep c every day. i worried about my hep c. but in only 8 weeks with mavyret... ...i was cured. mavyret is the only 8-week cure for all types of hep c. before starting mavyret your doctor will test... ...if you've had hepatitis b which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after treatment. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b, a liver or kidney transplant,... ...other liver problems, hiv-1, or other medical conditions,... ...and all medicines you take. don't take mavyret with atazanavir... ...or rifampin, or if you've had certain liver problems. if you've had or have serious liver problems other than hep c, there's a rare chance they may worsen. signs of serious liver problems may include yellowing of the skin, abdominal pain or swelling, confusion, and unexplained bleeding or bruising. tell your doctor if you develop symptoms of liver disease. common side effects include headache and tiredness. with hep c behind me, i feel free... ...fearless... ...because i am cured. talk to your doctor about mavyret. what? i think i forgot to lock my buick. got it. i bet you lunch you can't make it in there. i'm thinkin' sushi. alexa, ask buick to start my suv. you can do that? you can do that? you can do that? yeah, with a buick. what? at the heart of every buick suv...is you. find out why buick is number one in dealer sales and service satisfaction. pay no interest for 72 months on most buick suv models plus current eligible gm owners get 7-50 purchase allowance. but when allergies and congestion strike, take allegra-d... a non-drowsy antihistamine plus a powerful decongestant. so you can always say "yes" to putting your true colors on display. say "yes" to allegra-d. kevin jones' parents had won and lost. they had won freedom for their son kevin, but had lost a young woman they considered a daughter. they wanted justice so badly for nona, they spent their last dime to find her killer. and they believed their sacrifice finally paid off when police arrested her neighbor, gary dunn, for murder. >> i believe he committed this crime. but that's my belief. based upon what i saw in these trials. >> dunn's trial opened in april 2010. hyrum jones listened as the state, which had already tried his son, now argued that dunn was a sexually violent man who had been stalking the young beauty queen whose bedroom window he 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'd caught him hanging around nona's front door in the middle of the night. so, said the prosecutor, the jury could be sure dunn killed nona after entering her apartment with the intent of forcing a sexual encounter. and the condom wrapper proved it. >> this condom wrapper that was found that had the dna on it that did not have kevin's dna on it, that 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 client's lies and dna. but that's exactly what they did. and with gusto. >> what you're saying is the state was simply wrong? >> state was simply wrong. >> what's more, they told jurors, they could prove it. for starters, they said, the state wasn't being honest about the dna on that condom wrapper. it was only a mixed, partial match to gary dunn, they said, which meant -- >> any thousands, millions, billions of people are also not excluded. >> let me ask you then, is what you're saying, gary dunn didn't touch that condom wrapper? >> that's what we're saying. >> he never went anywhere near that condom wrapper? >> well, he was across the parking lot, in his apartment. >> minding his own business, when nona was murdered. it's true, the defense said, dunn was not out shopping as he first claimed to police. he had simply gotten his days mixed up. it was, after all, two weeks after the crime when detectives asked for a detailed alibi. >> they asked for receipts. they found receipts. they gave it to the police department. >> except it wasn't for that day. >> well, he cooperated in full. he gave them what they asked him to. >> as you know, both of you know from having represented defendants for years and years, if somebody gives receipts for a different day, he has not solidified his alibi. >> it's easy to get days mixed up. >> the defense told jurors it wasn't gary dunn's alibi they should question anyway. if anything, the lawyers said, they should take a look at someone else for nona's murder, her old boyfriend. at that moment, hyrum jones realized with dread just where this trial was heading. >> first thing you get hit with is, your son is on trial again, even though he's not on trial, he is. that's 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 in the case, had one shaky story after another. the 911 call where kevin's mother is crying. >> her name is nona dirksmeyer. >> the defense said janice jones and kevin's friend gave police conflicting details of how they came about nona's body and what they were doing to save her. >> it is a lie, they are lying, they're all three lying. >> they're all lying? >> absolutely lying about that, no question. >> in fact, defense attorneys tried to claim, you couldn't up with the joneses and all their lies. even kevin's grandmother who said she was with kevin in another town the morning of nona's death couldn't be trusted. >> kevin's grandmother knows that kevin murdered nona? >> i don't know what they know but i know they're covering for him. >> that bloody palm print in nona's apartment. it was his and not gary dunn's. did it work? yes, it did. after three days of deliberations, the jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked. >> that was a little confusing. >> the judge declared a mistrial. but the prosecutor wasn't giving up. he promptly refiled murder charges and gary dunn's second trial began in 2011. >> now gary dunn being tried a second time after his first trial ended in a hung jury. >> this time the judge allowed the prosecutor to reveal a very dark fact about gary dunn. he was a convicted felon before nona was murdered. jurors heard from kelly jo fitzharris, who happened to have the grave misfortune of jogging past gary dunn in the wrong day, wrong place. it's a popular trail for runners. kelli jo came running by herself. she saw a man on this bench. as she ran up the trail 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. he hit her and as he beat her she realized the only way for her to escape was to wriggle free. so she ran up the trail that way as quickly as she possibly could, calling for help, pretending there was someone nearby. the police came a little later. they found gary dunn hiding in the water. they arrested him. he spent 18 months in jail. and then, newly out on parole, he moved into nona's apartment complex, directly across the parking lot, months before nona's death. dunn's lawyers admitted it was a blow to their defense. >> so we had to deal with it and make it -- not make it any worse, do no harm. >> or was it already done? this time jurors knew the man sitting in the defendant's chair wasn't just a man prone to violence. he was a convicted criminal. so would a town's first impression that kevin jones murdered the beauty queen finally be undone? coming up -- the verdict. >> he don't have no alibi. and then that looks really bad. it looks really bad. >> will there be justice for nona and her family? >> i knew that they were waiting to see if there would be closure. . >> when "what happened to the beauty queen" continues. or it isn't. it's either testing an array of advanced safety systems. or it isn't. it's either the peace of mind of a standard unlimited mileage warranty. or it isn't. for those who never settle, it's either mercedes-benz certified pre-owned. or it isn't. the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned sales event. now through march 2nd. only at your authorized mercedes-benz dealer. lobster fan like wild caught lobster, butter poached, creamy and roasted. or try lobster sautéed with crab, shrimp and more. so hurry in and let's lobsterfest. or get it to go at red lobster dot com and i like to question your i'm yoevery move.n law. like this left turn. it's the next one. you always drive this slow? 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[tina] you're an old lady. can you help keep these iguys protected online?? easy, connect to the xfi gateway. what about internet speeds that keep up with my gaming? let's hook you up with the fastest internet from xfinity. what about wireless data options for the family? of course, you can customize and save. can you save me from this conversation? that we can't do, but come in and see what we can do. we're here to make life simple. easy. awesome. ask. shop. discover. at your local xfinity store today. this was the third time the state of arkansas tried someone for the murder and the second time gary dunn was accused. the jurors were thinking the first. kevin jones, the first suspect in this case. >> were any of you suspicious maybe it was actually kevin that did this? >> but when they started to deliberate, his jurors weren't thinking about second or third. they were thinking the first. kevin jones, the first suspect in this case. >> were any of you suspicious that maybe it was actually kevin who did this? >> i believe the whole jury thought in the beginning that it was, you know, a high probability that it was kevin because the defense did a really good job of getting us to believe it could be kevin. >> once again dunn's defense had retried kevin jones for the murder of nona dirksmeyer. but the jurors eventually came to a sort of peace with that. >> this is gary's trial, and we need to look at the evidence that's against or for him. >> and once they did they were troubled. on the witness stand that jogger described just how brutally dunn attacked her, just as nona had been attacked. >> that was really a big factor in my thinking, you know, about whether he was guilty or innocent. it tied into everything else. because that's what happened to nona. all those things. >> it showed dunn was a brutal man who was also a convicted felon when nona died. he even lied about where he'd been that day. >> and he don't have no alibi. you know, and then that looks really bad. >> it does. >> it looks really bad. >> they also talked about the dna on the condom wrapper found in nona's apartment. some believed the dna probably did belong to gary dunn. but that made them wonder too. >> if this guy was supposedly so careful to not leave no other dna or no other fingerprints in this whole crime scene, then you'd think he would have been smart enough to take the condom wrapper with him. >> so there it was. dna evidence against dunn. interesting if perhaps not proof. circumstantial evidence which was compelling. they took a poll, guilty or not. several polls, actually. and then on the last go-round they knew they were finished. they went back to the courtroom and looked at nona's family. >> coming up and being in front of her parents was the hardest thing for me. i was -- it made me very sad because i knew that they were waiting to see if there would be closure. we couldn't do it. we couldn't give them closure. >> once again the case of arkansas versus gary dunn ended in a hung jury. the more powerful reason for that? that first impression among many here in russellville that it was kevin jones who killed nona dirksmeyer. in the aftermath of the trial kevin headed back to court. not for anything he did but for the damage he said was done to him. by police. >> they just looked at me and said he's the one that did it. >> kevin jones always believed the police zeroed in on him as the suspect in nona's death and never seriously considered anyone else. >> you did this! >> no. >> you did it. >> i'm telling you you're dead [ bleep ] wrong. >> you killed her. >> kevin sued mark frost, the detective who built the case against him, and others too for withholding evidence. a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit because the statute of limitations had passed. through his lawyer frost denied making mistakes and withholding evidence and neither the russellville police department nor the prosecutor would comment on the investigation. meanwhile, kevin has moved on. he married and started helping other people correct poisonous first impressions. 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'd made peace with the one person whose opinion really does matter to him, nona's mother. she no longer believes kevin killed her daughter. in fact, she says she loves kevin. as for the others who 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 songbird, the beauty queen, the girl for whom justice is denied. . >> you may not ever see justice? >> it seems, if you made things bother you, i made peace with it. it is what it is. and i think that there has been enough damage done that it won't ever, we'll never get to figure out exactly what was that really happene happened. >> in 2018 gary dunn was charged with kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, and indecent exposure in two alleged incidents on the same night, unrelated to nona dirksmeyer. he pleaded not guilty. the state has not said whether it will file charges against dunn for a third time in the nona dirksmeyer killing. . >> oh my god! >> a fire chief murdered. his wife the only witness. this detective knew them both. >> she started telling me about a young man coming into their home and shooting keith. >> her job now, solve this crime. clue number one was a doozy. . >> she said that after he shot keith, he said he turned to her and said a, i'm associaon

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