and this is dateline. i can t believe that their baby is lying there lifeless. she was everything to me. she was so sweet everybody. state troopers said bonnie had died in a hiking accident. the said she fell off a cliff. her mother said, they were wrong. i was screaming to them, these are defensive wounds. no witnesses, no weapon. nothing left behind by a stranger s dna. we no longer have some accidental death. this was a homicide. they had no suspect. but for years, her mother kept fighting to find bonnie s killer. bonnie s mother continues her own crusade. then after more than a decade of searching, a phone call. i just got information, there was a match. can we get a conviction on just the dna? and there was something else. something about bonnie herself. it was almost like she knew something hello, and welcome to dateline. we often see headlines about dna evidence exonerating the innocent. it seems we hear less about how dna from an unknow
Cheated on their boyfriend and nobody knew? how many people had a different side to them that was different than what family and friends knew? you re saying this young woman had a different side? i m saying that s a definite possibility. but it would probably be a lot harder to believe it of this particular young woman than most other people. but you never know. maybe if she met him and got to know him initially she found him somewhat charming, was maybe enthralled with him, and then she never gets to know the history of who he is. is that what he said happened? you know i can t answer that because that s attorney-client privilege. in any case, bonnie s death was consistent with accidental fall. his defense expert testified. when a body tumbles we don t know how it tumbles. injuries can occur in micro seconds and not leave a blood on the rocks. what s more, the defense attorney pointed out, not one person could place kenneth dion with bonnie or at the creek that day.
Family and friends? new you re saying this young woman had a different side? i m saying that s a definite possibility. but it would probably be a lot harder to believe it of this particular young woman than most other people. but you never know. maybe if she met him and got to know him initially she found him somewhat charming, was maybe enthralled with him, and then she never gets to know the history of who he is. is that what he said happened? you know i can t answer that because that s attorney-client privilege. in any case, bonnie s death was consistent with accidental fall. his defense expert testified. when a body tumbles we don t know how it tumbles. injuries can occur in micro seconds and not leave a blood on the rocks. what s more, the defense attorney pointed out, not one person could place kenneth dion with bonnie or at the creek that day. there s no witnesses that say that they saw can and bonnie together that day. yeah. there
One person could place kenneth dion with bonnie or at the creek that day. there s no witnesses to say that they saw ken and bonnie together that day. reporter: yeah. there were no witnesses placing him near her, along her route. reporter: the case went to the jury in mid-june. it was not for long. karen and the family were on their way to do a tv interview and as i m pulling up to the interview, i sigh the cameraman and the reporter taking off. and they circle around. they said, the jury s back! reporter: the jury deliberated so fast, just several hours, they thought it had to be guilty. it was incredibly exciting because we knew that it was going to happen. we just were dying to hear the words. reporter: and when you did. we the jury find the defendant, kenneth dion, guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in count one of the indictment. praise god. it was like the weight of the world was lifted off our shoulders.
Seconds and not leave blood on the rocks. reporter: what s more, not one person could place kenneth dion with bonnie or at the creek that day. there s no witnesses to say that they saw ken and bonnie together that day. reporter: yeah. there were no witnesses placing him near her, along her route. reporter: the case went to the jury in mid-june. it was not for long. karen and the family were on their way to do a tv interview and as i m pulling up to the interview, i see the cameraman and the reporter taking off. and they circle around. they said, the jury s back! reporter: the jury deliberated so fast, just several hours, they thought it had to be guilty. it was incredibly exciting because we knew that it was going to happen. we just were dying to hear the words. reporter: and when you did. we the jury find the defendant, kenneth dion, guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in count one of the indictment.