on december 13th. not the 15th when they said they were. when nona was murdered. it was at the same day all? no. in fact, none of the receipts from the stores where dunn and his mother said they were shopping for that day gave him an alibi for the time when nona was killed. police and prosecutors didn t it mention that 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. would they believe that this latest arrestee was the real killer? and could the state of arkansas prove it? who knows. coming up gary dunn was the one on trial. so why did it seem as if kevin jones was as well? the first thing you get hit with is, this is your son that is on trial again. even though he s not on trial. he is. when dateline continu
as he beat her, she realized the only way for her to escape was to wriggle free. so she ran up the trial 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 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, set up house directly across the parking lot, months before nona s death, his lawyers admitted it was a blow to their defense. we had to admit it, and not make it any worse. or, was it already done? this time, jurors knew the man sitting in that chair was not just a man prone to violence, he was a convicted criminal. so, would a town s impression that kevin jones murdered the beauty queen finally be undone? the 12 people who will decide gary dunn s fate weigh the evidence. coming up, in the verdict. he does not have no alibi, and that looks really bad. it looks really bad.
arkansas versus gary dunn ended in a hunger jury. a more powerful reason for that? but first impression, among many here at russellville, but it was kevin who jones killed nona dirksmeyer. in the aftermath of the trial, kevin had a day in court. not for anything that he did, but for the damage that he says was done to him, by police. they just looked at me and said, he is 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? i m telling you you are dead wrong. you killed her. kevin sued mark frost, the detective with a case against him, and others as well for withholding evidence. a federal judge dismissed the lawsuits because the statute of limitations had passed. his lawyer, frost denied making
right way. if history s me that they didn t find the person who did this. but s mother carol, believed his old bereave friend had quite possibly gotten away with murder. if you think somebody else did it, why are you out there trying to find? and now who can begrudge a grieving mother s better talents. certainly not the jones family. on the day kevin was acquitted, they stood here on the steps of the courthouse and they vowed they would do whatever it took to find nona s killer. kevin s father, hiram, financially wiped out by the cost of the free court case, ask 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. the lawyers agreed to help. they asked an investigator, this man, to keep working the case. his name is todd stuffy. he s a part-time policeman and kevin s hometown of dover just outside russellville. part-time detective and full-time preacher.
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 their 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 was a long before everybody in russellville new perfectly well that it was kevin jones. this is what appeared in the russellville courier three months after nona s murder. but nona s remains fear. and russellville police to court might request formal charges against one suspect. hiram jones is kevin jones s father. they tried convicting kevin within 90 days of it happening. if he was a stranger walking in a coffee shop would you read that? what would you think? it bothered but kevin s