This small southern town, we have to ask, can they ever change . Of course, that question is quite obvious now to kevin jones, but seven years ago he didnt give a fig whom he impressed or didnt. All he knew was this, he was going places. He was from a good family, lived near a wonderful city called russellville and was well liked. Oh, and was adored by one girl in particular, his High School SweetheartNona Dirksmeyer. So she was kind of like a soulmate, i suppose. I was closer to her than anybody else. He was going marry her some day. She was, after all, about the prettiest girl in town. Local beauty pageant judges were wowed by her looks and poise and had already crowned her as such, but heres another truth her boyfriend came to realize. Beauty really isnt everything. Oh, sorry nona was a sometimes troubled girl, given to bouts of emotional turmoil. Her mother 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 wife janice, dad hirem treated her as one of their own. She was not a girlfriend or whatever. She was a she was our family. But it was time for kevin to go off to college. She and nona stayed in touch and in love through a Wireless World of latenight cell chats, texts and emoticons. When he didnt respond promptly shed wag her finger at him. She would send me Text Messages saying are you still alive, sarcastically, trying to get my attention. Which is why he was so taken aback that day a little before christmas in 2005. It was december 15th, nona uncharacteristically hadnt reached out to him or answered him since morning. At one point he turned her old taunt back on her texting you alive . Even then she didnt respond. This was not like nona. In four and a half years we had made a pattern and thats what we did every day and if that patterns broken it just kind of raised 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 said you know, well, you know, there are lots of reasons why she might not be answering her phone. Maybe her plans changed. By now kevin could think of nothing else. He called his buddy ryan who delivered pizza near nonas apartment and asked him to check on her and ryan called back with something eerie. Nonas car was in the lot. Her house lights were on, but she wasnt answering the door. I said okay, well im going to come over there. They pulled up to nonas front door. Ryan was still there and kevin joined him. 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 nonas back door. Kevin says 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 not see her and i looked at him and he said dude, there she is and she was laying in her front room. Nona wasnt moving. Kevin threw open the unlocked door and rushed inside. Ryan at one point let my mom in the front door. They called 911 pretty soon after that. Her name is Nona Dirksmeyer. Nona dirksmeyer . I, uh, straddled her midsection, my knees were on the ground above her midsection. He tried cpr, but she wasnt breathing. In her eyes, usually so luminous there was no light. There was nothing at all. And i i talked to her, and i just prayed that everything was going to be okay until the ems got there. Soon the little apartment was overwhelmed by paramedics and police. It wasnt long before an officer took kevin aside. Janice listened as her sons voice suddenly rose above the chaos. Then i heard him cry out. A howl . Yeah. Thats 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 the policeman ask, could he come downtown, please . They had a few questions about what happened to nona. Did kevin know what happened . Police seemed to think so. What started as a few questions turned into an hourslong interrogation and watch what happened when police werent asking questions. Oh, my god. Please tell me. What am i going to do . [ male announcer ] when ziggy the cat appeared at their door, he opened up jakes very private world. At first, jakes family thought they saved ziggy, but his connection with jake has been a lifesaver. For a love this strong, his family only feeds him iams. Compared to other leading brands, it has 50 more animal protein. To help keep ziggys body as strong as a love that reaches further than anyones words. Iams. Keep love strong. To all my clients. [ female announcer ] suave professionals infused this miracle ingredient into our new moroccan infusion line then asked experts to try it. Look at your hair. The styling oil gives an incredible shine without weighing it down. [ woman ] my hair looks amazing. I love it. All this shine, yet it feels so light. [ wayne ] suave professionals moroccan infusion makes hair shine as well as the salon brand moroccan oil. [ female announcer ] suave professionals works as well as salon brands. Learn more at suave. Com. In pictures Nona Dirksmeyer forever radiates promise and beauty, but there is something ugly that lives on, too. Her death, and the way she was so brutally taken. Nonas mother carol knew it was bad the moment she arrived that night to see police at nonas apartment. I told him i wanted to see my baby and of course, they said you cant. So 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 nonas last moments on earth. When did you last speak with her . At 1 00 last night. I called her from my house phone. Questioning the man who may have known her best. And kevin jones seemed eager to help the police figure out who killed his girlfriend. He readily agreed to go to the station that night to answer a few routine questions. As kevin careened from what looked like disbelief to grief. Anger, and back again. A few questions turned into many. Did you have a key to the apartment . Yeah. And were pointed. Did you hurt her . I promise you. I would never i would i would kill myself before i hurt her. They would leave me alone in the room. They would ask me questions. Oh, my god. What am i going to do . After a while 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 wasnt long before the detectives determined the alibis for those other men checked out and six days later as he prepared to say goodbye to nona at the funeral home, police asked him to come back to the police station. Can i get a drink of water or something . You bet. After 20 minutes worth of questions they asked if id take a polygraph test. What did you say . I said sure. So they strapped him up and ran through the innocuous questions and then. Did you cause the death of Nona Dirksmeyer . And then they went out and analyzed it, came back and said what . The man who gave it to me said he had never seen anybody fail the test worse in his 20some odd years. Theres no doubt in my mind that you killed her. The murder of the beauty queen was very big news in russellville, and given the nature of the crime and the victim so young, 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. Though as he talked to kevin, ross sound like a veteran who had seen it all and was disgusted. You did this. No, and im telling you youre dead [ bleep ] wrong. You killed her. Pointblank. No, im telling you right here. At this point it wasnt a questioning. It was more of them yelling at me telling me they knew that i did it. The police didnt arrest kevin that night. Heres what they did instead. They told nonas mother that the young man she thought would be her soninlaw one day was, in fact, her daughters killer. The 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 this had to be a very personal attack, not something a stranger could have done, but something kevin could have. Now carol had two shocks to absorb. I knew in my heart it was someone this that she knew. She would never let in the apartment that she didnt know. Now kevins horrifying discovery was subjected to a dark and troubling spin. Detective mark frost said that to him that the crime scene out there looked staged. And a week later there was a press conference at which the police told the russellville public dont worry, we know who committed this crime. We have conclusively cleared all but one of these people. Police didnt mention the suspects name just then, but it wasnt long before everyone in russellville knew perfectly well that it was kevin jones. This is what appeared in the russellville courier three months after nonas murder. Nonas killer remains free and Russellville Police department has requested formal charges against one suspect. Hirem jones is kevins father. They tried, convicted kevin within the 90 days that it happened. If you were a stranger walking in a coffee shop in russellville and you read that, what would you think . It bothered kevins mother something awful when bumper stickers justice for nona started cropping up. After all, 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 19yearold arkansas beauty queen. On march 31, 2006, not long after that courier Article Police finally did announce the arrest of kevin jones for the murder of Nona Dirksmeyer. Whether or not kevin was convicted in the court of Public Opinion was now apparently irrelevant. He was about to stand trial, quite possibly be convicted when it really mattered, a court of law. Coming up, a palm print in blood on the lamp used to kill nona. Guess whos . No question it was his. No question it was his. But on another key piece of evidence. The dna was some other male. When dateline continues. Its the kmart semiannual furniture sale dressers, 39. 99 each this microfiber futon, 99. 99 and a pine dining nook just 199. 99 sale ends saturday. Dont miss out at kmart at more than a paycheck. Is we know all the hammering, shaping, driving, serving, planning, writing, nursing and teaching it took to earn it. So we give you the power to keep as much of your hardearned money as possible. Our customized interview covers everything from a Service Members deployment to a Students Loan interest, right down to a teachers crayons. Youve worked hard to earn your money. Were here to help you keep it. Turbotax. The power to keep whats yours. Try it free at turbotax. Com. Im just red carpets, big spectacles and the alist. Thats only the beginning. I have more than one red carpet. I like all sorts of spectacles. From the grandiose, to the impromptu. To the completely unexpected. And youll only have to think about a list. When you cross this, off your own. Los angeles. Endlessly entertaining. Plan your getaway at discoverlosangeles. Com los angeles. Endlessly entertaining. A small southern city. A local beauty queen murdered, her boyfriend accused of the crime. It was hard to be in russellville in 2007 and not be steeped in the story of Nona Dirksmeyer and kevin jones. 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 o zarbing. The media spotlight is on a small northwest arkansas town of ozark. To the prosecutor the trials 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 phillips 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 lovers apartment that day in december 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 with jones repeatedly stabbing nona and crushing her skull with a lamp base and left his palm print on the lamps bulb. No question it was his . No question it was his. The defense didnt even make an issue that it was his. But its what kevin did next said the prosecutor that showed how calculating he could be. Kevin left nonas apartment, he said, with her dead on the floor and then waited through the afternoon until hours later when he could come back with his mother and friend to find nonas 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 wasnt telling enough, the prosecutor said then surely this was. Kevin jones police interview, right there, the prosecutor told the jury was kevins capacity for violence in full view, sitting and listening to this, kevins father worried how easy it might be for jurors to convict his son. It was just a nightmare. Yet kevins parents never waivered in their belief that their son was just as innocent as he told the police he was. They 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. Kevins lawyers knew their client had become the local poster boy for evil. When youve got something that was this this serious that is this bad, this girl was brutally murdered. Somebodys got to pay. Somebody has to pay. Somebody, but not kevin said attorney michael robbins. They sent the readout of the polygraph to an independent expert who reported that the questions seemed designed to make sure kevin failed. The rest of the states evidence, said the defense, didnt wash either. The bloody palm print on the light bulb of the lamp, the murder weapon, it was kevins print and no wonder it was. Kevin was frantically trying to save his girlfriends life. So, of course, he could have touched the light bulb. It is a totally innocent situation. The blood got on the light bulb at the time the body was discovered. What hewhen hes trying to revive her somehow and touched the light bulb. The emt said the lamp was within a foot of the body. More disturbing, the evidence not collected by the police. Said the defense, firsttime 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, was there blood on the venetian blinds, the empty condom wrapper a short distance from the body. The police go upstairs to see if thats been flushed. Do not fingerprint the commode, dont dna that, dont dna anything up there. In fact, the defense did its own dna testing on that condom wrapper. By the prosecutions account it was a key piece of evidence, the thing that likely sent kevin off on this murderous rage, but think about it, if kevin actually saw the condom wrapper he would have picked it up and would have left his own dna on it, but. We sent the prophylactic wrapper off and they found the dna. The dna was some other males. Someone elses dna, not kevins 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 didnt match anybody in the database, and kevins lawyers did have this. An alibi for their client. Kevins grandmother told the court he couldnt 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 levelheaded person. She was an incredible witness on the stand. But there was one compelling piece of evidence in the prosecutions case said the defense and they just wanted jurors to see more of it, that police video of kevin. She didnt deserve this. She deserved a life. The defense had jurors watch all of it. It was betting this image should convince jurors they should change what may have been that First Impression and decide kevin wasnt the killer the prosecutors had painted, but a griefstricken young man who was innocent. So, what to believe . In the courthouse, the jury wrestled with the 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, doesnt it . He said it matches gary dunn. Who was gary dunn and what, if anything, did he have to do with nonas murder . And coming up later, another dateline mystery. Something happened to her. A young mom missing for years. Now could facebook hold the answer . Its kind of a place that we say here i am. And its also a place where you can find people. Secrets in the mist. You gotta hit a wall to see the light sometimes you gotta break it down to make it right light up my life, light up my room singin rat tat tat and a bang bang boom you gotta tear it down sometimes you gotta tear it all down to make it beautiful you gotta tear it down when you said it was a black tie breakfast. Your dress is so elegant. What . This ol thing . I just pulled this out of my closet. Well, you look amazing. I know and with just the teeniest bit of help. Trop50. It has 50 less sugar. Other than that, i dont know why im looking so good. Uh jane. My arms are getting tired. Could we get a drink . After i finish mine. Im not kidding. Trop50. The goodness of orange juice with 50 less sugar and calories. Kevin jones sat in the do you remember and watched the fight for his life swirl around him and felt in that uncomfortable chair the withering stares at 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 take things that you do. He had every reason to worry. Later,