To find bonnies killer. Bonnies mother continues her own crusade. Then after more than a decade of searching, a phone call. They 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 unknown person might be used to track down the guilty. In the story youre about to see, a sample found on a murdered young woman was sent to the National Database. 12 years after she was killed, it turned up a match. But in this case prosecutors would need more than dna to convict a killer. Heres keith morrison. Reporter many years ago late on a september night, a family in anchorage, alaska, got a knock on the door. It was one of those eerie feelings instantly when someone knocks on the door at 10 00 at night and they asked to speak to my dad. Reporter it was 1994. Samantha was 12, her brother adam 13. They huddled on the staircase overlooking the front door. We heard my dad collapse and scream no, not bonnie. And i just remember thinking, god, please let her be in the hospital and let her be okay. Reporter bonnie was elder sister bonnie craig, 18 years old. I remember my dad dropping to his knees crying on the front deck, and that was about the first time ive ever seen that happen. Reporter their mother karen was on vacation, was on a sailboat off the coast of florida, four time zones away. It was 2 00 a. M. When she docked, got the news, bonnie would not be okay. Alaska state troopers had called and said that bonnie had died in a hiking accident. And youre thinking theyre nuts. Whats going on . Why . Why would you Say Something like that . Reporter but it was true, at least that bonnie was dead. It was a hiker who found her body floating in mchugh creek a few miles from anchorage. At first they didnt know who it was. No i. D. On the body. Alaska state troopers finally figured it out from the class ring she was wearing. But karen could not take it in. Not bonnie, her model child, her conscientious College Freshman who she knew was going to school that day, not hiking miles and miles from home and the university. None of it made sense. She didnt drive, so how did she get out there . Somebody would have had to be with her, and she would not have missed school. She absolutely did not go out there on her own. Reporter in fact, bonnies sister heard her get up that morning at 5 00 a. M. And set out on her 45minute walk through the predawn dark to catch the bus that would take her to her 7 00 a. M. Class at the university. She usually didnt return home until about 10 00 p. M. , packing most of her classes into a few days because she had a job at sams club. She was incredibly responsible. Reporter responsible and nurturing toward her younger siblings, in part because their parents, mother karen and stepfather gary had divorced a couple of years earlier. She just liked to help us make all the right decisions, and i looked up to her. Reporter another brother, jason, was two years older than bonnie. I tell my kids this all the time, you can decide in the morning when you get up, you can have a good day or a bad day. And she would always choose to have a good day. She was incredible. One of those people that as soon as you Start Talking to her, youre instantly attracted to her personality. In high school they used to call her tigger because she was just bouncy and fun and so sweet to everybody. She was involved in sports. She was coaching the kids in swimming. She started students against drunk driving. She was the very first girl to be on the wrestling team at surface high school. Reporter bonnie had a serious boyfriend, cameron, who had left that summer to Start College at the university of california. She used to record herself singing and talking to him and sent him cassette tapes. She was crazy about him, yes. They were madly in love. Reporter but now suddenly bonnie craig was dead. At least thats what her mother karen had been told. But as she flew home to alaska, she struggled with denial. I believed flying back that as i got there, she might even be at the airport saying, oh, mom, im sorry. It wasnt me. Its all just been a terrible mistake. Reporter but no. Bonnie was not at the airport to meet karen. Her body was at the funeral home. I only got to see her face. Its just incredibly sad. And you think, my god, it is her. And you cant believe that your babys lying there cold and lifeless. Reporter the next day karen saw her baby again, saw more than her face, and noticed something that seemed to confirm what she already believed it wasnt a hiking accident. She called the Alaska State Troopers. Her knuckles were broken. So im on the phone screaming to them saying, no, youve got to get back. Youve got to take more pictures. These are defensive wounds. Reporter look again at bonnies body, she demanded. Look harder. What happened to bonnie craig that september day, screamed karen, was murder. Coming up i think my mom felt very responsible. Like i caused this . I caused this, you know. They killed bonnie because of something i did. Was her childs death revenge . When dateline continues. With trelegy. Cons the only fdaapproved oncedaily 3in1 copd treatment. Trelegy the power of 1,2,3 trelegy 1,2,3 trelegy woman with trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3, im breathing better. Trelegy works three ways to open airways, keep them open and reduce inflammation, for 24 hours of better breathing. Trelegy wont replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. Trelegy is not for asthma. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Do not take trelegy more than prescribed. Trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. Call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. Think your copd medicine is doing enough . Maybe you should think again. Ask your doctor about oncedaily trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3. Trelegy, 1,2,3 woman save at trelegy. Com. Thenot actors, people, whove got their eczema under control. With less eczema, you can show more skin. So roll up those sleeves. And help heal your skin from within with dupixent. Dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderatetosevere eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. Dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid. Many people taking dupixent saw clear or almost clear skin. And, had significantly less itch. Thats a difference you can feel. Dont use if youre allergic to dupixent. Serious allergic reactions can occur, including anaphylaxis, which is severe. Tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, or a parasitic infection. If you take asthma medicines, dont change or stop them without talking to your doctor. So help heal your skin from within, and talk to your eczema specialist about dupixent. You have power over pain, so the whole world looks different. The unbeatable strength of advil. What pain . In the autumn of 1994 a suffocating grief descended in anchorage, alaska, and settled on the home of 18yearold bonnie craig. It was a very bad night. It was tough. It was really tough. I guess you just dont know what to do after that, how to channel your emotions. We were all devastated. Reporter once she arrived home, bonnies mother karen jumped into action, had to find the truth about bonnies death. And seemed equipped to do so. She was an anchorage reserve police officer, and before that, a local tv reporter. She told her media friends it was murder. The troopers didnt know what they were doing. She even included samantha in this interview. She wouldnt have taken her. There was nothing accidental about it. Reporter but initially it did look like an accidental fall to one of the troopers, the one who happened to have been the first to talk to karen. But the others saw the evidence and thought murder. One trooper at the crime scene was tim hunyer, now retired. One thing that was strange to us, we did find one drop of blood on a leaf at the top of the cliff. One drop of blood . One drop of blood. Reporter which was found by this man, trooper robert beatty, also now retired. I was on my hands and knees just kind of looking and came across that drop of blood. We got blood up here. Did he tell you that . How big was this drop . About the size of an eraser head really. The interesting thing part about that was that it was a drop that had fallen straight down. Reporter indicating to the troopers that she had been hurt somehow before she got anywhere near the edge of the cliff. With it being five, six feet away from the cliffs edge, it was real apparent to me that, you know, we no longer have some accidental death. This was a homicide. Reporter but because there was no sign of a struggle at the crime scene, no weapon, nothing more left behind, it was obvious this would be hard to solve. So though eventually they told karen they agreed with her, bonnie had been murdered, they wanted her to keep that information secret. Fat chance. By then, karen was telling anyone who would listen what she thought. And she was not about to stop. So you spoiled it for them . Yeah. I got in trouble constantly for me getting involved in the investigation and also opening your big mouth to the media. Yeah. Reporter she was troubled by Something Else too. Her reserve work with the Anchorage Police department. Was bonnie the victim of a revenge killing . I was doing undercover work, doing drug buys, and we had done this major bust just beforehand. So youre in a position to make some people pretty mad at you. Right. I think my mom felt very responsible. Like i caused this . I caused this, you know. They killed bonnie because of something i did. She took that as it was her fault. And so, therefore, she had to figure it out. Had to solve the crime. Reporter caught up in a whirl of guilt about her own possible role and the growing anger about what she perceived as an inept investigation by the troopers, karen began a campaign to keep bonnies case in the public eye. We started handing out fliers. We got bumper stickers made. We started building up a reward. We had bus signs driving all around town. The first one said who killed bonnie . Reporter and continued doing interviews. Somebody out there knows what happened, and we desperately need to hear from them. Reporter and there were lots of tips, which went nowhere and only ate up the troopers precious time. They resisted karens efforts to insert herself into the case and told her as little as possible, didnt tell her, for example, about that drop of bonnies blood at the top of the cliff. She was very demanding. I think she felt with her police background, she should be privy to all the information we had. Oh, man. The troopers hated me because i just kept pushing and pushing. I wasnt about to give up. I was so fearful that things were being missed. Reporter tension grew. Troopers rarely returned karens calls, which compounded her belief the investigators didnt know what they were doing. Unwilling to believe and unaware that they were doing a lot. Talking to all of bonnies friends, people she went to school with, people she worked with, anybody that had any connection at all with bonnie. We walked the same route bonnie walked that day to see if anybody was around and talked to the paper girl, talked to, you know, people we saw jogging on the street. Wed ride the bus, you know, for a week straight just to talk to all the people on the bus. For a week . Yeah. To see if they saw anything, see if they heard anything. And nobody heard anything . No. No one saw no one can remember seeing bonnie that day. Reporter winter came. Karen, consumed by grief, rage, guilt about her undercover drug work, was now a singleminded crusader for bonnie. Nothing else mattered, nothing at all. Its unbelievable. You know, as a mother, i abandoned my kids and just started looking for a killer. Reporter and it was months before the troopers gave karen the rest of the news about what happened to bonnie in the last minutes of her life. Coming up, as investigators begin looking for possible suspects, they looked first close to home. I remember just straightup asking him, dad, did you kill bonnie . When dateline continues. Es good morning oh no, here comes the neighbor probably to brag about how amazing his Xfinity Customer Service is. Im mike, im so busy. Good thing xfinity has twohour appointment windows. They have night and weekend appointments too. Hes here. Bill . Karolyn . Nope no, just a couple of rocks. Download the my account app to manage your appointments making todays Xfinity Customer Service simple, easy, awesome. Ill pass. It was a standoff, tense and unpleasant. Karen, the grieving mother, furious at a team of state troopers she did not trust, determined to find out herself who murdered her bright, beautiful bonnie versus detectives who, in turn, did not trust her. And so told her little about what they knew and what they were learning. But they eventually let her see the autopsy report, and thats when karen saw a dozen or so brutal head wounds. Thats also when the medical examiner told her about one extremely important piece of news, horrifying but potentially useful. Bonnie had been raped as well. And as awful as that was, it left one sliver of hope. The killer left behind his dna. Match it and theyd solve the case. So who was it . It couldnt have been the boyfriend, cameron. He was down in california going to college. Reporter troopers said they looked at karens work as a reserve Undercover Police officer and determined the men in those drug buys were not involved either. But there was one man very close with opportunity who returned home to anchorage from an out of town trip just the night before the murder, bonnies stepfather, karens exhusband, samanthas dad. And i remember that being a really unsure, really scary feeling. In my mind it didnt make sense. My dad is not and never has been a violent man. So i remember just straight up asking him, dad, did you kill bonnie . Reporter do you remember the look on his face when you asked him . He was devastated. He was completely devastated. But i just needed to hear it from him because there was so much uncertainty in my life at that point. There was so much confusion that to be able to have him tell me when he was tucking me in bed was all i needed. Reporter the dna spoke, too. He was eliminated. But someone did it. Troopers set about collecting dna from every man who might have crossed bonnies path the day she was murdered, including some men who worked with her at sams club. We had information that there was one employee there who bonnie complained to her supervisor about. Evidently this individual got bonnies phone number off the sams Club Computer and would call her. Reporter he was doing a little stalking. That threw the red flag up right away. Reporter dna cleared him. They moved on to a second young man at sams club whose behavior seemed suspicious. They had a meeting at sams club that morning that she was murdered, and this individual, he did not sign in to the meeting. Reporter you went and checked him out . We checked him out. Come to find out he was at the meeting. He didnt sign in. Others saw him there. We still got his dna and he was cleared. Reporter then there was a student, attended an english class with bonnie threw up all kinds of red flags, that is once the teacher read his class journal. I met with her, and she showed me his journal that was filled with anger. There was a reference that september 28th was going to be a rough day and that he was going to be put to a test. That was the day she was killed. Yeah. And there was a reference to die [ bleep ]. You could see that he was very angry and troubled. He wasnt in class that day, and he came to her later on in the afternoon soaking wet and reeking of aftershave. And he handed in his paper. And she felt like he was nervous at the time. All the signs pointing toward guilt. And then he was also at the scene when they were recovering her body. That very day . Yeah. One of the lookieloos as they say yes. Reporter which is often the case with somebody when theyve killed somebody, theyll go back and look at the investigation. Right. Reporter what did you think when you heard that . I thought this is it. You know . I remember instantly thinking bonnie had pepper spray. I wonder if she pepper sprayed him and thats why he had to mask it with cologne. It sounded very suspicious to us. Right away, were just talking about that and jumping on that and find the guy. Reporter but the dna eliminated him, too, or so the troopers told karen. They said, no, the dna didnt match, and he has an alibi. His stepmom said he slept in that day. Did you buy that . No, absolutely not. I said, what if there was two people . It didnt have to be his dna. Yeah. He could have been involved, and it was somebody elses dna. Did you make some noise about that . Absolutely. Reporter but then months went by and years. No match. No justice for bonnie. No peace for karen, for the troopers. And then it was 1998, four years since bonnies murder. The troopers still working the case when one of them zeroed in on a former city bus driver. And he would fill in for the regular driver on bonnies bus route. And we just found out from strange things about this guy. He had several reports about him trying to pick up young girls. One of them was the daughter of another bus driver. I mean im talking 14yearold girls. Oh, boy. He was a substitute teacher but got fired for some of the things he was saying in his classes. Apropos of young girls . Yes. And he left the area and moved down to california. Reporter the troopers went looking and found him in davis, california. We flew down there to try to talk to him. Reporter could this be him, the man who raped and murdered bonnie . Could the hunt finally be over . They got his dna. It came back that he was the individual involved in bonnies death or that he had sex with her. Everybody was happy. Everybody was ecstatic. You got your guy. We got our guy. Reporter finally they had their man. But what is it they say . Dont count your chickens. Youd think it would be all over if the dna matched, but it wouldnt be that simple. Coming up you think, wow. This is the guy. Then the bomb hit. The bomb. When dateline continues. Inr blue diamond orchard in california. My parents job is to look after them. And its my job to test the product. The best almonds make the best almondmilk. Blue diamond almond breeze. There he is. Oh, wow. Youre doing, uh, youre doing really great with the twirling. Dad, if you want to talk, i have a break at 3 00. Okay, okay. Im going. Im gone. Like like i wasnt here. [ horn honks ] keep keep doing it, buddy. Switch to progressive and you can save hundreds. You know, like the sign s