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>> reporter: his co-counsel jenna gruenstein was an anchorage school girl when bonnie was murdered. >> i remember very vividly how much this impacted the community. everyone's sense of security when you know that somebody was kind of literally snatched off the street. >> reporter: here in anchorage they were under intense pressure. the courtroom was packed, standing-room only. then on the second day of the trial arc new problem. the defense attorney told the jury in his opening statement that the initial investigation at mchugh creek was inadequate and, in fact, the crime scene video was missi...

Start of the trial. for five days the prosecutors researched case law, marshaled their arguments and worried about yet more relays in the trial. but then, good news. the defense attorney decided he would not request a mistrial. back in court prosecutors played the crime scene tape. the public's first chance to see what investigators did the day of the murder. >> i recalled prior to playing the tape my dread on, boy, what's the family going to feel? >> reporter: it was trooper beatty who took the stand when the video rolled. >> this was the first time they've seen their daughter in this horribl...

Painful. everything's like the day that she was murdered. it's like having everything ripped open again. >> reporter: the trial finally started in may 2011. >> she has 11 lacerations on the back of the skull. >> reporter: it was paul miovas' first trial as district attorney in cold case homicide, and he was worried. >> i went into it with a heavy heart. i knew it would be a task. >> reporter: because the dna from kenneth dion did not prove he raped and killed bonnie, only that sex took place between them. and beyond the dna, the prosecutor had little to connect dion to the murder. there was no...

And, in fact, the crime scene video was missing and had been for years. confirming karen's worst fears about the troopers. >> it just made us sick. >> reporter: which made the news that came the next day all the more shock. out of the blue, somebody at the alaska state trooper's office found the crime scene tape. good news? well, you think. but -- >> my concern was that it threatened the trial itself. we immediately took a recess. a five-day break in trial. >> reporter: the amazing discovery of the long lost videotape could very well be grounds for a mistrial because the defense got it after t...

Heart. i knew it would be a task. >> reporter: because the dna from kenneth dion did not prove he raped and killed bonnie, only that sex took place between them. and beyond the dna, the prosecutor had little to connect dion to the murder. there was no weapon, no motive, no witness to the crime. >> we not only had to establish that kenneth dion was the killer, but we also had to disprove that it was an accident and prove that, you know, she had been murdered and she didn't fall off the cliff. >> reporter: his co-counsel jenna gruenstein was an anchorage school girl when bonnie was murdered. >> ...