Any investigation can be made challenging by any number of factors. But there is nothing more dangerous to any investigation than when the investigators themselves develop tunnel vision.
Nona Dirksmeyer was born in December of 1985, in Dover, Arkansas. She was known to be quiet, and shy. Though she didn’t have very many friends, the ones she did have were very near and dear to her. This included her high school sweetheart, Kevin Jones.
Kevin was into wrestling, and played the trumpet. He and Nona bonded over their love of music. Nona was known for her singing talent, and for enjoying the opera. When the two started dating, their families grew very close.
Nona so trusted Kevin that she told him something she’d never told anyone before. As a child, she had been sexually abused by her now deceased father. She built defences and walls around her, and let very few people in, including her step-father, with whom she was cordial, but not very close.
Nona felt so strongly about supporting other survivors that she used her platform as a pageant queen to raise awareness, and offer resources for support.
After high school, Nona and Kevin decided to attend different universities. As they didn’t want to break up, they maintained a long-distance relationship. Nona moved to Russelville, where she attended Arkansas Tech University. She got an off-campus apartment, and lived an independent life.
On December 14th, 2005, Nona and Kevin met up while Kevin was driving home to Dover for winter break. Dover is roughly 20 miles from Russelville, meaning Nona and Kevin could spend more time together.
Just after midnight, Kevin made the drive home. This was the last time he saw Nona. He texted her when he got hime, and a little bit the following morning, but he soon lost contact with Nona.
While Kevin knew that Nona had made plans that day, he couldn’t shake off his concern. Nona wasn’t answering his texts, or picking up his calls. Kevin was to attend a Christmas party with his mother, but he decided to stop by Nona’s apartment along the way.
As they had a ways to drive, Kevin asked his friend Ryan to go check on her, as Ryan was nearby. Ryan told Kevin that the upstairs light was on, but she wasn’t answering her front door. Even more worried, Kevin told Ryan he would meet him there.
When Kevin arrived, he knocked on the door multiple times. He had a key to Nona’s apartment, but he’d left it at home. Kevin decided to go around the back, to see if the sliding back door was unlocked. Kevin managed to get the door open, and then Ryan pointed out that the room wasn’t empty.
Kevin’s mother called 911, and Kevin ran to Nona, picking her up, and cradling her in his arms. Nona had been lying naked on the floor in a pool of blood. Kevin grasped at her, shoving a broken lamp out of the way, hoping she could be saved. But it was too late.
As investigators arrived on the scene, they knew that it had been contaminated by Kevin. However, they didn’t try to further preserve the scene too efficiently.
To investigators, it appeared as though Nona had been beaten to death, and they noticed a blow to the back of her head. They saw a lamp nearby, theorizing that it had been used to beat Nona. Closer examination of Nona’s body also indicated that her throat had been cut.
While there was no indication that Nona had been sexually assaulted, investigators found an empty condom wrapper on the kitchen counter. However, it didn’t occur to them to do any initial testing on the wrapper for fingerprints or DNA.
Kevin was brought in for questioning, where he displayed a lot of high emotion. Investigators used this against him, and goaded him into taking a polygraph test. Kevin was then informed that he had failed it “badly”, and that they knew he was the one who murdered Nona. They tried to coerce a confession from Kevin, but he never relented.
Kevin Jones was arrested and charged for the first-degree murder of Nona Dirksmeyer on March 31st, 2006.
Investigators theorized that Kevin had flown into a rage when he saw the condom wrapper on Nona’s counter on the morning of December 15th. Believing that Nona was cheating on him, Kevin grabbed the lamp, hit her over the head, and then murdered her in a jealous rage. Then, they believed that Kevin staged the crime scene, and the discovery in order to cover his tracks.
This was told to Nona’s mother, who had once loved Kevin as a son. Kevin was deemed guilty in the court of public opinion – though he hoped a court of law would see through the investigators’ tunnel vision.
In an effort at a fair trial, Kevin’s defence team petitioned for a change of venue, as the community was firmly of the belief that Kevin was the one responsible. The request was granted, and the trial was moved to Ozark.
The prosecution outlined the investigators’ theory to the court, detailing that Kevin had a key to Nona’s apartment, and he’d had time to make the drive there that morning, then drive back to Dover to collect his mother.
A local plumber had seen Kevin leave his house at around 10:30 AM. They believed he then switched off his phone, and arrived at Nona’s apartment just before 11:00 AM. He then discovered the condom wrapper, and murdered her in a jealous rage. He then staged the scene, and left Nona’s apartment to return to Dover at around 11:15 AM. He was then seen at the Bayou Bridge Café at around 12:30 or 1:00 PM in an effort to establish an alibi. Then, he planned the staged discovery.
The defence wasted no time denying all of the prosecution’s allegations. They argued that the investigators had zeroed in on Kevin, and were blinded by their tunnel vision. They did not collect or examine all of the evidence, and they did not secure the scene.
A number of investigators and paramedics had entered Nona’s apartment, as well as Kevin, Ryan, and Kevin’s mother. Items were touched, and things were moved. They only collected evidence in the immediate area around Nona’s body, which included the lamp.
While they found Kevin’s fingerprints on the bulb of the lamp, they didn’t find his prints anywhere else on the lamp. Kevin’s fingerprints could have been placed there in his rush to reach Nona, and cradle her, pushing the lamp out of the way. The prints they found at the base of the lamp were not a match for Kevin’s.
Investigators also hadn’t initially tested the condom wrapper for fingerprints or DNA. By the time they did, after Kevin’s trial, they didn’t find a match to Kevin.
The defence also negated the prosecution’s timeline of Kevin’s whereabouts. The defence called up Kevin’s grandmother to testify. She told the court that she saw Kevin in Dover at a gas station at around 11:30 AM. She then gave him money for lunch, which he used later at the Bayou Bridge Café.
The court also saw the entirety of Kevin’s interrogation – from his emotional outbursts, to the attempted coercion and goading he endured from investigators. Furthermore, the court saw that Kevin didn’t have any bruises, scratches, or abrasions on his body, showing that he hadn’t been involved in a violent altercation.
In short – the defence argued that investigators had zeroed in on Kevin, and framed their investigation around ensuring he was held responsible for Nona’s murder. In the end, that was their downfall.
The jury found Kevin Jones not guilty of the first-degree murder of Nona Dirksmeyer.
A court of law may have found him not guilty, but Kevin was never able to repair the damage the community had done to his name and reputation.
While the trial of Kevin Jones was cooling down, anyone who was following the Nona Dirksmeyer case was about to be thrown into another rollercoaster of a trial.
While investigators had set their sights on Kevin as Nona’s killer, they had another suspect whom they’d investigated, though half-heartedly – Gary Dunn.
Dunn lived across the street from Nona, and had been caught more than once standing outside her house, gazing up at her windows. Dunn had been brought in for questioning. He offered an alibi – he was shopping at the time of Nona’s murder – and also agreed to take a polygraph test, which he apparently passed.
Investigators informed the prosecution of this, and it seemed that no further action was taken against Dunn.
What investigators failed to do, though, was inform the prosecution that the dates of Dunn’s shopping receipts could have been mistaken. A bank employee provided records stating that they had activity on his accounts for December 13th, but a slight delay made the charges appear to go through on the 15th, effectively allowing Dunn to use the records as an alibi.
With Gary Dunn now in their sights, investigators went back over the minimal evidence they had, and conducted some testing – predominantly on the open condom wrapper. They found DNA on the wrapper, and further found that it was a match to Gary Dunn.
Gary Dunn was then arrested and charged for the first-degree murder of Nona Dirksmeyer.
The prosecution argued that Dunn had been fixated on Nona. He entered her home, where he tried to engage Nona in sexual activities. They surmised that she declined, and Dunn murdered her in a fit of rage. And it wouldn’t have been the first time he’d attacked a woman in this manner.
In 2002, Dunn had been on trial for the second-degree battery and attempted murder of a woman he’d attacked. The woman had been jogging along the Bona Dea Trails when Dunn attacked her.
The woman testified – at both trials – that Dunn had attacked her from behind with a tree branch, and yelled at her that he was going to kill her.
Dunn’s defence decided to plant seeds of reasonable doubt. They were sure Kevin Jones was the real killer, not their client.
Their main argument hinged around the fact that investigators had honed in on Kevin in the first place, and that any tests done on the minimal evidence they had in their possession couldn’t be trusted, as they merely shifted their tunnel vision from one suspect to another. And while admittedly true, there was little they could do to dispute the fact that the DNA on the open condom wrapper belonged to Dunn.
The jury deadlocked, unable to come to a decision. This resulted in a mistrial. A second trial followed shortly thereafter, with the exact same results. The prosecution planned to file charges for a third time, but decided to hold off until they had more solid evidence.
The case sat dormant for years, until Gary Dunn found himself in a courtroom for entirely unrelated matters in 2018.
In December of 2018, police were called to two separate locations for the same reason – a man had tried to kidnap two different women. A witness to the first attempted kidnapping, as well as the survivor herself, provided a description of the man, and the car the man had been driving to police.
Police then responded to a call on the Arkansas Tech University campus, where another young woman had reported an attempted kidnapping. The young woman gave a very similar description of her attacker, and the car he drove.
Police soon spotted the vehicle, and pulled it over. Gary Dunn was driving the car.
Gary Dunn pleaded no contest to the attempted kidnapping charges, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
To this day, the murder of Nona Dirksmeyer remains unsolved. The community of Russelville is torn as to the identity of her murderer.
Had the investigators not succumbed to their tunnel vision, and had conducted a more thorough investigation, there’s a distinct possibility that the case would have reached a very different conclusion.
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Sources:
Nona Dirksmeyer – Chilling Crimes
Man accused in Nona Dirksmeyer murder arrested after alleged kidnapping attempt in Russellville – THV11
A victim no more: Miss Arkansas USA’s encounter with a serial attacker – Elicia Dover – ABC7
Dateline: Secrets Uncovered – Season 7, Episode 22 – What Happened To The Beauty Queen?
The Generation Why Podcast – Episode 470 – Nona Dirksmeyer