Who Killed The Beauty Queen?

(CBS)  On Dec. 15, 2005, the small town of Russellville, Ark., was rocked by the news that 19-year-old college student and aspiring beauty queen Nona Dirksmeyer had been found murdered inside her apartment.

Nona's boyfriend Kevin Jones says he had been trying to reach her numerous times by phone but that his calls and messages had gone unanswered. Eventually, he and his mother decided to stop by Nona's apartment, where they discovered Nona's body.

As correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports, Nona had been murdered, beaten to death and left in her blood-spattered living room.

As paramedics responded to the 911 call, Kevin called Nona's stepfather, Duane Dipert, who in turn called his wife - and Nona's mother - Carol. "He met me close to the elevators. And I was just tinglin' all over. And I said, 'She's dead, isn't she?' And he said, 'Yeah,'" Carol remembers.

It was a grisly end to a life Nona struggled to fill with beauty. "I think she was just a really caring person that didn't wanna see anything go hungry or be abused," Nona's mother recalled.

Beautiful as she was, Nona was a most unlikely beauty queen. "She was really shy. Like almost painfully shy," remembers Nona's friend Adrielle Churchill, who had already won a beauty pageant.

Asked what attracted him to Nona, Kevin says, "If I didn't say her looks, I would probably by lying. I mean 'cause that's a big part of it, you know, when you're young. And her personality, too."

When Nona started competing in pageants, Kevin started to notice changes in his girlfriend. "It did help her self esteem a lot," he says.

By the time they were at Dover High School, Nona and Kevin were inseparable.

Kevin's mother Janice Jones, a school librarian, says Nona and Kevin were good for each other. "She just made him a kinder, sweeter person. He gave her confidence, and supported and cheered her on in her struggles," Janice says.

And Nona had a great deal to struggle with. She said years earlier, when she was just a child, she was sexually abused by her biological father. He died when she was just ten. And for years, she told almost no one about the abuse. But she did tell Kevin just after they started dating.

Carol says her daughter never told her, and that she didn't find out about the abuse until Nona's father was dead. Nona made preventing child abuse her cause when she appeared in pageants.

By the summer of 2005, Nona and Kevin had finished their first year of college together at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. But Kevin was transferring, some 90 minutes away, to the University of Arkansas.

"I didn't like the fact that I had to be away from her," Kevin says. "I really looked forward to going back home on the weekends."

And Kevin was "back home" on Dec. 15, 2005. The couple had already spent time together, and Kevin says he expected to hear from Nona after she took a final exam, but didn't.

Kevin says he always managed to get a hold of Nona. He continued to call and message her until about 6 p.m., when he had promised to escort his mother to a school holiday dinner.

When the time came to drive to the party, Kevin says he was concerned that Nona hadn't called back. "And he said, 'Mom, I can't go to this party and wonder if she's okay,'" Janice remembers.

Kevin contacted his friend Ryan, who was delivering pizza in the area. He asked Ryan to check if Nona's car was parked outside her apartment. It was.

Ryan knocked on the door and told Kevin there was no answer. That's when Kevin and his mom raced to Nona's apartment.

Kevin and Ryan tried but failed to open the front door, so they ran around to the sliding door in the back. Kevin says he forced open the sliding glass door, ran inside, and turned Nona over.

When police arrived, they had to make sense of the gruesome scene. Was Kevin really a grieving boyfriend? And why was he covered in so much blood?

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[drdavedmd]

Well, whatisit21, then that would mean that if you intend to kill someone, that is the state to do it in.... thanks for th tip.... now where is that s_lutt_y ex-*** of mine?

[whatisit21]

Arkansas law enforement has always had a problem of proving murder. A lot of unsolved murders in this state.

[sass71atu]

Well one thing is for sure...that all this debate on guilt, innocence, and evidence is interesting but irrelevant because as stated, he was acquitted so even if he did it he will never spend a day in jail for it.

[lalaland2013]

See, normally I''d agree with you Sass, but I saw the interrogation tape when they tell him about the other men and my gut (which I suppose doesn''t count for much except my own opinion) tells me that he honestly didn''t know. I doubt this 20 year old kid was that good an actor. What shocks me about all this is that he has been acquitted and he can technically tell anyone that will listen that he killed her without ever having to worry about criminal consequences (civil still stands)... instead, his defense attorneys have gone above and beyond to try and completely exonerate him and show that someone else killed her. I dunno, it just doesn''t seem like the actions of someone guilty of murder. One way or another, I hope he didn''t kill her because it would mean that justice will never be served and she was a beautiful girl who didn''t deserve such a violent end.

[sass71atu]

...."even docile people can explode under a stressful situation".......like finding out your GF has been sleeping with other guys? Also, I disagree that the RPD had tunnel vision.....others were checked and eliminated....they made mistakes yes, but that''s not one of them as so many seem to think.

[lalaland2013]

Sorry Sass, I don''t think you or I have a the slightest idea how we would react to seeing a loved one like that. And anyone who says they wouldn''t try to revive them, even if hope was futile is a liar. I''m not saying he''s innocent, I''m saying that any sane and rational person''s logic can be tried and tested when faced with an ugly and brutal situation like that. I just think that the police were so intent on putting this case to bed that they got tunnel-vision, did a sloppy job and if god forbid this kid DID kill her, now he can never be re-tried because of their rashness and irresponsibility. But I stand by the covered in her blood and anger in the interrogation room because I think even docile people can explode under a stressful situation like that. In the end, we may never really know what happened in that apartment, but I think it''s wrong to crucify this kid with such little evidence.

[sass71atu]

Amen to Izzy ...he knows what he is talking about. And it was not just a fingerprint it was a whole palm print. I realize everyone reacts differently to death, but Kevin is reported to have told police that he was a fan of shows like Law & Order and CSI. If so, he would learn enough from those shows about what police look for forensically. If I came across my loved one and I realized that person was cold and dead, I would want to cradle them too....but I would not. I would realize very quickly that I may contaminate important evidence that would help the police bring to justice whoever harmed my loved one and I would refrain from *** that up. Kevin would have realized very quickly after turning her over (if not before) that she was dead and beyond being brought back.

[lalaland2013]

In response to izzy, I would like to know what the right reaction is to walking in on a loved one who is naked, beaten and bloodied? I mean seriously, the police love to make comments like "He was too upset, he wasn''t upset enough"... exactly WHAT is the correct reaction to a loved one''s murder? Sorry, but if I walked in on my boyfriend''s naked bloody body, I''d get on top of him too and make *** sure there was absolutely nothing I could do before I gave up, contamination or not. And if I was dragged to the police station and interrogated about it, I wouldn''t have hit the chair a few times, I''d throw it right at the camera. Let''s have a little objectivity here and try to put ourselves in that position before making judgments because I guarantee that logic never plays into a situation like that.

[izzy993]

stepdad has alibi and fingerprint was on the instrument that killed her. He told police he did NOT touch the lamp, when in fact he did.

[izzy993]

Kevin needed witnesses, remember, his mother phoned 911. His mother had never ever been to her apartment before, in fact, had no idea where Nona lived. Nor had the pizza boy ever been to the apartment. Kevin did a fine job setting all of that up just right. AND he had a key to her apartment. So why did he take the 48 hours cameramen to the sliding glass door? Also, before police arrived Kevin had already contaminated the entire apartment, cause remember, he and his mother phoned 911 from inside the apartment, after he had conveniently rolled himself all over the top of Nona. By the way, the apartment temp. was 60 degrees, she had been dead for hours, of course he knew this as she was very cold, yet covered himself in her blood. Nona always kept her apart at 72 degrees. Very smart and well planned....Bring witnesses and contaminate the entire place and take a bath in her blood. Then tell the cops I can''t shake your hand because my hands are covered in her blood.