American Homicide - S1: E27– Someone Is Getting Away with Murder, Part 2

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

DNA evidence in a 1994 cold case leads investigators to a suspect 4,500 miles away from the crime. When the victim’s mother learns the case could have been solved years earlier, she fights for justice and changes to the law.   Reach out to the American Homicide team by emailing us: [e-mail]. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season 1. Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil. I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known. At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer. Listen to new episodes of Bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Soledad O'Brien, and on my new true crime podcast, Murder on the Towpath, I'm taking you back to 1964, to the cold case of artist Mary Pinchomire.

She had been shot twice in the head and in the back. It turns out Mary was connected to a very powerful man. I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression. John F. Kennedy. Listen to Murder on the Toe Path with Soledad O'Brien on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The big guests continue on Los Culturistas. This week, it's the very funny Amy Poehler.

Don't overthink it. They talk water. We did not drink water growing up. Water was not a thing. Parenting. You got teen boys. This is like the black diamond of parenting. And of course. I don't think so, honey. Horror movies teen boys. This is like the black diamond of parenting. And of course.

I don't think so, honey. Horror movies. Okay. Okay. Amy Poehler is on Las Culture. The latest episode is out now. Listen to Las Cultureistas on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If money is a taboo topic and nobody wants to talk about it, how can we be educated on something we're unwilling to talk about? April is Financial Literacy Month, and Black Tech Green Money is where culture meets capital. Each week I sit down with Black entrepreneurs and leaders to share their blueprint for building generational wealth through tech, innovation and ownership. Once we know more, we can have more.

One thing is when we tell our clients is the more that you learn, the more that you earn, but you have to be willing to learn. To hear this and more game-changing insight, listen to Black Tech Green Money on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. For 12 years, signs hung all over Anchorage asking, who killed Bonnie Craig? There are signs on all the buses, there were signs on benches. There was fires. With no arrests, the victim's mother lost hope. It wasn't investigated real well.

They don't have a lot of evidence. And then, finally, the suspect turned up in a prison some 4,500 miles away. But did he kill Bonnie? This man stands up and starts yelling at Bonnie's family that they're all liars and that he didn't do anything. The only evidence was a drop of blood and some DNA. Would it be enough to get a conviction? It's always a crap shoot. All you need is one juror who could end up throwing the case. Today, we're in Anchorage, Alaska,

for the conclusion of someone is getting away with murder. I'm Sloane Glass, and this is American Homicide. Just a note that this episode contains some graphic content. Please take care while listening. Bonnie Craig was an 18-year-old college freshman at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. On the morning of September 28, 1994, Bonnie headed to class. That afternoon, Bonnie was dead. Her body was found floating in a creek inside of a state park some 10 miles from campus. Those moments, it's etched in my brain and you don't forget something like that.

That's Bonnie's friend, Amy Novotny. How could this happen to somebody like Bonnie? It didn't seem real. It didn't seem real at all. After first calling Bonnie's death a hiking accident, Alaska State Troopers later ruled it a homicide. I don't recall anybody ever thinking it was an accident. Just didn't make sense. You can learn a lot about Bonnie Craig by looking at her college schedule. While most college freshmen were asleep at 7 a.m., Bonnie was already in class. Her friends and family said if you believed Bonnie willingly skipped

school to go hiking, you didn't know Bonnie. Bonnie was very reliable and she wouldn't have missed school. The fact that her body turned up more than 10 miles from her home raised plenty of questions. Bonnie didn't drive. That's quite a ways away from where she lived or from the university. And if she walked? It would take probably several hours to walk to McHugh Creek from her home. Bonnie exclusively took the bus to campus. None of those buses went to McHugh Creek from her home. Bonnie exclusively took the bus to campus. None of those buses went to McHugh Creek.

Just a lot of unanswered questions at that point. Something was definitely wrong. Investigators later revealed that Bonnie not only was murdered, but also had been sexually assaulted. Even with that DNA evidence, 12 years went by without an arrest. How come nobody's coming forward? Somebody knows something. Is this ever going to get figured out? Every new promising lead fizzled out, leaving Bonnie's family and friends feeling uneasy. It was scary.

You know, scary. And that went on for a lot of years. You know, every year, I think it got a little bit more difficult. At the forefront of the investigation was Bonnie's fierce and strong-willed mother, Karen. She gave frequent press conferences and was responsible for putting up all those signs throughout Anchorage that said who killed Bonnie and Someone is getting away with murder Karen was very determined person She was gonna get to the bottom of it as Amy and Bonnie's other friends graduated college got married and had children

They couldn't help but wonder, what if? Definitely every year it kind of just breaks your heart and you kind of think of all the amazing things that Bonnie would have amounted to. Places that she would have gone, you know, the family that she could have started and just live in life like the rest of us. Those things go through your mind every year. Bonnie Craig was killed in 1994. It wasn't until 2006 when police had a man in custody in New Hampshire. That was one of the best days.

I think I cried tears of joy. They finally had who was responsible for taking such a wonderful person away from so many people The suspect was a 37 year old former Alaska resident named Kenneth Dion The name makes me utterly sick to my stomach Utterly sick So who is Kenneth Dion? At the time of his arrest, he was serving time in a New Hampshire prison for armed robbery. Back in 1994, Kenneth was 25 years old and living in Anchorage.

Like a lot of people that end up in Alaska, Kenneth Dion was stationed here in the military. Journalist Casey Grove covered the story. At some point divorced his wife or she divorced him, and he apparently was into crime. Kenneth was discharged from the military and later served some time for a string of robberies. Just two months before Bonnie's murder, Kenneth was released from prison in Alaska and placed on probation.

He then violated his parole and was sent back to prison. After his release in 1996, he left Alaska for New Hampshire, where he got into more trouble. He had been addicted to Oxycontin, committed a string of armed burglaries. He was serving time for that and they collected his DNA under this mandatory program. In 2006, an Alaska lab worker did a weekly check of the CODIS system.

That's when Kenneth Dion's DNA matched the DNA found in Bonnie. New Hampshire was one of like a handful of states at the time that had mandatory DNA collection for violent crime. They would not have caught him if not for that law in New Hampshire. Alaska investigators immediately flew out to New Hampshire and questioned Kenneth. You know the investigators didn't just come out and say hey we think you killed this girl. What these two Alaska state troopers did do was put on a clinic on how to interrogate a suspect. They first asked him when he was in Alaska and why he was in Alaska.

And he tells them with the military. And he kind of mentioned that he was into martial arts. And somehow that came up. He was like a black belt in karate, I think. I had noon chocks, you know, three-sectional staffs. I had all kinds of things because I'm a fifth-degree black belt, so. You can hear he's got this kind of like New Englander accent that I wasn't expecting. Along with his thick accent, Kenneth had red hair and stood around 5 feet 10 inches tall.

He told the troopers he grew up fighting his whole life. And then the topic turned to Bonnie. This is a pretty high profile case. So did you read the news or listen to the news, read the newspaper back then? Oh yeah, all the time. Okay. You may have probably heard about the situation situation about a young girl named Bonnie Craig 18 year old college student. I

Can't recall I can't remember She's this, you know this teenage girl Do you know her and he said no Did you ever meet someone called Bonnie or anything like that? I? you ever meet someone called Bonnie or anything like that? I have no idea. And then finally, you know, they, they show him this picture of Bonnie Craig and ask him if he knows her. She's an 18 year old college student, lived in South Anchorage.

She left her home around, you know, five 10, five 20 in the morning, uh, to go catch a bus off Lake Otis. I think when the investigators sort of first presented this photo of Bonnie Craig to Kenneth Dion, it was, have you ever met this girl? He said, no, he'd never seen her before. And then they left it sitting there, maybe as advice to see what his reaction was over time. Do you ever recall maybe, you know, meeting her through someone else,

one of your friends or anything? 18 years old? Mm-hmm. I don't know. My wife would have killed me. And he said, no, you know, if I had known her and been hanging out with her, my wife would have killed me, you know,

because he was married at the time. I think it's worth pointing out, too, that anybody who had been around at that time would have seen this picture, or a picture of Bonnie Craig. Even people who don't follow the news very closely would have seen these posters and would have seen these photos on the side of a bus, you know. So for him to have said he had never seen her before just seemed implausible. That's when the troopers flip the script. And the sad thing about it, later on that day her body was found at McHugh Creek.

Whoa, whoa. Whoa. What are you trying to say? He says something along the lines of, what are you guys trying to say here? Like, why are you here talking to me about her? Your name has come up, you know, like hundreds of names. Why would my name come up? That's what I'm trying to figure out.

You know, you say you didn't have no association with her. You know, that's good. You know, I'm trying to, I'm just trying to get clear so I can get home. And of course, it's hard to get around the fact that his DNA was found inside of her and she was dead. There was just some good police work that had to be done to really nail this guy down.

And they did it. Alaska State Troopers charged Kenneth Dion with sexually assaulting and murdering Bonnie Craig. Another five years would pass before Kenneth Dion stood trial. By then, a key piece of evidence would go missing and would impact the integrity of the investigation. Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season 1. I just knew him as a kid.

Long silent voices from his past came forward. And he was just staring at me. And they had secrets of their own to share. Gilbert King. I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott. I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it. Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil. I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known. If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail.

I would have never existed. I never expected to find myself in this place. Now, I need to tell you how I got here. At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer. Bone Valley, season two. Jeremy. Jeremy, I want to tell you something. Listen to new episodes of Bone Valley, season two, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear the entire new season ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Soledad O'Brien and on my podcast Murder on the Toe Path, I'm taking you back to the 1960s. Mary Pinchot Meyer was a painter who lived in Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Every day she took a daily walk along the Toe Path near the E&O Canal. So when she was killed in a wealthy neighborhood, She had been shot twice in the head and in the back behind the heart.

the police arrived in a heartbeat. Within 40 minutes, a man named Raymond Crump Jr. was arrested. He was found nearby, soaking wet, and he was black. Only one woman dared defend him. Civil rights lawyer Dubby Roundtree. Join me as we unravel this story with a crazy twist because what most people didn't know is that Mary was connected to a very powerful man. I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression. John F. Kennedy.

Listen to Murder on the Toe Path with Soledad O'Brien on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The big guests continue on Los Culturistas. This week, it's the very funny Amy Poehler. Don't overthink it. They talk water. We did not drink water growing up.

Water was not a thing. Parenting. You got teen boys. This is like the black diamond of parenting. And of course. I don't think so, honey. Horror movies. Okay. Okay?

Amy Poehler is on Las Cultu- The latest episode is out now. Listen to Las Culturistas on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to podcasts. There's a story behind every murder, but is there an ending? That's the question being asked by Murder True Crime Stories, the Crime House original podcast powered by Pave Studios.

I'm Carter Roy. Join me every Tuesday as I tell the story of a famous solved or unsolved murder. Each episode dives into the darkest corners of true crime, unraveling chilling narratives, examining compelling clues, and most importantly, seeking the truth. What sets Murder True Crime Stories apart is the focus on humanizing the victims and the effect their deaths had on their families, friends, and community. We'll always leave with the knowledge of why their stories need to be heard.

New episodes release every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for Murder Colon True Crime Stories. Bonnie Craig was 18 years old when she was mysteriously found dead in a creek several miles from her home and college. In 2011, some 17 years later, her accused killer, Kenneth Dion, was on trial for murder. I would have been 12 years old when this happened and I think I was maybe 30 or something by the time this went on trial. Journalist Casey Grove wrote about the case. I've thought about that a lot.

I mean, the amount of time that went by from when she was killed to when Kenneth Dion went on trial was almost as long as she had been alive. That time difference became obvious when prosecutors showed pictures of Bonnie during the trial. Like, just the way that she was dressed, tapered jeans, you know, back in the 90s. And her hair was kind of in a holdover from the 80s, kind of like that feathered, somewhat bigger hair than people wear nowadays.

It was kind of a throwback to that time too, where people didn't have a phone in their pocket to take pictures of everything. So like a lot of the photos were sort of like school photos or, you know, family photos from gatherings and things like that. On the other side of the courtroom sat Kenneth Dion, whose red hair wasn't the only feature that stood out. He actually had knuckle tattoos that said, lost soul. Lost on one hand and soul on the other hand on his knuckles tattooed.

I've covered cases where they actually use makeup to cover the tattoos up so that the person looks better maybe to the jury. Prosecutors explained to the jury that this lost soul was responsible for killing and sexually assaulting Bonnie Craig. There's a direct line there between him and her and it's impossible to get around that. But I think the theory of what actually happened when Bonnie was murdered was kind of muddy, or at least took a lot of filling in of the blanks. There were no eyewitnesses to the crime. So the defense adopted the original theory from

the Alaska State Troopers that Bonnie fell in a hiking accident, but with a twist. These two people had consensual sex and then, you know, one of them just sort of fell off a cliff and died accidentally. The defense reiterated to the jurors what the police first told Bonnie's mother. The defense attorney, he asked, well, so could somebody fall off a cliff and strike their genitals, in this case on a sharp rock, and would that produce the kind of injuries that you're saying are evidence of sexual assault? This is in front of Bonnie's mom and sister and her other family, and just about everybody

just kind of like rolled their eyes, you know, like how could you even say that? And you know what? I feel the same way. What the defense is proposing happened to Bonnie is unbelievable. After the defense floated alternative theories, prosecutors pointed the finger directly at the defendant.

Bonnie was walking to the bus stop and the prosecution theory was that Kenneth Dion saw her and somehow got her into his vehicle. He, you know, sexually assaulted her at some point, possibly at McHugh Creek, struck her at the top of this cliff, and that was based on a single drop of blood on a leaf that the crime scene investigators found that was Bonnie's blood, and then pushed her into the creek, down, I mean, down this cliff, pretty steep, big cliff down into the creek, I mean, down this cliff, this pretty steep, big cliff down into the creek, and that he then scrambled down there to finish her off was what the prosecutor said. Bonnie took at least a dozen blows to the head, and prosecutors believe Kenneth Dion

used a weapon for the fatal blow. They believed that Kenneth Dion had killed Bonnie Craig by hitting her in the back of the head with nunchucks. Prosecutors leaned heavily into that interrogation tape of Kenneth Dion, where he admitted to being into martial arts. They knew that he had these martial arts weapons, like nunchucks and those kind of things.

But the defense said if Bonnie was murdered, there would have been blood everywhere on the side of the cliff, not just the one drop they found on a leaf. And as for Kenneth's DNA… The defense attorney, he insinuated that Bonnie might have been promiscuous and might have had consensual sex with Kenneth Dion. The defense argued Kenneth and Bonnie had sex in the week leading up to her death. But remember, Bonnie had a long-distance boyfriend at the time. Bonnie's boyfriend at the time was brought back, you know, 17 years later for this trial

and testified. Bonnie's boyfriend Cameron was 34 years old at the time of the trial. He testified how Bonnie was his first girlfriend and said the two had plans to marry. Everything that the boyfriend said about her and about their relationship was not in agreement with the idea that she could have been sleeping with other guys. They talked on the phone all the time. They had like promise rings that they were wearing. They thought that they were going to get married and have a happy little life with each other

and go off and do great things. Cameron told the room that he and Bonnie spent their last night together before he went away to school. It happened in July of 1994 on the rocks near McHugh Creek, the same place her body was later found. It was very sad to see her boyfriend on the stand talking about what had been such a beautiful thing in their lives, their love for each other. Testifying about his last night with Bonnie became too much for Cameron. They paused his testimony at one point. He just kind of overcome with the grief and he went out in the hallway in the courthouse and just kind of walked up and down the hallway and kind of gathered himself.

After that emotional testimony, prosecutors played the interrogation tape of Kenneth Dion. You've probably heard about the situation about a young girl named Bonnie Craig. I can't recall, I can't remember. They're very clearly trying to pin him down on, oh, you don't know her? Okay. How'd your DNA get inside of her? Never seen her face before? Well, later, when you try to claim that you had consensual sex with her,

that's not going to make any sense. Kenneth Dion never took the stand in his own defense. He simply jotted down notes and made frequent eye contact with Bonnie's mother, Karen. He looked at us very angry a couple of times. And it was seeing the face of evil. Other witnesses from Kenneth's past also testified about his dark side.

We had more than one woman on the stand saying he had abused her and I mean even his wife, ex-wife at that time, had to testify about him and his abuse and his drug abuse. Things were looking good for the prosecution until something happened to a key piece of evidence. Back on the afternoon of Bonnie's death in 1994, investigators used a camcorder to record footage at the crime scene. But suddenly, that tape was missing. You know, ultimately, it just, it was an important piece

of the whole story, but the video from the murder scene never showed up. Journalist Casey Grove. I don't remember ever hearing a good explanation for why the video was lost. The most detail about that was just just it had been checked out of the evidence for the case and not returned. The defense attacked investigators for losing a key piece of evidence. But then on the second day of the trial, prosecutors approached the judge.

They explained that the missing tape had mysteriously resurfaced. That was bizarre. Suddenly the trial came to a screeching halt. The fact that this video surfaced right after the trial started basically, I mean the defense of course fought that vigorously, fought that being admitted as evidence. The judge stopped the trial for both sides to argue whether to admit the video. I was filled with fear that he could walk.

Not knowing what that meant for the trial threw Bonnie's mother, Karen, into a panic. It wasn't investigated real well. They don't have a lot of evidence. All you need is one juror who could end up throwing the case. Suddenly, the slam dunk case against Kenneth Dionne took a turn. Oh my gosh, are we going to be able to get a conviction? Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield

in Bone Valley Season 1. I just knew him as a kid. Long silent voices from his past came forward. And he was just staring at me. And they had secrets of their own to share. Um, Gilbert King? I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott. I was no longer just telling the story.

I was part of it. Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil. I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known. If the cops and everything would have done their job properly,

my dad would have been in jail. I would'd never known. If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed. I never expected to find myself in this place. Now, I need to tell you how I got here. At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer. Bone Valley, season two. Jeremy. Jeremy, I want to tell you something.

Listen to new episodes of Bone Valley, season two, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear the entire new season ad-free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Soledad O'Brien, and on my podcast, Murder on the Towpath, I'm taking you back to the 1960s. Mary Pinchot Meyer was a painter who lived in Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Every day she took a daily walk along the towpath near the E&O Canal. So when she was killed in a wealthy neighborhood...

She had been shot twice in the head and in the back, behind the heart. The police arrived in a heartbeat. Within 40 minutes, a man named Raymond Crump Jr. was arrested. He was found nearby, soaking wet, and he was black. Only one woman dared defend him, civil rights lawyer Dovey Roundtree. Join me as we unravel this story with a crazy twist, because what most people didn't know is that Mary was connected to a very powerful man.

I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression. John F. Kennedy. Listen to Murder on the Toe Path with Soledad O'Brien on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The big guests continue on Los Culturistas. This week, it's the very funny Amy Poehler.

Don't overthink it. They talk water. We did not drink water growing up. Water was not a thing. Parenting. You got teen boys. This is like the black diamond of parenting. And of course.

I don't think so, honey. Horror movies. Okay. Okay? Amy Poehler is on Las Culture. The latest episode is out now. Listen to Las Culturistas on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to podcasts. There's a story behind every murder, but is there an ending? That's the question being asked by Murder True Crime Stories,

the Crime House original podcast powered by Pave Studios. I'm Carter Roy. Join me every Tuesday as I tell the story of a famous solved or unsolved murder. Each episode dives into the darkest corners of true crime, unraveling chilling narratives, examining compelling clues, and most importantly, seeking the truth. What sets murder true crime stories apart is the focus on humanizing the victims, and the effect their deaths had

on their families, friends, and community. We'll always leave with the knowledge of why their stories need to be heard. New episodes release every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for Murder Colon True Crime Stories. for Murder Colon True Crime Stories. Kenneth Dion is on trial for the 1994 murder of Bonnie Craig. But there's a problem. A videotape of the crime scene that Alaska State Troopers took was missing. Seventeen years had gone by since the murder and then this like thing with this video comes up. Journalist Casey Grove covered the trial.

It's supposed to be, you know, like the first day of testimony. And they paused the trial for a week. The videotape disappeared and then reappeared two days into the trial. And after much debate, the judge allowed prosecutors to admit it into evidence. It's shot on like a VHS cassette tape with that grainy like home video footage kind of look to it. As the dated footage flickered on the television screen, the jurors leaned in to get their first look

at the crime scene. This video, I like really put you at that scene at that time. You know, the leaves were all yellow and things were kind of changing towards fall. The moss or the lichen is kind of starting to turn red. It's very colorful. The beauty of Alaska's changing seasons was broken by what showed up next on the videotape. These investigators wearing hip waiters are waiting out to the body and they flip it over and you can see her face and it's just very pale white.

For Karen, Bonnie's mom, it was tough because she had never seen that. As you can imagine, seeing this footage of her daughter's body floating lifeless in McHugh Creek was tough to see. For Karen, it showed a part of the investigation she had not been privy to. For the first time, I'm finding out what they did when they arrived there. One of the Alaska State Troopers, he had crawled on his knees down paths, looking for any kind of evidence. He found just one leaf with a drop of blood that they later determined was Bonnie's blood. Nat Video showed that one leaf that troopers found that contained Bonnie's blood. That video showed that one leaf that troopers found that contained Bonnie's blood.

That was crucial to find that leaf with that one drop of blood because that proved that Bonnie was injured before she went over into the water below. Karen hoped that video would help disprove the defense's theory that Bonnie fell to her death. The defense immediately said, well, you know, she had all these head injuries. There would have been blood everywhere. The prosecutor in rebuttal said that there was no blood anywhere because Bonnie went over the cliff and Kenneth Dion ran down the side of that cliff and got Bonnie and hit her with the numb chucks while she was in the water again and again and again until she was lifeless.

In other words, the only blood would have been in the creek. It had all washed away except for that one drop of blood that they found. And it was Bonnie's. The jury agreed with the prosecutor's argument. They found Kenneth Dion guilty of sexually assaulting and murdering Bonnie Craig. We cried. We all cried and hugged each other. It was a bittersweet victory to know he's not getting away with murder anymore.

Kenneth Dion never took the stand, but he broke his silence at the sentencing hearing. He had a couple of outbursts. He would lose it, you know. Twice at his sentencing hearing, Kenneth Dion shouted towards the prosecutor. He said he would never admit to killing Bonnie because he didn't do it.

But his outburst didn't spare him. The judge sentenced Kenneth Dion to 124 years. He won't be eligible for parole until 2050, when he's 81 years old. He's gonna be spending 124 years in jail. He's never going to get the opportunity to kill another child. Throughout the investigation, Karen was critical of Alaska State Troopers. She was further incensed when she learned what happened in New Hampshire. In 2003, Kenneth Dion was incarcerated in New Hampshire,

but his DNA wasn't collected until 2005. And it wasn't until 2006 when his DNA was entered into the CODIS system. I am furious about the fact that they hadn't bothered to input his DNA into CODIS, our criminal national database. Think about that. Bonnie's murder could have been solved years earlier if Kenneth Dion's DNA was collected on time.

That's when I went after the media again and called all of the legislators and representatives and let them know that we need to change the law. In 2002, New Hampshire became one of only a handful of states, with a law allowing DNA to be collected from state prisoners convicted of violent crimes. Karen wanted Alaska lawmakers to pass a similar law. We pushed for it and within 60 days it was signed by the governor-in-law. Alaska was number seven to start collecting DNA on all felony arrests. Thanks to Karen's lobbying, Alaska law now requires DNA samples from suspects arrested for a violent crime like robbery, domestic violence, or sexual assault.

The swabs then get sent to the state crime lab, where the DNA can be matched against evidence from cold cases and kept on file to aid in future cases. This guy had been in jail two months before he murdered Bonnie, out on bail when he murdered her, and then back in jail two months after. If they'd had collection of DNA on arrest, they would have known right from the get-go. We wouldn't have had to wait months, years. It could have been solved in weeks. Instead, it was a 17-year saga trying to get him convicted.

As of 2024, Alaska is now one of at least 31 states that requires DNA samples to be collected upon arrest, or when criminal charges are filed against a person. But the program isn't without its critics. The people scream and say, oh, you know, we're innocent till proven guilty. Well, it's not that it's proven you guilty just to have your DNA there. All it does is identify the person. You still have to prove the case.

When they take the mud shots, when they take the fingerprints, get that DNA. Collect DNA on arrest. It's crucial to justice. It's a simple concept in theory, but the program isn't without its flaws. A 2020 ProPublica article reported that Alaska continues to be one of many states with a long backlog of uncollected and or unprocessed DNA. Despite the program's warts, Karen considers the law a critical tool for investigators and the families of victims. And in Bonnie's case, we turn tragedy into triumph by getting these laws changed and knowing that because of Bonnie's murder, they will be spared being a victim because of the DNA laws that have changed.

Nearly a decade after Bonnie's murderer was convicted, her close friend Amy still couldn't find closure. She had to confront a place that was meaningful to the two of them, McHugh Creek. Last summer was the first time I actually went there. Amy returned to the place where Bonnie's body was discovered, and she didn't go alone. My youngest daughter had went there with me. She hugged me, and I just needed to just let me sit here and just think. I definitely shed some tears.

A little emotional just being there. Amy had come to the realization that Bonnie's death affected the way she parents her own children. So it made me a little overprotective as a parent, not wanting to leave my kids needing to know everywhere they're going. Just because there's really, there's a lot of monsters in this world and it scares it scares you like said never would have thought something like that would have happened to Bonnie if it happened to her it could happen to to anybody so yeah most definitely it's changed me or shaped me to be the parent that I am that afternoon at the creek Amy said she sensed something. Sunbeams were shining down.

You actually kind of feel her presence there almost. Next time on American Homicide, a hiker sets up camp and a dead body is found. But the hiker claims he had nothing to do with the murder. We'll head to rural Chuletna, Alaska for the case of the mountain man murders. I'm Sloane Glass and that's next time on American Homicide team by emailing us at americanhomicidepod.gmail.com. That's americanhomicidepod.gmail.com. American Homicide is hosted and written by me, Sloane Glass, and is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts.

The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Todd Gantz. The series is also written and produced by Todd Gantz, with additional writing by Ben Federman and Andrea Gunning. Our associate producer is Kristen Malkuri. Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Kreincheck.

Audio editing, mixing, and mastering by Nico Oruka. American Homicide's theme song was composed by Oliver Baines of Noiser, music library provided by MyMusic. Follow American Homicide on Apple podcasts, and please rate and review American Homicide. Your five-star review goes a long way towards helping others find this show. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do it. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do it.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do it. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do it. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do it. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do it. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do it. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do it. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do it. is, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil. I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known.

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer. Listen to new episodes of Bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Soledad O'Brien, and on my new true crime podcast, Murder on the Towpath, I'm taking you back to 1964, to the cold case of artist Mary Pinchomire. She had been shot twice in the head and in the back.

It turns out Mary was connected to a very powerful man. I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression. John F. Kennedy. Listen to Murder on the Toe Path with Soledad O'Brien on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The big guests continue on Los Culturistas. This week, it's the very funny Amy Poehler.

Don't overthink it. They talk water. We did not drink water growing up. Water was not a thing. Parenting. You got teen boys. This is like the Black Diamond of parenting. And of course.

I don't think so, honey. Horror movies. OK. Amy Poehler is on Las Cultu- The latest episode is out now. Listen to Las Culturistas on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to podcasts. If money is a taboo topic and nobody wants to talk about it,

how can we be educated on something we're unwilling to talk about? April is financial literacy month and Black Tech Green Money is where culture meets capital. Each week I sit down with black entrepreneurs and leaders to share their blueprint for building generational wealth through tech, innovation and ownership. Once we know more, we can have more.

One thing is when we tell our clients is the more that you learn, the more that you earn, but you have to be willing to learn. To hear this and more game-changing insight, listen to Black Tech Green Money on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.