Cold Case Files - A Dawn to Remember

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

When 18-year-old model Dawn Koons heads to California with dreams of stardom, her family back in Yonkers worry she's made a mistake. After her body is found in her bathtub, police have a suspect but unmasking her killer takes nearly 40 years.This Episode is sponsored by BetterHelpBetterHelp: Visit BetterHelp.com/COLDCASE to get 10% off your first month.Greenlight: Start your risk-free trial today at Greenlight.com/coldcaseHomes.com: We’ve done your homework.Rosetta Stone: Cold Case Files listeners can get Rosetta Stone’s lifetime membership for 50% off when you go to RosettaStone.com/coldcaseSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, Cold Case listeners. I'm Marissa Pinson. And if you're enjoying this show, I just want to remind you that episodes of Cold Case files as well as the A&E Classic Podcasts, I Survived, American Justice, and City Confidential are all available ad-free on the new A&E Crime and Investigation Channel on Apple Podcasts and Apple Plus for just $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. And now on to the show. The following episode contains disturbing accounts of physical and sexual violence. or discretion is advised. Both my brother and I were puzzled by the attraction. We didn't see what she was seeing. There was a lot of back and forth with accusations and jealousy and things of that nature. She was interested in pursuing modeling and a career in show business. She was posed in a very sexually demeaning way.

The news was surreal. You couldn't wrap your mind around it. We knew he had lied to investigators about his whereabouts that weekend. None of your business. And that he was armed and dangerous. I mean, after all, she was only 18 years old. There are over 100,000 cold cases in America. Only about 1% are ever solved.

This is one of those rare stories. It's January 16th, 1979, a cool, crisp evening in California's southern San Joaquin Valley when a frantic call comes into the police. Brad Rourke is a retired sergeant with the Bakerfield Police Department. I've been a patrol officer for just over a year, and I was dispatched with another officer to go to an apartment complex in southwest Bakersfield. There was a female resident that hadn't been seen for a few days, so So based on a phone call from a boyfriend, myself and another officer met the manager out front of the apartment.

Number 46, we went inside and walked through a living room, down a hallway, into a bedroom, and then we proceeded to the bathroom. In the bathtub is the body of a woman. It quickly becomes obvious she had not died from natural causes. She was face up. Her hands were bound behind her back. with a piece of a telephone cord. She also had a brown pillowcase over her head and also had a piece of telephone cord

wrapped around her neck. The apartment manager tells Rourke that 18-year-old Don Coons lived in apartment 46. David Coons is Don's brother. My sister was Dawn Ellen Coons. I'm the oldest sibling. Then comes my sister, Dawn.

And then my younger brother, Leland, Dawn was only 11 months younger. We were good companions, and we played games and imagined and enjoyed a very close-knit family life. We lived in the Bronx until I was in the second grade, and then we moved to Yonkers. We each had a bike, and we always enjoyed bike riding. We would go to the museum or to concerts. My parents were big into exposing us to culture and broadening our horizons, as it were.

Dawn and I ended up going to the same high school in Yonkers, and Dawn was very popular and very well-liked. She did well in school, but ultimately became bored. Kind of longed for bigger and better things, bigger and better opportunities. During that time, she was interested in pursuing modeling, maybe even a career in show business. My sister was gregarious, beautiful, charming, articulate, and she had no shortage of attention. She would go to fashionable places. She got

the attention of successful men, professional men, men in entertainment. Despite her many suitors, Don remains in an on-again, off-again, relationship with a blue-collar young man she met in high school, Steve Schurl. Both my brother and I were puzzled by the attraction. We didn't see what she was seeing. My mother was a nurse. She was a good judge of character, and she wasn't impressed by him because he didn't have any real sign that there was any great character or drive or ambition. By the end of 1978, Don had made a decision. I was away at college.

I called home one Sunday, and she told me that she was going to be going to Bakersfield, California, with Stephen. I instantly didn't think it was a great idea. When she got out there, he found somebody else and moved on. He left her in the lurch. I don't understand why she didn't turn around and get on a plane and forget it and just come back to the city and pick up where she left off. Back in Bakersfield, Captain Ted King arrives at the crime scene. As officers entered the apartment, it didn't look like there were a lot of signs of struggle or any disarray in a lot of the apartment, but in that bedroom it looked like there had been a struggle.

Some of the sheets were pulled up, the blanket was pulled back, there was a pillow on the floor, and the phone cord had been removed from the wall. the phone was sitting on the ground next to the bed. They didn't find anything that showed forcible entry. So the belief was maybe it was an acquaintance of hers. Maybe it was a crime of passion. There wasn't much to go on. They took some hair samples.

They found some fingerprints on a window. And they also found a white stain on the sheets of the bed, which they suspected was semen. You have to remember that in 1979, DNA evidence did not exist. So the police did not have the database that they do now to try to identify suspects. With the investigation now creeping into the early morning hours, detectives reach out to Don's family. My father was home. My mother was working, so she wasn't home when the police came to the door to let us know that my sister was dead. I remember my mother coming home. My father gave her the news, and I just remember her sobbing.

I mean, she was just wrecked. She was just destroyed. The news was surreal. Couldn't wrap your mind around it. I just found it hard to, you know, live my daily day-to-day life. Bakersfield police start interviewing Don's friends and associates. They had to start pulling on threads and talking to folks and figuring out exactly why those things would or would not be important.

One of those threads is focusing on a note discovered on Don's door. by the apartment manager. Don, give me a call and let me know what you're up to. I can't seem to track you down. You're never home. Diane. The investigators found that Dawn and Diane were pretty good friends. They worked together at Breakers

and learned that Diane had been the last person to see Dawn before the weekend. Diane was a good source of information for investigators to figure out kind of some context to what was going on in Dawn's life at the time. Investigators learned that she was last, Last seen alive on Friday evening, January 12th, when her friend Diane dropped her off at her apartment. Diane watched her unlock the door, wave goodbye, and step inside.

That was the last time she was seen alive. The next day, Diane tried to get a hold of Dawn, and she could not contact her. They had plans that day, and Don never showed up. Don did not arrive at work that evening on Saturday. Police also interview a new man in Dawn's life. Don came to California with Steve. He was the boyfriend. They subsequently broke up their relationship,

and Don started dating a new man named Brian. And Brian was the one who called the manager to check on Don after he hadn't been able to contact her for a few days. Chance Corner is a sergeant with the Bakersfield Police Department. Brian was a gentleman that Don met at a party about two weeks prior to her murder. He was a nice-looking man. He had a job at a local refinery.

Gina Pearl is a supervising deputy DA for Kern County. They talked to him, tried to find out if there was any sort of hostility between he and Don at the time. Where he was during the weekend, Don was killed. He explained that he was at the refinery during the time period of this murder. During interviews, Don's ex-boyfriend Steve is mentioned repeatedly. Investigators found that they did not have a great relationship. They argued quite a bit, didn't get along. frequently. There had been some fighting. They also learned that Steve was at Don's apartment on

January 12th when Diane picked her up for work. At that point, there were some suspicions that he may have been involved in her death. During Dawn's autopsy at the Crown County Coroner's office, the coroner found that her cause of death was asphyxiation, and the kit that they submitted came back as positive for a sexual assault. The best estimate the coroner could give for Don's time of death was early morning hours of Saturday the 13th. She was posed in a very sexually demeaning way. By placing the pillowcase over Dawn's face and taking away who she was really indicated a lot about what the killer thought of her. Less than 24 hours after finding Dawn lifeless in her apartment bathtub, investigators bring Steve, the ex-boyfriend from Yonkers,

in for questioning. Don was 18. Steve was 21 and she and Steve had somewhat of a rocky relationship. There was a lot of accusations and jealousy and things of that nature. Investigators wanted to know where he was that Friday night as well as the weekend in which Don was murdered. He said that he had been with friends that night. He went on to further describe the way that they broke up as he broke up with Don that it was something that he had moved on from and that he had gone camping that weekend. Steve also tries pointing detectives in another direction. Steve told investigators that he believed that another tenant at that apartment complex may be involved, that he had shown interest in Dawn.

As an investigator, you obviously have to look into it, but you also, on the other side, are wondering, okay, you're trying to draw attention away from yourself and put it on somebody else. So based on the information that Steve provided, the man in apartment 50, apprentice foreman, investigators contact, Don's friends, even employees of the apartment complex, to determine whether or not Mr. Foreman was giving Don any sort of trouble or harassing her in any way. And based on those conversations with multiple people, no one other than Steve had that information or could connect Mr. Foreman to Don in any way. Detectives turned back to their most promising suspect. My mother was in contact with the police.

There were some initial questions. They asked about her relationship with Steve. My mother knew that Steve was a suspect. My mother really wasn't a fan of Steve's. She blamed him for taking Dawn to California. Their relationship was still as volatile as when they were in high school. He ultimately found a new relationship. And he started seeing someone.

He had moved out. They're going to try to check out and confirm an alibi. And Steve was at a party Friday night into the early morning hours of about 2 or 3 a.m. That was verified by multiple people. And then he was also out of town starting Saturday morning at 9 a.m. Again, that alibi was verified by multiple people. On January 18, 1979, five days after Dawn is murdered, her friends and family gather for her funeral.

Meanwhile, police are no closer to catching her killer. I remember hoping until the day I walked in the funeral home that somehow this was some kind of a mistake, that it wasn't her. One of the arrangements they made is that they decided that my sister was going to have an open casket. I remember seeing her, the dress she looked gorgeous in, You could see what had happened. You know, there was some discoloration.

But she was beautiful, just the same way as she always was. There were a lot of relatives and friends that came. There was a service from the organization she belonged to, the Triangle Girls, a Masonic organization that is for young women. They actually have this very beautiful ceremony they do where they read these poems. and there's flowers involved. News of Don's murder makes headlines,

both in California and her hometown of Yonkers. Ed Trapposo is a reporter who covered the case. I was a reporter at the Yonkers Herald Statesman in Yonkers, New York. I spent a decade as a crime reporter, and I covered my share of stories. And after all these years, interestingly enough and inexplicably, the only name of a victim I can remember is Dawn Ellen Coons. I think one reason might be is because people I spoke to her,

I thought she was an exciting, dynamic young woman. They thought that she would really make something of herself. And I sort of became cast under her spell a little bit by virtue of learning so much about her and learning what a delightful person she was. I felt that it was a worthy story for our readers. Our readers would want to know about it because it's a local girl, even though it happened on the West Coast 3,000 miles away.

Even though his alibi checks out, police aren't ready to eliminate Don's ex-boyfriend, Steve. Well, obviously, the primary suspect would be current boyfriend or previous boyfriend. And based on the information they had obtained from family, associates, and friends, about this rocky relationship between Don and Steve, they were still primarily focused on Steve. Some of the challenges that investigators faced initially was that Don and Steve were both from New York, so they had to do somewhat of a long-distance investigation

using the local police departments over there to help facilitate some of the interviews. The police left no stone on turn. They were very thorough. There was no signs of forced entry in the door. Nothing was taken from the apartment. It's very plausible that she knew who did this to her. So without other information or leads,

investigators are stuck looking at their primary suspect, and in this case was still Steve. This summer is all about discovery, whether you're jet-setting abroad, enjoying a staycation or just refreshing your routine at home. And what better way to make the most of your downtime than by learning a new language? With Rosetta Stone, you can turn those spare moments by the pool, on a plane, or between summer adventures, into meaningful progress towards your goals. If you're planning a trip, imagine how much richer your travels could be by connecting with locals in their own language. Rosetta Stone gives you the confidence to have real conversations and

truly experience the world, not just observe it. For over 30 years, Rosetta Stone has been the trusted leader in language learning, using immersive and intuitive methods that help you naturally absorb and retain your chosen language. Personally, I love how easy it is to squeeze in bite-sized lessons anytime, anywhere. And the true accent speech recognition is like having your own language coach, giving real-time feedback to perfect your accent, which I found surprisingly motivating. With 25 languages and the flexibility to learn on desktop or mobile, Rosetta Stone is perfect for travel, reconnecting with family roots, or simply challenging yourself this summer. And with their lifetime membership, you get access to every language for life. Don't wait,

unlock your language learning potential now. Cold Case files listeners can grab Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off. That's unlimited access to 25 language courses for life. Visit rosettastone.com slash cold case to get started and claim you are 50% off to day. Don't miss out. Go to rosettastone.com slash cold case and start learning today. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. You know, in every crime story, money is often an invisible thread. Sometimes it's the motive, sometimes the trigger, or maybe a simmering desperation in the background. Financial stress can push people to do things they'd never imagine. And when people aren't financially literate, they can easily become victims. That's

why I believe teaching kids about money isn't just smart. It's essential. That's where Greenlight comes in. Greenlight is a debit card and money app designed for families. It's a safe hands-on way to help kids and teens learn about money, so they're prepared to make smart financial decisions as they grow up. With Greenlight, parents can instantly send money, get spending notifications, and even assign chores. So hopefully your house doesn't end up looking like a crime scene. Greenlight really turns responsibility into real world experience. Kids and teens can learn to save, invest, and gain real confidence handling money, lifelong skills that can make a world of difference. Honestly, if I'd had green light growing up, maybe I wouldn't have felt so

anxious around money or fallen into so many financial pitfalls early in life. Give your kids the financial education so many of us missed. Join millions of parents already using Greenlight, the number one family finance and safety app. Start your risk-free greenlight trial today at greenlight.com slash cold case. That's greenlight.com slash cold case to get started. Greenlight.com slash cold case. Steve agreed to participate in a polygraph examination, and eventually he did exactly that. Detectives wait to see if Don's ex-boyfriend, Steve, will pass the polygraph. Polygraphs are used by investigators frequently as sort of a tool to get them better leads.

They're certainly not admissible in court, but they are an investigative tool that can be helpful, given the situation and the investigation. A polygraph examiner from San Francisco, he comes to Bakersfield to conduct the polygraph examiner, with Stephen. During the polygraph examination, he asked him four questions. Did you cause Don Coon's death? Were you in the apartment when she died? Do you know how Don was killed? And the fourth question, do you know who killed Don? And Steve answered no to each of these questions. The polygraph examiner determined that Stephen was telling the truth. the truth. Despite the fact that he passed the polygraph test, Steve remains a person of interest to detectives. People can lie in a polygraph examination, but still indicate by the examiner

that maybe he believes they're telling the truth. Polygraphs have always been something that's kind of a sticking point when it comes to investigations, especially in California, and ultimately it is not something that investigators can really rest a case on. Once again, the investigation turns to looking for answers in New York. Investigators were obviously hoping that this could provide them with a lead. Sometimes you find that police are a little reluctant to talk to you for whatever reason, but the folks out there in Bakersfield were very approachable. I think the reason was because they were frustrated by lack of leads,

and they were looking for any help they could get. Maybe someone knew something out here on the East Coast that they didn't bump into in Bakersfield. Investigators come up empty on the East Coast, So without much else to go on, they focus on the neighbor Steve found so suspicious. Prentice Foreman was a truck driver and was living in Bakersfield. They talked to Mr. Foreman about where he was the weekend of Don's death. And Mr. Foreman claimed he was with his girlfriend, Latanya, the entire weekend,

that he did not know Don in any way other than maybe a neighborly hello once in a while at the mailboxes. Prentice was very cooperative with investigators, answered all their questions. As investigators crossed names of people that knew Dawn off their list, they are forced to consider another grim possibility. And it's not uncommon for victims to know their killers. And as a result, the police are usually able to find some connection that implicates the killer. In the case of serial killers or drifters, they have no connection to the community. They're in and out.

And as a result, it's difficult for the police to find any connective tissues, any clues that would point to that person. There was another homicide that same weekend. Linda Sue Atkins, investigators didn't know if these two homicides were related or if both of them knew each other or anything like that. Investigators reached out to the California Department of Justice to determine if there was possibly a serial killer. They received information about four homicides that occurred. two in 1978 and two in 1979. These homicides involve white females. And these victims of homicide, all in the L.A. area, they had been tied up and died of a form of affixiation, just like Don.

Despite the similarities, investigators can't connect Don's murder to these other killings. By the end of 1979, leads dry up, and the case goes cold. My mother did most of the communication with the detectives. Once it went beyond a year and there was really no word, my mother's phone calls were less frequent. There were no new suspects, there were no new leads. It just sort of languished. This whole situation had a negative impact on my parents' marriage.

My mother was very distant from my father. I think Dawn's murder was the thing that ended their relationship. Five years past, ten years passed. My father, he died 2001. My mother, she hoped that they would catch who'd murdered her daughter. But I don't really think she had anything to hope for at that point. I got to the point personally where I thought, is it ever going to be solved? Then, 32 years after Dawn's murder, David gets the call he thought would never come.

They contacted me and they said we are going to resume the investigation. Then things started happening. My sister always had a very special bond with my younger brother. She doted on him. You know, it was just a very special bond she had. My brother, Leland, contacted a friend in law enforcement, and he contacted the Bakersfield Police to resume the investigation. The case itself really wasn't getting any attention up until the family called.

So when investigators reopened the case in 2011, one of the first things they did was pull from their archives, the police reports, and tried to determine if there was any physical evidence that could be now used with recent DNA technology to try to solve the case. In their diligence, they learned that there was a rape kit taken at Don's autopsy in 19, And that had been preserved and properly kept within the chain of custody. Investigators sent a large amount of evidence to the crime lab for possible DNA testing. The pillowcase, the cords from Don's wrists, the cord from around her neck,

as well as remnants of her fingernail clippings that had been taken at her autopsy. And then also the rape kit that had been seized as evidence as part of the autopsy. Unfortunately, what they learned was that we did not have a quality sample that had stood up through all of that time that gave us a sufficient quantity of testable substance. The quantity of that sample was too low to upload into the CODIS database to yield results. It essentially was too degraded on all fronts to give any sort of real lead. So investigators still believed that Steve was the main suspect in this. However, the decision was made just to wait because we knew that technology was evolving. Two years later, investigators are given new hope by a random discovery.

In 2015, during a routine office clean-out, the Kern County Coroner's Office discovered some evidence related to many cases that had been in a storage facility that no one really knew about. And inside one of those boxes was a sample from Don's rape kit, two slides, which had been marked with Don's case number. When the slides are brought to the crime lab for analysis, Bakersfield police are told they will finally have what they've been waiting for. After 36 years, there is enough sample to create a DNA profile of Don's killer for comparison. This is either going to corroborate the suspect that we've been looking at all these years, or it's going to lead us into a completely different direction. At the top of the list for the investigators

when it comes to sample comparisons with Steve. I guess things didn't go well for Steve. After Dawn was murdered, he returned to Yonkers. His family lives there. Steve ultimately leaves New York and settles in Florida. Investigators obtained a warrant for Steve's DNA and then flew to Florida to collect a sample for comparison. During the interview with Steve, he was cooperative,

and in his mind, he believed that he had been cleared. I don't think he realized that he was still the primary suspect in this investigation. I had enough faith in the system to put myself totally in your guy's hands that you could find out what happened, you know? Steve spoke with investigators and sort of detailed the nature of his relationship with Don.

He was cooperative in the sense that he voluntarily provided a sample. Investigators, take the sample back to California for analysis. Months later, investigators get the results. Investigators compare the DNA evidence that we have in file with the DNA sample that was obtained from Steve, and it's not a match. The investigation, in all honesty, stalls. Now that they had their main suspect cleared, investigators had to link that full profile into the CODA system to see if there were any matches in that system. There was a new kit that was coming out and

2017 that was essentially more sensitive and could detect more degraded samples. Investigators submit the profile to CODIS, but the line behind newer cases is long. While authorities wait for results, the Coon's family suffers another loss when Dawn's mother passes away. What I find heartbreaking is that as the years went on and no word, no new developments, I think that my mother probably felt that it was something that would never be solved. To somewhat bring some closure to the family when they've been searching for answers for so long is why I do my job. It's why I became a prosecutor and it's why I continue to be a prosecutor.

The procedure for submitting DNA into CODIS isn't a fast one. It's one that takes a lot of approvals and ultimately it takes quite a while to get a while to get that comparison back. After months of waiting, results of the CODA search finally come back. There was a CODIS hit. Initially, when we got this information, everybody was very excited because we had something that we had a direction to go in this case. There was a little bit of surprise.

It was the man who lived in apartment 50, Prentice Foreman. This episode is brought to you by Better Help. Let's be honest, workplace stress has never been higher. In fact, 61% of the global workforce reports experiencing above normal stress levels. And honestly, I felt it myself. This summer, I'm reminding myself that even small steps, like sitting in the sun for a few minutes, walking on an incline, or just setting aside regular time to unplug, can make a real difference in how I feel day to day. But while sometime off or vacation is great, we know that's not a long-term solution. Sometimes you need extra support to really manage workday challenges, and that's where therapy comes in. Therapy isn't just for dealing with big life events. It's also about learning positive coping strategies, setting healthy boundaries, and building resilience so you can bring your best self to everything you do. That's why I love BetterHelp. With over 30,000 therapists, they're the world's largest online therapy platform, serving over 5 million people worldwide. The app is simple to use, and you can join sessions from anywhere, any time. Need a different fit? You can switch therapists with just a click. No awkwardness. And with a 4.9 star rating from over 1.7 million client reviews, BetterHelp is helping people take their wellness seriously, one step at a time. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com slash cold case. That's better, help.com slash cold case. dot com knows that when it comes to home shopping, it's never just about the house or condo.

It's about the home. And what makes a home is more than just the house or property. It's the location and neighborhood. If you have kids, it's also schools, nearby parks, and transportation options. That's why Homes.com goes above and beyond to bring home shoppers the in-depth information they need to find the right home. And when I say in-depth, I'm talking deep. Each listing features comprehensive information about the neighborhood complete with a video guide.

They also have details about local schools with test scores, state rankings, and student-to-teacher ratio. They even have an agent directory with the sales history of each agent. So when it comes to finding a home, not just a house, this is everything you need to know all in one place. Homes.com. We've done your homework. A national database match leads Detective Corner to a man named Prentice Foreman. Prentice Foreman was interviewed by the detectives in 1979, and during that interview, he basically told the detectives that he had seen her in passing, would wave at her, maybe say hello to her, and he gave an alibi. He said he was with his girlfriend at the time. I saw that his alibi, Latanya, had never been interviewed, so we didn't have any information about what she had to say about this.

One of the main things we wanted to do was verify whether or not he was with La Tanya during the weekend that Don was murdered. She was actually at the residence that was listed on her college transcripts from 1979. So I actually met with Latanya at her residence, and she admitted to being a friend of Prentice. I gave her the time frame of the murder, January 12th, 1979, and she told me that she was not with Prentice during that time, that she was actually in Texas attending college. I needed to corroborate that. So I reached out and the administrator, fortunately, did some research and located some transcripts

from that time period for La Tanya that she was in Texas attending college at the time of this murder. We knew that his original statement was going to be a big piece of evidence for us because we could now prove he was in fact lying. It was very important for us to try to get a statement from Foreman, a recent statement.

So Detective Kerner was able to locate a valid phone number for Prentiss Foreman and he called him. The question now came down to, what is he going to say? One day after speaking with Latonia, Detective Corner calls the man that investigators first spoke with nearly 39 years earlier. Well, who am I speaking with, sir?

My name is Prunus. I've got some photos of a guy that we've been looking at for a long time and I'm hoping I'd like to meet with you to show you these photos. I'm supposed to put in a detective years ago. I didn't know nothing then. I don't know nothing now. But I never really identified or told him what case I was referring to. I didn't really have that opportunity to get that deep into the conversation. But I knew that I had to keep him on the phone. Did you guys have any type of intimate relationship or not, Mr. Foreman? That's all I want to know.

None of your business. When we heard his tone and tenor on the phone, as well as his total lack of cooperation, we sort of knew that this was going to become important as to what he had to say now. We knew that we had a lot of pieces of the puzzle already. We had from Steve. Don was afraid of the man who lived in apartment 50. We knew that was Prentice Foreman. We knew he had lied to investigators about his whereabouts that weekend.

And then we also had a very strong DNA sample from her rape kit. The decision was made at that time to issue the arrest warrant and bring him in for a formal interview. Foreman was arrested in Bakersfield, an apartment he was living at. He was brought in downtown to the Bakersville Police Department station, and he was given his Miranda rights. He decided to waive those rights and indicated a willingness to speak to investigators. When Prentice Foreman first came into the interview room, he was almost challenging. And he'd say maybe used to get into in court.

You understand that? Didn't I tell that to you already? I started asking questions about his relationship with Don. No. You remember you from talking on the telephone, correct? Naturally. Okay. Um, what kind of a relationship did you and Viscount's have?

Friends. Okay. When you say friends, I mean, explain that to me. What do you mean friends? One sexual encounter. I now had to establish a timeframe. When did that sexual encounter take place? That's eventually what I did.

Months before that. Months before that? Yes. Okay. Months. Yes. That was your sexual encounter. Months before.

October. Three, two, three months before. One year. As soon as he said that, my partner and I basically kind of look at each other, and we knew right then and there he was done. We knew as investigators that the sperm is going to die within a few days. And obviously, if Princess Foreman is saying that he had sex with her four months earlier, obviously his DNA wouldn't be there any longer.

Within 48 hours of his arrest, Mr. Foreman was arraigned on a single count of first-degree murder. It was a relief. I put many hours into this case, and the biggest relief for me was closer for the family. The call from Bakersfield Police stuns David. After four decades, I couldn't believe it. They had someone. Maybe it was on its way to being solved. But, of course, you had to go through a truck.

first. One of the first things that I did was looking through the report to make sure we could actually prove what happened to a jury some 40 years later. What evidence is there still that has maintained its integrity and we can actually use for a jury at a trial? This was first degree premeditated, willful, deliberate murder that someone did. They just had to decide was Apprentice Foreman. I was only five years old when this homicide.

occurred, but here I am. 40 years later, the lead investigator, and I was able to maybe bring some closure to the family and some justice. Nearly four decades after Don Coon's murder, Bakersfield Police arrest Prentice Foreman for the crime. When Foreman pleads not guilty, prosecutors now face the challenge of bringing a 40-year-old case to life for a jury. That's always a concern, especially on a 40-year-old case, is the longer it goes, the longer it's drawn out, the harder our case is going to be to prove to 12 people beyond a reasonable doubt. The report had been maintained, the original report from 1979, as well as the original rape kit and the slides. All the photos from 1979 and the autopsy had also been properly preserved.

17 months after Foreman's arrest, Gina Pearl finally takes the case to a jury. The defense was claiming a consensual relationship with Dawn. The fact that two individuals have sex and one of them dies afterwards, we don't know how long afterwards, doesn't tell us that that sex partner killed the other. Defense did try to make a point in that Diane was her closest friend and coworker if really the man in apartment 50 was so harassing and so horrible, Dawn would have mentioned that to her. And so obviously the defense was going to try to throw out as many. suspects as they could possibly find. We were able to successfully argue against their attempts to point the finger at someone else. This defendant is the man in apartment 50. Don and Mr. Foreman knew each other in the sense that Don had

seen him around the apartment complex before. She had expressed fear to Steve about the man who lived in apartment 50. He is the one who was harassing Don giving her a hard time in the weeks leading up to her murder. She did have a habit of keeping her front door unlocked, and that's how I believe Mr. Foreman was able to get in. I believe Mr. Foreman entered the apartment, and Don was already in her bedroom, either asleep or going to sleep. The attack definitely happened in the bedroom.

The sheets were thrown about, the mattress was exposed, the lamp was knocked over, and the telephone cords were cut, all indicating that that is where the sexual assault and ultimately the murder happened. I believe Mr. Foreman went in, prepared, and planning to have sex with Dawn whether or not she consented. When she saw him and said no, that's when he became violent and put the pillowcase over her, cut the cords, bound her wrists, and was able to overcome her. After nearly two days of deliberation, the jury comes back with a verdict. Prentice Foreman is found guilty in one of Kern County's oldest on salt homicides, the murder of Don Coons.

When they did read the verdict, I looked at Prentice, and he was obviously, I guess you could say, stunned and in disbelief. I honestly don't know if he really understood what just happened. It was almost like he was dazed. On July 10, 2019, a judge sentences foreman to 25 years to life in prison. Unfortunately, Don Coon's mother was no longer with us, but Don's brothers were, and I felt great that they could finally have some closure. I had contact with David Coons throughout, and he gave me a beautifully written letter, as well as a bouquet of yellow roses, which were Dawn's favorite. Those flowers and that note are prominently displayed in my office. I was so happy to meet her because what she did for my family, the way she tried the case, I think that she gave everything she could, as if Dawn was her own sister or her daughter.

But the fact that the man has been tried and convicted to me is immaterial. I'm still missing something. Dawn was definitely unique and special. I'm still grief-stricken that my sister was taken from me, that I've been denied the opportunity to see her develop, to succeed, to see what her life would have become. Those things are still missing for me. This summer, Pluto TV is exploding with thousands of free movies.

Summer of Cinema is here. Feel the explosive action all summer long with movies like Gladiator. Mission Impossible, Beverly Hills Cop, Good Burger, and Transformers Dark of the Moon. Optimus! Bring the action with you and stream for free from all your favorite devices. Pluto TV, stream now, pay never.