“Who Killed the Beauty Queen?”

Click here for an update on August 24, 2008

Last Saturday night, 48 Hours profiled the case of Nona Dirksmeyer, a 19-year-old pageant queen who was found dead by her boyfriend Kevin Jones. She was murdered.

Jones was with his mother when he discovered her lifeless body, and his mother called 911. Jones wanted to assist the police with the case, but ultimately he ended up getting charged with her murder and faced a trial by jury.

Read moreSeveral of you have asked me, do I believe Kevin Jones in innocent? The jury let Jones go free, but Dirksmeyer’s family believes he is getting away with murder even still.

The police found Jones’ behavior odd on multiple occasions. When they came to the crime scene after the 911 call, Jones went to shake the police detectives hands, but Jones then realized he was covered in blood from trying to revive Dirksmeyer, and so he pulled back his hands. The police found this odd behavior.

I do not. If Jones was a polite man, his manners are a part of his normal behaviors, and they wouldn’t dissipate in a difficult time. This does not raise my eyebrows.

The police also found Jones behavior in the interrogation room suggestive that he could be a violent person. When detectives left the room where Jones was at, he hit the back of the chair he was sitting in hard multiple times. He was angry and visibly upset. Why would he do that? Does it mean he is violent?

If Jones loved Dirksmeyer, and he wasn’t able to protect her, and someone killed her, he may have felt like a failure. He may have felt like he let Nona down even though he wasn’t there when this happened. This is likely an emotional response due to the feelings of being helpless after the fact. That’s what I suspect was going on here. Or he was frustrated that he wasn’t being believed when he was telling the truth. Could his actions be suggestive of violence? They absolutely could, but it is nothing definitive own its own. If there are not any character witnesses to corroborated that Jones had violent behavior, I would discount this, personally.

Jones volunteered to help the police by submitting to DNA tests and by taking a polygraph, but surprisingly he failed the polygraph which only caused police to look at him even closer. Polygraphs, in my eyes, are not reliable so I wouldn’t much too much into this.

At the crime scene, the police believe they found the smoking gun when they found Jones palm print on the light-bulb of the lamp police believe was used to deliver a fatal blow to Dirksmeyer.

I suspect that Jones could have easily grabbed that light-bulb when he found Dirksmeyer and tried to revive her. Perhaps it was in the way? I do not see this as any smoking gun.

Another interesting fact in this case is that at the scene police found a used condom wrapper, and with that, they theorized that Jones found it and went into a rage, and killed Dirksmeyer because Dirksmeyer had been seeing other men behind his back.

Those other men were ruled out by police.

When I watch Jones, I do not see a man who is violent, and while all people have the potential to be violent, he doesn’t hit me as a man who would kill his girlfriend over her finding a condom wrapper. He is more likely the type to buy into a story that Dirksmeyer would make up to cover herself. Jones was a trusting, honest guy as seen by his willingness to assist the police so freely. I also think it would take more than infidelity with his girlfriend to get Jones murderous. He is not a man who has a temper. Those who knew Jones testified to that fact.

Furthermore, the police only checked the condom wrapper for finger prints, but not DNA. They said the lab would only do one or the other but not both because each test could potentially render the other useless. I find that unusual, but I am not a forensic expert. In either case, no finger prints were found.

And the jury? It took less than 2 days to find Jones not guilty, and I agree with the jury. When I watch Jones’ behavior, I do not see one red flag. I see nothing that alerts me to deception. I see honesty through and through. I believe Jones without any doubts. He is a good person caught in a horrible situation as is his mother.

And it looks like this case isn’t over yet. Remember that condom wrapper? Well, Jones defense attorneys had it tested for DNA and they found some. It belongs to a male other than Jones. Of course, people who thinks Jones is guilty will say this makes sense.

I think this DNA may provide important clues to help solve who really killed Dirksmeyer because it wasn’t Jones, if you want my personal opinion.