Nona Dirksmeyer (Miss Arkansas USA) murder: Was Garry Dunn arrested?, Nona Dirksmeyer, a former Miss Arkansas USA contestant, was brutally murdered in her off-campus apartment in Russellville, Arkansas, on December 15, 2005. The case gained national attention as it remained unsolved for several years. Nona’s boyfriend, Kevin Jones, and neighbor, Gary Dunn, were both tried for the crime.
Despite DNA evidence linking Dunn to Dirksmeyer, he was not convicted of the murder. Dunn was charged with the crime twice, but both trials resulted in a hung jury. The case remained open and unsolved for several years until Dunn was arrested in 2018 for an attempted kidnapping case.
The Murder of Nona Dirksmeyer
Background Information
Nona Dirksmeyer was a 19-year-old Arkansas Tech University student and beauty pageant winner who was found dead in her apartment on December 15, 2005. The case quickly became a high-profile murder investigation and shocked the local community.
Discovery of the Crime Scene
According to reports, Nona’s boyfriend, Kevin Jones, discovered her body in her apartment. She had been brutally beaten and stabbed multiple times. The police were immediately called to the scene, and an investigation was launched.
During the initial investigation, the police interviewed Nona’s neighbor, Gary Dunn, but found no evidence linking him to the crime. However, after continuing the investigation, the police developed a second suspect, Gary Dunn. Dunn lived across from Dirksmeyer in the same apartment complex and was on parole after spending six years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections following his conviction of Battery in the Second Degree after a 2002 incident where he beat a female jogger with a large tree branch and threatened to kill her.
As of March 10, 2024, no one has been convicted of Nona Dirksmeyer’s murder, and her case remains unsolved. Although Gary Dunn was never arrested for the murder of Nona Dirksmeyer, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2019 for attempting to force a woman into his car in the parking lot of a Russellville church.
Investigation and Legal Proceedings
Initial Suspects and Arrests
After the murder of Nona Dirksmeyer, the police interviewed several individuals as possible suspects. According to River Valley Now, one of the initial suspects was Dirksmeyer’s boyfriend, Kevin Jones. However, Jones was later acquitted of all charges.
The police then focused their attention on Gary Dunn, Dirksmeyer’s neighbor. Dunn was on parole after serving six years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections for Battery in the Second Degree after a 2002 incident where he beat a female jogger with a large tree branch and threatened to kill her. According to The Cinemaholic, the police interviewed Dunn during the initial investigation, but there was nothing that hinted at his involvement in the crime.
Garry Dunn’s Trials
Dunn was later charged with the murder of Dirksmeyer. He was tried twice, and both trials ended in a mistrial. According to CBS News, the defense pointed to the fact that there was no physical evidence linking Dunn to the crime, and that the DNA evidence presented by the prosecution was circumstantial.
During Dunn’s second trial, the prosecution was allowed to use DNA evidence to link Dunn to the murder, and he was subsequently arrested and charged with capital murder. Dunn was held at the county jail on a cash-only bond set at $1 million.
Outcomes and Appeals
Dunn was found guilty of capital murder in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to Daily Crime, Dunn’s defense team filed an appeal in 2020, but the appeal was denied. As of March 2024, Dunn remains in prison.
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