By Steve Huff
April 3, 2006
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (Crime Library) — A mystery that lasted over 100 days may have ended for residents of an Arkansas college town on March 31st, 2006. That was the day Kevin Jones was arrested by Russellville Police. Jones, a 2004 graduate of Dover High who had once been president of the Arkansas State Beta Club, an honors society for high school students, was charged with the murder of his high school sweetheart, Nona Dirksmeyer.
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| Kevin Jones in Custody |
On December 15, 2005, Russellville, Arkansas Police responded to a 911 call from 1006 S. Inglewood in Russellville. In Apt. 12 of the Inglewood Apartments, investigators encountered Kevin Jones, his friend Ryan Whiteside, and Kevin's mother, Janice Jones. Lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the living room in Apt. 12 was 19-year-old Nona Dirksmeyer. Miss Petit Jean Valley of 2005, a music major at Arkansas Tech noted for her beautiful soprano voice, had been brutally slain.
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| Nona Dirksmeyer, Miss Petit Jean Valley 2005 |
Kevin Jones became concerned, he told investigators, when he didn't hear from Nona all day. Though Jones and his mother were on their way to a Christmas Party in Dardanelle, Ark., Jones sent a text message to Whiteside, who delivered pizzas in the Inglewood neighborhood, asking him to go to Nona's apartment and check on her.
Ryan Whiteside told detectives in an interview on the 15th that he'd seen Nona's car and told Kevin Jones as much. Then Jones requested something, Ryan Whiteside said later, that he found to "be kind of weird." Jones told his friend to "knock on the door."
The news from Whiteside was that there was no answer to his ringing the bell or knocking on the door to Apt. 12. This brought Jones and his mother Janice to Inglewood Apartments.
Though Kevin Jones was one of two people besides Nona Dirksmeyer with a key to her apartment, he forgot it that night. With Whiteside's assistance, Jones forced open a sliding glass door at the rear of the residence.
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| Russellville Police badge |
Jones told Russellville Police that night that he saw his girlfriend of nearly 5 years laying there nude and bloodied. He told police that he ran inside, lay on top of Nona's body, and "rubbed his hands over the blood to see how fresh it was."
Perhaps Russellville Police Officer Larry Beyette found it odd when Kevin volunteered to him later that evening during questioning that he, Kevin, was a fan of the long-running NBC crime drama, Law & Order.
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