By Steve Huff
(Continued)
In papers filed to support their arrest of Kevin Jones, authorities asserted that they believed Kevin Jones was, in laying on Nona's body and rubbing his hands in her blood, attempting to contaminate the scene of the crime. Consulting with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit on March 22, 2006 only confirmed this impression for Russellville Police.
Jones mentioning that his TV viewing habits included "a lot" of Law & Order didn't help.
Nona Dirksmeyer had overcome adversity already. She'd been a victim of sexual abuse as a child, and was still warring with a compulsion to harm, or cut herself even in college. Yet she'd already won the Miss Petit Jean Valley Beauty Pageant, and with her vocal ability and intelligence, some felt she was surely a future Miss Arkansas. Though only 19, the soprano was already receiving notice at Arkansas Tech for her musical ability, which wasn't just limited to singing.
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| Nona and Kevin Graduation |
Though he'd been president of the Arkansas State Beta Club while attending Dover High, though he'd made excellent scores on the ACT, Kevin Jones had not received a scholarship to his school of choice, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He was planning in 2004 to attend anyway, and major in computer engineering. He earned money working at his parents' service station, and also, according to one source, at the Bayou Bridge Café. Entering college seemed to place a gap between the boyfriend and girlfriend, and when Nona was murdered, that gap was widening.
Additionally, Nona Dirksmeyer was a music major. The social structure of music departments, especially in smaller universities, often revolves around the ensembles for various disciplines. Music majors are thrown in from their freshman year on with other musicians on varying levels —there are concert groups to join as a requirement for the degree, smaller audition-only ensembles where the more accomplished musicians are often together for additional rehearsals outside of class time. For many music majors, lesson times relevant to their major instruments often revolve around intense sessions with one professor — sometimes a very mentor- or parent-child-like situation can arise.
Did a young man in Russellville, Ark. see the successes that mattered most to him slipping into the past? Was he feeling his beautiful girlfriend straining at the tethers that bound them together?
Should Russellville Police be proven correct in a court of law, and Kevin Jones did as they allege, even knowing answers to questions like these won't really explain what happened on December 15, 2005. For the grieving family and friends of Nona Dirksmeyer, there will still be silence, where once there was song.
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