Trial Begins for Bonnie Craig's Accused Killer

Prosecution Makes Opening Remarks

Defense Scheduled For Wednesday

May 17, 2011|By Ashton Goodell | Channel 2 News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A New Hampshire man accused of killing an Anchorage teenager 16 years ago went on trial Tuesday.

Prosecutors say Bonnie Craig was taken by a stranger September 28, 1994. Police say Kenneth Dion raped, beat and pushed the teen off a cliff to her death.

"No question in his (the medical examiner's) mind it's a homicide," Prosecutor Paul Miovas said during opening statements. "And the reason he rules that, ladies and gentleman, is because he says there's no way a single fall, even tumbling can account for the number of injuries on her head, the location, and nature."

Years later, the DNA evidence found on Craig's body was linked to Dion, who was in prison in New Hampshire for an armed robbery conviction.

Defense attorney Andrew Lambert didn't get a chance to give an opening statement Tuesday because the court ran out of time.

During jury selection though, Lambert suggested he'll argue the sex between Craig and Dion was consensual and the fall off the cliff at McHugh creek was an accidental tumble.

Craig's mom says that argument doesn't make sense, considering Craig was in a committed relationship and had no time for a secret love affair.

"We did not know him. And he did not know Bonnie and didn't have anything to do with him," the victim's mother Karen Foster said.

Foster said at one point she had given up on the case and didn't believe it would ever get to trial.

She said there's a lot of apprehension and tension as the case moves forward, but said there's relief knowing the murder trial has finally started after nearly two weeks of jury selection and 16 years of waiting.

Prosecutors told the jury the investigator in charge of the crime scene made some mistakes, but didn't elaborate.

The defense attorney will likely address some of those problems in his opening statements Wednesday.

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