Preamble:
On a crisp autumn afternoon on September 28, 1994, a tourist caught a glimpse of a female corpse floating on the banks of the McHu River in Alaska. He immediately dialed 110. The police who received the call immediately dispatched and recovered the body ashore to find the deceased a young woman wearing a silver ring engraved with "Bonnie Craig, Class of 1996 at Anchorage High School" on her left ring finger.
Based on this clue, the police quickly identified the deceased as 18-year-old Bonnie Craig. Bonnie was originally a sunny and cheerful girl who lived in Anchorage, had just graduated from high school, had been accepted into the University of Alaska, and was ready to officially enroll in a month later. A young life full of hope died without warning.
The police immediately informed Bonnie's mother, Karen, of the bad news. The suddenness of the news sent Karen's heart into the ice cellar. She's vacationing in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her new boyfriend, Jim, and Jim's family, and it's the first time she's seen a new family since her divorce. I thought it would be an easy and enjoyable journey, but who knew that such a change would happen. Karen couldn't believe that such a horrific thing had happened after leaving her daughter for a day.
Police told Karen that Bonnie most likely fell from a 30-foot cliff and drowned. Hearing the news, Karen was struck by lightning. She knows her daughter and knows that Bonnie has a strong personality and loves life very much, and will not do anything to endanger her life. In Karen's mind, it doesn't make sense.
Karen immediately decided to rush back to Alaska immediately to investigate the truth about her daughter's mysterious death. After explaining the situation to Jim, Jim decides to accompany Karen back and give her maximum support. Karen is genuinely grateful for Jim's thoughtfulness. Although the two have only known each other for a year, this companionship makes Karen feel both warm and necessary.
A mother's vow
As soon as she arrived in Anchorage, Alaska, Karen rushed to the city hospital morgue. Karen's heart cooled when she saw her daughter Bonnie's swollen, blackened fingers and bruised arms – the scars Bonnie had left when she fought and defended herself against her attackers. Unable to control herself any longer, she fell to her knees beside Bonnie's body and wept bitterly.
After a while, Karen's sanity gradually returned. Filled with grief and indignation, she again questioned the officer in charge, Mike Mars, as to why he had concluded that it was just an accidental death, as if he was weighing his words. Seeing his appearance, Karen immediately judged that the police obviously had more information on hand. "You must be hiding something, I demand that all the evidence of the investigation be released immediately!" Karen shouted sternly to Mars.
Mars still blindly repeats the conclusion of the police, it was just a cliff accident, and there are no more suspicions. It wasn't until he took out the diamond high school graduation ring that Bonnie was wearing that Karen finally believed that the corpse in front of her was really his daughter. Karen let out a long sigh and couldn't help but ask Mars if Bonnie's body had any signs of being sexually assaulted or abused. Mars did not hesitate to deny this.
He described to Karen in detail that the on-site staff had inspected Bonnie's clothes intact and had not been torn or ripped off; The buttons and zippers are also well fastened, and there are no traces of forcible destruction. Although Karen was a little relieved, she was also more dazed and painful about all this in front of her - her daughter obviously cherished her life so much and had never behaved abnormally, what kind of accident did she encounter before she suddenly fell off a cliff and died?
Years of police career have made Karen acutely aware that there is definitely a lot to be said about this matter. Karen gathered her thoughts and said to Mars with a deep and solemn feeling: "I don't believe that Bonnie's death was any kind of 'accident', and I want to investigate the truth of this case thoroughly." I will bring the sin to justice with my own hands and seek justice for my daughter!" Although Mars had something to hide, he had to impress Karen's determination and courage.
Regain your badge and find the truth Karen knows that subjective guesswork alone will not convince the police. Fortunately, her years of working as a police officer have made her a lot of friends, especially in the news media industry. Karen decided to first contact a familiar reporter friend to release the news of her daughter's murder as soon as possible, hoping to gather clues from the public. As soon as the news was released, it immediately caused an uproar in Anchorage. People have shown strong interest, and some friends have reached out to Karen with information that may be relevant.
At the same time, Karen begins to revisit Bonnie's main area of activity, hoping to find some flaws. Bonnie usually leaves at five o'clock to climb the bus stop halfway up the hill when it gets dark, which is the way she goes to school every day. Karen wanted to see if there were any safety hazards on the route. It's September now, and the maple trees on both sides of Mikhu Creek are towering, and the mountains are scarlet. The scenery was originally very charming, but it also made Karen wonder why Bonnie had never appeared on this route before, why did she suddenly run alone in the complex environment of the mountains and forests, and some kind of person or chance must have caused it.
Just as Karen was full of suspicion, a manic moose suddenly burst out of the bushes and slammed into her. Karen hurriedly hid behind the street lamp, but the beast seemed to be greatly stimulated, and just smelled her scent and chased after her. Karen knows that moose tend to be extremely territorial, and can become unusually aggressive when they decide that she has invaded their range of motion. She looked around as she backed away, lest she be knocked to the ground by the 700-pound behemoth. Just when Karen thought she was going to die, a red truck stopped just in time.
Seeing that the situation was not right, the enthusiastic driver immediately got out of the car and told Karen to get in the car quickly to escape, and said that he would send her out when the moose was far away. Karen gladly accepted the driver's kindness. However, just as she was about to get into the car, the moose suddenly seemed to lose interest, and walked away with its neck flailing. Karen looked in the direction the moose had left and her heart moved. It occurred to her that if Bonnie had been attacked by the moose that morning, followed by the appearance of the red truck, and would she have been wary of rejecting the driver's offer and being in the driver's hands?
Thinking of this, Karen immediately became suspicious of the male driver, and she asked the driver in detail about the situation that morning. The man looked dazed, unimpressed by the name Bonnie. Karen was still skeptical, but there was no evidence to prove this conjecture, so she had to give up. Seeing that the clues were interrupted again, Karen was anxious.
It was then that she suddenly realized that perhaps the truth was far more complex and difficult to accept than she and Mars had imagined, and that more social forces had to be introduced. So Karen decided to hold a press conference to make public the police's initial judgment, and said that she seriously suspected that it was a premeditated murder, hoping to gather more testimony and clues from the public.
The mother's cry moved the police
Karen didn't expect the power of the media to be so great at first. Her questioning at the press conference immediately caused an uproar in Anchorage and throughout Alaska. People came forward and said that it was not an accident and that the police had clearly covered up or misjudged the truth. Public opinion quickly elevated the case to a purely legal and moral level, demanding justice for the young life and his family. Soon, a coalition of civil society such as the Volunteer Mutual Aid Association, the Missing Children Search and Rescue Center, and the Justice Victims Group formed a coalition to actively support Karen and put pressure on the police.
In addition to helping Karen legally and emotionally, these organizations also provided a lot of manpower and material resources to support her investigation and evidence collection work on her own. Under the dual pressure of the media and public opinion, the Alaska police finally had to revisit this unsolved case. They agreed to fully share the details of the case and evidence with Karen and her lawyers, and to openly accept public scrutiny. Officer Mars also made another appointment with Karen herself.
On a rainy night in January 1995, Mars personally handed Karen a stack of file bags. Inside the bag was Bonnie's complete autopsy report. "The police owe you justice, please find the truth. Mars whispered. Opening the report, Karen burst into tears. It is a clear account of Bonnie's fatal injuries — multiple blunt force wounds to the head, broken fingers, and even minor lacerations to her lower body.
And the most critical point is that the murderer's DNA remains on Bonnie's body. Marstan admits that all the evidence points to a deliberate homicide, but the police concealed this fact in the first place, which is their dereliction of duty, and hopes that Karen will understand. Karen wiped away her tears and shook hands with Mars. Finding the real culprit is the most important thing right now. For a time, there was a major breakthrough in the murder of Bonnie. But then there was a big problem in the case - DNA matching.
Why don't my colleagues' DNA match?
Based on the body and DNA samples left at the scene, Mars zeroed in on the first prime suspect. The man's name was Jack, and he had worked with Bonnie at a fast-food restaurant. According to another waitress, Jack had a crush on Bonnie and had stolen Bonnie's phone number from the store's work records and harassed her. This testimony made Jack the prime suspect immediately. Mars personally led people to Jack's house to investigate and collect evidence.
To Mars' disappointment, however, the swab sample of exfoliated cells in the mouth provided by Jack did not match the DNA extracted by the killer. Although Jack has a scandalous personality, he is not a murderer. What's more fatal is that Jack has an alibi at the time of the crime provided by Karen - there are witness testimonies that he appeared in other places on the day of the crime, and the time and place cannot match the case. I can only put aside the hypothesis of Jack for the time being.
After another two months, Mars finally found a second suspect who was suspicious, Ilya, one of Bonnie's high school boys. Ilya has a withdrawn personality and does not have a fixed girlfriend, and it is known from the police investigation that he has mild schizophrenia and paranoia. But most disturbingly, Ilya's diary and computer were found to contain a large number of extremely bloody and violent accounts of sexual fantasies that closely matched the circumstances of Bonnie's murder. Mars suspects that he may well be the real culprit of the pervert.
However, just like Jack, the results of the DNA test disappointed Mars again. The boy's genetic sample also did not match the crime scene DNA extracted. Although Ilya is extremely probable, there is no physical evidence to strike, so he can only continue to let go. Mars then turns his investigation to Bonnie's other relatives and friends. The first to bear the brunt was her stepfather, Jerome. Jerome was a longtime friend of Bonnie's biological father and married Karen two years ago. In order to clear his name, Jerome offered to provide a DNA sample. The results of the examination showed that he was not the murderer either.
Since then, Bonnie's biological father, ex-boyfriend, cousin and other male relatives and friends have been ruled out of suspicion. Mars and Karen are in a quandary. The results of various DNA tests seem to deny them the murder. "Can DNA tests be wrong?" Mars pondered. "No, it won't. Karen said categorically. She spread out the photographs and evidence she had collected from the scene. She knew all about it by heart.
Karen's finger rested on a patch of red leaves. This unusual autumn leaf has a dark red stain on it, reminiscent of blood. Karen tells Mars that Bonnie's DNA has been detected on the leaf, along with the DNA of another person. According to forensic analysis, Bonnie probably suffered a head injury before falling off the cliff, and this DNA is most likely a marker of the murderer. "That's the key to solving the case!" said Karen without doubt. Mars couldn't help but be shocked.
Two months later, this unsolved mystery was also solved by Mars. It turned out that the mysterious DNA was so close to the genome of a bus driver named Wales that it was almost the same person. Mars was overjoyed and immediately took someone to investigate. However, Wales has long since left the company and started a car rental business. Even so, he immediately cooperated with the police to extract the exfoliated cells from the mouth.
The results of the chromosomal test finally disillusioned Mars's last hope that the Welsh DNA was not the same as the blood stains on the leaves. Mars couldn't help but sigh secretly, and even began to wonder if this bizarre murder case could really be solved? Or was the murderer so easily escaped from justice? While he was pondering and meditating, the progress of science and technology and the legal system brought about a turning point for the whole case.
Technology helps mothers find the truth
In 1998, the FBI began to promote the CODIS system, the Federal DNA Index System, across the country. The system aggregates the DNA test records of all major violent offenders to create a vast biometric database that can be used to search for and match possible suspects in the detection of criminal cases. Statistics show that the matching success rate of the CODIS system is as high as more than 90%, which plays a decisive role in solving homicide cases. However, by the end of 2000, the use of the CODIS system was limited to only six states in the United States, with a blank in as far away as Alaska.
Karen realizes that the CODIS system may be the final piece of the puzzle to solve the mystery of Bonnie's case. She was determined to get the system into Alaska as soon as possible, making Bonnie's case the first to benefit. What she and Mars didn't expect, however, was that the deadline for Alaska's legislative approval of the COIN system was only a month and a half away.
"I've tried my best, but both the Attorney General and the Governor feel that time is too tight to move forward. The James state legislator in charge of the bill shook his head at Karen. He said that it is necessary to submit the normal process to be reviewed by the two houses of legislation, and then revise and vote, and it will take 1-2 months to prepare for it.
However, Karen didn't give up. She quickly mobilized the full support of the Voices of Justice coalition of victims' families, organizing hundreds of people to rally in front of the state government to petition for immediate progress in the CODIS system localization legislation and to monitor the government's progress day and night. At the same time, Karen and Mars used their connections to get in touch with the decision-makers as soon as possible, report the case in detail, and win their understanding and support.
With a two-pronged effort, it took only half a month for the U.S. Department of Justice to approve Alaska as the seventh user of the CODIS system. The Senate and House of Representatives also efficiently completed the approval and voting within 12 days. The governor personally signed the bill to make it effective. The CODIS system became famous in the Bonnie case.
The database ended 16 years waiting
In January 2007, Marles received a phone call from the FBI, confirming that the CODIS system had found a new sample that matched the killer's DNA exactly. It came from a man named Dion. After checking the information, Mars was surprised to find that Dion was a native of Anchorage in 1994, he still lived there in the year of the crime, and had a history of multiple robberies, and was a professional criminal.
Mars judged that the murderer was very likely and immediately brought Dion out of prison for interrogation. During a conversation with the police, Dion not only admitted to seeing Bonnie, but also boasted that he was a karate master who specialized in using a triangular pyramid-shaped sharp weapon. Mars was vigilant to realize that it was the wound caused by this unique weapon that closely matched the wound left on Bonnie's head!
Dion was quickly defeated in the face of the evidence. Eventually, he had to sign a confession confessing to the murder of Bonnie on September 28, 1994. In addition, during the escort and interrogation, he corrected many omissions in the details of the case.
Sixteen years later, this chilling murder case has finally been revealed. Mars personally apologized to Karen for the initial police mistakes and delays in solving the case. However, Karen appreciates Mars's perseverance over the years. It was their concerted efforts that finally brought the dawn of justice to society as a whole.