Dateline: Secrets Uncovered - What happened to Bonnie Craig?

In September 1994, Bonnie Craig went missing while on her way to a 7:00 am English class at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. Not long after, a hiker found her body floating face-down in the McHugh Creek. The 18-year-old had been r*ped and bludgeoned to death.

It took detectives a dozen years to identify the killer using DNA evidence found in the victim's body in the form of semen. In November 2006, they identified Craig's killer as 36-year-old Kenneth Dion, who was already serving time in prison on unrelated robbery charges.

Dion was charged with r*pe and murder the following May. He was found guilty of the charges in June 2011 and was sentenced to a total of 124 years in prison later that year.

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered on Oxygen chronicles Bonnie Craig's decades-old case in an episode titled Justice for Bonnie. The synopsis states:

"When Bonnie Craig is found dead, police collect DNA but it doesn't match anyone in the system; twelve years later, there is a hit but the man is thousands of miles away; turns out, prosecutors would need more than DNA to convict a killer."

The upcoming episode will air this Wednesday, June 21, at 7:00 pm ET.

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DNA evidence was used to find 18-year-old Bonnie Craig's killer more than a dozen years later

The Alaska State Troopers initially declared her death to be a hiking accident, and a medical examiner claimed that she drowned after suffering severe head injuries likely from a fall off the cliff. However, the defensive wounds and DNA evidence found on her body suggested otherwise.

Subsequently, it was revealed that Craig was bludgeoned in the back of the head and that she was r*ped. There was DNA evidence in the form of semen found on her body as well. However, no breakthroughs or arrests were made for several years in the cold case until late 2006, when DNA was used to find the killer.

In the following years, the DNA from the semen found on the victim's body was uploaded to the national database CODIS to find potential matches and linked a convicted felon named Kenneth Dion, 36, to the murder in November 2006. Dion was already serving time in a New Hampshire prison on charges related to a string of robberies.

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Kenneth Dion murdered Bonnie Craig in a random act of violence after picking her up from a bus stop

Bonnie Craig's killer Kenneth Dion pictured in a courtroom (Image via Getty Images)

Reports state that it was revealed Kenneth Dion resided in Anchorage at the time of the murder and was on probation upon his release from a prison in Alaska only a few months before the attack on the 18-year-old. He had an extensive criminal background and had also served time for assault.

By May 2007, Kenneth Dion was charged with the r*pe and murder of Bonnie Craig. It was alleged that he murdered her in a random act of violence after picking her up from a bus stop that morning. Dion stood trial in May 2011 and claimed he had consensual s*x with the victim. He even alleged that her death was the result of an accidental fall while she was alone at the creek.

Dion denied knowing Craig or her family and even failed to account for his whereabouts from the tragic day. His wife, however, mentioned that back then, he had not been home for a week straight.

Moreover, a medical examiner confirmed that Craig had sustained severe injuries after being hit in the back of the head with a blunt object or weapon. Dion allegedly attacked the 18-year-old brutally with martial arts weapons, which he used to keep in his car.

In June 2011, Dion was found guilty of the charges and sentenced to a total of 124 years in prison.

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Learn more about the case on Oxygen's Dateline: Secrets Uncovered this Wednesday.