# 2 Disturbing Cold Cases: Christina Ase and Nona Dirksmeyer

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 20 Aug 2025, 23 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO1470638076.mp3

Two young women. Two chilling stories. Two unsolved mysteries that continue to haunt investigators and true crime followers alike. In this episode, we dive deep into the disappearance of Christina Ase, a Washington woman who vanished in 2024 under strange and unsettling circumstances, and the shocking 2005 murder of Nona Dirksmeyer, a talented beauty queen and college student brutally killed in her Arkansas apartment. Chapters: 0:00 Christina Ase 12:22 Nona Dirksmeyer 👇 Support My Work: 🛍️ Merch: https://lazy-chill-zone-shop.fourthwall.com ❤️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lazychillzone 👇 Youtube links: Lazy Chill True Crime Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8dVJtzeHcJgd_Z0bHrJTHQ Lazy Chill History Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillHistory Lazy Chill Zone Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillZone 👇Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/lazychillzone/ 👇 Podcast links: ⚡True Crime Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/0klIz08pAr7wR4we0Ia4sk?si=68qZxCeAQkysXzMZrHE0Iw 🍏 True Crime Podcast on Apple 🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lazy-chill-true-crime/id1815534472 christina ase disappearance, christina ase cold case, christina ase missing 2024, washington missing woman, nona dirksmeyer murder, nona dirksmeyer cold case, arkansas beauty queen murder, unsolved murder cases, disturbing cold cases, unsolved mysteries podcast, true crime podcast 2025, unresolved disappearances, missing persons cold cases, shocking unsolved crimes, mysterious murders, true crime stories, cold case investigations, crime mystery podcast, unsolved murder podcast, true crime community, lazy chill zone, lazy chill true crime

## Transcript

[0:00] In late March of 2024, a routine morning drive turned into a
[0:05] chilling mystery. Christina Ace, a 61 year old
[0:09] nurse from Vancouver, WA, left her home before dawn to head to
[0:14] work, something she'd done faithfully for 15 years.
[0:18] But this time she never arrived, and instead her colleagues
[0:22] received an unusual message that she would be late.
[0:26] By the next day. Her SUV was found abandoned with
[0:29] a strange residue on the seats. Christina herself had vanished
[0:33] without a trace, and what happened to her continues to
[0:36] remain an unresolved mystery. Born in Argentina in 1962,
[0:43] Christina moved to the United States in the mid 2000s to build
[0:47] a new life. Back in Argentina, she had
[0:50] worked as a biochemist, and after immigrating, she earned a
[0:54] bachelor's in nursing followed by a doctorate in medical
[0:58] science. This impressive background LED
[1:01] her to a career in elder care. By 2024, Christina was the
[1:06] nursing director at the Rose Lynn Care Center in West Linn,
[1:09] OR where she had worked for about 15 years.
[1:15] Tuesday, March 26th, 2024 began like any other work day for
[1:20] Christina. She was last seen by her husband
[1:23] around 6:30 AM that morning as she left their Vancouver home to
[1:27] drive to work across the Columbia River in Oregon.
[1:32] Typically Christina started work around 7:30 AM, but that morning
[1:37] her Co workers received a brief text.
[1:40] It was from her phone and it was sent at about 6:30 AM,
[1:44] indicating she would arrive around 8:30 instead.
[1:48] No explanation was given for this one hour delay, which
[1:52] struck her colleagues as unusual.
[1:55] In fact, 2 Co workers later remarked that it was odd
[1:58] Christina only messaged one Co worker instead of their usual
[2:02] group chat, almost as if she didn't want to alert everyone.
[2:06] Still, the message suggested Christina was on her way, just
[2:10] running late. However, Christina never showed
[2:15] up at the care facility that day.
[2:17] By midmorning, concern was mounting, especially since this
[2:21] was a woman who never missed work without prior notice in 15
[2:24] years. Her Co workers tried to reach
[2:27] her, but calls went straight to voicemail.
[2:30] By early afternoon, the Rose Lynn Care Center's executive
[2:33] director phoned Christina's husband, Anabel Diaz, to ask if
[2:37] she was OK. It turns out he was just as
[2:42] shocked to hear she hadn't arrived at work, and for good
[2:45] reason. He had watched her leave for her
[2:48] normal shift and had no idea she planned on coming in late.
[2:53] Alarmed by her unexplained absence, both Annabel and
[2:56] Christina's Co workers independently contacted the
[2:59] police that same day to report her missing.
[3:02] A search for the missing nurse was now underway just hours
[3:06] after she was last seen. Initial searches found no sign
[3:12] of Christina herself, but a series of unsettling clues soon
[3:16] surfaced. The day after she vanished on
[3:20] March 27th, investigators discovered Christina's vehicle,
[3:24] a dark grey 2013 Toyota Rav 4, parked on a roadside about a
[3:29] mile from her apartment in Vancouver.
[3:32] The SUV was unoccupied and appeared as if someone had left
[3:35] it in haste. Tellingly, the rear view mirror
[3:39] was skewed and more disturbingly, a white residue
[3:43] coated several surfaces inside the car.
[3:46] It looked as if someone might have wiped down the interior
[3:49] with bleach or another cleaner, an ominous sign that suggested
[3:53] evidence could have been deliberately scrubbed.
[3:56] Literally. Police seized the vehicle for
[4:01] forensic analysis, considering the unusual state of the car a
[4:05] major red flag. The fact that the car had
[4:08] reappeared near her home, seemingly cleaned, raised many
[4:12] questions. Had Christina driven off and
[4:16] then returned on her own? Or had someone else driven her
[4:20] car back to her neighborhood after harming her?
[4:23] Investigators noted that whoever brought the SUV back must have
[4:27] known where Christina lived or found her address, hinting at a
[4:31] possible personal connection. Meanwhile, detectives delved
[4:36] into Christina's cell phone records, which revealed A
[4:39] puzzling journey on the morning of March 26th.
[4:42] Data from her phone showed that after leaving home at 6:34 AM,
[4:47] she drove S from Vancouver into Portland via Interstate 2O5.
[4:53] At 6:47 AM, her phone took the Foster Rd. exit into a
[4:58] residential area of Southeast Portland.
[5:01] Instead of continuing toward her workplace, the phone stayed in
[5:04] the vicinity of a neighborhood near Glenwood Park for over 3
[5:08] hours that morning. During that period, roughly 648
[5:12] to 10 AM, the phone signals suggested movement between the
[5:16] park and one or more houses nearby.
[5:20] At 10 AM, the device pinged near the intersection of Flavel
[5:24] Street and 92nd Ave. a spot adjacent to that same park.
[5:29] And then it went dark, either powered off or disabled.
[5:35] After a full forensic review of the phone and all records, the
[5:38] authorities determined it was never turned on again.
[5:44] The area around Glenwood Park is a residential zone and it has a
[5:48] reputation for higher crime related activities.
[5:51] The phone data suggested this was not a one time occurrence
[5:55] either. Investigators discovered that on
[5:57] at least two prior occasions in the weeks before her
[6:00] disappearance, Christina had travelled to that same Southeast
[6:04] Portland vicinity. Each time, she left home around
[6:08] 6:30 AM and sent a text to her boss about 20 minutes later,
[6:13] roughly when she would be reaching the Foster Rd. exit.
[6:17] According to police analysis, it appeared Christina had some
[6:21] secret errand or meeting in that neighborhood that she hadn't
[6:24] shared with her husband or employer.
[6:29] These revelations deepen the mystery, and police were
[6:32] increasingly convinced that foul play was involved.
[6:36] The Vancouver Police Department publicly stated that Christina's
[6:39] disappearance was suspicious. They enlisted help from multiple
[6:44] agencies, including Portland and Westland police and even the
[6:47] FBI. Based on the evidence,
[6:50] detectives said there was probable cause to believe
[6:53] Christina's fate was linked to a serious crime or an imminently
[6:56] dangerous situation. With concrete evidence scarce,
[7:03] numerous theories have emerged about what might have happened
[7:05] to Christina Ace. One line of speculation centers
[7:09] on the secret visits to the Southeast Portland neighborhood.
[7:13] Some who know Christina find it hard to believe she would lie
[7:16] about her whereabouts unless she had a compelling personal
[7:20] reason. It's been speculated that she
[7:23] may have sparked up a hidden romance in the area.
[7:26] If so, it's possible she arranged A brief meet up that
[7:30] morning and something went terribly wrong.
[7:33] An acquaintance or romantic partner might have harmed her
[7:37] and then driven her car back to Vancouver to cover their tracks.
[7:41] The careful cleaning of the car's interior supports the idea
[7:45] that an offender tried to destroy evidence.
[7:48] This theory is chilling, suggesting Christina fell victim
[7:52] to foul play at the hands of someone she trusted.
[7:56] Another theory points to a more random crime.
[8:00] The area where her phone last pinged near Glenwood Park is
[8:04] known for some homeless encampments and criminal
[8:06] activity. It's conceivable that Christina
[8:09] could have been carjacked or abducted by a stranger after
[8:12] taking that detour. Perhaps she stopped for someone
[8:16] in distress or was lured into that area and then attacked.
[8:22] In such a scenario, the perpetrator might have driven
[8:25] her car back to her neighborhood to delay raising alarm.
[8:29] Under this scenario, they may have learned her address from
[8:32] her license or registration. However, this seems less likely
[8:38] to some random criminals, typically abandoned stolen cars
[8:43] or strip them for parts, not return them cleaned.
[8:46] The level of effort to wipe down the vehicle and place it near
[8:49] her home suggests a more calculated approach, which a
[8:53] stranger would be less motivated to do.
[8:56] However, without knowing why Christina went to that
[8:59] neighborhood, a chance encounter gone wrong seems much less
[9:03] likely. It's not a great neighborhood,
[9:06] and absolutely nobody knew why she would be there to begin
[9:09] with. Naturally, investigators also
[9:13] look close to home. Statistically, a spouse or
[9:17] family member is often involved when someone disappears.
[9:21] However, by all accounts, Christina's husband and
[9:23] relatives have fully cooperated with the investigation.
[9:27] There were no known marital problems reported publicly, and
[9:31] Annabelle was genuinely shocked and upset when he learned she
[9:34] was missing. Police have not named him or any
[9:38] family as suspects, and the focus seems to be elsewhere.
[9:42] The fact that Christina was apparently hiding something from
[9:45] both her husband and boss suggests that the key to this
[9:49] mystery might lie in that secret part of her routine.
[9:55] While investigators and loved ones have leaned heavily toward
[9:58] foul play, one possibility worth examining is that Christina may
[10:02] have voluntarily left her life behind.
[10:05] To many, this seems improbable. She was deeply committed to her
[10:10] nursing career, adored by her colleagues, and described as
[10:14] reliable to a fault. Yet the details of her
[10:17] disappearance raise questions that leave the door open for
[10:20] this theory. The most striking clue is the
[10:24] repeated detours Christina made in the weeks before she
[10:27] vanished. That secrecy hints at the
[10:30] potential for dissatisfaction at home or in her professional
[10:33] life. Choosing to start fresh
[10:36] elsewhere, especially for someone with her professional
[10:39] background and international ties, isn't beyond imagination.
[10:45] Another possibility investigators have quietly
[10:48] considered is that Christina may have been battling a private
[10:51] addiction. And yeah, I'm going to confess
[10:53] here that when I was researching this case, this was the first
[10:57] thing that popped into my mind. To those who knew her, Christina
[11:02] seemed the picture of stability, A devoted nurse, a reliable Co
[11:07] worker and a compassionate leader.
[11:11] Yet her unexplained detours into a Southeast Portland
[11:14] neighborhood raised the question of whether she was seeking
[11:17] something she didn't want others to know about.
[11:21] Addictions can remain hidden even from close family,
[11:24] especially when someone is highly functional in other
[11:27] aspects of life. If Christina had developed a
[11:30] dependency, she may have concealed it to protect her
[11:33] professional reputation in marriage.
[11:36] This could explain the secrecy, the unusual morning trips, and
[11:41] even why she kept those visits private.
[11:44] While unproven, the possibility of a secret addiction lingers as
[11:49] one of the darker theories in her case.
[11:53] If this theory is true, it could be that she overdosed and her
[11:57] body was dumped separately from her vehicle.
[12:00] If so, she may be a Jane Doe, or perhaps she's never yet been
[12:04] located. For now, what actually happened
[12:08] to Christina remains an unsolved mystery.
[12:11] Her family and friends remain extremely active in the search
[12:14] for Christina and this case is still being actively
[12:17] investigated by the authorities. A frantic phone call and a pride
[12:25] open door led to a chilling discovery. 19 year old beauty
[12:29] queen Nona Dirksmeyer was found deceased in her apartment after
[12:33] being beaten with the base of a floor lamp.
[12:36] The crime, which took place on December 15th, 2005, shocked the
[12:42] small town of Russellville, AR Russellville had rarely seen
[12:47] such brutality, and the loss of a beloved young woman left
[12:51] residents shaken and hungry for justice.
[12:54] In the aftermath, a desperate search for answers unfolded,
[12:58] entangling police, family, and an entire community in a
[13:03] whodunit that remains unsolved to this day.
[13:08] Nona Dirksmeyer was, by all accounts, a kind and
[13:11] compassionate young woman. By 2005, she was a freshman at
[13:15] Arkansas Tech University and had been a contestant in the Miss
[13:19] Arkansas pageant. She was dating her high school
[13:23] sweetheart, Kevin Jones, and was deeply loved by her family and
[13:27] friends. On December 15th, 2005, Nona
[13:33] spent the day on campus taking final exams.
[13:37] That evening. Her boyfriend Kevin grew alarmed
[13:39] when she didn't answer her phone, which was highly unusual.
[13:44] He sent a friend to check on her.
[13:46] The friend saw Nona's car outside but got no answer at the
[13:49] door. Fearing something was wrong,
[13:53] Kevin and his mother, Janice, drove to Nona's apartment
[13:56] immediately. They found the front door
[13:59] locked, so Kevin forced open a sliding glass door at the back.
[14:05] Inside, they stumbled onto a nightmare.
[14:08] Nona lay on the floor in a pool of blood, unresponsive.
[14:13] Kevin frantically tried to revive her while Janice called
[14:16] 911, but it was too late. Nona was already gone.
[14:22] The living room was spattered with blood, and a tall floor
[14:25] lamp lay broken nearby. Investigators later determined
[14:29] that the lamps heavy base was the weapon used to dispatch her.
[14:34] Nona had also been stabbed multiple times around her neck
[14:37] and chest before being bludgeoned, indicating an
[14:40] extremely personal rage fueled assault.
[14:45] There were no signs of forced entry and nothing whatsoever to
[14:48] suggest that she had been subjected to an indecent
[14:51] assault. To investigators, this strongly
[14:54] suggested she likely knew her attacker and had let him in
[14:58] willingly. Police naturally looked at Kevin
[15:03] first. He was the one who found Nona
[15:06] and when officers arrived they noticed he was covered in her
[15:09] blood. Kevin said it got on him from
[15:12] cradling and trying to revive her, but detectives remained
[15:16] wary. His demeanour also struck them
[15:19] as odd. One officer later noted that
[15:21] Kevin, in shock, reached out as if to shake hands despite having
[15:26] blood on him. This struck the officer as
[15:29] incredibly odd for a number of reasons.
[15:34] At the station, Kevin underwent hours of questioning and even a
[15:38] polygraph test, which police said he failed.
[15:42] When left alone in the interrogation room, he broke
[15:45] down and at one point slammed a chair in frustration and
[15:49] outburst investigators interpreted as a sign of a
[15:52] hidden temper. Then a critical piece of
[15:57] evidence turned up, a bloody palm print on the lamp, and it
[16:01] matched Kevin's hand. To the police, this was damning
[16:05] proof that he had handled the weapon during the attack.
[16:10] By this point, detectives had formulated a theory that Nona's
[16:13] slaying was a crime of passion. On the kitchen counter, they
[16:16] found an empty condom wrapper, a clue suggesting Nona might have
[16:20] been with another man. Investigators speculated that
[16:24] Kevin discovered this and in a jealous fury, confronted Nona.
[16:30] In their scenario, an argument erupted and Kevin brutally
[16:34] assaulted her. The brutality of the scene did
[16:37] seem to fit a sudden outburst of anger.
[16:40] Just six days after the attack, the lead detective told Kevin he
[16:44] was no longer the prime suspect, but rather that he was their
[16:48] only suspect. On March 31st, 2006, Kevin was
[16:54] formally arrested and charged with Nona's slaying.
[16:59] By then, investigators had interviewed around 50 people in
[17:03] Nona's life, but nothing they learned shook their focus on
[17:06] Kevin. The case quickly became front
[17:09] page news, and the slaying of a beauty queen brought intense
[17:12] pressure to solve the crime. Local media coverage and
[17:16] community outrage added momentum to the swift action against
[17:20] Kevin. Kevin, just 20 years old,
[17:24] continued to insist he was innocent, and those close to the
[17:27] couple argued that the police had it wrong.
[17:31] Nevertheless, the case against Kevin moved forward to a jury
[17:34] trial. Kevin's trial took place in
[17:39] 2007, and prosecutors argued he was a jealous boyfriend who
[17:44] snapped, pointing to the bloody handprint and the condom
[17:47] wrapper. As evidence, the defense
[17:50] countered that Kevin's palm print got on the lamp when he
[17:52] tried to help Nona and that there was no direct proof he
[17:56] committed the crime. One point of contention was the
[18:01] state of the blood on the lamp. Police witnesses described it as
[18:05] slightly sticky, which the defense argued meant Kevin's
[18:08] handprint was left when the blood was fresh.
[18:12] Under this theory, it was left there during his panicked
[18:15] attempt to save Nona, not at the time of the attack.
[18:19] With no eyewitnesses or confession, and with Kevin's
[18:22] clean record, the defense maintained that the
[18:25] prosecution's case was built on circumstantial clues and a
[18:29] flawed timeline. The decision in this case
[18:33] probably won't shock you because, yeah, the prosecution
[18:36] has to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
[18:42] After deliberation, the jury agreed there was reasonable
[18:45] doubt, and in July 2007, Kevin was found not guilty and
[18:50] acquitted of all charges. He walked free, his name cleared
[18:55] after 18 months under a cloud of suspicion.
[18:59] Nona's family, however, was crushed by the verdict,
[19:02] convinced that the perpetrator had just escaped justice.
[19:06] For the investigators, the outcome was a major set back.
[19:10] Their primary theory had completely collapsed and the
[19:13] real perpetrator was still at large.
[19:18] After Kevin's acquittal, authorities appointed a special
[19:21] prosecutor to re examine Nona's case.
[19:24] In this second investigation, a new suspect emerged, Nona's
[19:30] neighbor, Gary Dunn. It turned out that a crucial
[19:34] piece of evidence, the condom wrapper from Nona's apartment,
[19:37] had been tested for DNA in early 2008.
[19:41] That DNA was matched to Gary Dunn.
[19:44] Also, as a quick aside, the initial investigators never
[19:48] checked for DNA on the wrapper, and it was Kevin's defense team
[19:52] that had it tested in an effort to get him acquitted.
[19:55] Clearly, that seems like incredibly sloppy police work
[19:58] from investigators who were sure they already had their man.
[20:05] This was a major turning point in the case.
[20:08] Dunn lived in the same complex and had a violent past.
[20:11] In 2002, he was convicted of attacking a female jogger with a
[20:16] tree branch in a park and served several years in prison.
[20:19] He had been out on parole for only a few months at the time of
[20:23] Nona's death. Investigators also learned that
[20:27] Dunn's initial statements were deceptive.
[20:29] He gave a shaky alibi and even showed signs of lying on a
[20:33] polygraph when questioned. Shortly after the slaying.
[20:38] In 2008, armed with the DNA evidence, prosecutors charged
[20:43] Gary Dunn. The case against Dunn, however,
[20:46] was not a slam dunk. The DNA on the condom wrapper
[20:49] placed him in Nona's apartment, but there was little else to tie
[20:53] him definitively to the crime. Further, there was no evidence
[20:58] that she had been subjected to an indecent assault.
[21:04] Notably, it was Kevin's defense team, not the original police,
[21:08] who uncovered the rapper DNA match, raising questions about
[21:12] oversights in the initial investigation.
[21:15] At Dunn's trial, prosecutors argued that his history of
[21:19] violence made it likely he attacked Nona, while the defense
[21:22] insisted the evidence was too weak and circumstantial.
[21:26] The first trial, in 2009, ended with a hung jury when jurors
[21:31] couldn't agree on a verdict. A second trial in 2010 had the
[21:35] same result, another deadlocked jury.
[21:39] After two mistrials prosecutors decided not to attempt a third
[21:43] trial. Dunn was released and once again
[21:46] Nona's case had no resolution. Gary Dunn always maintained his
[21:50] innocence and continues to do so until this day.
[21:56] The attack that led to the end of Nona Dirksmeyer remains
[21:59] unsolved at present, despite 2 men having been tried for her
[22:03] slaying. No one has been convicted, and
[22:06] the question of who ended her life her still hangs over
[22:10] Russellville. Many who followed the case
[22:12] believe Gary Dunn was the likely culprit and that he slipped
[22:16] through the cracks of the justice system.
[22:19] This suspicion was reinforced when, in 2018, Dunn was arrested
[22:25] for harassing and attempting to abduct a woman in a parking lot,
[22:29] a crime for which he is now serving prison time.
[22:34] I have some significant doubts that there will ever be justice
[22:37] for Nona. The initial investigators
[22:40] clearly mishandled the evidence and didn't even bother to test
[22:44] the condom wrapper found in the apartment.
[22:47] Any further attempt to prosecute anyone for this crime will
[22:50] likely be limited by these failures of the initial
[22:52] investigators. It's important to remember that
[22:56] the prosecution has to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt,
[23:00] and when there are such glaring holes in the initial
[23:03] investigation, that makes it hard to do.

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