Dawn Koons, 18, was discovered dead in her bathtub in January 1979. Her face was covered by a cloth, and her wrists were tied behind her back. The case had been unsolved for more than 30 years before Bakersfield police retested DNA evidence from the homicide scene in 2012.
The article contains details about the case, the perpetrator’s identity, and where they are right now. Learn more about the teen who was brutally murdered.
Who Is Dawn Koons? Details Of Her Wikipedia
Dawn Koons does not have a Wikipedia page. Koons was born on April 27, 1960, as the family’s middle child and only daughter. Because of her extraordinary beauty and intelligence, her older brother, David Koons, dubbed her “the light of our family.”
She was especially protective of her younger brother, and the Koons family of Yonkers, New York, used to share in holiday celebrations. Dawn Ellen Koons, an 18-year-old girl, was sexually assaulted and killed in Bakersfield, California, in January 1979.
However, it would take more than 40 years of effort and hope for her family to receive the justice they so richly deserve. Investigation Discovery’s “On the Case with Paula Zahn: Shadow of Suspicion” provides in-depth coverage of this tragic case, guiding viewers through the various complexity and time periods until the murderer is finally apprehended.
Dawn attended St. Mark’s Lutheran School in Yonkers until the eighth grade before transferring to Lincoln High School. Dawn, according to her brother David, was bored with school and did not complete high school. Instead, she began her modeling career.
Dawn Koons’s Murder Case – Insight On The Matter
Dawn Koons moved to Bakersfield, California, in 1978, where she met and married Steve Scherle, her high school sweetheart. They shared a house for a while before splitting up, and Dawn later moved out to an apartment on South Real Road.
According to Steve, Koon planned to restart her life in California by furthering her education and pursuing her dreams. She used to work at a nearby restaurant, and a coworker dropped her off at her apartment on January 12, 1979, around 10:15 p.m.
Nonetheless, her coworker became suspicious when she failed to show up for duty or other appointments all weekend and did not return her calls.
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Following this event, she called the authorities, and when the Bakersfield police entered Dawn’s apartment and found her naked and dead in the bathtub on January 16, 1979.
Dawn’s hands were bound with the phone cable from her apartment while she lay her legs apart with her head under the faucet. A pillowcase covered her head, and she had ligature marks on her neck and wrists. Her cause of death was ruled asphyxiated, but her autopsy report revealed that she had been sexually assaulted.
Scherle, the ex-boyfriend, was initially suspected by the police. However, he was exonerated after they failed to uncover any proof connecting him to the crime.
Where Is Prentice Foreman Now?
According to court records, Prentice Foreman, the man accused of assaulting and killing Dawn Koons, is being held in a cell at the Salinas Valley State Prison in California.
After discovering Dawn Koons’s body, police interviewed her neighbors, including Prentice Foreman, who claimed that despite living in the same complex as her, he had never been to Dawn’s apartment.
A coworker of Steve and Dawn’s reported a “creepy” black man stalking and harassing Dawn. The case, however, remained unsolved because no new leads emerged.
During the early 1980s, forensic technology had not advanced significantly before the detectives eventually discovered a match from the DNA obtained at the crime scene. In 2010, the Bakersfield Police Department’s cold case squad reopened the case, and DNA samples were sent to the Kern Regional Crime Laboratory for analysis.
In October 2017, the California Department of Justice reported finding a CODIS hit on the national database. Investigators confirmed Prentice Foreman’s ownership of the samples by obtaining them from him in December 2017.
Furthermore, Prentice Foreman, a long-distance truck driver, had a history of 15 prior offenses. On December 20, 2017, he was arrested and charged with first-degree rape, burglary, and murder.
In June 2019, a jury found Foreman guilty. On June 10, 2019, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He filed an appeal against his sentence in February 2022, but it was denied. According to his jail records, Foreman will be eligible for parole in December 2032.
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