Dateline: Who was Matthew Owens and what do we know about his crimes? Details of the 2003 homicide, explored

Dateline has long brought alarming offences to the front, and this episode titled, A Walk in the Rain, returns to the irking 2003 homicide of 19-year-old Sonya Ivanoff in Nome, Alaska.

The case riveted a town and eventually led to the condemnation of police officer Matthew Owens.

What unfolded exposed disloyalty and treachery from inside the law enforcement, and a misconduct that would forever alter the small Alaskan community.

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A chilling disappearance and a body found – A homicide revisited on Dateline

When Sonya Ivanoff left a mate’s house just a while after 1 a.m. on August 11, 2003, she never made it back home. Her roommate and best friend, Timayre Towarak, didn’t instantly get terrified, assuming Ivanoff may have stayed at someone else’s.

But by evening, the restlessness increased, and the feeling eventually turned to fear.

“I think I was hysterically crying just because I was so scared…”

Towarak recalls reporting Ivanoff missing to the Nome Police Department.

Merely two days later, Dateline highlights that Ivanoff’s naked body was found near an infrequently used road, with one gunshot wound to the back of her head and bruises wrapped up all over her body.

She was found wearing just one sock. The secluded location hindered forensic teams from reaching on time. Eric Burroughs, the investigator, quotes;

“It’s called the Alaska frontier state for a lot of reasons…It’s not, it’s not like uh, the big city at all.”

Regardless of the mismatched tire tracks and a small tint of light blue paint found nearby, evidences were limited.

Initially, heads turned towards Ivanoff’s friend Koonuk, but he was ruled out as a suspect after blood in his vehicle was found to be that of an animal.

The case did not see a green light until a critical finding was revealed in an overlooked tip.

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A police cruiser, a note, and a shocking twist

Dateline focuses on how an unnoticed tip re-worked the entire investigation from scratch. Florence Habros tipped the investigating officers that she saw Ivanoff climb into a Nome Police SUV at around 1:26 a.m. that dreadful night.

That night, there were merely two officers who were on their respective duty—Stan Piscoya and Matthew Owens. Just as both officers were slated to fly out for their interviews, one of the department's three patrol vehicles, Cruiser 321, suddenly disappeared.

Owens appealed that he was attacked at Bessie Pit, not too far from the crime scene. Shattered glass windows and an alarming letter were then found inside the car.

Inside was Ivanoff’s ID and a typed letter that read:

“I hate cops. I hate every one of you. Sonya was just a person in the wrong place at the wrong time... You leave me alone and I will leave you alone. I will also shoot you in the head if you get close.”

Investigators did not buy Owens’ story of him getting ambushed as he claimed. He also “failed miserably” on a polygraph test, and qualms further deepened after a witness had seen him burning a few items just where Ivanoff’s body was located.

Dateline later reveals that tiny residues of her clothes were found in the ashes of the items Ovens had burnt.

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The trial and aftermath of a betrayal

When NBC Dateline re-examines the trial, the treachery hits the hardest: the killer of a 19-year-old girl was one of her own townspeople.

Two witnesses came forward to confess that they indeed did see Ivanoff get into a police car that night. Owens’ prior awareness as a man in the police department regarding evidence protection —no shell casings to be left behind, no DNA traces to be found anywhere nearby, no signs of sexual assault—pointed to an established intent.

He was immediately arrested. In the days following Owens' arrest, more Native Alaskan women began speaking their truth, alleging that Owens had lured them into his SUV and had SA'ed them. One woman recalled being warned that nobody would believe her if she told anyone.

Even though Owen later pleaded guilty in court, on December 6, 2005, he was found guilty of first-degree murder and tampering with all of the evidence.

He received a prison sentence of 101 years and is presently confined at a federal prison situated in Otisville, New York.

Josh Mankiewicz, who covered and re-visited the harrowing true-crime on Dateline, shared the profound impact it had:

“I’ve covered stories in a lot of small towns, this case took me a place more remote than anywhere I’d ever been. Clues at the crime scene seemed to point in one direction. The twist that came next was one this town would never forget.”

Ivanoff’s story lived on. In 2007, the Sonya Ivanoff Bill was first introduced, making sure that any on-duty officer convicted of first-degree murder would be in store for the maximum amount of sentence.

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Dateline brings forward true-crime cases that expose buried truths, and now the homicide of a teen named Sonya Ivanoff is no exception.

Her life was taken away by someone who was meant to keep her feeling safe, and the shock it sent through the entirety of Nome still remains.

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