Perfect Murder, Perfect Town

by Lawrence Schiller

  Douglas was not the only investigator the Ramseys had hired. Private investigators retained by the Ramseys were reviewing other unsolved crimes of a similar nature, interviewing witnesses the police had not looked at closely enough, and following leads provided to them by the Ramseys and the public.

  Steve Thomas was at his desk at police headquarters looking at the March 12 issue of the Globe, which featured photos of the inside of the Ramseys’ house. Eight pictures traced the “evil killer’s footsteps inside death mansion…From JonBenét’s pretty pink bedroom to the cold dark cellar where her broken body was found.” It was another exclusive for the tabloid.

  Thomas couldn’t figure out who had supplied the photographs. They had been taken by the Ramseys’ own investigators after the police finished their search of the house in early January. He was certain they wouldn’t have leaked the pictures to a publication that was implicating the Ramseys in the death of their daughter. Thomas was angry because photos of the crime scene should have been restricted to the police.

  When his phone rang, he was surprised to hear Joe Mullins of the Globe on the other end. Mullins told the detective that “Jeff Scott” was actually Jeff Shapiro, a Globe researcher. This annoyed Thomas more than the photos had. Thomas told Mullins that he would reveal Shapiro’s true identity to both John Andrew and Allison Russ.

  By now Steve Thomas had been involved in almost every aspect of the investigation and, within the department, was gaining the reputation of resident expert. If anyone in the Boulder PD had an overview, it was Thomas. For his part, he was sure that Bill McReynolds, though his handwriting was questionable, was too frail to have committed the crime. Someone stronger than Santa had to have killed the child, who must have struggled at some time during the crime. Her weight alone, if she had been carried down to the basement, seemed to rule McReynolds out. Thomas estimated that Joe Barnhill, the Ramseys’ neighbor, was strong enough, but his palsy eliminated him as the writer of the ransom note. The Ramseys’ ex-employees’ alibis seemed to be checking out. Thomas knew of no credible evidence that someone other than Patsy or John Ramsey could be involved—if not in the death of JonBenét, then in a cover-up.

  Later that morning, Thomas returned a call from Iris Woodall, who worked at Home Depot in Athens, Georgia. She told the detective that Patsy Ramsey had shopped for duct tape in December 1996 with a child who resembled JonBenét. Thomas called Detective Evans of the Roswell police for assistance in pursuing the lead. The next day Evans interviewed Woodall and learned that during the week of December 7, Patsy had been in the Athens store and had asked her for help in locating duct tape. Woodall was shown a picture of the Ramseys, and she said that Patsy may have been accompanied by her husband. The police eventually pinpointed the date to December 12, 1996, the day before the Ramseys hosted a dinner in Boulder.

  When Detectives Gosage and Thomas made their next trip to Atlanta, they met Woodall and reviewed the accounting records of Home Depot’s Athens store. There were approximately twenty thousand register receipts to check, to find one that matched Patsy’s credit card number or, if a check was used, her Colorado or Georgia driver’s license. After three days they came up empty-handed. This left the possibility that the purchase had been paid for in cash.

  Law enforcement sources have admitted to ABC News that the murder investigation may be in trouble. Handwriting experts have failed to find a link between JonBenét’s father and the ransom note; and although Patsy Ramsey, the mother, has given three writing samples, police have been unable to determine if she wrote the note either. Neither parent is yet talking to police.

  From the beginning officials have been convinced that a tiny spot of fluid, found on the girl’s leg, is semen. But lab tests of the fluid produced no DNA…and were therefore inconclusive. Sources say the killer wiped the body clean of any other evidence.

  “In the absence of semen evidence,[said forensic scientist Moses Schanfield] it will be extremely difficult to find evidence that could lead to not only an arrest…but a conviction.”

  ABC World News Tonight, March 13, 1997

  Since early in the case, the Ramseys’ investigators, headed by Ellis Armistead, had been looking into possible suspects who knew the Ramseys or could have had access to their home. They were now focusing on people they believed the police had overlooked or had passed over too quickly. On March 13, Armistead met with case supervisor Detective Sgt. Tom Wickman and Detectives Trujillo and Thomas to discuss several possible suspects the Ramsey team had come up with. The list included a known sex offender, an Access Graphics employee, and Glenn Meyer, who lived in Joe Barnhill’s basement across the street from the Ramseys. The detectives listened without acknowledging whether these people had been investigated.

  Two days later, on March 15, Armistead gave the police a dossier on Meyer, which showed that he had debts amounting to $70,000. Several weeks later, Thomas questioned Meyer at police headquarters about whether he had a prior record of assault, about his debts, and about his whereabouts on December 25 and 26. Meyer identified handwriting samples he’d given to the police and agreed to give another blood sample. Returning to the Barnhills’ home, he probably wondered how the police had discovered he was in debt and why the polygraph he’d taken hadn’t cleared him.

  RAMSEY DOCTORS: NO HISTORY OF ABUSE

  JonBenét Ramsey’s family has provided the district attorney a psychiatrist’s videotaped interview with the girl’s 10-year-old brother, a pediatrician’s records, and other information that they contend indicates the family has no history of sexual abuse, a source says.

  The family has…allowed pediatrician Dr. Francesco Beuf and his nurses to speak with investigators.

  —Clay Evans

  Daily Camera, March 16, 1997

  JONBENÉT RAMSEY INFORMATION UPDATE

  Date: March 19, 1997

  To: Reporters covering the Ramsey case

  Fr: Pat Korten

  News leaks appearing to come from law enforcement sources over the past few days have suggested, that there are some similarities between Patsy Ramsey’s handwriting and that found on the ransom note left in the Ramseys’ house on December 26.

  Handwriting experts retained by the Ramseys, among the most highly regarded in the field, have concluded that neither John nor Patsy Ramsey wrote the note. While they noted some similarity between a few of Patsy Ramsey’s letters and those found on the note, there were dramatic differences between her handwriting and the note in many other areas.

  Now that the Globe had blown Jeff Shapiro’s cover, he knew he would have to use his real name, but part of his cover story—that he was a student—was still intact. Joe Mullins had suggested to him before he left Florida that he visit the Ramseys’ church and say he was interested in converting to Christianity. Perhaps he could discuss the Jews for Jesus movement. It might help him gain credibility among the parishioners. Shapiro considered the ethics of using religion to get close to someone and eventually decided he didn’t care.

  “When you’re working undercover,” Shapiro often said, “whether you’re an investigative reporter, a detective, or an FBI agent, you don’t have ordinary morals. You do whatever you have to do to accomplish your mission. And you don’t let anything get personal.”

  On Friday, March 20, Shapiro visited St. John’s for the first time and asked to see Rev. Hoverstock. On the door of his office hung a sign: NO MEDIA. THANK YOU.

  Shapiro told Hoverstock he wanted to become a Christian. He was truthful with Hoverstock about his upbringing and told him how frustrating it was to graduate from college and be unable to find the right job. He said his parents were wealthy and that a lot of his friends were Christians. He was undercover, Shapiro told himself, and his ultimate goal was more important than these trivial white lies. He was in Boulder to find the truth, and he began to feel that God wanted him to help.

  He mentioned his interest in the Simpson case and told the minister that the LAPD had framed OJ.

  Hoverstoc
k replied, “You’ve come at an interesting time.”

  Jeff nodded.

  “We’ll get to know one another, have some conversations,” Hoverstock told Shapiro. “I’ll learn more about you.” Hoverstock invited Shapiro to services and seminars, to become more informed about Christianity.

  From then on, Shapiro attended services every Sunday, and prayer classes, which he enjoyed. In some ways he felt more of a bond with the people at St. John’s than with his fellow Jews. He felt good about what he was doing. He felt that he belonged. He purchased a Book of Common Prayer and a Bible.

  Later Shapiro would tell his editor that he was getting two for the price of one—he was doing his job and acquiring spirituality.

  My father always reminded me of Hal Holbrook in the movie Wall Street. He’s rational and likes to disarm people, doesn’t like to provoke them. I’m sure he worked for the CIA when I was a kid. He’d leave in the middle of the night for places like Iran, the Middle East, and Europe. I think he helped build a power plant for the CIA out there and had some run-ins with terrorist organizations. Later he helped design the launchpad for the Saturn Five rocket.

  I was brought up in Boca Raton and attended Florida State University as a political science major. I wrote stories on Jim Garrison, the O. J. Simpson case, and John DeLorean for local publications.

  When I was fifteen I started to go out alone. I saw homeless people in places my parents had never taken me. The contrast of people in limousines and people lying on the street starving affected me. That’s when I decided I wanted to talk to President Reagan and find out why there are homeless people in such a wonderful country.

  I snuck into the Boca Raton Resort & Club Hotel to see the president when he was in Florida. I knew that hotel like the back of my hand because I’d spent days there as a kid. I got past the Secret Service and all the way up a stairwell to the twenty-fourth floor, one floor below Reagan. That’s when I was taken into federal custody.

  I was wearing a shirt with an American flag and FREEDOM FOREVER printed on it, and I’d wrapped another little flag around my wrist. I looked like a comic book character.

  When I was caught, I thanked God that I hadn’t brought my Swiss Army knife. It might have looked like an assassination attempt. They interviewed me for hours. I told them I was interested in politics. I showed them how I’d driven my bike past the police at the golf course entrance. One of their cars followed me when they let me ride my bike home.

  At twenty-two, I got an internship at the White House Office of Media Affairs, in the Clinton administration. Washington was like a futuristic Roman empire. There was a lot of beauty, a lot of corruption, and a lot of people compromising their values. I have a history of getting into confrontations—because I question the way things operate. That happened in Washington, so I went back to Florida and freelanced for the Miami Herald until the Globe hired me.

  —Jeff Shapiro

  The Boulder PD was now being criticized almost nightly on TV programs such as Larry King Live and Geraldo. Though detectives weren’t being identified by name, it was hard for Steve Thomas and his fellow officers to take the constant ridicule. It wasn’t only the national media that attacked them; the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post also chastised them. The attacks were excruciating. What made them worse was the continued silence of Chief Koby. With no one speaking up for them—and strict instructions that they were not to speak to the media—the detectives were frustrated and angry. Officers who wanted the Ramsey case prosecuted without delay and were willing to ignore the presumption of innocence realized that the media could be an effective tool, indeed a weapon.

  It was under these circumstances that one detective called Carol McKinley. He insisted on anonymity but wanted the public to know that the Boulder PD was doing its best and that they knew who the murderer was. The officer told McKinley that suspects were not always arrested immediately. Good police work took time. No matter what was being said, he and his colleagues weren’t the Keystone Kops. His primary concern was the department’s reputation, he said.

  Meanwhile another source of McKinley’s, an attorney for the Ramseys, told her that his clients were the victims of poor police work and media speculation. He believed the Boulder PD was using the tabloids and the mainstream media to convict his clients.

  There was evidence that an intruder had killed JonBenét, he said, but to protect the investigation, he couldn’t reveal the nature of the evidence. His clients were being framed, he claimed, and the public was being misled.

  Though Alex Hunter didn’t know who had killed JonBenét, he was certain that John Eller had been unable to see the big picture since that day in mid-January when the test on what was alleged to be semen came back negative. The commander was too focused on the Ramseys as the only suspects, a position that was unacceptable even to those in the DA’s office who thought that Patsy and John Ramsey had killed their daughter. Hunter, who planned to hire his own investigators, first had to get the files from Eller for an objective review. That would be step one. Hunter told Wise, “How do you know you’ve got it unless you’ve read the whole case?” The second step would be to prepare the files for eventual transfer to a prosecutorial team.

  Hunter told Koby his plan, and the chief agreed, as long as the DA’s personnel did not interfere, second-guess, or reinvestigate. Hunter agreed. Eller also responded positively when Koby told him. Now the case file would be cataloged and indexed by Hunter’s office.

  Hunter would need two experienced detectives—officers who could be objective. He wanted at least one of them to look at the case from the point of view of the defense.

  Tom Haney, recently retired from the patrol division of the Denver PD, was an obvious candidate. In his twenty-eight years on the force, he had investigated many of the city’s most notorious murders. Haney met with Hunter and Hofstrom and then with Eller and Koby. They told him they were looking for someone with investigative experience who could handle the transition from investigation to prosecution. Haney said he could. Eller asked Haney his opinion of Lou Smit. “He’s a hell of a guy and a great investigator,” Haney said. “And he’s solved some tough cases.”

  Smit was a legend among law enforcement personnel. Formerly captain of detectives in the El Paso County sheriff’s office, he’d worked 150 homicide cases in Colorado Springs. Smit had recently solved a three-and-a-half-year-old kidnapping by matching a lone fingerprint, which had been overlooked, to one in a regional fingerprint database. At sixty-one, Smit had kept up with cutting-edge technology while retaining some tried-and-true methods. Once, he had sifted through a hundred bags of garbage to look for evidence that tied a murderer to his victim. Maggots crawled up his sleeves, but he found the critical evidence. Like a lot of dedicated officers, he’d been seen praying at victims’ graves. He said that God was his partner.

  Hunter discussed Haney and Smit with Koby and with Trip DeMuth, who felt that Smit was less pushy than Haney. Detective Tom Trujillo told Chief Koby that Lou Smit was their kind of cop. Koby decided that Smit would do, and Hunter agreed.

  Coincidentally, Hal Haddon, one of John Ramsey’s lawyers, asked Haney to join their team. Haney had never worked on the defense side, and he had some concerns, but he met with Patrick Burke nonetheless. Patsy’s attorney said he believed that John and Patsy were innocent. Moreover, he said, their investigation had uncovered possible suspects.

  “I’m not sure I could rule the Ramseys out,” Haney told him.

  “They’ll sit down with you,” Burke replied. “They’ll answer all your questions.”

  Haney wanted to ask if the Ramseys had taken a polygraph, but he decided it would be rude. The next day, Haney called Burke and declined the job. He just had that feeling in his gut.

  On March 13, Smit agreed to work for Hunter. That same day the DA walked upstairs to the sheriff’s office and asked Epp to lend him Steve Ainsworth for his investigation. The detective and deputy DA Trip DeMuth had a good working relationship. They ha
d solved a murder case together in nearby Louisville. Ainsworth had worked on the Ramsey case the first weekend after the murder, and he was eager to rejoin the investigation. Epp was disturbed that Steve wouldn’t be doing any interviewing, however. That privilege had been reserved for Eller’s detectives. Instead, Ainsworth would remain in the office, where he would review material from the point of view of the defense, as Hunter’s devil’s advocate.

  Lou Smit and Steve Ainsworth formally joined Hunter’s team on March 17. The first order of business for Smit was to introduce himself to the Ramseys. He wrote them a letter saying that he’d been hired by Alex Hunter to find the killer of their daughter and that any help that they could give him would be appreciated. It was his way of building a bridge to the Ramseys. The better he knew them, Smit maintained, the greater chance he would have of helping to solve the murder. Weeks later he received word that his letter was appreciated.