Perfect Murder, Perfect Town

by Lawrence Schiller

  “No problem,” I answered.

  “I trust you don’t have hidden wires on you that I don’t know about.”

  “No.”

  Then Thomas introduced me to his partner, Ron Gosage. Gosage didn’t say a word. You know—good cop, bad cop. Then Gosage turned on the tape recorder.

  “Jeff, this is going to be a formal interview,” Thomas began.

  They wanted to know how I’d noticed the line from Speed. I watch a lot of movies and have a good memory, I said. All the while Gosage just sat there with his arms folded.

  I told them about the movie Rising Sun, and autoerotic asphyxiation—enhancing sexual pleasure by cutting off the oxygen supply. I’d been convinced for some time that the ligature had been used on JonBenét for that purpose. That interested them.

  Finally they asked me about the tabloids. They wanted to know if I had sources in the DA’s office or the police department. I said I didn’t.

  They smiled and thanked me for coming in. I could tell they were interested in me.

  —Jeff Shapiro

  9

  By spring there was much talk in the press about the mistakes the police had made in the first hours of the case and even more speculation about who was to blame for them. Because of Chief Koby’s protracted silence about virtually all aspects of the investigation, most of the detectives working the case weren’t known to reporters. In April, however, Kevin McCullen and Charlie Brennan of the Rocky Mountain News read the search warrant the police had obtained for CNN’s videotapes and learned that Detective Linda Arndt had been the first detective on the scene and that she had arrived two hours and eighteen minutes after Patsy called 911. It was the first proof obtained by Brennan’s newspaper that she had worked on the case. Then on May 14, Alli Krupski of the Daily Camera reported that both Arndt and Detective Melissa Hickman had been dropped from the case.

  On June 8, the Rocky Mountain News published a scathing attack on the Boulder Police Department’s investigation of the Ramsey case, using phrases like “series of missteps,” “omissions,” and “not-so-simple twists of fate that could enable the police chief’s ‘guy’ to walk after all.” Before publishing his story, Charlie Brennan had attempted to get the reaction of police chief Tom Koby. The chief declined to be interviewed or to address the issues. Brennan had made no attempt to contact Linda Arndt, though police policy would have prevented her from responding anyway.

  Brennan wrote that on the morning of December 26, the cops failed to consider the “wealthy parents as possible suspects,” were not “skeptical enough about the kidnapping,” and failed to follow basic police procedure in questioning the parents.

  Researching the story, McCullen and Brennan, having learned about Arndt’s compassionate nature, began to speculate that she might have influenced some of Eller’s decisions that morning. Maybe she had been protective of the Ramseys—and particularly of Patsy, who Arndt had discovered was recovering from cancer.

  Brennan mentioned some of this in print. He quoted attorney Craig Silverman, who had been a top Denver prosecutor for fifteen years: “If there is fault, you can blame her with the fault of compassion.” Brennan’s report also alluded to the fact that a detective had “rebuffed a patrol officer’s suggestion [that the flashlight on the kitchen counter should be seized as evidence], telling him to keep his nose out of the detectives’ affairs, sources say.” In addition, Brennan wrote, “A female detective at the Ramseys’ home that day allegedly ordered that a sheet be placed over JonBenét as she lay dead on the living-room floor, according to unattributed sources cited in a May 30 report on ABC’s Nightline.” Brennan went on to say that some investigators feared the sheet might have picked up important trace evidence from the body.

  After Brennan’s story was published, Arndt asked Eller to stand behind her and correct falsehoods that were being repeated publicly about her role in the investigation. Eller refused. Soon the media were reporting that Arndt had moved the body and that she had asked Rev. Hoverstock “to gather everyone into a circle around the child and lead them in prayer,” two facts that were true. One article charged that “in the first week of January, without permission from the department, Arndt gave Ramsey attorney Patrick Burke a copy of the ransom note.” Despite Arndt’s position that these were inaccuracies, she remained silent in her own defense.

  Although the DA had hired Suzanne Laurion to shield him from the media, he still talked to journalists who had strong opinions about the case. Stephen Singular and Hunter spoke regularly. After their first meeting on April 15, they met again on April 29. At that meeting, Singular mentioned some witnesses he thought the police had failed to interview properly. He had been told the police were focused only on the behavior of the Ramseys. Had anyone seen Patsy hit JonBenét? the detectives would always ask. The answer was always no. Singular told Hunter that the police had failed to inquire about possible inappropriate behavior by others who knew JonBenét, for example, Randy Simons, who had photographed her. Several mothers of child pageant contestants, who had known Simons for years, found it hard to reconcile his strange behavior after the murder with the man they had known before. Two mothers claimed that Simons called them late at night and talked about how JonBenét had been sexually abused.

  Hunter called investigator Steve Ainsworth into the meeting with Singular so that the detective could hear directly what some of the mothers had said. Later the DA called Pam Griffin to ask about the photographer. She said that Simons had once asked for permission to take her daughter’s face and transpose it to a sexy body in a photograph. It was out of character for Simons, Pam said.

  Hunter told Singular that he was having trouble getting the police to pursue the line of inquiry Singular was suggesting, and he asked the writer to see what he could learn about the people JonBenét saw outside her immediate family. Hunter wanted to know how she acted when she was not in the company of friends and family. The DA also wanted handwriting samples from the people that Singular thought should be considered. Finally, Hunter asked for help in finding potential sources of the ligature. He didn’t care if it pointed to the Ramseys or someone else, he said. He wanted the information. Hunter was so intent on finding something everybody else had missed that some of his deputies had begun to refer to him as Dick Tracy.

  Lou Smit and Steve Ainsworth read over the reports of the police interviews with Randy Simons. It appeared that he’d never been questioned in depth. Yet who better than a photographer to familiarize them with the fringe world of beauty pageants? On May 14 they drove to Genoa, Colorado, where Simons was living. The next day Simons granted Ainsworth an interview but was unable to shed much light on the case.

  Still, because he was a professional photographer who sometimes photographed nudes, they investigated him as well. Without the photographer’s knowledge, Hunter’s office obtained handwriting samples and a sample of his saliva from a cigarette butt. A month later, on June 17, Ainsworth also interviewed pageant photographer Mark Fix. Eventually Ainsworth concluded that neither photographer had been involved in the death of JonBenét. Whether someone else connected with pageants had been involved was still an open question.

  Stephen Singular returned home late the night he saw Alex Hunter. He stepped into his daughter’s bedroom and stood in the dark, just listening to her peaceful, even breathing. He’d done the same thing every night for a couple of months after JonBenét had been murdered. He would wake up at two or three in the morning, walk to her room, and stand there listening to her breathing for a few minutes. He knew that what had happened in Boulder could happen anywhere.

  10

  DNA TESTS DONE, OFFICIALS MUM

  The much-anticipated results of additional DNA tests in the JonBenét Ramsey murder case have been returned to Boulder authorities, sources told The Denver Post Wednesday.

  Authorities reportedly met in closed-door session, and officials could not be reached for comment on the purpose of the meeting or the results of the tests.

 
—Marilyn Robinson

  The Denver Post, May 15, 1997

  In Denver, Carol McKinley sat in her living room listening to her frustrated police source, who was calling from a pay phone. Chief Koby was still refusing to defend his detectives from press attacks, and both Hunter and Hofstrom were a lost cause, he said. The DA’s office seemed more interested in protecting the rights of the Ramseys than in putting them in jail. John Eller was the only law enforcement official strong enough to stand up to the Ramseys’ lawyers. Eller, he said, would never give up.

  What had really gotten to the detectives, the officer said, was that they were coming up against witnesses who could help the investigation but wouldn’t cooperate. Under Colorado law, the police had little leverage. They couldn’t force anyone even to return a phone call.

  In another conversation, McKinley’s source told her that some detectives believed the war room was simply a place from which Hunter’s people intended to steal information about the case. Though the computers were protected by passwords, it was possible to get around them. One detective wanted to store all the information on a Zip drive and take it with him each time he left the war room.* The officer said that Eller had decided not to share with Hunter’s staff some of the results of the DNA testing that were now coming back.

  At times Carol McKinley felt as if she’d become a psychotherapist. Her source needed to vent, and he needed someone who would listen.

  Lou Smit was another problem, though the detective didn’t reveal the reasons to McKinley. He wouldn’t listen to them and had his own ideas—like his nutty stun-gun theory. Smit thought there was a strong possibility that an intruder had entered the house. He kept talking about the pieces of glass that had been found on top of the suitcase under the broken basement window, about the shoe imprint they’d found near JonBenét’s body, and about the unidentified palm print on the wine cellar door. The police had learned that the imprint was from a Hi-Tec shoe. But whenever the police came up with a good idea—like the question of how a stranger could even find the light switch to the basement—Smit ignored it. In the detectives’ eyes, he was old, out of touch. Smit kept saying to them, “I want you guys to prove it to me.” It was irritating, and the detectives resented him.

  On May 19, Suzanne Laurion, who had been on the job as Hunter’s press representative for less than three weeks, wrote him a memo: “One of the roles of the media is to listen to, organize and direct the public’s response to political actors (e.g., Koby and Hunter). Hence, we can view…commentaries from this weekend as important to our understanding of how the general public may be feeling…. This is the sort of thinking we could address in a piece on the prosecutor’s ethical obligations to contain trial publicity, and our commitment to serve and preserve the criminal justice system.”

  She enclosed two articles as examples of what she meant:

  ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

  The new reward ad the Ramseys placed in Sunday’s Daily Camera has exposed a level of incompetence in Alex Hunter’s office that cannot, and should not, be tolerated by the people who elected him to protect our interests and, in this case, our children.

  Sunday’s ad requested that Boulderites call in any information they have about a well-dressed man who may have been seen talking to children around Christmas, the time of JonBenét’s murder.

  Now we’re supposed to believe that, for all the D.A. knows, any well-dressed white guy talking to kids may be the actual murderer. If Hunter can’t do better than that, then he needs to make the information he has public in hopes that someone else can solve the crime.

  Or there is another scenario. The investigation is rolling along fine. The cops are closely watching the prime suspects. And our kids are safe. If that’s the case, Hunter’s office should let the Ramseys, provided they’re not the suspects, in on the news. That way John and Patsy could stop wasting money on ads.

  If the Ramseys are the prime suspects, then Hunter’s office should stop moonlighting as part of the Ramsey PR team. If Hunter believes that the Ramseys will one day be tried for JonBenét’s death, then he should be smart enough to realize that giving them permission to inquire about mystery murderers in ads will greatly weaken his case at trial time.

  Hunter has stated all along that he wants to remain “open minded” during this investigation. That’s a good idea early on, but after five months of investigating it’s absurd. At some point, presumably long before now, being open minded creates incredible opportunities for the defense team of whoever is eventually arrested.

  —Editorial

  Boulder Weekly, May 15, 1997

  AT A STANDSTILL IN BOULDER

  The JonBenét Ramsey murder investigation has been dragging on for almost five months, and beleaguered Boulder Police Chief Tom Koby says he doesn’t expect an arrest for several more months—if then.

  The DNA test results are back from a lab in Maryland, but Koby hinted they don’t seem to offer a solution.

  Meanwhile the victim’s parents, whom the police concede are suspects, have bought a couple of ads in Boulder’s Daily Camera soliciting the public’s help in finding the killer. A $100,000 reward is offered for information leading to a conviction.

  In the most recent ad, they asked for information regarding a man who is alleged to have approached young children in Boulder late last year. The implication is that JonBenét was the randomly selected victim of some pervert.

  The suggestion of a specific alternative criminal at least muddies the water, and plants that crucial seed of doubt in the public mind.

  It’s not the first time that’s happened in cases handled by Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, John Ramsey’s law firm.

  No wonder Koby and District Attorney Alex Hunter are proceeding cautiously. Among other reasons, they’re up against the best and they know it.

  —Editorial

  Rocky Mountain News, May 19, 1997

  Laurion told Hunter that “Koby’s stock is plunging at the moment” and that his own image needed immediate rehabilitation. It would take about two weeks of hard work, but he’d be pleased with the results, she said. Laurion then listed for her boss the upcoming stories that the DA’s office should be prepared to respond to:

  Release of information in the autopsy

  Fifth handwriting sample

  Timetable for investigation of ransom note

  Unsealing search warrants

  Haddon wanting DNA evidence

  Contents of DNA tests

  Next meeting with Scheck and Lee

  Next development on Elowsky

  Laurion also told Hunter that his staff should give thought to how information should be released and the effect of releasing information. Her memo stated that the DA’s office “needed to get comfortable with a system for information dissemination.” The staff should consider whether information would harm the case if released, whether it would advance the case if released, and whether it was information the public had a right to know. She also pointed out that Hunter had to be concerned at all times with the effects of what he said on “police detectives working the case, Hunter’s own office, an eventual jury pool, the general public, news reporters, leakers, the Ramsey camp, spectators-turned-actors, those who will judge the Hunter legacy and the Boulder County voters.”

  Until now, Hunter and his staff had merely been reacting to events, playing catch-up—and none too effectively—with the press. With Laurion on board, they finally had someone who not only saw their predicament clearly but could also plan ahead.

  Meanwhile, Steve Thomas visited McGuckin Hardware, which John Ramsey—or someone impersonating him—had called in January. In the sporting goods department, Thomas found white nylon cord similar to the cord around JonBenét’s neck. He bought four packages of Coghlan’s Cord, for $2.29 each. In addition, he found black duct tape with the brand name Suretape. Both items sold for the same price and came from the same department that appeared on Patsy Ramsey’s December 1996 sales slips.

  A week after
Thomas made his purchases, Dave Williams, an investigator for the Ramseys, called Joanne Hanks at McGuckin and asked for itemized receipts of Patsy’s December 2 and December 9 purchases, only to discover that the police had them. In Patsy’s April 30 police interview, Thomas had asked her about the purchase of duct tape, and Williams was following up for his clients.

  Now both the police and the Ramseys’ investigators knew that the items could have been purchased by Patsy just weeks before JonBenét’s murder.

  The court’s protection of the search warrants for the Ramsey house was due to expire Sunday, May 25. Hunter’s office told Judge Diane MacDonald on May 22 that nothing had come to light to remove the Ramseys as suspects and that there was no “smoking gun,” but his office still objected to the release of the warrants. “Damaging as any particular leaks may have been,” Hunter’s office argued, “it would be much more destructive to the investigation to release to the media, and through the media to the killer or killers, the sworn documents which present in such highly organized and formal form the information in the hands of the police and the thought processes underlying the investigation.”

  Hunter prevailed. “The court finds that there can be no more compelling governmental interest than the arrest and prosecution of her killer,” Judge MacDonald said, and ordered the documents sealed for an additional 120 days, or until the time of an arrest.

  On May 12, deputy county attorney Mason had asked Judge Glowinsky to extend her seal on the balance of the coroner’s autopsy report. Mason argued that the case was active, still in the investigation stage, and that the report contained a lot the public didn’t know—including the position of the body when found, how JonBenét was dressed, details about the wounds and injuries she’d suffered, and evidence that had been found at the crime scene. If the information was released, it would make it that much harder for the police to weigh the credibility of witnesses’ statements. Detective Sgt. Wickman provided an affidavit to support the coroner’s request.