Perfect Murder, Perfect Town (20 page)

On January 21, Bryan Morgan hand-delivered his reply to John Eller’s letter concerning the Ramseys’ interviews. Morgan rejected the police department’s request that the Ramseys be interviewed on Friday, January 24. In his letter, he characterized Eller’s conditions as cruel and insensitive. To start an interview at 6:00
P
.
M
. without a cutoff time meant that they could still be sitting there at 1:00 in the morning.

That same day, Patsy’s attorney, Patrick Burke, met with Pete Hofstrom to discuss the CBI’s insistence that only representatives of charged persons had the right to observe their physical evidence tests. Hofstrom, who may not have understood the law, suggested to Burke that he could designate the Ramseys as suspects for the purpose of permitting a representative to witness the testing. Burke said he would discuss the matter with his clients. Burke, solidly built at forty-seven, had once served as assistant attorney general for Colorado and, before that, had been a public defender. Hofstrom knew that beneath Burke’s sweet-guy demeanor was a tough opponent.

The next day Burke hand-delivered a letter to Hofstrom, agreeing to Hofstrom’s suggestion designating the Ramseys as suspects for the sole purpose of allowing their representatives to observe the testing procedures.

When Carl Whiteside was told about Burke’s reply, he
faxed a formal letter to Alex Hunter stating that he would not let any of the Ramsey representatives observe the CBI’s testing unless the Ramseys were “charged defendants.” That was the way
he
read the law. He would not accept Hofstrom’s “designated suspects,” and he had made his position clear in Hunter’s office. The next day, Hofstrom told Burke the CBI’s reading of the law, and Burke withdrew his approval for the Ramseys to be named “designated suspects.” But Burke voiced no objection to the CBI’s tests as long as they did not destroy or consume the evidence.

In the meantime, the Ramseys’ attorneys had been looking for a prominent DNA expert to represent them. They contacted Barry Scheck, who at the time hadn’t been called by Hunter’s office but who later said on the Larry King show that he declined any association with the Ramseys.

During the same week, the CBI discovered that the stain found on JonBenét’s panties contained the DNA of more than one individual. JonBenét’s DNA was the major component, but there was a minor component consisting of DNA from another person—or possibly more than one. The CBI told the police that the Ramseys’ neighbor Joe Barnhill could be tentatively excluded as a source for the minor component of DNA, if the minor component came from one source, but that he could not be eliminated if the minor component originated from two or more sources. Further testing would take several months, the lab said.

A week later, on January 30, the police asked the Barnhills’ boarder, Glenn Meyer, for another handwriting sample, the first one having shown some similarities to the writing in the ransom note.

Meanwhile, Detectives Thomas and Gosage were still working on the list of Access Graphics ex-employees, and on January 21 and 22 they interviewed Bud and Sandra Henderson, who each owed Access Graphics $18,000.

Bud Henderson had come to Colorado in 1971 and married his fourth wife, Sandra Chiselbrook, in 1984. That year the couple started Henderson Technology, which sold telecommunications equipment. One of their suppliers was CAD Distributors of Boulder. Henderson purchased equipment from CAD Distributors, while Sandra went to work for Jim Hudson, who owned the company. Before long she became operations manager, supervising the employees who took the orders and shipped the merchandise. Then CAD merged with John Ramsey’s Atlanta company and CAD Sources of Piscataway, New Jersey. This is the combination that became known as Access Graphics, with John Ramsey as president.

Henderson Technology ordered equipment from Access Graphics, which Henderson then sold. Sandra paid the bills and kept the books. In 1991, without prior notice, Access abruptly placed a credit hold on Henderson Technology’s account and told Bud Henderson he owed the company $145,000 for invoices that his wife hadn’t paid. He was shown a promissory note with his and his wife’s signatures. Henderson had never seen it and said that his signature had been forged.

“Where in the hell did the money go?” an infuriated Bud asked Sandra.

“We spent it,” she answered.

Henderson later said that his wife had agreed to pay off the debt over the next twelve months, made only one payment, and then defaulted. Within a week Access Graphics fired Sandra Henderson when it was discovered that she had altered Henderson Technology’s account at Access. Henderson said that his wife tried to delete the balance that was owed.

The company that bonded Access Graphics employees paid the firm $100,000, leaving a balance of about $40,000 to be paid. The Hendersons made one payment of $4,000 before they divorced in 1995. In family court, their outstanding obligation of $36,000 was divided into two notes
for $18,000 each. By then, Henderson believed that John Ramsey was furious at him and his ex-wife.

He told the police that on the night of JonBenét’s murder, he had been alone but had no witnesses to provide an alibi. Sandra’s alibi checked out. She was at the Independence halfway house, having just been released from jail on an unrelated charge.

During the interview, Detective Thomas gave Henderson a sheet of paper containing some typed words, handed him a pen, and asked him to print the words in capital letters—sometimes two, three, and four times. Henderson had to write out the words so many times that he memorized them. The police also took strands of hair from his head but didn’t ask for a blood sample. When they asked him to take a polygraph, he refused.

A month later, Henderson was asked for another handwriting sample. Now the police wanted both capital and lowercase letters. Detective Thomas tried hard to persuade him to take a lie detector test because the police needed to eliminate suspects. You’re just one of several suspects that need to be eliminated, Thomas told him.

Later in the year, Detective Melissa Hickman called him. Come down and take a blood test, she said. Later Hickman was taken off the case and the calls stopped. Bud Henderson never gave a blood sample and never took a polygraph test.

Everything they asked me to write was from the ransom note. I wondered if the police had my telephone tapped. You have to wonder, what do you say over the phone? You start to think people are following you. Every time I walk into a restaurant, go into a bar, the first thing I do is ask myself, Who in the hell do you see in here that looks like a detective? I’ve been stopped twice for absolutely no reason. They say I was weaving. They check my ID. These are Boulder cops.

I hear a knock on my door, I open it, and a video camera is running. The interviewer sticks a microphone in my face. “Have the police talked to you?”

Hard Copy
went and taped Sandra going to prison. The media knew we owed Access Graphics money. How they found out, I don’t know. One writer told me Sandra orchestrated JonBenét’s murder from prison to get back at John. I have one friend that calls me “Killer.”

Finally I did a long interview for
Hard Copy
and
American Journal.
It wasn’t a hell of a lot of money.

I still get calls. A call a week. From Hollywood, from New York, even from the
Daily Camera.

—Bud Henderson

Meanwhile, producers for TV shows such as
Extra
and
Hard Copy
started calling the Ramseys’ housekeeper, Linda Hoffmann-Pugh. She received so many calls that eventually she got an unlisted number. Then reporters started knocking on her door. One day, after she had stopped answering the door, someone from the
National Enquirer
left a note under her door, offering her $20,000 and a trip to Florida. That was enough money to buy a new car, which the family needed, so she agreed to give the tabloid an interview.

The
Enquirer
picked up the Pughs in a limousine and flew them to Ft. Lauderdale. Linda answered all their questions. One thing they were curious about was Patsy’s attitude toward sex. The police had asked Linda similar questions. They wanted to know if Linda had found any signs of sex on the Ramseys’ sheets. In whose rooms? She told them she’d found such signs only on Patsy and John’s linens. Linda, who had shared her own problems with Patsy over the years, told the detectives that in June 1996, Patsy mentioned that she didn’t take pleasure in sex anymore. She asked Linda for advice on how to make it better. Linda suggested some adult
movies or some magazines. Better yet, she might want to see a psychiatrist. She and Patsy never discussed the subject again, Linda told the police.

FAMILIAR DETAIL DOTS RANSOM NOTE

WRITER APPARENTLY KNEW THAT JOHN RAMSEY SERVED AT A NAVY TRAINING BASE IN THE PHILIPPINES

On January 23, the Boulder PD presented to Alex Hunter and his staff all the evidence collected to date. The detectives believed that they had crossed the threshold of probable cause and that Patsy Ramsey should be arrested for the murder of her daughter. After several hours of arguing back and forth, Hofstrom told the detectives that in his opinion there still wasn’t enough evidence to file a case against anyone. Nobody would be charged at this time.

The same day, on January 23, Bill Wise reached Barry Scheck at his home in New York as he was leaving for his daughter’s soccer game. Wise introduced himself, outlined the status of the Ramsey case, and told Scheck that the CBI would be conducting DNA tests, which the Ramseys’ attorneys wanted witnessed. The tests, Wise said, might involve the destruction of minute sample quantities. Shortly afterward, Scheck spoke to Alex Hunter about advising the Boulder DA’s staff as well as the police. He agreed to consult for both, depending on how much time was involved. He made it clear that he didn’t want to be part of a prosecution team, however, since he was now involved with the defendant-oriented Innocence Project.

Before the month was out, Hunter also spoke to Henry Lee. A week after that, Lee’s employer, the State of Connecticut, said that he could consult on the case.

POTENTIAL PAST ABUSE IS PROBED IN SLAYING

On January 24, after the scheduled monthly meeting of the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council, Hunter asked to meet privately with Denver DA Bill Ritter; Jefferson County DA Dave Thomas; Arapahoe County DA Jim Peters; and Adams County DA Bob Grant. All of them worked in the metropolitan area and had experience with high-profile cases. They also all had much more experience with homicides than he did. When Hunter showed up, the others took pleasure in kidding him, since he’d never before been personally active in the organization and had sent Bill Wise instead.

I came to Boulder in 1972 and went to the University of Colorado law school. After graduating, I got a job in Brighton, Colorado, as a deputy district attorney. Fifteen years later I was elected district attorney of Adams County, and reelected in 1996.

Hunter’s approach to the Ramsey case is vintage Alex Hunter. We have Hunter saying, “Homicides I understand intellectually, but I don’t understand them experientially.” He never says, “I can take care of this. I’m Superman.” He looks for people who have experience, gets them together, and sees what they have to say. He’s got a
prosecutor’s heart in a Boulder body. You could write volumes and volumes about that.

When we first met with Alex, he said, “I’m not abdicating my responsibility. I just hope you guys will help me.

“I don’t want you to take my heat,” he said. “If something goes wrong, I want you to understand that it’s all on me. That’s what I’m elected to do, and that’s what I want to do. But I need you to be candid and tell me everything and anything you can. Please don’t hold anything back. I’m just looking to suck things out of you.” Frankly, I don’t think I would have done what he did.

Hunter wanted our input about some specific evidentiary areas. He asked us what we thought about the direction he was thinking of pursuing. He wanted to know where we felt he was off base. “Is there something I’m not thinking about?” he asked. He took our experiences away with him. Now he’s attempting to adjust his relationship with the police in a complex case.

—Bob Grant

By now the DA’s office and Chief Koby had agreed that there was a case against the Ramseys based on probable cause.
*
But Hunter wanted to see evidence that proved their quilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
**
Some detectives believed that the department’s time and energy should be used to obtain the evidence to support beyond a reasonable doubt. Pete Hofstrom, however, didn’t see it that way. The officers, he said, should march out and investigate the
entire
case and not only the case against the Ramseys. Let the evidence fall where it fell naturally. If it filled the gap between probable cause and reasonable doubt, that would be OK, but he didn’t want the detectives to exclude anything that supported the notion that someone other than John or
Patsy Ramsey had committed the murder. It was hard, though, because there weren’t enough detectives to do both jobs, and Eller wouldn’t request help from outside the Boulder PD.