Perfect Murder, Perfect Town (21 page)

Now that Larry Mason had been taken off the case, the police had to reinterview everyone he had spoken to during the first days of the investigation. The interview subjects were told Mason’s notes and tapes had been lost, which wasn’t true. Boulder detectives were required to write their own reports and transcribe their interview tapes, but Mason hadn’t yet done this when he was suspended on January 5, and nobody else in the department was likely to do his work for him.

On January 27, Detective Jane Harmer interviewed Suzanne Savage, one of JonBenét’s baby-sitters, who had a key to the Ramseys’ home. She told Harmer she had given a key to another helper, Linda Wilcox. The day after the murder, Mason had asked Savage if Burke and JonBenét got along. Yes, she said. Did the two kids do any roughhousing? Did they get very physical with each other? No, said Savage. Mason’s conversation with the baby-sitter had focused on the possibility that the family might be involved in JonBenét’s death. Harmer’s focus was different. What did JonBenét like to wear? Was she potty-trained? Savage repeatedly told Harmer that she only knew the family well when JonBenét was three. Since 1993, Savage had sat for the Ramseys only twice. Harmer still wanted to know if JonBenét had wet the bed on the nights Savage was there. No, she said. Would JonBenét cry if she was woken up? She might have when she was three, said Savage, but she had no idea about now. Back then, JonBenét had been a sound sleeper, and so was Burke. Then Harmer asked Savage if she knew whether John or Patsy were having any affairs—then or now. She had no clue, said Savage.

At the time of her interview with Detective Harmer, Savage gave the police a writing sample. In September she
would be asked to give them palm prints and fingerprints. She complied.

I first met the Ramseys in 1991, when Take a Break, a professional sitting service, called me. JonBenét was seven months old.

Two years later, in 1993, Patsy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and I went to work full-time for the Ramseys. It was a really hard time for Patsy. Nedra came to help, because Patsy had to be isolated from the family. She couldn’t risk catching a cold or flu while she was in treatment.

I traveled with the family to Atlanta to take care of JonBenét and Burke. Patsy was open with everyone. Even if you just worked for her, she treated you like a friend. She made you feel comfortable. Nedra was different. She was the boss and you were the servant. In Atlanta I saw Patsy’s pageant crowns. They were displayed in her parents’ house, with pictures of her and her trophies.

JonBenét was a happy child, never really grouchy. She never fretted like some kids do when they aren’t getting constant attention. Burke was quiet and self-entertaining. He liked learning to fly airplanes with his computer games.

When Patsy’s cancer had passed, she wanted to make up for all the time she’d lost with the children. They were a busy family, always on a schedule, but their children were on a different schedule from other kids. Patsy and John used to pick up and fly off to here and there. Not what the average Joe Blow did.

John was gone a lot. It’s hard to be a style-A family when your dad is gone all the time. I think they were used to it. They accepted it. Patsy stayed home and read a lot, and she’d go to church every Sunday with the kids.
The following year, JonBenét went to preschool. That’s when I stopped working for them.

In 1996, Priscilla White called and asked me to watch the kids again. They were having a surprise birthday party for Patsy. I hid out in a car down the block until Patsy’s friends picked her up. By then, JonBenét had changed a lot. She was taller and thinner and her hair was colored. I didn’t know about her pageants until that night, when I saw all her trophies.

Then Patsy called me on December 1, the night of the Access Graphics Christmas party. She wanted me to sit with JonBenét and Burke. Patsy told me to make sure JonBenét kept her hair in rollers overnight. She had a pageant the next day. Now tell me—what kid wants to sleep in rollers?

While we were watching TV in her parents’ room, JonBenét put one of her crowns on my head. Then she started doing my makeup. She thought it was funny.

When I came home from working at the mall on December 26, I turned on the evening news. They were talking about a child’s body being found in Boulder, but they didn’t mention any names. Then my friend called and said that on her station, they said the dead child was JonBenét Ramsey.

My scalp tingled and the hair stood up on the back of my neck. I got really upset. Cried. Then my parents told me that Priscilla White had called but didn’t leave a message. When I called her back, she told me it was true. I couldn’t think of any explanation for what had happened.

—Suzanne Savage

Charles Elbot, the principal of JonBenét’s school, called Susan Stine and Roxy Walker, two close friends of Patsy’s, whose children also attended High Peaks Elementary
School. Elbot wanted them to get a message to Patsy and John: “Let’s get Burke back to school as soon as possible so he can have a normal school experience.”

Through their friends, the Ramseys expressed serious concern about the school’s security, even though the police had assured the principal that the buildings were safe. The Ramseys had hired a security firm in Denver, which suggested that someone should be with Burke at all times. That wasn’t appropriate during school hours, Elbot said, because it would send the wrong message to the other kids. A compromise would have to be found.

Toward the end of January, Patsy and John, their security advisers, and a number of lawyers met with Elbot at the Ramseys’ attorneys’ offices in Boulder. Patsy was in a panic about Burke’s safety, and she was also afraid of what the media might do to get to Burke. She told everyone that whoever had committed the crime against her daughter was still at large and might be waiting for an unguarded moment to take action against her son. “I’ve lost one child, and I don’t want to lose my other child,” she said several times.

Elbot wanted Burke back in class, but he certainly didn’t want the school turned upside down. He pointed out that Burke’s classroom was self-contained and there were no doors opening to the streets. Elbot knew Burke would be safe, but he also knew he had to create an environment where Patsy would feel that Burke was safe.

By the end of the meeting, they had agreed that an electronic alarm system would be installed at the school. Parents who regularly volunteered their time to the school would each carry a small transmitter that could signal both the police and the school office. Burke’s teacher only had to push a button in her classroom and someone would be there.

A volunteer parent would stand guard outside Burke’s
classroom door. At recess and lunch, when he was outdoors, another volunteer would be within a few feet of him at all times. These precautions would continue until the last day of school.

After Burke was interviewed on January 8, the police wondered if he had held back any information about JonBenét’s death. Burke’s return to school sent a strong message to the police and the FBI. They were certain that parents who knew their child had relevant but concealed information would not allow him to get involved in a situation where he could talk freely to others. If he had secrets, Burke could easily share them with classmates he trusted. Burke’s return to school seemed to close the door on the possibility that he knew something he hadn’t told investigators.

BEAUTY QUEEN’S NANNY TELLS ALL

SHOCKING SECRETS BEHIND THE DOOR OF MILLIONAIRE’S HOUSE OF HORROR

On January 28, Jacqueline Dilson, who worked at the Dakota Ranch, a small New Age retreat and conference center near Lyons, Colorado, sat in the office of her attorney,
Larry Mertes. She was telling Detectives Wickman, Gosage, and Thomas and Pete Hofstrom that her boyfriend, Chris Wolf, might be involved in the death of JonBenét. Her description of Wolf’s behavior seemed to fit the profile of someone who had recently committed a crime.

Wolf had moved in with Dilson in her trailer in July 1995. He had a master’s degree in journalism and worked as a reporter for the
Colorado Daily
and
Boulder County Business Reports
. He’d once interviewed Cheryl McGraw, an administrative assistant at Access Graphics, for a business travel story. In December 1995, Dilson said, Wolf had moved out of the trailer, but they continued to see each other. On Christmas Day 1996, Wolf was back living with Dilson. They went to a party together, Dilson said, but later Wolf refused to have dinner with her and her family. At about 10:00
P
.
M
., Dilson said, she went to bed alone. She woke the next morning, about 5:30
A
.
M
., just as Wolf was getting out of the shower. She noticed that his jeans and sweater, which were lying on the floor, were very dirty.

That evening, December 26, Dilson and Wolf were watching the late news. When JonBenét’s death was reported, Wolf said he hoped “the fucker dies. He was sexually abusing her.” Dilson said he was referring to the girl’s father. The next day, Dilson said, Wolf was extremely agitated. He paced her house all day long.

Two days after meeting with Dilson, Detective Thomas asked Dilson how he could get in touch with Wolf. That same day, at 11:00
A
.
M
., Wolf was stopped for a traffic infraction by the Boulder police after he left Dilson’s home and just as he entered the city limits. The officer took him to the Boulder police headquarters to be interviewed by Thomas and Gosage, and not the sheriff’s department. By the time Wolf was in the small windowless room with the detectives, he was agitated and uncooperative.

I don’t remember being out Christmas night. The first I remember of the Ramsey case was reading about it in the
Daily Camera
on December 27. I never heard of JonBenét. I’ve written for the
Business Report
all these years and never heard of Access Graphics, and I had no connection to anyone connected with the murder.

I learned about the sexual abuse of children through a family member who had experience dealing with the subject. That’s why I followed the story. When the Ramseys said on CNN that they wanted to get on with their lives, I thought it was awfully soon for them to be making that kind of statement. I didn’t have much sympathy for them.

Then one morning, I was driving from Lyons to Boulder and I was stopped by the police just after I passed the intersection where Highway 36 goes left and Broadway goes right. The cop car was just waiting for me. When she came up to me, she already knew my license was suspended for a traffic ticket in June of ’96. I sat there not saying much. She said I had to come down to the police department to get everything straightened out. It sounded a little fishy.

I got mad when she cuffed me. For a speeding ticket?

I told her she should be looking for the killer of JonBenét and not pulling me over for speeding. Next thing I knew, I was sitting in an interrogation room with two detectives.

Thomas and Gosage tried to calm me down, but I was mad. I just went on and on about my suspended license.

“You do this for us, we’ll do this for you,” was Thomas’s pitch. Otherwise I’d be in jail. Thomas was the negotiator, Gosage the tough guy.

Thomas pulled out a couple of sheets of paper with
typewritten words on them, a blank line underneath each word. The first one was
Mr. Ramsey.
Then it hit me. I knew exactly what was going on. I just said, “No.”

I shoved the paper back at them.

Thomas left the room, and Gosage started playing thug with me. He threatened and tried to intimidate me. “If you don’t have anything to do with this crime,” Gosage said, “what are you afraid of?” It was like he was going to arrest me for murder.

Thomas came back with a Polaroid camera. That’s when I turned to the wall, turned my back to him. He never photographed me. Someone cuffed me again, twisted my wrists, and I yelled at the top of my lungs. “We’re going to book you for obstruction of a police investigation,” one of the detectives said. Next thing, they were taking me to jail. My wrists hurt for a while.

I just pretty much went through the process. I was given a ticket for driving without a license, and an hour later I was out.

A few weeks later, I went to get a copy of my police report and Thomas invited me in. I sat across the table from him and John Eller. “We have no interest in you,” Eller said. I could tell he felt it was his responsibility to say that.

“Did someone give you my name?” I asked.

“Yes, someone did.”

I didn’t want to know who. I just wanted to get the cops out of my face.

—Chris Wolf

Chris Wolf would remain a police suspect. Soon he would join the Ramseys’ list of suspects.

Meanwhile, the Ramseys’ attorneys went on the offensive to counter the public’s growing perception that John and
Patsy were involved in the death of their daughter.

John Douglas, a former FBI criminal profiler, who now worked for the Ramseys, appeared on NBC’s
Dateline
. His 1995 book
Mind Hunter
recounted some of the more famous cases he had handled, and it brought him national attention as an authority on profiling. His appearance on
Dateline
was timed to coincide with the publication of his new book,
Journey into Darkness
.