Perfect Murder, Perfect Town (49 page)

Meanwhile, on July 14, the Colorado Supreme Court denied the coroner’s request to withhold his autopsy report from the public. Deputy county attorney Mason told the press that since John Meyer anticipated being called as a material and expert witness “at any future trial in this case,” he would not comment on the supreme court’s decision or offer an interpretation of the still-censored autopsy report.

The report, which detailed the long fracture to JonBenét’s skull, the blood around her vagina, the abrasions to her hymen, and the severity of the furrow around her neck from
the ligature, was in the hands of the press by midafternoon.

Dr. Richard Krugman—dean of the CU Health Sciences Center and a nationally known child abuse expert who had consulted with the police and the DA since March—told the media that on the basis of what he’d read in the report, JonBenét was not a sexually abused child. Then he added, “I don’t believe it’s possible to tell whether any child is sexually abused based on physical findings alone.” The presence of semen, evidence of a sexually transmitted disease, or the child’s medical history combined with the child’s own testimony were the only sure ways to be confident about a finding of sexual abuse, Krugman told reporters.

Physical abuse was another matter. Krugman had occasionally seen injuries to little girls’ genitals that were related to toilet training and had nothing to do with sexual abuse. In children, one had to separate sexual from physical abuse. By now the detectives had learned that at age six, JonBenét was still wetting the bed, and was asking adults to wipe her after she was done on the toilet. It was possible that the injury to her vagina was a result of punishment.

Cyril Wecht, a forensic pathologist who was appearing regularly on talk shows about the case, scoffed at Krugman’s remarks. “How can anybody say, with the blood and the abrasions, that this was not sexual assault? What is he [Krugman] talking about?” Wecht theorized that JonBenét had died during sex play that had gone astray.

“My guess is the child had her head whacked against something and then was still alive and strangled,” said Dr. Robert Kirschner, a retired deputy chief medical examiner for Cook County, Illinois.

Dr. Ronald Wright, formerly the medical examiner for the Fort Lauderdale area, stated flatly that it was clear the girl’s vagina had been penetrated. He also believed that she’d probably been struck by a blunt object, such as a baseball bat or heavy flashlight. He too took issue with Krug
man’s interpretation. “Somebody’s injured her vagina. And she’s tied up. Doesn’t that make it involuntary sexual battery?” Wright asked.

The Ramseys’ attorneys released a statement on behalf of John and Patsy Ramsey: “We have not had the opportunity to review the autopsy report, but credible experts who have, confirm what we have been saying all along—that there is no evidence of abuse or molestation prior to the night of her murder.”

Two days after the release of the autopsy report, Tom Kelley, representing the
Daily Camera
, was in court seeking the police search warrants. On July 16, district court judge Daniel Hale heard arguments.

Kelley told the court that it was clear the investigation had stalled and the release of some information might encourage a witness to come forward. He pointed out that some of the material he wanted had already been provided to the Ramseys by the police, such as a copy of the ransom note and certain early police reports.

Two days later, Judge Hale upheld Judge MacDonald’s previous ruling. The search warrants, affidavits, and inventories would remain sealed.

Having hired his own investigation team before the police were ready to present the case to him, Alex Hunter had put himself squarely in the action. At first Koby didn’t mind Hunter’s attempt to involve himself in the case, because it took some of the heat off the police. To some of Hunter’s colleagues, however, the DA’s frequent public appearances seemed forced. It was obvious that Hunter had nothing concrete to offer, and some reporters were saying that he’d let himself be swept up into the circus. Metro DA Bob Grant, a member of Hunter’s prosecution task force, knew it would take time for Hunter to gain some perspective and get down to planning a potential prosecution.

By mid-July that process had begun. Hunter started to dissect the police investigation—not to criticize it, but rather to consider what he would face in court.

Hunter could not ignore the possibility that someone other than John and Patsy would be charged, and in that case he would have to rehabilitate the Ramseys—show the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that they hadn’t murdered their daughter.

Bob Grant said that the Ramseys would be the focus of any trial, whether or not they were charged. Anyone defending a third party would point an accusatory finger at JonBenét’s parents. The police detectives might even be called as hostile defense witnesses. But if the Ramseys
were
charged, evidence pointing to a third party would be the core of the defense case.

In a shooting by police in Longmont in 1989, Hunter had unsealed police reports and displayed them in the public library. “Tell me what you think,” he had asked the public. Their comments had helped him decide to take the case to a grand jury, and ultimately the police officers were exonerated. According to Grant, Hunter thrived on public input and community approval.

But the Ramsey case was different, Grant told Hunter. The DA couldn’t walk down the Pearl Street Mall and ask Boulderites what they thought. He had to set his own agenda and adhere to it.

On July 23, the Ramseys’ attorneys faxed the media the text of some full-page ads they planned to publish in the
Daily Camera
. “An Open Letter from John and Patsy Ramsey” addressed anyone who could help identify the killer. The text of the ad outlined a general profile of the killer—someone, the Ramseys said, who was no stranger to their family or home. The killer, they noted, would have displayed certain characteristics both before and after the
murder. Likely precrime behavior was conflict with a female, conflict with family, financial stress, marital problems, legal problems, and employment problems. Typical postcrime behavior would include establishment of an obvious alibi; appearing to cooperate with the authorities; closely monitoring media accounts of the crime; appearing extremely rigid, nervous, and preoccupied during casual conversations; suddenly becoming religious; experiencing depression; and suffering from insomnia.

The next day, even before the first ad was published, the media were criticizing the Ramseys’ effort as amateurish.

RAMSEY LASHES OUT AT POLICE

While Hunter withheld comment on the ads, he considered which of his staff members would prosecute the case. At the same time, he fretted over the police department’s lack of interest in working with criminalist Dr. Henry Lee and DNA expert Barry Scheck, whose services he’d enlisted in February. Few of the suggestions Lee had made during his March presentation to the police had been acted upon, and Eller’s attitude toward Scheck was that he got people released from jail and won acquittals for defendants like O. J. Simpson. Nor had the police followed up on suggestions made by Lou Smit and Steve Ainsworth to check out all known sex offenders,
track down all the missing keys to the Ramsey house, and recanvas the neighborhood for possible overlooked leads.

Apparently, the police thought all that could wait. Instead, they decided to consult with the FBI to get an overview of the case rather than put it together piecemeal as they had been doing so far. The FBI agreed to meet with the Boulder PD and members of the DA’s office at the Bureau’s headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, the first week of September. They said they would review all the evidence and give their expert opinion. Eight hundred pieces of physical evidence—including thirty-eight fingerprint cards—would be viewed by fresh eyes. The police wanted to know the FBI’s opinion about what physical evidence pointed to the Ramseys and whether the Bureau’s experts could map out the sequence of events surrounding the murder. Both the Boulder PD and the DA’s office wanted to hear the conclusions of the experts firsthand.

The trip to Quantico was sure to put more public pressure on everyone, however. Even now the DA’s office was being deluged with letters of complaint: “Why is this taking so long?” “Obviously you’ve been paid off.” “How come the rich always get away with it?” Hunter didn’t delude himself that the public would get more patient over time.

IS THE CASE PROGRESSING?

On July 28 the
Globe
published a cover story under the headline
ARREST THEM NOW
,
COPS TELL DA
. It emphasized the frustration of the police and asserted their view that Lou Smit, with his Christian beliefs, had somehow bonded with Patsy over their mutual religious convictions and that it was hindering the case.

When Steve Thomas read the story, he immediately asked Jeff Shapiro to come to police headquarters. The detective lost no time in escorting him into the witness room.

“Jeff, you fuckin’ burned me,” Thomas said.

“I told my editors our conversations were off the record,” Shapiro protested. “I’m sorry—I know I screwed up. I didn’t mean to.”

“Fuckin’ Koby says to us, ‘We’ve got a fuckin’ leak and I’m going to find out who it is!’” Thomas told Shapiro.

Shapiro didn’t know what to say.

“If anyone thinks I’m leaking this…” Thomas continued. “Can you imagine what’s going to happen if [Ramsey attorney] Hal Haddon puts me on the stand?”

Shapiro was embarrassed.

“I can’t fuckin’ lose my badge over you,” Thomas said. “I’m the fuckin’ thorn in the Ramseys’ side. If I’m kicked
out of here, or if us five detectives get kicked out, no one is going to be getting justice for this little girl.”

Mumbling apologies, Shapiro left.

After that, Thomas ignored Shapiro’s calls.

Indeed, in the span of seven months, Thomas had conducted 164 interviews and had traveled to Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Thomas and a partner had interviewed every member of the Ramsey family, their friends, neighbors, ministers, and business associates, possible suspects, and prostitutes. Thomas had tracked down the sources of evidence, followed people and information on the Internet, looked into the world of beauty pageants, dealt directly with the Ramseys’ investigators, and verified the alibis of over four dozen people. Eller had given him a free hand. There were few police officers who could match Thomas’s encyclopedic knowledge of the case. He was determined to bring JonBenét’s killer to justice.

Meanwhile, Carol McKinley’s police source contacted her.

“We’ve decided to hire our own lawyers to look at the case,” the detective told McKinley. “How do you think it will play out?”

“It’s not going to make you look bad,” McKinley reassured him, but she could sense how nervous the officers were about the step they were taking.

McKinley sat on the story for three days, not knowing if her source wanted it made public. Then she called the detective and told him that if she broke the story, it would reflect favorably on the police. The public would see there was forward momentum in the case. He agreed.