Perfect Murder, Perfect Town (69 page)

By 9:30
A
.
M
. Mark Beckner’s secretary had left a message on Thomas’s voice mail: “The chief would like you to come in and work things out.” When he hadn’t returned the call an hour later, internal affairs called: “Could you please come in so we can work this out.”

After Craig Lewis of the
Globe
showed up at Thomas’s house at 1:30
P
.
M
. asking for an interview, he knew that the news of his letter had gotten around to the media. Thomas
refused to speak to Lewis. Within hours of ABC’s newscast reporting his resignation, every major media outlet called for an interview. One publication offered him over $100,000 for his first-person story. Thomas said no.

That evening, he received a letter from the Boulder PD asking him to come in and surrender his badge and credentials. The letter said he would be provided with an “armed escort through the department’s secure areas.” Was he also going to be handcuffed? He told the department that he would only turn over his shield to Commander Dave Hayes, whom he trusted and respected. A meeting was set for 10:00
P
.
M
. the same night in the parking lot of a feed store in Golden, beyond Boulder’s jurisdiction. Precisely on time, Thomas, in his white pickup truck, pulled up alongside an unmarked police car in the empty lot. As in a movie, under a bare lightbulb, Dave Hayes and Sgt. Mike Ready approached Thomas. They went through an inventory of everything that had to be returned to the department, down to the clip on his belt. Last was his shield. Thomas held it for a long moment, looking at his name and number. Then time was up and he handed it over. Hayes gave him a respectful nod, and they parted. As Ready and Hayes drove off, Thomas sat in his pickup.

Thomas was sure that the same egos that had run his friend John Eller out of town would want some payback from him. He braced himself, anticipating the worst.

The day after Steve Thomas’s resignation became public, Governor Romer called Bob Grant.

“A lot of people have been calling me about this Thomas letter,” said Romer, who mentioned he was calling from an airport. “I need some kind of response.” Grant had this image of Romer running through a terminal like O. J. Simpson talking on his cell phone. Clearly, the governor was hearing from people he respected.

“What do we do?” Romer wanted to know. Grant sug
gested that he and the other metro DAs discuss the situation and report back to him. It sounded as if Romer wanted the four of them to say publicly that everything was still on track with the case so that the governor could say, “I’m satisfied if they are satisfied.”

That same morning, Friday August 7, while Alex Hunter was touring Alaska’s inland waterway with his family, Wise and Hofstrom met with Beckner and Wickman to discuss Thomas’s letter. The problem, as Wise saw it, was that unlike Fleet White, who was simply an angry witness, Thomas would be taken seriously because he was a detective on the case. Wise asked Beckner to announce that Thomas’s letter was misleading and untrue, but the chief refused to go public. Wise thought Beckner was afraid that his officers would back Thomas and that he himself would be faced with a no-confidence vote, as Koby had been the previous year. Finally, Beckner relented, but he would only say publicly that he did not agree with Thomas’s opinion that the case could not be concluded successfully.

That same day, the
Daily Camera
printed Thomas’s letter. The headline read,
DETECTIVE BLASTS DA
’
S OFFICE
. Suzanne Laurion, speaking for the vacationing Alex Hunter, said, “This letter is outrageous and is substantially false and misleading.”
The Denver Post
not only headlined the story, but columnist Chuck Green told his readers: “To preserve public confidence in his office, Hunter needs to forcefully rebut Thomas’s accusations—point by point.” On Sunday, August 9, the paper published Green’s second column on the subject:

THERE’S A BIG PROBLEM IN BOULDER

Hunter finally called his office on Monday, August 10, from a bed and breakfast in Juneau. Wise read him Thomas’s letter and told him about the meeting with Beckner. Hunter was stunned. Wise said he thought it would just go away, like Fleet White’s letters, but Hunter saw that Thomas’s letter was entirely different. The detective had, after all, been on the inside of the case, and if it went to trial, any defense attorney worth his retainer was sure to make good use of the letter with the jury. The DA said he’d call Wise back. When he did, Wise told him that the governor had gotten the metro DAs involved.

“Our dream team,” Wise said, “is now the governor’s task force.” Alex Hunter understood that the DAs were no longer his trusted advisers.

That same afternoon, Monday, August 10, the metro DAs met to discuss Thomas’s letter. They had to be able to talk candidly, so nobody from Hunter’s office was invited. Grant, who knew the case best, thought that there was nothing troublesome in the letter from a prosecutorial perspective. What concerned the DAs, however, was that Thomas had hit a nerve, expressing the same frustration that the public was feeling. They realized that something had to be done to restore the public’s confidence in the prosecution’s handling of the case.

Grant and Ritter knew that there was serious dissension within Hunter’s team about taking the case to the grand jury. Grant felt that Kane needed the support of strong attorneys and that anyone who was standing in his way should be asked to leave.

The DAs called Governor Romer and told him that Hunter was making the right decisions, that the case was on target. Hunter had told them, they said, that the grand jury would meet to hear the Ramsey case on September 15. They assured the governor that Thomas’s letter hadn’t changed their thinking. They were, however, prepared to recommend that Hunter take on additional prosecutorial support. They hoped this would reassure the public that the case was on track.

Late Monday, Bob Grant called Hunter, who had finally arrived home. Grant told the DA what had happened in his absence and said there would be a meeting with all involved parties in Denver on Wednesday.

“I or anybody you want will be available,” Hunter said. “Anytime, anywhere.”

On Tuesday, August 11, Hunter, Hofstrom, and Wise met to prepare for their meeting with the metro DAs. Michael Kane was not invited to join the discussions. It was better to isolate him from these kinds of problems, they thought. He had enough on his plate with the case itself.

Wise had known the metro DAs for years, much better than Hunter. Having talked to Grant the previous day, he was sure the DAs would tell the governor that no special prosecutor was needed. Wise had suggested to Grant that he talk directly to Beckner, who would certainly say that Thomas’s charges were wrong.

Wise detailed for Hunter and Hofstrom what he knew to be the truth behind Thomas’s allegations. The “hidden surveillance camera” Thomas referred to was bullshit. The way Wise remembered it, the police had gone to the Ramsey house in December 1997 without the DA’s permission or the Ramseys’ knowledge. A representative of the Ramseys had been asked to open up the place and he’d brought the wrong key, so the detectives had entered the house through a broken window. Once inside, the police saw the motion-activated security cameras pointed at them: They were caught making an illegal entry.

Then Thomas referred to some forensic tests that hadn’t been done. He could be talking about the mixed DNA stain on JonBenét’s underwear or a test that had still not been conducted on the pubic hair found on the blanket. It had been decided to hold up on this test because it would destroy all the remaining hair, and under the law, a defendent had the right to be present when such destructive testing took place. Since the Ramseys hadn’t been formally charged or named as suspects, Hunter’s office had advised the police to wait before conducting the test.

In his letter, Thomas had also objected that the Boulder detectives wouldn’t be used as “advisory witnesses.” There was no such thing as an “advisory witness” in a grand jury pro
ceeding. Wise believed that Thomas may not have known that Kane and Hunter were using Wickman as the primary investigator and that Wickman would be advising the DA’s office during the grand jury proceedings. It was also possible that Thomas didn’t know that the officers who had been at the crime scene would be called to testify before the grand jury.

When it came to the detective’s motive, his illness had to be considered, Wise thought. Thomas was saying he couldn’t continue being a cop and had applied for medical leave. The stress of working this case must have aggravated his thyroid condition. Yet he had to know that the prosecution’s case would be damaged by his airing his views. Wise knew that everything had to be considered before anyone could pass judgment on Thomas’s motives.

On Wednesday, August 12, Hunter, Wise, and Hofstrom met again—this time with the metro DAs—in a fourth-floor office at the Colorado District Attorney’s Council in downtown Denver.

The DAs told Hunter that they were prepared to back him against Thomas’s accusations. They recommended that Hunter not reply to specific allegations which, in their opinion were without merit. However, since the governor was now involved, a public response had to be made. The governor had the power to appoint the attorney general as a special prosecutor, they reminded Hunter. They didn’t think the situation warranted that, but Grant said, “One guy can’t do it
by himself,” referring to Michael Kane. They told Hunter that now, more than ever, his office needed solid prosecutorial support. “
We
need to make sure the case is properly presented,” Grant said, “and
you
need to make sure the case is properly presented.”

“It’s all right to have people in your office with different opinions,” Grant added, without mentioning Hofstrom, who was sitting there, by name, or Trip DeMuth or Lou Smit. “But now you need people who are reading from the same book if not the same page.” Hofstrom listened but said nothing.

Hunter saw the handwriting on the wall: he was being told to take help whether he needed it or not.

Then the DAs asked to talk to Hunter alone. The final decision, Grant said, would have to be made by the elected district attorneys. Wise and Hofstrom left the room.

Grant told Hunter that the metro DAs had backed him for eighteen months with their own reputations. Now those reputations were also on the line. In the long run, Grant pointed out, the discussion they were having now would have come up anyway. In fact, there was no discussion: everyone in the room knew where this was heading.

Bill Ritter reminded Hunter of a state statute that allowed for special prosecutors to be brought in under
his
authority.
*
Hunter, as the Boulder County DA, would still make the ultimate decisions about how to proceed and whether to bring charges. Any prosecutor brought aboard would understand that it was still Alex Hunter’s case.

Ritter told Hunter that he had already made inquiries about Al LaCabe, an attorney in the Denver office of the U.S. attorney general. LaCabe was available. The next step, Ritter said, would be for Hunter to make a formal request of U.S. attorney general Janet Reno in Washington and, locally, of U.S. attorney for Denver Henry Solano, LaCabe’s boss. Ritter told Hunter that LaCabe was not only a fine prosecutor but also a former police officer; he would get
along with the Boulder detectives. Everyone agreed that a second person would be needed—someone with both general experience and some expertise in DNA.

The meeting lasted maybe half an hour. When it ended, Hunter said he wanted to tell Hofstrom and Wise personally that a team would be brought in to present the case to the grand jury and prosecute it if an indictment was handed down. Hofstrom would no longer have to be involved even as the DA’s adviser.

After talking to his colleagues, Hofstrom left for Boulder. Hunter returned to the room and the governor was called and told the outcome of the meeting. Romer said he wanted to call a press conference for that same afternoon, before the problem got any worse. He would tell the media Thomas’s letter was without merit and that, to move the case along, special prosecutors were being brought in to help Hunter’s office. Romer asked about the grand jury. Hunter said that for some time he had planned to begin that process on September 15. The governor was glad to have something positive to talk about: He, not Hunter, would announce the grand jury, he said.

A few minutes later, the four metro DAs walked the four blocks to the state capitol. Hunter stayed behind while the DAs met with Romer. Afterward, the governor called Hunter, who understood it was best that he not attend the press conference. The metro DAs had more credibility, so they should answer the media’s questions.

Hunter and Wise then stepped into an elevator, followed by a reporter and a photographer. When the photographer started taking pictures, Wise wanted to put his hand up to the camera lens but stopped himself. It was not the image he wanted to see in the next morning’s papers.