Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [105]
Meanwhile, despite Alex Hunter’s continued optimism, time had done nothing to improve the relationship between Pete Hofstrom and John Eller. Hofstrom got the impression that Eller wanted all requests for copies of police reports in writing. In a letter on February 18, Hofstrom had to resort to formal language, notifying Eller that on two prior occasions his requests had gone unanswered. This level of antagonism suggested to one deputy DA that the flow of information from the police was about to stop.
The investigation continued, however. Detectives Thomas and Gosage were back in Roswell, Georgia, reinterviewing family members. They learned that during World War II James Ramsey, John’s father, was a pilot and received the Distinguished Flying Cross. His mother, Mary Jane Bennet, was a housewife. After the war, Ramsey’s father ran the airport at Michigan City, Michigan, and later became the state director of aeronautics. A strong-willed man, he was known as Czar Ramsey. The family spent their summers in Charlevoix, where they purchased the house that now belonged to John.
Ramsey met his first wife, Lucinda, at Michigan State University and they married before he went into the navy and was stationed at Subic Bay in the Philippines. Before long, they had three children. After John’s mother died and Lucinda’s father died, Ramsey’s father married his wife’s mother. The family remained close until the late 1960s, when Lucinda was prompted to ask for a divorce after John had an affair. Close contact soon resumed, however, and when Lucinda met Patsy, the women became friends.
During the trip the detectives re-interviewed Nedra Paugh and asked for a third handwriting sample.
By now the officers had learned from several baby-sitters that JonBenét had regressed in her toilet training during Patsy’s battle with cancer. In this interview, Nedra confirmed to police that at age six, her granddaughter was still in the habit of asking adults to wipe her when she was on the toilet. It didn’t matter where she was or who the adult was—anyone within shouting distance would do. Some adults, thinking she was old enough to do this herself, stopped answering her calls, and it resulted in soiled underpants. JonBenét’s apparent lack of embarrassment about adults wiping her made the detectives wonder if it had somehow invited activity that led to vaginal penetration.
Did Nedra think JonBenét would have fought an intruder? the detectives asked. “I guarantee you,” she replied.
I’m from Ellenboro, West Virginia. Maybe a thousand people. Two or three churches, a restaurant, and three stores. I lived there before television, and when we got one, all the people on our street would come to our house and watch it. We couldn’t see much, sometimes just shadows.
Patsy was not brought up with a deep religious faith. Actually, the healing power of Jesus didn’t come to us until Patsy moved to Boulder and she met Betty Barnhill, who lived across the street. She’d had a healing experience. It had to do with a dreadful allergy problem. She gave Patsy lots of literature to read, and then one day Patsy was cured of her cancer. She believes she had a divine healing. I’d always heard about divine healing, but we weren’t taught that in the Methodist Church.
John has always believed that what you receive, you should give back to the Lord. He doesn’t attend church without giving. He was raised an Episcopalian, and when they settled in Boulder, John gave St. John’s lots of things they needed—like a new sound system. And when Beth died, he established a children’s Sunday school atrium in her name. JonBenét got her training there from Barbara Fernie.
It was wonderful