Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [118]
Such strategies and philosophies are not to everyone’s liking, but the community has kept Hunter in office. Boulderites seem to agree that he is serving them well.
Speaking about JonBenét’s murder, Alex Hunter told a friend, “This crime doesn’t have a statute of limitation. We’ll wait as long as it takes to develop a solid case.”
“You won’t need very much evidence in light of what they’ve done to make your case,” his friend replied, referring to the Ramseys.
It was at this moment that Hunter understood how emotionally involved local residents had become in the case—and how strong their opinions were. But he also knew that those opinions were based on very little relevant information and no hard evidence, and this frightened him.
What also bothered the DA, in the final days of February, was that the case was getting harder to solve, not easier. John’s and Patsy’s lives provided no easy answers, no pathology, no pattern of abuse, no skeletons in the closets—in fact, no closets.
Hunter knew that the detectives were putting in long hours, working six days a week. Some were still in Atlanta, interviewing every member of the family and many of their friends and former business associates. In Boulder they were talking to employees of Stevens Aviation, which maintained John Ramsey’s plane, and Merry Maids, the cleaning company that serviced the Ramseys’ house. The investigation was moving along, but the lack of concrete physical evidence against the Ramseys still hadn’t led Eller to look elsewhere for suspects—not seriously.
John Andrew Ramsey and his friend Brad Millard had given pubic hair samples, which did not match the hair found on the white blanket covering JonBenét’s body. The investigation of John Andrew and Melinda Ramsey was nearly over. As far as Alex Hunter knew, the older children were no longer suspects, and the Ramseys’ attorneys were demanding that they be publicly cleared so they could get on with their lives. Hunter agreed. It was unconscionable to ruin the lives of these young people because of baseless suspicion.
It was clear to Hunter that he had no choice but to get his own investigators, who would pursue the case as he and Pete Hofstrom saw fit.
4
PATSY RAMSEY HIRES SECOND ATTORNEY
JonBenét Ramsey’s mother has hired a second attorney, sources close to the investigation said Friday.
Patrick Furman, a criminal law professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder, has joined attorney Patrick Burke to represent Patsy Ramsey, the sources said.
—Charlie Brennan
Rocky Mountain News, March 1, 1997
The Ramsey defense team now included Patrick Burke and Patrick Furman, who represented Patsy, while Bryan Morgan, Hal Haddon, and Lee Foreman represented John. Morgan was the lead attorney for John’s team, and Burke headed Patsy’s team. Among themselves, the attorneys joked that the media were incorrectly thrusting Haddon into the number one spot, but no one minded, because Haddon had the most experience with the press, having been a key advisor to Gary Hart’s failed presidential campaign. Nevertheless, the team worried, because Haddon sometimes lost his temper with the press and held grudges. He looked like a man who could deliver a punch as well as take one.
The team decided to divide up the media chores. Haddon talked to The Denver Post, Morgan handled the Daily Camera, and Patrick Furman dealt with the Rocky Mountain News.
“What I need now is a good digger in Boulder,” Tony Frost, the executive editor of the Globe, said to me in my uncle’s Boca Raton home. I was intrigued by the Ramsey case and asked him if I was the type of person he might hire.
“Yes,” he said immediately. “I take one look at you and I don’t think anyone would think you’re a reporter. At least, not