Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [123]
Hofstrom thought some of Burke’s requests were fair, and he also saw a bargaining opportunity for his office. He proposed that in exchange for giving the Ramseys’ experts access to the note, Hunter’s staff wanted to hear their firsthand analysis. This way Hunter’s office could assess the opposition—see how good their experts were.
Burke agreed, but then Hofstrom had to convince the police that the Ramseys should be allowed to see and assess the rope, the “garrote,” and the ransom note. Hunter consulted Bob Grant, a member of the task force he had assembled, who reminded him to look at the exchange only in the context of his case, not from the investigative perspective of the police. Grant said that Hunter should compare what would be lost and what would be gained before making a decision. It took some time, but eventually they got Eller to agree to the conditions. All the items could be examined in protective covers. In mid-April, Detective Trujillo delivered to Patrick Burke the requested first-generation copy of the note and 4 x 5 inch negatives. On May 18, at Mike Bynum’s law offices, the Ramseys’ experts—Howard Rile, a former handwriting analyst for the CBI now based in California, and Lloyd Cunningham, a retired San Francisco police handwriting expert who had worked on the Zodiac serial murders—pored over the original note from 9:00 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. Detectives Thomas and Trujillo and evidence technician Pat Peck observed for the police. At the same time, the Ramseys’ attorneys and their experts also examined the rope and the “garrote.” Pete Hofstrom and Trip DeMuth, representing the DA’s office, showed up in the afternoon with sheriff’s detective Steve Ainsworth.
Just after 2:00 P.M. Rile and Cunningham made their presentation. They had noted resemblances to some of Patsy’s lettering as well as some variances. Their verdict: Patsy didn’t write the note. The variables outnumbered the simularities. Hofstrom and DeMuth listened carefully. The experts’ presentation seemed to have some merit. Hunter’s staff concluded that at least one of these experts would make a fine witness for the Ramseys.
Several weeks after the meeting, attorney Lee Foreman informed Hunter’s office that since they’d had an opportunity to review the original ransom note, the Ramseys had no further objection to the police proceeding at once with the potentially destructive fingerprint tests.
Alex Hunter told Sheriff Epp that he thought a more objective investigation was still needed. The police were not looking hard enough at the possibility that an intruder had murdered JonBenét, and they hadn’t even interviewed Boulder’s registered sex offenders. When Hunter approached Koby about Eller, the chief wouldn’t discuss the issue. The attention of the media had intensified Koby’s initial resolve. He wasn’t going to add to the frenzy by replacing Eller and confirming what the press was saying about the investigation. Eller would get the job done. Hunter could see that Koby wouldn’t budge.
For his part, Epp thought that many of the problems in the investigation had arisen as a result of police union policies and the structure of the Boulder PD. A deep polarization between management and the rank and file had developed in the late 1970s over salary increases, benefits, and holiday time, which had resulted in a strong police union. Then, when Tom Koby became police chief in 1991, he downsized