Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [126]
Morgan also wrote that John Andrew hadn’t been in Charlevoix, Michigan, on either the Memorial Day or the July Fourth 1996 weekend. The accusation of a onetime police informant that John Andrew had tried to stage an “accidental death” in order to kill JonBenét was clearly preposterous. Morgan again requested an official announcement that John Andrew was no longer a possible suspect.
By now the police had received the test results from John Andrew and Melinda’s hair, blood, and handwriting. At the time, the only possible match to evidence found at the crime scene was the pubic hair found on the white blanket in the basement, which held some slight similarities to Melinda’s. But her alibi was even tighter than her brother’s, and it was not likely that she had used the same blanket when she stayed with the family. The next day the police informed the DA’s office that they would make a public statement regarding Ramsey’s older children within the week.
Pete Hofstrom was encouraged to hear that the Ramseys’ attorney was corresponding directly with the police. He hoped he would no longer have to be a go-between. Then, Chief Koby received a letter from Bryan Morgan. Presumably, Morgan wanted to deal with Eller’s boss because the Ramseys still hadn’t gotten over the commander’s attempt to withhold JonBenét’s body. Morgan requested a meeting to discuss the pending issues, among them John’s and Patsy’s interviews and the possible waiver of attorney-client privilege in any meeting between the Ramseys, their lawyers, and the police. Koby passed the letter on to Hofstrom, placing him back in the middle. Hofstrom told Morgan that topics discussed in such a meeting would not be used against the Ramseys in court. However, any lead developed or evidence discovered as a result of any discussion could be used in a future prosecution. Hofstrom told Hunter he hoped that these exchanges would lead to the formal interviews the police wanted.
When Hunter returned home on the evening of March 4, he turned on his TV to see district attorney Bob Grant, a member of his task force, on Larry King Live, hosted by Wolf Blitzer. Appearing with Grant were Janet and Bill McReynolds, along with Charlie Brennan of the Rocky Mountain News and Dan Glick of Newsweek. The McReynoldses were responding to rumors that they were suspects in JonBenét’s death. They addressed parallels between their own daughter’s kidnapping, Janet McReynolds’s play Hey, Rube, and the murder of JonBenét.
As the hour progressed, Janet McReynolds became increasingly preachy: “I feel that…the media is saying to this collective community…in some ways she [JonBenét] deserved to die. That, at least, is a message that I am getting: She deserved to die because she was too beautiful. She deserved to die because she was from an affluent family. She deserved to die because she lived in an upscale community. She deserved to die because her family taught her gestures which might be interpreted as sexually suggestive. She deserved to die because she was in beauty pageants…. And to me, that is a crucifixion of an innocent victim.”
Janet McReynolds’s fervent outburst led the police to take an even harder look at her family. They began to search for their old handwriting samples as they awaited the results from the McReynoldses’ blood samples.
POLICE CLEAR ADULT KIDS
HALF BROTHER, HALF SISTER ELIMINATED AS SUSPECTS IN JONBENÉT’S MURDER
John Ramsey’s adult children from a previous marriage officially have been cleared of