Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [149]
Suzanne Laurion’s letter caught everyone’s eye. Laurion had a Ph.D. in mass communications from the University of Wisconsin, where she had specialized in exploring how news stories affected audiences. She had worked in broadcasting as a reporter. Now she was an adjunct professor at CU. She saw the job as an opportunity to expand her teaching abilities. Laurion told Hunter and Wise that she wanted to be involved in a historic media situation like the one in Boulder. By the end of April, Hunter announced that Suzanne Laurion had been hired to field all media inquiries.
RAMSEYS MAY MOVE TO ATLANTA
The parents of slain beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey plan to sell their Boulder home and may move to Atlanta, family friends said Monday.
“There is no way they ever want to live in that house again, so they’re going to put it on the market,” a family friend said. “Right now, people know about it through word of mouth, but (the Ramseys) should sign a listing contract soon….
There are just too many bad memories in their house since (JonBenét) died.”
—Alli Krupski
Daily Camera, April 15, 1997
COPS FIND MURDER WITNESS
…HE REVEALS DADDY’S SECRET
A secret witness has been found in the JonBenét murder investigation. And police believe this man could provide key evidence against her father John Ramsey, an ENQUIRER team has discovered.
He’s John’s best friend, Fleet White, who was at Ramsey’s side when the 6-year-old’s beaten, molested body was found. He alone knows Ramsey’s actions in the moments surrounding that gruesome discovery.
National Enquirer, April 15, 1997
Since Fleet White and John Ramsey’s loud argument in Atlanta on December 31, the day of JonBenét’s funeral, the two men had been at war. It was rumored that White had accused Ramsey and that John had accused Fleet White. It was also rumored that White was a suspect in the murder of JonBenét.
In the first weeks after JonBenét’s death, TV tabloids scanned the Whites’ phones. Conversations they had with family members and close friends ended up in print. The media were a constant presence in their life, knocking on their door and camping outside their home.
To those who knew Fleet White, it was obvious he found this treatment unbearable. By the time the National Enquirer published the “Cops Find Murder Witness…He Reveals Daddy’s Secret” cover story, White was at the breaking point.
At forty-seven, Fleet White was close in age to John Ramsey, who was fifty-three when JonBenét died. White’s children were roughly the same age as JonBenét and Burke. Since moving to Boulder in 1994, White had been good friends with Ramsey. White’s daughter, Daphne, often played with JonBenét. It was the Whites’ home where Burke was taken on the morning of December 26.
The DA and the police knew that Fleet and Priscilla White had never accused the Ramseys of the murder. The couple had, however, provided valuable information to the police. White had been just a few steps behind John Ramsey in the basement when Ramsey first saw JonBenét’s body, and he had followed Ramsey into the wine cellar and even touched her dead body. That entire day he was privy to Ramsey’s actions, many of which had never been observed by the police. The police also thought that White had insight into the Ramseys’ general behavior and possible motives.
During the first week of April, Fleet and Priscilla went to see police chief Tom Koby, outraged at what was happening to them. They asked for the chief’s help in getting the media off their backs and clearing their name. The chief refused. There was still a question about why White hadn’t seen JonBenét’s body when he opened the door to the wine cellar early on the morning of December 26, although John Ramsey had seen it six hours later. Koby said that if he publicly cleared one suspect, everyone would be camping outside his door. Then the