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was a child molester who had killed his own daughter. Then Patsy was put in the hot seat, portrayed as a religious fanatic who read the Bible compulsively. To Singular, it was obvious that the media were considering only two possibilities—that one or both parents had killed their child or that an intruder had entered the house and killed JonBenét. Singular believed there were numerous other possibilities, which was why he had contacted Hunter. On TV the DA seemed reasonable, bright, and sensitive—not like most prosecutors, who tend to swagger. Singular had sent Hunter a fax, saying that he was the author of a book about talk-show host Alan Berg, who had been murdered in Denver, and Hunter had asked him to come in and talk.

The meeting with Hunter and Bill Wise took place on April 15. Hunter was more open and friendly than Singular had expected him to be, and Singular told them what he had learned about people on the periphery of the Ramseys’ life—acquaintances connected to the world of pageants.

“Have you looked at the Internet?” Singular asked. “What do you know about the pageant world?” Hunter admitted he knew very little. Singular gave Hunter the names of Pam Griffin, Randy Simons, Trish Danpier, a former Miss Colorado, and pageant director LaDonna Griego, among others. Hunter knew about Griffin and Simons from police reports.

Singular suggested that JonBenét’s murder might have originated outside the family, in the pageant world, which was a mixture of children, sexuality, and business opportunities. The exploitation of children for economic gain was at the underbelly of America, Singular said, and JonBenét Ramsey could have been one of the victims.

As a pageant participant, JonBenét had been photographed many times in her life. Singular wondered if maybe the child had been taken from her home on Christmas night to be photographed again, without one parent’s knowledge, and been brought home dead. He intimated that one of “Boulder’s public officials” might possibly be involved in child pornography with one of John Ramsey’s friends.

“It’s a federal issue. I’ll speak to the FBI,” Hunter said. “I am not going to give this to the cops. I don’t want them to screw it up. I know work needs to be done in that area.” Singular got the impression that Hunter was giving him an assignment: look into the child pornography business and get back to me.

While he saw that Hunter was trying to keep an open mind about who had killed JonBenét, Singular also couldn’t help but notice that the DA was overwhelmed. He was receiving an enormous amount of attention, and that could be very seductive.

On April 18, Hunter gave Jennifer Mears of the Associated Press an interview. It was the first time the DA had publicly acknowledged that the Ramseys were at the center of the investigation.

DA CONCEDES RAMSEYS ARE “THE FOCUS” OF INVESTIGATION

The parents of JonBenét Ramsey are “obviously the focus” of the investigation into the child beauty queen’s slaying, Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter acknowledged Friday.

Hunter stressed that John and Patricia Ramsey have not been named suspects, but said: “Obviously the focus is on these people. You can call them what you want to.”

—Jennifer Mears

Associated Press, April 19, 1997

The story became front-page news. Hunter, who so far had been careful not to go on the record about his interest in the Ramseys, called the AP within hours of the story’s publication.

“I’m not upset with the story,” he said. “It’s the quotes. They make me sound stupid.” It was the first time a public official had ever called Mears to discuss the way his quotes portrayed him.

INSIDE THE “WAR ROOM”

They call it the “war room.” Behind the locked doors of a converted conference room, its windows masked with paper to insure privacy, prosecutors and investigators pursue paper trails and plan strategy in the hunt for the killer of JonBenét Ramsey.

Not even janitors can enter the 18-by-21-foot room in the district attorney’s first-floor quarters in the Justice Center. Steps have been taken to safeguard security of the