Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [171]
On June 8, the Rocky Mountain News published a scathing attack on the Boulder Police Department’s investigation of the Ramsey case, using phrases like “series of missteps,” “omissions,” and “not-so-simple twists of fate that could enable the police chief’s ‘guy’ to walk after all.” Before publishing his story, Charlie Brennan had attempted to get the reaction of police chief Tom Koby. The chief declined to be interviewed or to address the issues. Brennan had made no attempt to contact Linda Arndt, though police policy would have prevented her from responding anyway.
Brennan wrote that on the morning of December 26, the cops failed to consider the “wealthy parents as possible suspects,” were not “skeptical enough about the kidnapping,” and failed to follow basic police procedure in questioning the parents.
Researching the story, McCullen and Brennan, having learned about Arndt’s compassionate nature, began to speculate that she might have influenced some of Eller’s decisions that morning. Maybe she had been protective of the Ramseys—and particularly of Patsy, who Arndt had discovered was recovering from cancer.
Brennan mentioned some of this in print. He quoted attorney Craig Silverman, who had been a top Denver prosecutor for fifteen years: “If there is fault, you can blame her with the fault of compassion.” Brennan’s report also alluded to the fact that a detective had “rebuffed a patrol officer’s suggestion [that the flashlight on the kitchen counter should be seized as evidence], telling him to keep his nose out of the detectives’ affairs, sources say.” In addition, Brennan wrote, “A female detective at the Ramseys’ home that day allegedly ordered that a sheet be placed over JonBenét as she lay dead on the living-room floor, according to unattributed sources cited in a May 30 report on ABC’s Nightline.” Brennan went on to say that some investigators feared the sheet might have picked up important trace evidence from the body.
After Brennan’s story was published, Arndt asked Eller to stand behind her and correct falsehoods that were being repeated publicly about her role in the investigation. Eller refused. Soon the media were reporting that Arndt had moved the body and that she had asked Rev. Hoverstock “to gather everyone into a circle around the child and lead them in prayer,” two facts that were true. One article charged that “in the first week of January, without permission from the department, Arndt gave Ramsey attorney Patrick Burke a copy of the ransom note.” Despite Arndt’s position that these were inaccuracies, she remained silent in her own defense.
Although the DA had hired Suzanne Laurion to shield him from the media, he still talked to journalists who had strong opinions about the case. Stephen Singular and Hunter spoke regularly. After their first meeting on April 15, they met again on April 29. At that meeting, Singular mentioned some witnesses he thought the police had failed to interview properly. He had been told the police were focused only on the behavior of the Ramseys. Had anyone seen Patsy hit JonBenét? the detectives would always ask. The answer was always no. Singular told Hunter that the police had failed to inquire about possible inappropriate behavior by others who knew JonBenét, for example, Randy Simons, who had photographed her. Several mothers of child pageant contestants, who had known Simons for years, found it hard to reconcile his strange