Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [204]
Soon time had run out, and King went off the air.
Charlie Russell, one of the Ramseys’ attorneys’ press representatives, happened to be watching the King show when Patsy called in. Later he told one reporter that Patsy was like Jell-O—the tighter you tried to hold on to it, the more likely it was to slip between your fingers.
That same day, September 2, Globe writer Craig Lewis received a faxed copy of Ann Bardach’s as yet unpublished Vanity Fair article, “Missing Innocence,” from a source in the magazine’s distribution chain. Though it was only partly legible, Lewis called Alex Hunter and told him he had a copy. Lewis then went to the Justice Center, where Hunter and Wise waited nervously.
As Hunter read the story, he could see at once the impact it would have on the case. Bardach had launched a direct attack on both the Ramseys’ innocence and on the DA’s dealings with their attorneys and the Boulder PD. She revealed information from secret police reports and printed the full text of the ransom note—the first time it had been published in its entirety. Bardach cited as one of her sources a “deep throat” police officer.
Bill Wise was surprised that the full ransom note hadn’t leaked before. The Ramseys, their lawyers, their investigators, their close friends, every detective on the case, the coroner, the city attorney, six people in Hunter’s office, even Sherry Keene-Osborn of Newsweek—all had seen it, and some had copies. With all the money the tabloids threw around, it was ironic that it turned up in a publication that hadn’t paid for it. Wise gave copies of the article to Hofstrom, DeMuth, and Smit. Bardach had attacked Hofstrom’s integrity, made him look foolish and unprofessional, and implied that he was in awe of the Ramseys’ attorneys. She also reported that Lou Smit had been called “a delusional old man” by an unnamed police source.
At the same time, Wise made the article available to several Denver reporters. He saw no harm in giving them a good scoop.
That evening, Carol McKinley called her police source and told him to turn on his TV—Paula Woodward of Channel 9 was reading the ransom note on the air. McKinley’s source, who had been watching coverage of Princess Diana, was puzzled and angry about its publication. He assumed the Ramseys’ attorneys had leaked it—after all, they had been after the police to make the document public.
The next day, September 3, the Rocky Mountain News and all of Denver’s radio and TV stations carried the full text of the ransom note, crediting Vanity Fair’s as yet unreleased story. But the story was buried under the obsessive coverage of Princess Diana’s impending funeral.
The following day, Charlie Brennan reported some additional facts from Bardach’s story.
PATSY RAMSEY INCONSISTENT ON DETAILS
Patsy Ramsey gave conflicting reports to police about whether she found the ransom note before or after she discovered that her daughter was missing, according to a story in Vanity Fair magazine.
And family friend Fleet White told investigators he didn’t see JonBenét’s body in a basement room when he checked it early the morning of Dec. 26, the magazine says.
Hal Haddon, an attorney representing the Ramseys, issued a statement: “The Vanity Fair article is glossy tabloid trash, filled with false and misleading defamation. What is most apparent from it is that certain unidentified police officers traded confidential information and police reports in exchange for an article that flattered them and smeared the Ramseys.”
Boulder policeman Richard French, the first officer at the Ramseys’ home, was troubled by how John and Patsy acted, according to the story.
A weeping Patsy Ramsey kept her eyes riveted on him, seeming to peer at him through fingers covering her eyes, French wrote in his report.
—Charlie Brennan
Rocky Mountain News, September 4, 1997
Jeff Shapiro, who had also obtained a copy of the Vanity Fair article, worried that Steve Thomas might be implicated as the police source Bardach mentioned. On Friday, September 5,