Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [257]
When the British crew arrived in Atlanta, Keene-Osborn and Glick were shaping the questions the Ramseys would be asked. Then, just days before filming was to begin, the Ramseys’ attorneys decided to place restrictions on what their clients would talk about—or could be asked about—on camera. Things got tense. David Mills reminded them of the written agreement, which stipulated that there would be no restrictions. John and Patsy broke the deadlock, saying they would be open to all questions and that their friend Susan Stine would do their makeup.
The interviews covered every aspect of their married life—the children, JonBenét’s involvement in beauty pageants, rumors of sexual abuse, and a tabloid publication’s assertion that John had had an affair while Patsy was ill with cancer. Ramsey admitted that he had once visited a pornographic bookshop, though not in Boulder. He denied ever having an affair since marrying Patsy. Tracey’s questions covered every aspect of the day of the murder—including John’s finding his daughter’s body. Describing how Barbara Fernie had led her toward JonBenét’s body, Patsy cried. The couple discussed how they felt about the media and how they looked upon the mistakes they’d made with the police and the press.
Michael Tracey thought the Ramseys had been honest with him. One night while he was working on the documentary, he had a very vivid dream. JonBenét knocked on his bedroom door and woke him up. “Michael, you have to go to work now,” she said. When he awoke he saw it was 6:29 A.M. He had set his alarm for 6:30.
Geraldo Rivera, Peter Boyles, and reporters for the tabloids refused to sit for Mills’s cameras. Chuck Green and The Denver Post also passed up the invitation. However, Charlie Brennan of the Rocky Mountain News and Julie Hayden of Denver’s ABC affiliate responded on camera to the charges that Tracey leveled against them.
When Keene-Osborn realized the scoop the filmmakers had landed with these interviews, she called contacts to see about marketing the film in the United States. Because of the agreement with the Ramseys not to air the film while a grand jury was considering the case, time was of the essence in making a deal. Mills’s agent, Barry Frank, started by asking for a million dollars and creative control for his client. After long deliberations, NBC and CBS finally said no. U.S. news departments were extremely reluctant to cede editorial control. With no takers, the price dropped to $250,000, which ABC was willing to pay. Then the network retracted. England’s Channel 4, after seeing some interview footage, purchased the British and non-U.S. rights, reducing Mills’s financial risk. The show would air on July 9 in Great Britain, with no simultaneous broadcast in America. In time, Dan Glick’s involvement in the documentary and his many TV appearances would lead other journalists to believe that he had almost become a PR rep for the Ramseys. Keene-Osborn’s lower profile spared her such criticism.
Alex Hunter saw the documentary as the Ramseys’ way of trying to influence the grand jury or a potential jury. Jury poisoning was the term the media used. Bill Wise pointed out to one journalist that since no one had been arrested, charged, or indicted, it wasn’t possible to impose sanctions for jury poisoning.
At the end of March, Donald Foster, the Vassar linguistics expert, delivered his written report to the Boulder police. It was almost a hundred pages long and concluded that Patsy Ramsey had written the ransom note. It was key evidence, Beckner told DeMuth. He went on to explain how Foster