Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [273]
Fleet and Priscilla White, who were eliminated by forensics and alibi, were still the subject of some conversation. Someone asked if White’s erratic behavior during JonBenét’s funeral and afterward had been considered before he was cleared. Yes, the police replied. What about his continued involvement? Was it a sign of guilt? Detective Harmer pointed out that White had information that he still had not shared with the detectives. Metro DAs Bob Grant and Bill Ritter both said that since White had sat on the information for so long, its credibility was questionable, regardless of what it was.
Every ninety minutes, the audience took a break. Despite their animosity of the past eighteen months, there was now an easygoing exchange between the DA’s staff and the police. Steve Thomas even joked with Barry Scheck that the attorney wasn’t any friend of law enforcement. Scheck said he was more a friend than Thomas knew. Tom Koby, a lame duck as he awaited his replacement, made small talk during the breaks.
When the cops played the tape of Patsy’s 911 call, Alex Hunter wrote on his legal pad, “Doesn’t sound as upset as I thought.” But others on his team had the opposite reaction. Then John and Patsy’s statement that Burke had been asleep and knew nothing about the events of that morning was called into question when what sounded like Burke’s voice could be heard on the tape—if you could be sure it was a voice, said one listener.
The police discussed the Ramseys’ demeanor both before and after JonBenét’s body was found. They had seemed distant from each other the entire morning, had never tried to comfort each other, and had remained physically separate. Patsy was looking around, peeking through the fingers covering her face, one police report said, while John was off by himself much of the time, out of Arndt’s sight. He had even gone alone into the basement at midmorning, after which time he had become despondent, sitting alone. The Ramseys’ refusal to grant formal interviews until four months after the murder was also highly suspicious, the police said.
The physical layout of the house was reviewed. It appeared that all the doors were locked that night, yet it shouldn’t be forgotten that there were still several keys missing as of June 1998. There had been no indication of forced entry. The pry marks discovered on two doors had not produced evidence of splintering on the ground below, and Barbara Fernie, a close friend of Patsy’s, had told the police that she had seen the pry marks before the murder and at that time they were already old.
Mike Everett discussed the spiderwebs found on outside windows and particulary the one on the grate in front of the broken basement window. Spiders didn’t build new webs during winter, he told the audience. He explained how little force it would take to break the partial web that had been found across the window grate.
Deliberately, it seemed, the police had organized the information to negate an intruder theory. Would an intruder have tied the cord so loosely on JonBenét’s arm? Would an intruder cover her with a blanket? Would an intruder wipe off her body and redress her? Would an intruder have used Patsy’s paintbrush to tighten the noose? Wouldn’t an intruder have written a ransom note in advance? If he intended to write a note, wouldn’t he bring paper? His own pen? Would an intruder travel easily and freely through a mazelike house? One observer later said he could almost imagine this intruder saying, “Oh, fuck! My comrades and I, in our small foreign faction, forgot to bring a pad and a pen. Shit! We forgot to bring a garrote, some rope, and duct tape. What else did