Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [308]
By December 1998, Michael Kane was calling civilian witnesses. Before anyone appeared, Kane and his staff would conduct extensive interviews. Michael Archuleta and Linda Hoffman-Pugh and her husband, Merv, were called. Fleet White had probably become less paranoid about his own involvement in the events of December 26; in any event, he agreed and testified twice. He was cordial with prosecutors and told the grand jury what he knew. As he left he informed one deputy DA that he was still upset at Hunter for releasing a photo of his daughter and JonBenét to a tabloid. White’s accusation was without merit. The photographer had supplied the photograph to a third party who gave it to the paper. Barbara and John Fernie were next to testify.
Steve Thomas heard that Kane was afraid to call him, fearing an episode like Linda Arndt’s testimony. Kane, according to the rumor, was convinced Thomas would attack Hunter and his office for their handling of the case. Lou Smit also wanted to testify, but he refused to meet with Kane beforehand. Nevertheless, he hoped Levin or Morrissey would convince Kane to call him regardless. Maybe then he could present the evidence he thought would clear the Ramseys.
In early February, it was likely that Michael Kane felt he saw an indictment coming from the grand jury. He and Alex Hunter released the five alternate jurors. There didn’t seem to be any need for them, since only nine of twelve votes were needed for a true bill charging someone in the murder of JonBenét. As Kane walked twice weekly from the DA’s office to the grand jury courtroom he looked like a happy camper. The work with the grand jury was winding down.
In March 1999, Lou Smit couldn’t sit on the sidelines any longer. He went to Alex Hunter and requested that he be called before the grand jury to present his findings. Believing the Ramseys were innocent, he wanted to make sure all the exculpatory evidence had been heard by the grand jurors. Smit reminded the DA that he’d solved more than 150 murder cases during his career. He would become the devil’s advocate. Alex Hunter agreed to call Smit before the grand jury, and Kane went along with the DA.
It took two days for Smit to present his findings to the grand jury.
The presentations made by Lou Smit and John Douglas—the former head of the FBI’s behavioral science unit in Quantico, Virginia, who had been hired by the Ramseys early in the case and who believed in their innocence—started some of the grand jurors thinking differently about the case. Now the jurors started giving out assignments to the DA and Boulder PD. They wanted more DNA samples taken from friends and associates of the Ramseys. Newer methods of testing DNA, not existing two years earlier when the case began, were now available, and the DA began to run many of the past forensic tests all over again. The grand jury felt more investigating needed to be done. As one grand juror put it, “The work on this case is not over yet.”
In May 1999, upon request, the Ramseys brought their son, Burke, back to Boulder to testify before the grand jury. After a full day on the witness stand, Alex Hunter publicly cleared the child of any involvement in the death of his sister.
For the next four months the grand jury did not meet while the Boulder PD continued the inquiry on behalf of its members. Alex Hunter told the media that work on the case might not be completed by October 20, when the grand jury was required by law to disband. If any indictment, a grand jury report, or a no finding verdict was the result of this grand jury’s work, another grand jury, he said, would continue the investigation, or his office would file charges without a grand jury if the evidence presented itself. But for now, Hunter added, the examination into the death of JonBenét was continuing.
Michael Kane, who was still sleeping on a cot in the war room, and Alex Hunter worked over the Labor Day holiday weekend. Some reporters speculated they were writing a report for the grand jury—others were sure they were