Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [36]
Fleet White’s behavior seemed odd to some of the Ramseys’ friends too. John Fernie felt uncomfortable speaking to Fleet, who seemed too focused on John’s behavior. Others at the house felt that Fleet’s behavior was so out of character for him that maybe he was involved somehow in JonBenét’s death. Nedra, however, thought it was silly to judge anyone’s conduct as inappropriate at a time like this. Who could act normally under these circumstances?
Meanwhile, in Boulder, Detectives Steve Thomas and Ron Gosage interviewed the Ramseys’ neighbors Joe Barnhill, seventy-seven, and his wife, Betty, who lived across the street. The Barnhills had a key to the Ramseys’ home, since they were taking care of JonBenét’s dog, Jacques, a Bichon Frise. The detectives learned that the Barnhills had a boarder, Glenn Meyer, who lived in their basement.
Joe and Betty Barnhill had been guests at the Ramseys’ Christmas party on December 23 and had chatted with Patsy’s father, Don Paugh, a retired engineer. Paugh had worked as his son-in-law’s first director of human resources at Access Graphics and still worked most of the time for John in Boulder, while Nedra, his wife, ran John’s Atlanta office. Paugh told the Barnhills he had a new position at Access—manager of inventory tracking. The firm’s market niche was “the Lincoln and Cadillac part of the industry,” he said proudly.
Barnhill confirmed to police that at about 9:00 P.M. on December 24, John Ramsey had come to their house to pick up JonBenét’s bicycle, a Christmas gift. The Barnhills said they were home the night JonBenét was killed. The police asked Joe for a handwriting sample, but his palsy made it impossible for him to give one. A week later he signed a waiver and his doctor confirmed Barnhill’s illness to the police.
The detectives then interviewed the boarder, Glenn Meyer. He said that he had been at home on Christmas night and had watched television in the den with the Barnhills until 9:00 P.M. He then went downstairs to his basement room and spent the rest of the evening nursing a stomach flu. Meyer was also at the Ramseys’ Christmas party, but he said he hadn’t been introduced to Patsy or JonBenét.
“Do you mind taking a lie detector test?” Detective Thomas asked him. Meyer didn’t, and on January 1, at 5:30 P.M., a polygraph test was administered. Most of the questions were about the Ramseys, and the examiner told him he had answered the questions truthfully. A few weeks later, Detective Thomas asked Meyer for several handwriting samples and took his fingerprints.
Now, the police decided, everyone who disliked John Ramsey for any reason had to be interviewed without delay.
While Thomas and Gosage were interviewing the Barnhills, Detective Carey Weinheimer met with Denise Wolf, John Ramsey’s executive assistant at Access Graphics. She gave him the names of other employees who might have grievances.
Jeff Merrick was someone Ramsey had mentioned to the police on December 26. Ramsey had met Merrick in 1971, when they both worked as supervisors for AT&T. In 1993 Ramsey hired Merrick as director of distribution for Access Graphics. Merrick, who didn’t fit in, was eventually demoted to director of security and facilities while Ramsy let him keep his six-figure salary. Unknown to Merrick, in March on 1996, Ramsey could no longer justify Merrick’s salary to Lockheed Martin and told Merrick he would have to take a large pay cut or leave by April 30. Merrick chose to leave. Later, he claimed the company owed him close to $118,000. He settled for close to half that amount, but one director of the company heard him say he was going to get Ramsy. Merrick then sent a long fax to Lockheed Martin, denouncing Ramsey for the way he dealt with employees.
On the afternoon of Tuesday, December 31, Detectives Patterson and Weinheimer interviewed Merrick at police headquarters.