Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [60]
“This has to be a joke, right?” one reporter said. To get a shot of Koby, television cameramen and still photographers had to photograph the TV screen.
In the studio McCullen, seated next to Koby, noticed that the chief seemed nervous as he looked over his prepared speech.
Tom Koby was known for a couple of things in Boulder—his hard stand against underage drinking and his firm endorsement of community policing: His officers were expected to know the people in the neighborhoods, listen to their concerns, and educate them on how to prevent crime before it happens. He also took an unusual position for a police chief: he refused to work with the Boy Scouts’ Explorer program on law enforcement because the national organization refused to allow gays to participate in scouting programs. Koby rarely wore his uniform, and people who didn’t know him would never suspect that he was a cop.
“It is the best judgment of the Boulder Police Department that this is a one-time occurrence…. We do not believe we have a serial situation,” Koby said at the outset of the roundtable in his Texas drawl. He drew most of his syllables out for an extra beat or two, which gave the impression of a man not in a big hurry. Even tonight he seemed laid-back.
“There have been many stories and much speculation about who killed JonBenét. Prejudging and media hype have never solved a crime. The reality of the situation is that often these types of investigations take time. Again, it is unfortunate those who have anointed themselves as experts have seized the opportunity to offer criticism which has no basis in fact. Over the last five years, from 1990 through 1995, we have had fifteen homicides in Boulder. We have solved thirteen of them. We will not lose the focus of this investigation to respond to meaningless and unfounded remarks.” The reporters in the foyer exchanged smirks.
According to Koby, a rumor had sprung up earlier in the day—even surfacing on a Denver radio station—that a Ramsey family member had confessed. It was totally false, he said, and it was an example of how the media were making his department’s job harder.
“So I am just here to tell you that one of the most helpful things—if you and your colleagues would like to help—would be to back off a little bit, give us some room to do our jobs,” Koby told his audience.
Koby confirmed that in their initial search of the Ramseys’ house, it didn’t “appear” that his officers had looked in the room where JonBenét’s body was later found. He explained that “this house is a large mansion” and that the officers hadn’t reached the so-called wine cellar that morning. Moments later, he insisted, “Most legal experts will tell you, police officials and legal experts will tell you, we’ve done it just right.”
Most of the reporters felt that Koby knew mistakes had been made, but what struck Kevin McCullen was that Koby seemed to believe what he was saying. The chief really was convinced the police had done everything right.
“Three things can happen in any investigation like this one,” Koby continued. “One,…you show up and the person responsible is waiting for you. Second, you never solve the case. Third, it takes a while to work things out. This case [is] an investigation that is complex and complicated and it will take some time to work out.”
Mike McPhee of The Denver Post asked if the Ramseys had been interviewed.
“We were with the family for quite a period of time during the first day,” Koby replied. “There is no way to interview parents at that point in time. It’s impossible. So, were we communicating with John and Patsy? We were. Were we interviewing John and Patsy? No. That would have been totally unreasonable.”
Then Alli Krupski, from the Daily Camera, asked why the police seemed to be responding with more intensity to the Ramsey case than they had to the death of a poor Latino a