Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [92]
Though there was little forensic evidence so far, Hunter privately thought the Ramseys were probably guilty—because he saw no other explanation for what had happened. In the early stages he had expected something conclusive to come through eventually, that there was a realistic hope of some resolution.
Meanwhile the battle over the public’s right to know the contents of the coroner’s report was about to begin. At the Justice Center on Wednesday, February 12, First Amendment attorneys Tom Kelley and Bruce Jones, who were representing several media clients, argued before Judge Carol Glowinsky that the motion by Madeline Mason on behalf of coroner Meyer to withhold the documents from the public should be denied. Two Boulder PD detectives had also filed sealed affidavits, Judge Glowinsky informed Kelley and Jones. They opposed the release of the autopsy report and detailed the probable harm to the case from a premature disclosure.
The judge told Kelley and Jones that they could review the affidavits and the report in her chambers as long as they didn’t reveal the contents to their clients.
“To explain how I lost a case when everything happens in open court is hard enough,” Kelley told Judge Glowinsky. “To explain how this case was lost without disclosing what I know isn’t fair to my clients.” Kelley declined to view the contents. Instead he proceeded with his argument against the secrecy confronting the media.
Two days later, Judge Glowinsky agreed with the county’s assertion that the case was still in the “early” stages of investigation. She ruled that the release of the entire autopsy report would hurt the case and said that there was significant forensic evidence that should remain confidential. However, she ordered an edited version of the coroner’s report released to the public.
Many of the coroner’s findings concerning JonBenét’s genitals were excised from the document, but the phrase “abrasion and vascular congestion of vaginal mucosa” was made public. The complete report, the judge said, would be released in ninety days or when an arrest was made, whichever came first.
Meanwhile, the CBI reported to the police that a pubic hair had been discovered on the white blanket found around JonBenét’s body. When the hair was evaluated under a compound microscope, it showed a high degree of “buckling,” or twisting, and a greater degree of curl than chest or scalp hairs.*
The hair might have gotten there in several ways: A member of the Ramsey family or a guest could have used the blanket previously, the hair could have come from inside the clothes dryer when the blanket was laundered—or it could have been left on the blanket during the commission of the crime. All the Ramseys were asked to provide pubic hair samples. On February 13, as reporters were preparing to cover a press conference given by Alex Hunter, Patsy slipped into Boulder Community Hospital to give Detectives Arndt and Harmer her pubic hair sample. A week later, John went to the same hospital and gave his sample. By the end of the month, the police had obtained samples from Melinda and John Andrew and from John Andrew’s friend Brad Millard.
Alex Hunter had never held a press conference like the one that was scheduled for the morning of February 13. Just before he left the Justice Center for the city council chambers, where the press was waiting, he joked with a deputy DA that he would be doing battle with Goliath.
On a windy, partly cloudy day, Hunter, who was as yet unknown to most national media representatives, stood on a stage before