Foreign Faction: Who Really Kidnapped JonBenet? (20 page)

Patsy Ramsey’s examinations:

The first polygraph examination was unusable due to distortions. Appropriate cautions were suggested to eliminate the artifacts so that conclusive results could be obtained. Three series of single-issue examinations were conducted with Patsy Ramsey. The first examination was conducted to determine if Patsy Ramsey had direct involvement in the murder. In other words, whether Patsy inflicted the injuries that caused the death of JonBenét. The second examination was conducted to determine whether Patsy knew who killed JonBenét. The third examination was conducted to determine if Patsy wrote the ransom note that was found at the scene.

The questions asked during the three single-issue examinations follow with Patsy Ramsey’s answer:

Series one, Patsy Ramsey:

Did you inflict any of the injuries that caused the death of JonBenét?

Answer: No.

Regarding JonBenét, did you inflict any of the injuries that caused her death?

Answer: No.

Were those injuries that resulted in JonBenét’s death inflicted by you?

Answer: No.

Conclusion: Based on the numerical scoring of the examinations in this series Patsy Ramsey was telling the truth when she denied inflicting the injuries that caused the death of her daughter, JonBenét.

Series two, Patsy Ramsey.

Do you know who inflicted the injuries that caused the death of JonBenét?

Answer: No.

Regarding JonBenét, do you know for sure who killed JonBenét?

Answer: No

Are you concealing the identity of the person who killed JonBenét?

Answer: No.

Conclusion: Based on the numerical scoring of the examinations in this series, Patsy Ramsey was telling the truth when she denied knowing who killed JonBenét.

Series three, Patsy Ramsey:

Did you write the ransom note that was found in your house?

Answer: No.

Question 2: Regarding the ransom note, did you write it?

Answer: No.

Following the initial disclosure of these test results, Wood introduced Cleve Baxter, another veteran polygraph examiner, who served as the quality control monitor to Gelb’s testing procedures. Baxter went on to state:

Now the quality control of polygraph examinations, a lot is dependent upon the adequacy of your case information, the strength of the issue concerned, and distinctness of the issue concerned, in order to try to eliminate inconclusive polygraph examination results.

Baxter spoke a little about comparison questions compared to relevant questions and went on to advise that he felt the case information for this testing process was adequate. There was some brief discussion about two different types of polygraph testing: one involving “zone comparison” testing, which Gelb had developed during his career, and one that was referred to as “guilty knowledge” testing. This second type of examination reportedly involved “evidence connecting questions,” that were asked about a case. Wood indicated that this type of polygraph was “extremely difficult to prove truthful.”

Wood advised that portions of the testing processes had been video and audio-taped, and that he had offered to have the FBI observe the examinations. The offer had been declined by the Boulder Police Department.

Copies of the test results had been faxed to the Boulder D.A.’s office, as well as to Chief Beckner, and Wood indicated that he was waiving the attorney privilege and would allow investigators to question Gelb about his testing procedures. In total, Wood indicated that Gelb had administered five separate polygraph tests to John and Patsy Ramsey and declared that they had passed them all.

Within a few hours of the Ramsey press conference, Chief Beckner told the media that the investigation into JonBenét’s murder would proceed unaffected. The fact that the parents had passed an examination conducted by a private professional in the field of polygraph tests held little sway in the minds of the law enforcement officials who were directing the inquiry into the murder of JonBenét Ramsey. Neither positive, nor negative test results would ever make their way into a criminal court of law.

In spite of this response, the Ramseys and their attorney were pleased that they could point to positive test results that seemed to suggest that they had no personal involvement in the death of their daughter.

On June 3, 2000, the Ramseys posted a psychic’s composite sketch of a possible suspect in the murder of JonBenét on the website of the foundation they established in 1997. The sketch was based on the work of psychic Dorothy Allison, who had passed away in 1999. Allison was reported to have developed her vision of the perpetrator during a 1998 appearance on a network television program.

The website reportedly asked:
Have you seen this man? This man may have been in the Boulder area in December 1996…We firmly believe that this most horrible of killers will be caught based on information provided by people who care about right and wrong…Please help, so another innocent child will not be a victim and another family will not suffer unbearable grief.

T
opic: December 17, 2001 City of Boulder Ramsey Expense Memo

On the above captioned date, Chief Mark Beckner released a summary of expenses as they related to the JonBenét Ramsey homicide investigation. The department had been providing this information on an annual basis to the media and the following is a year-by-year summary of total expenditures:

1996:

Overtime Expenses: $20,340.80

Travel Expenses: $248.38

Investigative Expense: $788.55

Total Expenditures: $21,377.73

1997:

On-duty Salary Expense: $308,630.81

Overtime Expense (3,929.5 hours) : $134,621.66

Travel Expenses: $57,392.46

Investigative Expenses: $30,830.08

Total Expenditures : $531,475.01

1998:

On-duty Salary Expense: $562,149.72

Overtime Expense (954 hours) : $37,541.46

Travel Expenses: $11,319.01

Investigative Expenses: $19,946.74

Total Expenditures: $630,956.93

1999:

On-duty Expenses: $220,780.16

Overtime Expenses (218.75 hours) :$10,554.11

Travel Expenses: $3,842.91

Investigative Expenses: $3,010.70

Total Expenditures: $238,187.99

2000:

On-duty Expenses: $133,648.28

Overtime Expenses: $4,898.78

Travel Expenses: $3,157.00

Investigative Expenses:$4,369.25

Total Expenditures: $146,073.31

2001:

On-duty Expenses: $133,624.66

Overtime Expenses: $3,005.59

Investigative Expenses: $550.00

Total Expenditures: $137,180.25

The report indicated that total expenditures related to the Ramsey homicide investigation for the years 1996 through 2001 were $1,705,251.21.

The conclusion of 2002 brought a decision that would significantly change the direction of the investigation. In a December 20
^th
press release issued by the City of Boulder, it was announced that Chief Beckner and DA Mary Keenan (later to become Lacy) had agreed that the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office would assume responsibility for following up on new leads and other information developed in the murder case.

“The primary reason for this change is an attempt to further the investigation in a positive manner,” said Chief Beckner. “The interests of the Boulder Police Department have always been to do what is in the best interest of the investigation. This is a strategy to address concerns expressed by the Ramseys and their attorney that the Boulder Police Department is not following up additional leads. This may provide the Ramseys and their attorney greater comfort in forwarding what they believe is new information or leads that need to be investigated.”

“It is our hope that by changing the dynamic of the investigation, information maintained by the Ramseys will be forwarded to the DA’s Office for follow-up,” stated Chief Beckner. “Obviously, it is impossible to investigate information you do not have access to.
We also realize that a fresh look at the case from time to time is healthy and could lead to new progress in the investigation.”

Beckner went to say that he didn’t care
how
or
who
solved the case, and if this change in the investigation helped, then it was the right thing to do.

On June 14, 2003, the
New York Times
provided a brief update on the status of the JonBenét Ramsey murder investigation.

“The Boulder district attorney, Mary Keenan, has hired a retired police detective, Tom Bennett, to lead her office’s investigation into the 1996 death of 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey. Ms. Keenan’s office took over the investigation in January, and in April she said that she believed an intruder might have killed the girl. An earlier investigation by the Boulder police focused on John and Patsy Ramsey, JonBenét’s parents.”
⁴⁵

The fact that the
New York Times
decided to print a brief update on the changing status of the Ramsey investigation only served to illustrate the continuing nation-wide interest in the case.

Primary responsibility for the investigation into the murder of JonBenét would remain in the hands of the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office for eight years.