Now seven years later and with 20-20 hindsight, Hunter's statement - so very strongly worded and so terribly overly confident - seems so ironic (help me find the better word?).

Could Hunter not then see ahead or be worried about the possibility of the disastrous harm to come, that Steve Thomas and friends would cause to the investigation? See or be worried that BPD would turn the investigation into one of the great failures by a police department, and a failure that would take place under the bright glare of national media and cause intense distress and harm to an innocent family traumatized and harmed by the murder of their precious child?

Only Hunter, or those allowed to know this thinking at that time, can tell if his statement was directed at the Ramseys. Why so confident so early on when they really had completed very, very little investigative work? That does suggest the knee-jerk reaction towards the Ramseys.

And also there may have been another knee-jerk reaction in another part of the town, IF Boots was involved or knew something....