From Lou Smit's presentation as written up in the Rocky Mountain News - - apparently Melody was still happy with this story - - she wasn't objecting.... she did sound a bit flakey BUT - - her husband was supporting her story and that must be considered too....

THE SCREAM

Smit's argument: A scream reported by a neighbor could have come
from the basement without the parents' hearing it.

"Terrifying" scream: Neighbor Melody Stanton, who lives across the
street from the Ramseys, about 150 feet to the south, reported hearing
"the most terrifying child's scream I have ever heard" between midnight
and 2 a.m. She slept with her window partially open.

Noise path: Tests conducted by Smit
indicate noise from the wine cellar is heard
more easily from Stanton's bedroom than
from the Ramsey's third-floor bedroom
because the noise travels through a vent to
the outside and across the street. The
Ramsey house has no third-floor windows
on the same side as the vent, and there are
three carpeted, furnished floors between the basement and the third
floor, which muffle or block noise from the basement.

Concrete on steel: Stanton woke her husband at the sound of the
scream. He has reported hearing the sound of steel hit concrete shortly
afterward. This could be the sound of the metal grate hitting the cement
window well -- perhaps a sound created when an intruder fled through
the basement window.

Response: Thomas said a scream is audible from the Ramsey
bedroom. Stanton originally said she didn't hear anything. Later, she told
police she hadn't been truthful because she didn't want to get involved.
In one instance, Stanton said the scream might have been "negative
energy" from JonBenet. But a detective eliminated that from a report
because Stanton insisted the scream was audible and never returned to
the "negative energy" statement.