Ramsey evidence is explained

Hand, boot prints determined to be innocent occurrences

By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
August 23, 2002

BOULDER - Investigators have answered two vexing questions in the
JonBenet Ramsey case that have long helped support the theory that an
intruder killed her, according to sources close to the case.

The answers, which have been known to investigators for some time but
never publicly revealed, could be seen to weaken the intruder theory.

The two clues are:

• A mysterious Hi-Tec boot print in the mold on the floor of the Ramseys'
wine cellar near JonBenet's body has been linked by investigators to
Burke, her brother, who was 9 at the time. It is believed to have been
left there under circumstances unrelated to JonBenet's murder.

Burke, now 15, has repeatedly been cleared by authorities of any
suspicion in the 1996 Christmas night slaying, and that has not changed.

• A palm print on the door leading to that same wine cellar, long
unidentified, is that of Melinda Ramsey, JonBenet's adult half-sister. She
was in Georgia at the time of the murder.

"They were certainly some things that had to be answered, one way or
the other, and we feel satisfied that they are both answered," said a
source close to the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

L. Lin Wood, the attorney representing the Ramseys, who now live in
Atlanta, doesn't debate the palm print findings. But he contends the
police have not answered the Hi-Tec print mystery.

"Burke Ramsey does not and has never owned a pair of quote, unquote,
trademarked Hi-Tec sneakers that the Ramseys are aware of," Wood
said. "I would think they know what shoes he has owned."

Wood said the two most important pieces of forensic evidence in the
case are unidentified male DNA found in the girl's underwear and the
bizarre 2 ½-page ransom note, whose author has never been
determined.

"I represent innocent clients," Wood said. "There has been a history
since December of 1996 of anonymous law enforcement officials in
Boulder, Colorado, leaking information to the media, which, in most
cases, turns out to be either false or grossly distorted.

"So I would put no weight, whatsoever, on anonymous information
coming out of the Boulder Police Department. Zero."

But the source said that connecting the palm print to Melinda Ramsey
was something that occurred belatedly, only because the first time her
print sample was compared with the questioned print, the person making
the comparison didn't properly see the match.

As for the footprint in the wine cellar, the source said, "We know Burke
had a pair of Hi-Tec shoes."

JonBenet, a 6-year-old star of child beauty pageants and the youngest of
John and Patsy Ramsey's two children, was found murdered in the
basement of her family's Boulder home Dec. 26, 1996, about seven
hours after her mother reported finding a ransom note demanding
$118,000 for her safe return.

Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner refused Thursday to discuss any
single piece of evidence in the beating and strangling death of JonBenet.

But he said in the 5 ½ years since the murder, police have continued to
seek solutions to "a number of evidentiary items" that represented
questions in need of answers.

"We have been able to answer questions about many of the pieces of
evidence, and we hope that, over time, as we continue to go over them
piece by piece, that we will be able to solve the puzzle," Beckner said.

In their book about their daughter's murder, The Death of Innocence,
the Ramseys list seven pieces of evidence they consider significant to
the case - the palm print and the Hi-Tec print are numbers six and
seven. In that book, John Ramsey wrote, "Next to JonBenet's body, the
killer, I believe, left a clear footprint made by the sole of a Hi-Tec hiking
shoe, from the area at the heel where the brand name was stamped."

Writing about the palm print, John Ramsey concedes it might prove to
belong to someone with a benign reason for being in the basement. "At
the same time," he adds, "it could be an important clue."

Meanwhile, Wood said that Patsy Ramsey is making progress in her
treatment for a recurrence of cancer, diagnosed Feb. 12.

"She completed her six-month course of chemotherapy in June, and
obviously is still recovering from the side effects of that treatment,"
Wood said.

"But all in all, she's doing well. I just saw her today. She looks good. She
looks very strong and optimistic, and so far, everything looks good on
the follow-up exams."

brennanc@RockyMountainNews .com or (303) 892-2742.