TODAY - October 29th, 2002

Transcribed by jameson

Matt Lauer: Now to an exclusive look at the JonBenét Ramsey case. NBC news has obtained videotaped depositions of three
key law enforcement officials involved with the JonBenét Ramsey murder investigation. The depositions were taken last
November in conjunction with a lawsuit brought against John and Patsy Ramsey by someone they named as a possible suspect in
JonBenét's murder, in their book, Death of Innocence. It's the first time these law enforcement officials have been seen talking
about the crime under oath

Clip of JBR at pageant. "My name is JonBenét"

Lauer: JonBenét Ramsey - one of the most well known faces in the country - famous for the most tragic of reasons, being
murdered in her own home, her killer still at large. Nearly six years after she was found brutally murdered, the Boulder police
department says they're still investigating but there have been no arrests

clip BECKNER: We're not clueless about this case.

Lauer: In videotaped depositions obtained exclusively by NBC news, three key players in the investigation, former District
Attorney Alex Hunter, former lead homicide detective SteveThomas, and Boulder police chief Mark Beckner speak under oath
about their investigation

clip Mark Beckner: To this day, I haven't come to any conclusions on that.

Lauer: While officially the Boulder Police Department says John and Patsy Ramsey have not been ruled out as potential suspects
in their daughter's death, Mark Beckner is NOT convinced that Patsy Ramsey was involved

Lin Wood: ...because to this day, you have not concluded yourself that Patsy Ramsey killed JonBenét

Beckner: That's correct.

Lauer: After meeting for 13 months, the grand jury ruled in October of 1999 that there was insufficient evidence to charge the
Ramseys. Former District Attorney Alex Hunter...

Question to Hunter - "Was there sufficient probable cause to support the arrest on any charge of Patsy Ramsey in this case?

Hunter: I don't want cops arresting anyone on probable cause when I have to then make a charging decision shortly thereafter.
We just don't do it that way.

clip Owens: ...the killers in this case...

Lauer: The grand jury was discharged and Colorado Governor Bill Owens held a press conference referring to the killers of
Jonbenét Ramsey.

clip Question to Owens: Aren't you implicitly saying John and Patsy Ramsey, in your view, are in all likelyhood responsible?

Governor Owens: No comment

Lauer: Under oath, former District Attorney Alex Hunter was critical of Governor Owens

Hunter: It would certainly be inappropriate for a lawyer to make those remarks.
It would have been better had he not said those things, in terms of my sense of the criminal justice system

Matt Lauer: Detective Steve Thomas, investigating his first homicide case, was one of the first to arrive at the crime scene. In his
deposition, Thomas says key evidence was left uncollected.

clip Lin Wood questioning Thomas: There's a lot of evidence that's never even been collected or even requested, true?

Thomas: Such as? The clothing?

Wood: The clothes! That's a key piece of evidence, isn't it?

Thomas: Correct. As I said, that was a mistake.

Wood: Yeah. And it was one of many mistakes, wasn't it?

Thomas: I am not here today defending the police department...

Wood: I'm not asking you to defend the police department

Thomas: Yeah, there were many mistakes.

Lauer: Thomas also says that the Boulder Police Department and the FBI had a strategy to try to get John or Patsy Ramsey to
confess to the crime

Thomas: There were discussions with the FBI, yes, about how to exert some public pressure on people who were not cooperating.
Yes.

Wood: Were they also thinking that they might use the media to apply pressure so that there might be the possiblitiy that one of
the parents might confess to the crime?

Thomas: That may have been some motivation

Wood: Do you believe, do you have recollections that was discussed?

Thomas: (after long pause) I wouldn't disagree with it.

Lauer: Steve Thomas authored a book on the case called JonBenét, Inside the Ramsey murder Investigation. In it he accuses
Patsy Ramsey of killing JonBenét and John Ramsey of covering up his wife's crime. The couple sued him for defamation and he
settled with them out of court.

clip Wood: Who put the screen saver on at the Boulder police department that said, "The Ramseys are the killas"?

Thomas: Uh, I don't know who applied that to the computer screen.

Wood: Did you think that was professional?

Thomas: Oh, sometimes police humor can be less than professional behind closed doors.

Lauer: Despite law enforcement efforts, the killer roams free and the murder of JonBenét Ramsey remains one of the country's
most intriguing and tragic mysteries.

(Move to real time interview with Lin Wood.)

Lauer: Lin Wood is the attorney for John and Patsy Ramsey. We should note we asked Boulder police chief Mark Beckner,
former District Attorney Alex Hunter and former detective SteveThomas to appear. They declined. Mr. Wood, good morning to
you.

Wood: Good Morning, Matt.

Lauer: These tapes were made back in November. Why'd you release them to us now?

Wood: You know, Matt, my clients have been put on trial over the last 6 years in the court of public opinion, unfairly, with false
information, literally convicted in the minds of many members of the public of a crime that they did not commit.
The public has a right to know the truth about this investigation, and John and Patsy Ramsey themselves are entitled for the public
to know the truth about what this investigation has done to them and their family. These videotaped depositions - they're not the
false headlines of the tabloids, They're not the false statements and misstatements and misinformation leaked by law enforcement
persuant to a plan calculated to prejudice the public against this family. These videotaped depositions were taken under oath, they
speak to the truth under penalty of perjury.

Lauer: But they're also not conclusive. While they don't say there's any concrete evidence to connect John or Patsy Ramsey to
the murder of their daughter, they have been heard on those videotapes saying there's nothing to rule them out just yet. So how
does it change anything?

Wood: Well, it changes things in this regard: Numer one, it shows that the investigation was totally incomplete in terms of
investigating other leads and other tips. You know, what you've been able to show this morning is not even the tip of the iceberg.
Information, for example, about Governor Owens and his statement made that were shown on the videotape part that you
showed. Alex Hunter admitted that Governor Owens was wrong, that Governor Owens was ill informed, misinformed. And he
also stated very candidly, that contrary to public opinion, the Ramseys had, in fact, cooperated and had never hidden behind their
lawyers in this case.

Lauer. Let me go back to the investigation. Is there any place on this tape where a police official, whether it's Steve Thomas, or
Alex Hunter, or Mark Beckner, says that someone who could have been a suspect was ignored because they were convinced that
it was John or Patsy Ramsey?

Wood: They don't use the terms because they were convinced it was John or Patsy Ramsey. But what the depositions revealed
is that the only individuals who were thoroughly, and I mean every square inch over and over again... the only individuals who were
thoroughly investigated in this case were John and Patsy Ramsey. And the investigation came up empty in terms of any proof of
their involvement. There were any number of individuals who were brought to the attention of law enforcement authorities that
were never investigated or the investigation was no more than lip service. We know, for example, of one potential suspect... was
never interviewed by police. Never even checked out in terms of an alibi. They had blinders on, Matt. They put those blinders on
in the first few days and they've kept them on for 6 years and we're never going to solve this murder unless we get this case out of
the hands of the Boulder Police Department and into hands of experienced and competant and fair homicide investigators

Lauer: Real, real quickly, Mr. Wood, you plan some possible legal action to make that happen? Briefly if you will.

Wood: Well, the Ramseys have kind of run out of options and so they are considering now whether they have any legal right to try
to open up the records of this investigation to the public and whether they have any legal right to have this case transferred, for
example, out of the Boulder Police Department's authority into, say, the hands of the Boulder Sheriff's Department where there
are competant and experienced homicide investigators on staff.

Lauer: John and Patsy Ramsey's attorney, lin Wood. Mr. Wood. Thank you very much for your time.

Wood: Thank you, Matt