Saskia A. Jordan and Gene Matthews<P>Somehow related to the Ramsey investigation but I admit I don't know the names.

Coroner: police tried to keep body to force interview<P> Tests on JonBenet were complete<P> By CLAY EVANS Camera Staff Writer<P> Friday, April 25, 1997 <BR> Boulder police investigators asked the Boulder County coroner's office if it could withhold the<BR> body of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey from her family - even though forensic work was<BR> complete - to pressure them into submitting to a police interview, Coroner John Meyer<BR> confirmed Thursday.<BR> Meyer, a physician who was legal custodian of the girl's body following her murder and an<BR> autopsy, and the only official who could sanction release, refused the police request.<BR> JonBenet's body was released to her family Dec. 29, then flown to Georgia for burial.<BR> The request from investigators came through Tom Faure, chief medical examiner for the<BR> coroner's office, on Dec. 28, Meyer said.<BR> "My impression at the time was it was sort of a trial balloon, wondering if we could do that,"<BR> Meyer said. "It was, could we do this ... not necessarily to force the family, but could we put a<BR> hold on the body until they do come to an interview."<BR> JonBenet Ramsey was found strangled in the basement of her family's home the afternoon of<BR> Dec. 26 by her father, John Ramsey, and a family friend. About eight hours earlier, her mother,<BR> Patsy Ramsey, found a ransom note demanding $118,000 and called police.<BR> John and Patsy Ramsey still have not been formally inter viewed by police, but their attorneys<BR> said Wednesday that police on Tuesday abruptly canceled separate interviews scheduled for<BR> Wednesday.<BR> After receiving the inquiry about holding the body, Meyer told Faure that "certainly I didn't think<BR> that was a reason for me to put the body on further hold, that I couldn't use that as justification."<BR> Meyer said the examination of the girl's body was complete, except for toxicology reports, which<BR> take up to six weeks for results. He said, however, that his office routinely holds the bodies of<BR> homicide victims from 24 to 72 hours after an autopsy is complete, "in case anything comes<BR> up."<BR> Police on Wednesday said they were "reluctant to release JonBenet's body because they were<BR> not sure all the necessary forensic work had been completed, nor had they had an opportunity<BR> to discuss the circumstances of JonBenet's death with the parents."<BR> Boulder Police Chief Tom Koby did not immediately return telephone calls from the Daily<BR> Camera on Thursday.<BR> District Attorney Alex Hunter said Thursday there may have been other considerations that led<BR> police to ask the body be withheld for additional time.<BR> "For example, was there everything that the CBI (Colorado Bureau of Investigation) needed?<BR> Had a pediatrician been involved? A child abuse expert involved?" Hunter said. He said that, all<BR> told, the body underwent about 12 hours of examination.<BR> In a telephone conversation the afternoon of Dec. 28, the district attorney's chief trial deputy,<BR> Peter Hofstrom, asked Meyer if there was