<BR> The Mom Squad <BR> For this group of online sleuths, death makes a holiday<BR> BY CHRIS LAMORTE <P> With the new fall television season almost here,<BR> how does this premise grab you: A group of<BR> women, ordinary gals--housewives, soccer<BR> moms, office workers--decide to spice up their<BR> humdrum lives by entering the glamorous and<BR> exciting world of undercover private<BR> investigation. Been done before, you say?<BR> Wasn't Charlie's Angels about a group of<BR> bored, albeit sexy, policewomen recruited to<BR> work for a private investigator?<P> Well, then, here's a Nineties twist: They use the<BR> Internet to catch the killers. Still not interested?<BR> Okay, get this: They solve real-life crimes,<BR> crimes ripped from the front pages of today's<BR> newspapers. And there are bad guys,<BR> too--other Netheads who cause trouble and<BR> work as enemy spies and throw out bitchy<BR> one-liners every now and again. Very Heather<BR> Locklear.<P> And here's the kicker: The action centers on<BR> Boulder, Colorado. It's The Net meets Golden<BR> Girls, with a splash of Murder, She Wrote<BR> thrown in.<P> Nah. Too ridiculous. Not even Aaron Spelling<BR> would produce something that far-fetched. It<BR> could never happen, not even on TV.<P> But it could happen online. After all, virtual<BR> reality is stranger than fiction.<P> Meet shorty, tinky, CatNip, mapek and, of<BR> course, Mrs. Brady. These gals are plugged in<BR> and ready for action. Their tools: the Net. Their<BR> destination: Boulder. Their target: JonBenet<BR> Ramsey's killer. Look out, sugar, 'cause here<BR> they come.<P> More than twenty months have passed since<BR> JonBenet Ramsey, a six-year-old beauty queen,<BR> was discovered murdered in the basement of<BR> her Boulder home on December 26, 1996.<BR> Although the investigation into her death has<BR> yet to produce an indictment, it's already given birth to a creature that grows<BR> larger every day: the JonBenet virtual community.<P> The seeds of this online phenomenon were planted just days after the murder in<BR> the Boulder News Forum, an online service of Boulder's Daily Camera where<BR> people can post messages to one another or respond to other people's posts.<BR> They can also chat in real-time with one another in a virtual chat room. While<BR> Boulder residents were still suggesting publicly that local grocery stores ban the<BR> tabloids that were focusing on JonBenet's murder, this was one of the early<BR> places where people went to talk about the case's scintillating details and to go<BR> over the list of possible suspects: an unknown local sicko, the big-haired mama,<BR> the ice-cold daddy, the big brother, the little brother, Santa. It was an online<BR> game of Clue.<P> At first just a few curiosity seekers came. Some, as they say in Net lingo, were<BR> "newbies," wet-behind-the-ears novices who didn't know a TCP/IP from an<BR> ISP but simply wanted to find out a little more about the story that had caught<BR> the country's attention. Soon thousands were searching the Net for JonBenet<BR> information. The Boulder Planet even registered ramseycase.com and<BR> ramseymurder.com to keep the nation updated. (Both URLs are long since<BR> defunct.) As the case dragged on, though, those who trolled the Net for<BR> Ramsey tidbits were looking for more than news updates. Mostly middle-aged<BR> white women, these surfers logged on to get their fix. JonBenet was now more<BR> than news. The case was their life.<P> Thousands of chat hours and megabytes of Web pages later, a virtual<BR> community of amateur detectives has formed--a community of snoop sisters<BR> with friends and enemies, good guys and bad guys, internal gossip and scandal,<BR> infighting and name-calling, and, above all, an overriding obsession with all<BR> things JonBenet Ramsey.<P> On September 18, this virtual community will become flesh--like something out<BR> of a science fiction movie. After nearly two years of electronic<BR> correspondence, thirty or so of these online enthusiasts have decided to step out<BR> of the ether and materialize on the streets of Boulder.<P> "An active contingent wanted to meet in Las Vegas," says Mrs. Brady. (That's<BR> an online pseudonym--or "hat"--that the forty-something mom from<BR> Pennsylvania uses to keep her true identity secret.) "I held out for Boulder or<BR> nothing."<P> It's hard to blame Mrs. Brady for wanting to get as close to the scene of the<BR> crime as possible. After all, her Web page, Mrs. Brady's URLs, is one of the<BR> premier JonBenet Web destinations.<P> When JonBenet was killed, Mrs. Brady didn't have much Internet experience.<BR> "Retired" from her job as director of operations for a large franchising<BR> company, she was just "floating around," she says, and found herself hooked on<BR> JonBenet. By February, she'd "jumped in with both feet."<P> Today, Mrs. Brady's page is one of the prime jumping-off points for those who<BR> want to immerse themselves in the minutiae of the Ramsey investigation. She<BR> starts her day scouring the Internet, looking for the latest word on the case. She<BR> then posts links to the latest news sources from her Web site. (Her dedication<BR> won her a 1998 Westword Best of Denver award, an honor she's posted on her<BR> page.)<P> But while Mrs. Brady is just dying to see for herself the house where JonBenet<BR> Ramsey was found dead (she recently took a trip to Atlanta to visit the current<BR> Ramsey residence), she says she's really looking forward to finally meeting her<BR> cyber buddies. Although she's had a couple of eye-to-eye encounters with a<BR> few of the people she's met online over the past months, this is the biggest<BR> gathering to date.<P> "When you chat and e-mail back and forth," explains Martha Knapp, an active<BR> community member (code name: mapek) who is one of the primary organizers<BR> of the Boulder gathering, "you talk about your lives." In doing so, she says,<BR> people develop real relationships, with interests that go far beyond the JonBenet<BR> case.<P> Originally from Michigan, Knapp, a writer specializing in business<BR> communication, moved to Kansas a few years ago to help her aging mother.<BR> She found the Internet gave her a social outlet. "We've become such a mobile<BR> society," she says. "Most people don't live in the place where they grew up."<P> Knapp herself contributes to Cybersleuths, a page somewhat like Mrs. Brady's<BR> URLs, but with a wider range of information on true-crime stories, including<BR> JonBenet's murder.<P> The JonBenet forums and chats give her the "chance to have those<BR> over-the-back-fence chats," Knapp adds, calling the online JonBenet<BR> community "almost like a sisterhood."<P> Experts say it's not surprising that people within this virtual community feel so<BR> strongly about each other and about their group. "People are people," says<BR> Stacy Horn, author of Cyberville, an examination of the Echo online community<BR> she started at New York University. "That doesn't change when they get<BR> online." Electronic communities, she adds, are "an exact reflection of what<BR> communities are, of what families are."<P> But where there's family, there's dysfunction. The original posters on the<BR> Boulder News Forum left because Internet pranksters ran virtually rampant.<BR> According to Teri McCord (code name: tinky), a Kansas City mother of three<BR> who's dabbled in writing crime novels and is planning a trip to Boulder this<BR> month with her husband and kids in tow (they want to make their way up to<BR> Estes Park, a favorite vacation spot), the Boulder News Forum "became so<BR> obscene at times I just got out. People would post these vulgar, nasty things and<BR> tie it up."<P> McCord and others migrated to IRC--Internet relay chat, another form of<BR> online chatting--but that, too, had problems. "There are all kinds of punk kids<BR> who like to trash people. It was a real ordeal," says Knapp. Eventually the<BR> group moved to the Forum at a Web page hosted by Joshua-7, which also<BR> housed Mrs. Brady's URLs. Earlier this year, Joshua-7 was reborn as<BR> JusticeWatch.<P> Today, there are four primary Web pages for online discussion regarding<BR> JonBenet. JusticeWatch, Boulder News Forum (it's cleaned up its act, say<BR> McCord and others), peterboyles.com (the home page of the KHOW radio<BR> talk-show host) and WebbSleuths (see "Must-See Sites," right).<P> Within these discussions, however, two distinct factions have sprung up. There<BR> are those who think the Ramsey parents murdered their child and those who<BR> think the Ramseys are innocent. Or, in forum/chat lingo, it's the Pro-Rams vs.<BR> the Anti-Rams. Some claim that there's a third faction, the Fence Sitters, but<BR> they're mostly lumped in with the Anti-Rams. And if either side suspects you're<BR> loyal to the wrong faction, look out: These ladies' flames are hot enough to<BR> singe your eyebrows.<P> Take, for instance, the most notorious Pro-Ram, Jameson, who for fear of<BR> reprisal does not want his/her true identity or even gender disclosed (most<BR> posters refer to him as "he"). Communicating only via America Online's Instant<BR> Message function, Jameson, who lives in North Carolina, explains: "Since I<BR> support the Ramseys I have been targeted by many. They've threatened to<BR> burn my house down, to hurt me and my family." Jameson also complains of<BR> prank phone calls and other harassment. Though Jameson says he's no agent of<BR> the Ramseys, he claims he's been in contact with friends and family of the<BR> couple. "Please don't push here," he pleads, when asked for specifics.<P> In true conspiracy theory fashion, some chatters on peterboyles.com have<BR> hypothesized that Jameson and John Ramsey are one and the same. "That's a<BR> stupid theory," Jameson responds. "Peter Boyles told me to f*ck myself in his<BR> chat area," claims Jameson, who says he believes the Ramseys are fully<BR> innocent. " said I had been ragging on him for months."<P> Boyles admits he made the comment. He says that during one of his weekly<BR> online chats, Jameson, whom he calls "this weird stalker person," showed up.<BR> By that time, he had heard enough from this particular Rammer, as he likes to<BR> call the Pro-Rams, and let Jameson, who he is convinced is a woman, have it.<BR> "I would get just unbelievable amounts of e-mail from her."<P> After being banned from JusticeWatch's forum--"because I have a strong<BR> Ramsey voice," Jameson says--he went on to start WebbSleuths, a much more<BR> Ramsey-friendly forum. "The JusticeWatch forum is clearly intended to<BR> promote the 'lynching' of the Ramseys," Jameson says. These days he spends<BR> up to eighteen hours each day working on the Ramsey case and maintaining the<BR> WebbSleuths site. "It is truly a volunteer position," Jameson notes.<P> And Jameson's volunteerism reaches truly creepy proportions. On August 6,<BR> JonBenet's birthday, he and another Pro-Ram, Anderson, went to the girl's<BR> gravesite in Atlanta and hung angels to commemorate her birth. "It wasn't eerie<BR> at all," Jameson says. "The cemetery is very peaceful and nice."<P> Jameson says he has no interest in attending the Boulder cyber-sleuth meeting<BR> this month--not that he's invited. "Many who will attend are 'lynch mob'<BR> members in my eyes and I have no interest in meeting with them," he says, then<BR> adds, "I think it's a shame it's being promoted as some sort of summit meeting."<P> But Mrs. Brady and others coming to the Boulder meeting don't consider<BR> themselves Anti-Ram. "I was very opinionated early on," Mrs. Brady admits.<BR> "As the case went on, I became more of a Fence Sitter." At this point, she<BR> says, she "wouldn't be surprised if they pulled a foreign intruder or a foreign<BR> faction out of the hat. Or, if Patsy confessed, I wouldn't be surprised."<P> Knapp, who's careful when choosing her words for fear of angering the<BR> Pro-Rams, says that the Ramseys' supporters aren't willing to look at the full<BR> case and are blindly loyal to the family. But in fact, Knapp claims, she hopes<BR> the Ramseys are innocent.<P> According to Chris Wheeler (code name: CatNip), a 33-year-old longtime<BR> true-crime buff who maintains JusticeWatch, Jameson's pro-Ramsey<BR> sentiments aren't what got him--or is it her?--booted from the forum. "I found<BR> her tactics to be such that they create animosity and flame wars and greatly<BR> increase the amount of time I spend moderating the forum," Wheeler says.<BR> Wheeler spends three to four hours each night moderating the JusticeWatch<BR> forum; so far, she's invested about $400 in her online obsession. Her trip to<BR> Boulder will likely more than double that investment.<P> Wheeler herself has experienced some verbal abuse online, though not from<BR> Jameson specifically. When word got around the online community that she<BR> was taking on JusticeWatch, someone tracked down her name and home<BR> address. But what really upset her was getting flamed on peterboyles.com; she<BR> has trouble even repeating what was written. "On Peter Boyles's forum<BR> someone posted," Wheeler pauses for a breath, "'that vile flamer that shines<BR> Peter Boyles's shoes with her panties is opening JusticeWatch.'"<P> Wheeler claims she's never flamed anybody in her life. (Presumably, she's<BR> never shined Boyles's shoes with her panties, either.)<P> Though Jameson won't be in Boulder to meet face-to-face with his online<BR> adversaries, he has met with other people from the Internet. Lately, he's cast<BR> himself as a clearinghouse for people leaking information to the "authorities."<BR> After receiving an e-mail from someone who wanted to get "something" to<BR> Boulder, Jameson agreed to meet him for the pickup. Since then, he says, he's<BR> often performed such duties for people who want to deliver tips on the case yet<BR> remain anonymous. And some of the tips he passes on, he says, are not<BR> favorable to the Ramseys. He tries not to judge the information he delivers,<BR> Jameson adds.<P> "To pick up tips, I may meet someone at a restaurant or just pick up an<BR> envelope. I have certain pay phones I use," he says. "When I go, my family<BR> knows where I am going. I have a cell phone and always arrange a meeting in<BR> a public place, usually a Cracker Barrel or Dunkin' Donuts--someplace busy. I<BR> tell them what I will be wearing or carrying--truly cloak-and-dagger stuff."<P> But Wheeler says most of the intrigue connected to the online community has<BR> less to do with the actual JonBenet case than it does with the petty<BR> controversies created within the groups themselves. "I think that the<BR> cloak-and-dagger stuff is sort of a historical result of the online communication<BR> of this community," she says. "People take pleasure in finding out personal<BR> information on other posters. That's the amateur sleuth part. If they can figure<BR> that out, I guess they think they've accomplished something."<P> Here's a conversation that recently took place in the Boulder News Chat when<BR> a lurker--someone who visits a chat without participating, also known in<BR> JonBenet online circles as a "potted plant"--entered the room:<P> CatNip: Who's Xrss?<BR> Patib: A new potted plant.<BR> CatNip: Xrss doesn't talk?<BR> Geno: Nada word<BR> Patib: Nope dead silent<BR> Patib: Maybe it Pammy poo...<BR> Patib: I don't think she's smart enough to use a 'puter LOL<P> In fact, Xrss was not a Ramsey ally but a Westword reporter working on this<BR> story. "Pammy poo" referred to Pam Paugh, Patsy Ramsey's sister, who some<BR> Anti-Rams believe trolls the chat rooms, monitoring their conversations and<BR> reporting back to her big sis.<P> Whether the Ramseys read these online discussions is a common topic of talk.<BR> Although Jameson says with certainty that they don't, others point to John<BR> Ramsey's involvement with high-tech industry to support the theory that he<BR> does.<P> The online sleuths have lots of theories. Lauren Stewart of Michigan (code<BR> name: shorty), who plans to make it to Boulder, says there's a feeling of mental<BR> superiority among the electronic detectives. According to Stewart, who has two<BR> grown children and three adopted school-age kids at home, "Everyone's trying<BR> to be the one guy who spots the one thing that everyone's missed." Stewart, for<BR> example, noticed that Patsy had said that JonBenet's bedroom door was<BR> closed--but how could the murderer have closed the bedroom door behind him,<BR> since he would have had to carry an armload of other materials along with the<BR> child to the basement? Stewart wasn't sure if this seeming inconsistency meant<BR> anything, but just in case, she e-mailed the tip to new Boulder police chief Mark<BR> Beckner, who was put in charge of the investigation last fall.<P> The Anti-Rams and Fence Sitters revel in these little details and complain that<BR> the Pro-Rams won't even consider them. Too often, Wheeler says, it seems<BR> that the Pro-Rams just try to start conflict without making a well-reasoned point<BR> about the case itself.<P> Although the Pro-Rams won't be attending Boulder's wingding, several key<BR> media figures have been invited to a dinner. One prominent figure, former chief<BR> deputy Denver district attorney and current Channel 7 legal-expert-for-hire<BR> Craig Silverman, decided to invite himself, Knapp says. She's happy to have<BR> him. "It was like, 'Wow! He's already on my list.'"<P> Who's not on her list? University of Colorado professor Michael Tracy, who<BR> made a documentary on the Ramseys that Channel 9 aired earlier this summer<BR> and that is slated to run on A&E sometime this fall. Originally, Knapp thought it<BR> would be a good idea to ask him, just to stir things up a bit. But the idea was<BR> roundly rejected by the online pals she surveyed. "Some felt that he would be a<BR> spy for the Ramseys," she says, then adds, "Others think he's not very<BR> intelligent. He seems to be very ignorant of a lot of things. I don't know if that's<BR> by choice."<P> The dinner, initially planned for Pasta Jay's, was moved to an undisclosed<BR> location for two reasons: First, the number of attendees quickly grew larger<BR> than expected. And then some cyber-sleuths had second thoughts about holding<BR> their gathering at a restaurant owned by rabid Ramsey supporter Jay Elowsky,<BR> who once went after two people he thought were members of the media.<BR> "Some people are frightened to be too visual," says Stewart. "I mean, that Pasta<BR> Jay guy took after somebody with a baseball bat." Now attendees will be issued<BR> passwords to gain access to the dinner.<P> In addition to meeting over dinner, the armchair detectives can take a<BR> sight-seeing tour of Boulder, working off a list of suggested sights compiled by<BR> Knapp (see page 20). Of course, there's the former Ramsey home, where<BR> JonBenet's body was found. (Knapp is quick to point out that this will not be an<BR> organized bus tour and says her group will be respectful of neighbors.) They<BR> also plan to visit the Boulder County Jail (current home of minor player J.T.<BR> Colfax, arrested last year after he stuffed a burning envelope through the mail<BR> slot of the Ramsey home; he also lifted the morgue log sheet listing JonBenet's<BR> body), McGuckin Hardware (possible source of the rope used in the garrotte),<BR> Boulder County Courthouse, the Boulder Police Department, High Plains<BR> Elementary and Access Graphics. A trip to Rollinsville, the hometown of Bill<BR> "Santa" McReynolds, is also on the itinerary for those interested in attending.<P> Perhaps the oddest stop on the tour is the Columbia Cemetery gravesite of Tom<BR> Horn, executed in Cheyenne in 1903 for murdering a fourteen-year-old boy.<BR> This past July, authorities found a note attached to Horn's grave addressed to<BR> Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter, threatening to damage the grave if the<BR> Ramseys were not arrested. The group also wants to pose at the Web cam in<BR> front of University Bikes and wave a hello to all the other online buddies who<BR> couldn't make the trip.<P> The cyber-sleuths are also planning their very own whodunit murder mystery<BR> game--but one that doesn't involve the facts of the Ramsey case. That would<BR> be too tacky. And as a surprise, Knapp plans to have goodie bags waiting for all<BR> the attendees. She doesn't want to reveal too much about their contents, but<BR> they are certain to contain FBI pens, funny disguises and other stuff any good<BR> detective needs.<P> Each bag will also hold a T-shirt with a message for JonBenet Ramsey's killer,<BR> printed in lettering that mimics the ransom note: "Listen Carefully! The Internet<BR> Is Watching!<P> westword.com &pip; originally published: September 10, 1998

what a memory.<P>I remember being slightly upset at the story - the writer didn't portray me correctly, I thought - but all in all - - it's an interesting blast from the past.