From the Elite site Henry Lee gives his input in February 2001. He's essentially neutral, saying to keep an open mind while the evidence is being "studied". Well for Pete's sake! Why doesn't he say that the DNA in her nails and panties excludes the parents? He could have. But he remains strangely neutral, IMO.

tweety34286 asks: Regarding the JonBenet Ramsey case, as we all know it wasn't investigated properly. Who do you believe could do this to a little girl?

Dr. Henry Lee: It's a good question. Because what's the public perception and the reality are a little apart. The public perception will come from reading the newspaper or watching talk shows. What happened with the JonBenet Ramsey case, what happened in the first six hours, is that the police treated it like a kidnapping case. The crime scene wasn't thoroughly searched. In six hours, things can be changed, physical evidence can be lost or contaminated. That created problems later for the investigators who investigated the case because the body wasn't discovered right away and, later, Mr. Ramsey found the body himself and carried the body from the basement to the upstairs living room. So we generally try to look at the scene and say whether it's an outdoor or indoor scene, and we also want to know whether it's a primary scene or a secondary scene. Primary, meaning that the crime was committed in that particular location. If we can find out where the primary location is, then you can recover more evidence. So in this case, because of the initial six hours lost, investigators subsequently developed some difficulty in looking at the original location. Also, the body was carried by the victim's father, so there was this cross-contamination of trace evidence, which created problems later on. And there were other friends and relatives visiting the scene during those six hours.

Dr. Henry Lee: There are many theories about the suspect of the case. It boils down to two major groups, either a family member or an unknown intruder. I would say that we should keep our minds completely open, let the evidence speak for itself. We cannot come up with a tunnel vision or a hypothesis and then use the evidence to build a case. We should let the evidence itself make the case. Some of this evidence is still being investigated by the Colorado Bureau of Investigations lab and the FBI lab and the Boulder police department.

Court TV Host: You say in the book that the Ramseys' behavior was reportedly suspicious. Can you elaborate? Have people considered whether the Ramseys' son could have done it?

Dr. Henry Lee: As I indicated to you, as scientists we are really not looking at human behavior. There are forensic psychologists who specialize in human behavior. I did not talk to the Ramseys or any other witnesses. I am not in a position to comment on that. I did talk to district attorney Alex Hunter and also the investigator in the Boulder police department. We've had numerous discussions about the case, but as for human behavior, you have to talk to people directly.

... that Dr. Henry Lee was angry at first that he was not being given total access to all the evidence. When he heard that the DA (Alex Hunter) was also not being allowed to see all the evidence, he was shocked - and soon bonded with Alex Hunter.

The fact that the case was high-profile and growing every day - - the fact that it was apparently going to be as big as Borden, Lindburgh, Manson... that meant people wanted to be in it - - wanted it to BE something.

It is my understanding that Henry Lee told Hunter that he thought Hunter should go ahead and charge the Ramseys even though the evidence probably would NOT necessarily lead to a conviction. The thing is that it would be a good political move - - please the people who wanted someone arrested. And, as the police were saying over and over, maybe the case would be made if the people were in jail. Maybe they would break and say something that could be damning if they were in a cell 24/7 with a cellmate pushing to talk.

Henry Lee knows the evidence isn't there - - but he also wants to continue being in favor with LE. I think that is the reason he is silent now. (The "book" he wrote was NOT written by Henry Lee. That was just something he allowed his name to be put on - - and you better believe he did it for the money.)

That's the truth as I know it.

Thanks jameson. So even Alex Hunter and Henry Lee were not privy to the evidence. No wonder they are neutral. But even the news media knows that the DNA does not fit parents. I would think that a person with such knowledge about DNA as HL has would give that some weight. As you say on another thread, that DNA shows that a pedophile did it. CBI and BPD are protecting the perp(s), IMO. They know who's DNA that is but wont tell a soul.

Henry Lee was brought in before the BPD gave the June presentation to the DA. I expect at that time the DA saw most stuff, but I personally still think there were secrets held by the BPD - - and by individuals working the case. Someone in particular, and maybe others, was thinking they might write a book even early on. No reason not to keep back a couple things...

hired so the Ramseys couldn't hire them. Barry Scheck has been very quiet about his involvement. Lee is a buddy of law enforcement--if that's true about his saying they should charge the Ramseys, then he violated his own rules, about his job being ONLY to look at the evidence from a scientific point of view. Lee has misstated facts on tv and in his book.

Scheck, IMO, would not discount the DNA evidence. His innocence project is based on freeing people because the DNA didn't match. Unidentified DNA under JBR's nails and in her panties, would be exculpatory evidence. IMO, Lee is overrated.

Yes! But he shouldn't be underrated. Some people take their job seriously and in the criminology field they need to be given credit where it is due. But where they are wrong someone needs to spank their bottoms.

He has never seemed 'neutral' to me.

Although he has not ever been in the 'put 'em in separate cells and wait for one to crack' camp of the BPD he has always seemed to me to be squarely in the 'the parents did it but lets not act with undue haste' camp of DA-Hunter.