DENVER (AP) - A judge has formally dismissed a libel lawsuit filed by the parents of slain 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey against a former detective.

Steve Thomas wrote a book about the case suggesting Patsy Ramsey killed her daughter in a fit of rage and John Ramsey concealed it by making it look like a botched kidnapping.

The lawsuit was dismissed Wednesday after the family reached a settlement in March with Thomas, co-author Don Davis and publisher St. Martin's Press. The amount was not disclosed.

No one has ever been charged in JonBenet's death Dec. 26, 1996, in the family's Boulder home. Police have said her parents remain under suspicion.

Thomas left the police department in 1998.

Copyright © 2002 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

Now maybe Steve Thomas will feel he can talk.