Former CU professor Bill McReynolds died of a heart attack

By Christine Reid, Camera Staff Writer
September 5, 2002

The Santa Claus figure in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case died over the weekend
from a heart attack.

Bill McReynolds was found dead in his Mashpee, Mass., home Monday by his wife,
Janet, when she returned from a weekend trip. He was 72.

McReynolds, a former University of Colorado journalism professor, portrayed Santa
Claus at the Ramseys' home for the third consecutive year in 1996 — two nights
before the 6-year-old was found slain.

JonBenet's death, in some respects, paralleled the plot of a play McReynolds' wife
had written before the killing.

Authorities collected hair and handwriting samples from the couple in the first few
months following the killing, but police sources said they did not consider the
McReynolds serious suspects.

The Ramseys, however, called McReynolds a suspect in their book "Death of
Innocence: The Untold Story of JonBenet's Murder and How its Exploitation
Compromised the Pursuit of Truth."

Janet McReynolds said Wednesday that her husband's involvement in the infamous
case was "the greatest trial of his life."

"He was scarred. He was just so devastated by the mere idea anyone would suspect
him of a crime," she said.

McReynolds' death was sudden, his wife said, although he had undergone a bypass
operation and replacement of aorta valve in 1996.

He was born in Donna, Texas, in 1930, and received his degree in journalism from the
University of Texas. After a stint in the Army, McReynolds returned to his alma mater
and taught for five years before moving to Minneapolis to attend the University of
Minnesota. He earned his doctorate in American Studies and was hired by CU's
journalism department in 1968.

The couple spent the next 30 years in Boulder, raising three children.

After his retirement from CU in 1992, the couple moved to Rollinsville. That is when
McReynolds' fascination with Santa Claus began, said his wife.

"He really took the role as his life goal," Janet McReynolds said. "He loved being Santa,
he loved little children, and then the Ramsey case destroyed that career and just
devastated him. He loved that little girl. It was a very sad thing in his life because he
genuinely loved children, and it was the happiest part of his life."

McReynolds' big heart made him a popular instructor, said Doug Cosper, who taught
with him at CU.

"Some of his students kept relationships with him their entire lives," Cosper said.

"When the Ramsey story happened, he was hurt very badly, and that's why they had
to leave Colorado," he said. "They felt they couldn't live here anymore."

When the couple moved to the small town on Cape Cod in 1998, McReynolds left his
role of Santa Claus, his wife said. Instead, the grandfather of six filled his time helping
the elderly at the local senior center.

"He made a new start. He was beloved by many people here," said Janet
McReynolds. "Of course, he would never get over what happened to him. He would
never fully recover from that kind of suspicion."

A memorial service is scheduled for Friday in Massachusetts. A service in Boulder
will take place later this month, and his ashes will be scattered in one of his favorite
Colorado mountain getaways, his wife said.

The couple's 40th wedding anniversary was Sunday.

http://www2.dailycamera.com/bdc/city_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2422_1378181,00.html

My studies show otherwise.

Santa' Bill McReynolds dies at
72

Retired professor 'heartbroken' after
JonBenet ordeal

By Charlie Brennan And Owen S. Good, Rocky
Mountain News
September 6, 2002

"Santa Claus" is dead.

William "Bill" McReynolds, a retired University of Colorado
journalism professor who gained unwanted notoriety as the man
who played St. Nick for the family of JonBenet Ramsey, died early
this week at his home in Mashpee, Mass.

McReynolds was discovered Monday by his wife, Janet. She said a
medical examiner determined that a heart attack caused his
death. He was 72.

A native of Donna, Texas, McReynolds received a journalism
degree in 1953 from the University of Texas and, after serving in
the Army from 1953 to 1956, taught at his alma mater for five
years and earned a master's degree in journalism there in 1962.
He then moved on to the University of Minnesota, where he
earned a doctorate in American Studies.

McReynolds joined the University of Colorado journalism
department in 1968, where he taught reporting and mass
communications history until retiring in 1992.

"I remember him as a great colleague, a very polite and very
fun-loving kind of individual. The students really enjoyed him,"
said Steve Jones, assistant dean of CU's School of Journalism and
Mass Communication.

Jones said McReynolds told him when he retired that he was
finished with teaching - but a year later, McReynolds called one
day "out of the blue" to see if he could come back to teach a few
classes on a part-time basis. Jones gladly welcomed McReynolds
back.

In the few years before heart surgery in August 1996 ended
McReynolds's teaching career for good, Jones said, "He got the
best course evaluations that he'd got in his whole career. In his
retirement, he had this enthusiasm that the students really picked
up on."

Following his 1992 retirement from full-time faculty status at CU,
McReynolds was hired by a downtown Boulder business
association to play the part of a strolling Santa Claus on the Pearl
Street Mall. His full snow-white beard and genuine love of the
holiday made him a perennial holiday favorite with young and old
alike.

It was 1993 when, during a stop at the New York Deli, McReynolds
met Patsy Ramsey, and her two young children, Burke and
JonBenet, who was then just 3 years old.

That meeting sparked a warm friendship that led to McReynolds
playing Santa at private parties for the Ramseys the next three
years. His final stint there came Dec. 23, 1996, two nights before
JonBenet was murdered in her home.

McReynolds and his wife, Janet, both came under some scrutiny as
potential suspects in the still-unsolved murder, not only because
he'd been in the house shortly before JonBenet's slaying, but also
because police discovered two eerie parallels between the
McReynolds' lives and details in the Ramsey case.

For one, it was discovered that a daughter of McReynolds, plus
another young girl, had once been abducted in Longmont by an
unknown assailant.

The second girl was molested. The McReynolds girl, 9 at the time,
was not. Both were released within hours. The date of the
incident was Dec. 26, 1974 - 22 years to the day before
JonBenet's murder was discovered.

Additionally, police learned that Janet McReynolds had written a
play in 1977, Hey Rube, based on the 1965 torture-murder in
Indiana of a teen-aged girl who - like JonBenet - was found dead
in a basement.

In a March 2, 1997, story in the Rocky Mountain News, Bill and
Janet McReynolds denied any responsibility for JonBenet's murder.

"It's probably just a coincidence, a raw coincidence," Bill
McReynolds said of his wife's play and his daughter's abduction. "I
know I had absolutely nothing to do with it."

Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner said Thursday that McReynolds
is no longer the focus of any suspicion in the Ramsey case.

"He has not been on our radar screen for a while," Beckner said.
"There have been a lot of people we've looked at seriously as
possible suspects. But currently, he's not a suspect."

McReynolds had heart surgery in August 1996. He said, and some
Ramsey investigators believed, it left him too weakened to have
committed the murder that occurred four months later.

Former Boulder detective Steve Thomas wrote in his book about
the case, "Analysis proved that Santa Bill didn't write the ransom
note, (which Patsy Ramsey said she found the morning her child
was discovered to be missing), and he was much too frail to have
made a midnight run from (the McReynolds' mountain retreat in)
Rollinsville, done a Spiderman entry of the Ramsey home," and
carried out the crime.

Bill and Janet McReynolds left Colorado in 1998 and settled on
Cape Cod.

"He could never be at peace," Janet McReynolds said. "How could
you be, if you're a murder suspect? It's something he never
recovered from. He was totally broken-hearted. He was totally
innocent."

One of his favorite activities of late, she said, was taking dawn
walks on the beach.

A service for McReynolds is scheduled in Massachusetts today, to
be followed by one in Boulder later this month. His ashes will be
scattered at one of McReynolds' favorite Colorado hiking trails.

In addition to Janet McReynolds, he is survived by three children,
four grandsons, two granddaughters and one
great-granddaughter.

Bill McReynolds never played Santa Claus again after the death of
JonBenet.

"He has not been on our radar screen for a while," Beckner said.
<b>"There have been a lot of people we've looked at seriously as
possible suspects.</b> But currently, he's not a suspect."

<b>If the BPD had evidence that the Ramseys killed their daughter, why have they looked at other people as serious suspects??

M

He was more than just an odd fellow, to me.

A former student of Bill McReynolds is still a logical suspect.....it would explain the "raw" coicidences....part of the "brilliance" of the crime on the part of the perp. A student that had kept in contact with Santa Bill...and knew some details of his life. Santa as perp is a common theme in many murder mysteries. We know of one person that would tie a lot of the loose ends and coincidences together.

INSENSITIVITY
McReynolds' death deserved better

Oh, for crying out loud!

A journalism professor, a Boulder resident for 30 years, a gentleman who with his
wife raised three children and enjoyed the role of Santa Claus, dies at the age of 72,
and the best the Daily Camera writers can do is the headline "Ramsey's Santa Dies"
and on the inside front page, "Ramsey case Santa Claus figure dead at 72" (Sept. 5)?

What are you going for, National Enquirer headline of the year? Give the man and his
family some dignity! The unsolved JonBenet Ramsey case is not even a blip on most of
today's readers' radar screens.

In fact, McReynolds' wife of 40 years (who herself was, I believe, a respected
member of your staff for several years) even comments that this portion of his life
was devastating to him, so why would you perpetuate it in an article about his death?
Also going for insensitivity of the year award?

BARB COOPER
Boulder

As far as Bill goes, RIP. I've had my suspicions, but all-in-all didn't think he did it. If he is innocent, maybe JonBenet can help him rest in peace. If he did do it, I don't believe they will be seeing each other -- if you know what I mean.

It's sad for his family. How much of a coincidence is it, though, that Janet wrote that story? It just seems too much of a coincidence. Maybe an ex-student? One who is interested in Janet's work?