JAR in Atlanta:
http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/extra/ramsey/0208jon.htm
Half-siblings of JonBenet were in Atlanta
Ramsey's ex-wife tells police adult children were with her By Charlie Brennan
%%byline%%By Charlie Brennan
Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
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BOULDER -- John Ramsey's first wife said Friday that her adult children were with her in Atlanta the night their half-sister, JonBenet Ramsey, was murdered.
Lucinda Ramsey Johnson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she provided an account of her children's whereabouts in a notarized letter to Boulder police -- at their request -- on Jan. 23.
Johnson said suspicion surrounding the murdered girl's older siblings was "out of hand.''
Boulder police on Dec. 30 reported that John Andrew Ramsey and Melinda Ramsey were out of the state when their 6-year-old half-sister was slain Christmas night.
JonBenet, a beauty pageant champion, was sexually assaulted and stangled to death. Her body was found Dec. 26 in the basement of the family home about eight hours after her mother, Patricia Ramsey, found a ransom note demanding $118,000.
No one has been arrested in the case, and police have refused to rule out anyone as a suspect. Because of that, speculation has continued to focus on the older siblings' whereabouts.
John Andrew Ramsey, 20, and his sister Melinda, 25, are John Ramsey's children by his first marriage, to Johnson, whom he divorced in 1978.
Their mother on Friday told the Atlanta newspaper "The children were at their mother's home in Atlanta for the Christmas holidays.''
"They spent Tuesday, Dec. 24, and Wednesday, Dec. 25, with family and friends there,'' she added. "On Thursday, Dec. 26, they left Atlanta on Delta Flight 954 to Minneapolis.''
In a related development, KCNC-Channel 4 reported that an anonymous letter sent from Shreveport, La., to Boulder police said JonBenet had told another beauty-pageant contestant that she had been abused by a family friend.
Police declined to comment on the report.
Detectives publicized the letter earlier this week in hopes that they could interview its author. They said it contained information that could be helpful to their investigation.
It is one of several dozen letters investigators have received containing tips considered worthy of investigation.
February 8, 1997