JonBenet's parents refuse second interview, police say

JonBenet Ramsey

January 15, 1998
Web posted at: 9:16 p.m. EST (0216 GMT)

BOULDER, Colorado (CNN) -- JonBenet Ramsey's parents have refused to submit to a second interview with police investigating the slaying of the 6-year-old beauty queen, police said Thursday.

Lawyers for John and Patsy Ramsey demanded that police show "good faith" by allowing the parents to review evidence in the case, the Boulder Police Department said in a statement.

"This is unacceptable to police investigators ... to allow such disclosure could severely hamper the effectiveness of the investigation and damage the reliability of information provided by witnesses or potential suspects," the statement said.

"To do so would also be contrary to accepted investigative protocols and something the police have not done for any other witness or suspect in this case," it said.

JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's Boulder home on December 26, 1996. Hours earlier, her mother had called authorities, saying she had found a handwritten note indicating the little girl had been kidnapped for ransom.

No one has been arrested in the case. Investigators have said the parents remain "under an umbrella of suspicion" but they have not been charged.

Police still want to talk to JonBenet's brother

John and Patsy Ramsey, less than a week after their daughter was killed

Police said Thursday that the Ramsey lawyers had offered to have John and Patsy Ramsey answer written questions.

"This is also unacceptable to police investigators and well beyond reasonable investigative processes," the statement said.

"I am disappointed in the position they have taken," police Cmdr. Mark Beckner added in the statement. "I expected the Ramseys to agree to another interview because I believed their public and private statements about their desire to do whatever was necessary to help resolve this case."

Police said they are still waiting to receive clothing requested from the Ramseys back in November, and for a decision as to whether police will be allowed to interview JonBenet's brother, Burke.

There was no immediate comment Thursday from the Ramseys or their spokeswoman.

Report of missing flashlight denied

The police statement also took issue with a recent report that a flashlight taken from the Ramsey's Boulder home has mysteriously turned up in a police storage area where evidence from the Ramsey case is being kept.

The Time magazine report said police have long felt that such a flashlight could have been used to inflict a head wound on JonBenet, and a similar flashlight was spotted on the kitchen counter of the Ramsey home the morning after JonBenet's body was found. But the flashlight then disappeared.

"Recent media reports that a flashlight had been lost and recently found are incorrect," the police statement said. "The flashlight recovered from the Ramsey home was taken to CBI (the Colorado Bureau of Investigation) in March 1997 for forensic analysis. After the completed analysis it was returned to the custody of the Police Department in October 1997 and has never been missing."

Time's Denver bureau chief, who reported on the flashlight, said, "Our information is that it was lost for a considerable amount of time, and then was recovered in the police storage area, so I'll still stand by our story."

Related stories:

• Report: JonBenet evidence could point to intruder - January 11, 1998
• A year later, notorious case still unsolved - December 26, 1997
• Not everyone caught up in JonBenet drama - December 25, 1997

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

• Inside Denver - Ramsey Story Archive
• Rocky Mountain News - JonBenet Ramsey Story Archive
• Ramsey Family Statements - site established as a tool for the media to obtain comments released by the Ramsey family and their attorneys
• Boulder Planet - The Ramsey Case: Index
• JonBenet Ramsey Case Chronology - compiled by Longmont FYI and the Longmont Daily Times-Call

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

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