Boulder – More than nine years after the slaying of 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey, amateur sleuths continue to supply investigators with a steady stream of tips and ideas.
“We still get e-mails and little things mailed to us almost weekly,” said Jim Kolar, who inherited the infamous unsolved murder case when he was promoted to chief investigator of the Boulder district attorney’s office in July.
“There have been only a handful of things that we’ve actively pursued, just a small percentage of everything that comes in.”
John and Patsy Ramsey, the girl’s parents, were in Boulder on Wednesday to visit John’s son, John Andrew Ramsey; to have lunch with their local attorneys; and to pay a visit to Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy. The couple live in Charlevoix, Mich., where they have maintained a home for more than 10 years.
Kolar said his office is still in the process of reviewing the “handful” of items and wouldn’t comment on their significance.
One item the office received, which the supermarket tabloid magazines exploited, was a small rectangular weaving loom for making hot pads. The sender wrote there was a connection between the loom and the murder.
Before dawn Dec. 26, 1996, the Ramseys called authorities to say their daughter was missing and they had found a handwritten ransom note for roughly $118,000. Hours after Boulder police secured the house, John Ramsey found his daughter’s body in the basement.
A prolonged investigation failed to produce a suspect, although for a time Boulder officials said the parents were under an “umbrella of suspicion.” A grand jury in 1999 failed to deliver even a report, and the case grew cold.
The family and Lacy, who was elected in 2002, have focused on the theory that an intruder committed the killing.
Staff writer Mike McPhee can be reached at 303-820-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com.
