Boulder police take back JonBenet investigation

[February 03, 2009]  BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -- The slaying of JonBenet Ramsey will be investigated as a cold case with all evidence and actions taken 12 years ago reviewed anew, the police chief said Monday as the department resumed a probe for which it had long been criticized.

Chief Mark Beckner said new technology gives investigators tools they didn't have a decade ago; the 6-year-old beauty pageant contestant was found bludgeoned and strangled in the basement of her Boulder home in 1996.

Police had transferred the probe to the district attorney's office six years ago amid criticism of how the case was handled.

"We'd love to solve this case for JonBenet so she can rest in peace," Beckner said at a news conference announcing the shift.

Police will handle the investigation as a cold case, "reviewing everything that's been done, the evidence that's been collected, trying to determine where do we go from here," he said.

As a cold case, the investigation won't have a full team of detectives working around-the-clock, the chief said.

"It's going to be an as-we-can type of thing, or as needed," he said.

L. Lin Wood, an attorney for JonBenet's father, John Ramsey, called the announcement a "positive sign in terms of my hope that the Boulder Police Department will take not only a new review in terms of a cold case review, but that it will go in this time with an objective review."

Wood and Ramsey have been critical of previous police efforts, saying they unfairly focused on the family and ignored other evidence.

Patsy Ramsey, JonBenet's mother and John Ramsey's wife, died in 2006 after a long battle with cancer.

Beckner said he and newly elected District Attorney Stan Garnett agreed that police should lead the investigation again.

Beckner said he has invited veteran investigators from state and federal agencies to form an advisory task force on the case.

"We're bringing in people on this task force that are going to have a fresh perspective," he said. "(They're going to) look at this case, tell us what they think, challenge us, give us ideas."

The group will meet in the next few weeks to review the evidence and identify additional testing that might be done.

At the news conference, Beckner said more than 140 people had already been investigated as potential suspects, but none could be definitively linked to the crime.

Garnett's predecessor, Mary Lacy, last year cleared Jonbenet's family in the slaying, saying male DNA found on the girl's clothing almost certainly came from her killer, and that it didn't match anyone in the family.

Beckner informed John Ramsey of the change in the investigation in a letter. Wood said the letter gave no hint that police would back away from Lacy's decision to clear the family.

Lacy did not run for re-election because of term limits. She told The Associated Press that returning the investigation to police was "a great idea."

"I think that time has resolved any issues that might have lingered, but also I think that Mark Beckner has done a very good job," she said.

Lacy said the reason her office took over the case in 2002 was that the Ramsey family had no confidence in the police. "It wasn't that they were incompetent," she said of the officers.

Lacy said she is "absolutely" hopeful the case will one day be resolved.

"I believe the DNA (that cleared the Ramsey family) is the most significant piece of evidence, and hopefully, as with some cold cases, there will eventually be a hit on it," she said.

Beckner said "that unknown DNA" will be a big part of the investigation.

[Associated Press; By ALYSIA PATTERSON]

Associated Press writer Dan Elliott in Denver contributed to this report.

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