BOULDER, Colo. (Court TV) A former member of the JonBenet Ramsey prosecution team is reportedly helping the slain child's parents further their version of the murder.
According to the Denver Rocky Mountain News, former investigator Lou Smit, who resigned from the case in September 1998 because he felt prosecutors were unfairly targeting John and Patsy Ramsey, recently met with the couple in Atlanta where they now live. Three unnamed sources close to the case told the News that Smit plans to aid the Ramseys advance their theory that an intruder killed 6-year-old JonBenet three years ago.
Smit declined to comment. It is not known how much of a role Smit has in the Ramseys' investigation; one Ramsey friend said, "I don't know if he is the leader of the pack, but he is a very important element." But Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner said Smit's helping the Ramseys would be "unethical."
"It would be quite unusual, to have a police investigator that worked for the DA's office, now consulting with people who are still under suspicion in the case," Beckner told the Denver Rocky Mountain News. ""I don't know how you can assist in a third-party investigaation without sharing information that you became aware of as a participant in that investigation on the prosecution side. I don't know where that's possible."
JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered in the basement of her parents' home on Dec. 26, 1996. The Ramseys has consistently denied being involved in their daughter's death, insisting that JonBenet was killed by an intruder and vowing to find the true killer.
Smit, 63 and a veteran of more than 150 murder cases, came out of retirement in March 1997 to help Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter with the investigation. Just as a grand jury began its probe in September 1998, Smit resigned from the case. In his resignation letter, he said that he could not participate in the persecution of innocent people — the Ramseys — and supported the Ramseys' intruder theory.
"At this point in the investigation, 'the case' tells me that John and Patsy Ramsey did not kill their daughter, that a very dangerous killer is still out there, and no one is actively looking for him," Smit wrote. "There are still many areas of investigation which must be explored before life and death decisions are made."
After 13 months of work, a grand jury finished its work in October and decided not to issue any indictments. But Boulder police are continuing the investigation and according to Beckner, detectives are waiting for the FBI and nationally reknowned criminalist Dr. Henry Lee to complete their forensic analysis of evidence.
In addition to pursuing their independent murder investigation, the Ramseys are also working on a book about JonBenet's murder and their experiences since the slaying. It is tentatively titled The Death of Innocence and is expected to be published in March.
— Bryan Robinson
