myth-ramseys wouldn't give interviews
One continuing piece of incorrect information used against the Ramseys is repeated comments from law enforcement that the Ramseys hadnât given interviews. The information wasnât true. The Ramseys had given interviews but Boulder police publicly insisted they hadnât.
Boulder News ConferenceâMonday, December 30, 1996. âPolice, however, have not interviewed JonBenĂ©tâs parents, John and Patricia Ramsey. âTheyâre still grief-stricken. Theyâre not in any condition to be interviewed,â Police Department Spokeswoman Leslie Aaholm said.â - Rocky Mountain News
âThey have been in no condition to be interviewed up to this point, she (Boulder Police Department Spokeswoman Leslie Aaholm) said.â - Boulder Daily Camera
Here is a list of when the Ramseys were interviewed:
2) First interviewâBurke RamseyâThursday, December 26, 1996. Burke was interviewed by Detective Fred Patterson at the home of a friend where he had been taken that morning to protect him from the chaos in the Ramsey home. He was interviewed without his parentsâ knowledge.
3) Second interviewâJohn RamseyâFriday afternoon, December 27, 1996. Detective Linda Arndt and Sergeant Larry Mason interviewed John Ramsey that Friday afternoon. John Ramsey asked for Sergeant Larry Mason to come to the home where he was staying for an interview. Patsy Ramsey was sedated and her physician said she couldnât be interviewed.
4) Third interviewâSaturday evening, December 28, 1996. Detective Linda Arndt conducted short interviews with and took handwriting samples from John, Patsy, and Burke at the home where they were staying with friends.
5) First InterviewâSaturday eveningâMelinda and John Andrew Ramsey were interviewed by police detectives.
Missed opportunities on interviews: Boulder police were with Patsy and John Ramsey constantly from the time JonBenét was reported missing on Thursday morning until Sunday afternoon when the family left for Atlanta for a memorial service. They should have been interviewed during those times.
2) Thursday afternoonâJohn and Patsy should have been taken to the police station the moment JonBenĂ©tâs body was found for extensive interrogations. This was a huge blunder by police. The family didnât have attorneys then. John said they had been told to leave the home, which was now a crime scene, but they werenât sure what to do and were trying to find a place to stay. He said, âWe would have done whatever they told us to do.â
3) Thursday afternoon and overnightâBoulder police were with the Ramseys and were writing reports observing the family behavior. They spoke with friends of the family.
4) Friday morningâThis was another opportunity to interview both parents, but no one asked them. Boulder police were still with them after writing reports from their observation of them overnight. The rest of the day and overnight were missed opportunities for interviews.
5) Saturday afternoon before and during DNA testingâBoulder police officers were in the home where the family was staying and could have interviewed them. For DNA testing, the family members were at the sheriffâs department. They could have been interviewed then as well, although by then, one attorney had been hired and may have prohibited any more interviews.
6) Saturday and SundayâPolice remained with the Ramseys constantly that Saturday and Sunday but did not interview them. They did observe them and wrote reports on their activities. They may have been prohibited from interviewing by the one attorney who had been hired for the family at that time.
Misbehavior by police about interviews:
Homicide expert perspective: âThreatening someone by saying, âWeâre not going to give your daughterâs body back to you unless you do an interview,â thatâs just nuts. Thatâs coercive behavior and itâs illegal. You canât do that.â
2) January, February, March/April, 1997âBoulder police constantly negotiated with the Ramsey attorneys for a formal interrogation (a synonym for interrogation is grilling). An interrogation date was set for January 18, 1997. But Patsy Ramsey became ill and couldnât do that interview. John agreed to go ahead, but police declined to do the interrogation. Additional interrogations were scheduled for April 23 for both Patsy and John. The day before, by email, Boulder authorities unilaterally canceled it. No reason was given. In spite of that cancellation, they continued to complain about the Ramseys not doing interrogations. After much angst, a new, negotiated date was set for April 30, 1997. Patsy and John agreed to interrogations beginning then.
3) The couple was interrogated again separately on a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on June 23, 24, 25. The interrogations were initiated by John Ramsey after he wrote to District Attorney Alex Hunter asking for more time to talk with law enforcement after the April 30 interrogations. The Ramsey attorneysâ main condition for the June interrogations for both Patsy and John was that Boulder police officers not conduct the interrogations based on their âlack of objectivity and judgmentâ and their campaign of âleaks and smearsâ against the Ramseys. The interrogations were videotaped.
âI canât force anyone to talk. It doesnât matter where an interview is. Just get it wherever it is. What matters is that you get the interview and always remember you canât force someone to talk if they donât want to.â (Homicide expert perspective.)
Woodward, Paula. Unsolved: The JonBenét Ramsey Murder 25 Years Later (pp. 108-109). (Function). Kindle Edition.
This was supposedly a 40 minute interview. Det. Larry Mason's reports weren't submitted. Apparently, in early January, 1997, after Cmdr. John Eller falsely accused Mason--the only homicide detective on the investigation at that point--of leaking information, Mason did not turn in any of his reports.
You wonder where Det. Reichenbach's report is (he arrived at the home at 6:02 a.m. on 12/26, per BPD records). According to Woodward in Unsolved, he submitted a one-paragraph police report. He was later debriefed about writing an incomplete report and not conducting a more thorough search outside the house.
Itâs interesting what Arndt claimed in her sworn testimony. I wonder whoâs telling the truth?
A. I knew that Mason had turned his notes over, and they went into evidence, and they now are unaccounted for. And I did not want the same thing to happen should I turn over notes without any kind of chain of command for the evidence.
