Ramseys meet with Boulder prosecutor

Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 3, 2006 at midnight

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John and Patsy Ramsey passed through Boulder on Wednesday and met with District Attorney Mary Lacy to discuss the status of the investigation into the unsolved murder of their 6-year-old daughter, JonBenet.

The Ramseys were in the area to visit John Andrew Ramsey, John Ramsey's adult son from his first marriage, according to Lin Wood, the Ramseys' Atlanta-based attorney. The Ramseys also visited with Lacy, who took control of the investigation from the Boulder Police Department in December 2002.

"I'm not talking," Lacy said Thursday.

Wood said he did not know in advance that the meeting was to take place.

"It was partly to say hello, but they also saw it as an opportunity to see if there was anything new (in the investigation)," Wood said.

There wasn't, Wood said, "other than that they (Lacy and the Ramseys) continue to consider the case under active investigation and a case that, in all likelihood, will be solved by the DNA."

Lacy's chief investigator, Jim Kolar, did not sit in on the meeting because of a court appearance.

"I am surprised to learn that they were in Boulder," said former assistant Boulder District Attorney Bill Wise, now retired. "The fact that they met with the district attorney would indicate to me that they were comfortable with the fact that they aren't the focus of the current investigation."

JonBenet was found beaten and strangled with a garrotte in the basement of the Ramseys' home Dec. 26, 1996, about seven hours after Patsy Ramsey reported finding a note demanding $118,000 in ransom.

The Ramseys were declared to be "under the umbrella of suspicion" by Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner, but a 13-month grand jury investigation concluded in October 1999 with no indictments.

Patsy Ramsey, 49, has battled several recurrences of ovarian cancer in the years since her youngest child's death, and her condition last year had many friends concerned about how much longer she could fight the disease. But she has rallied again in recent months.

"It's remarkable," Wood said. "She had such an incredibly difficult first half of 2005. I was very worried about her.

"But she started a new regimen of chemotherapy here in Atlanta, mid-fall, and she has just had a tremendous and positive response to it."

The Ramseys now live in Charlevoix, Mich.

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