Sept 1997 Quantico meeting

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The BoulderNews Ramsey Archive
 
Articles from the Daily Camera

Hunter won't attend FBI Ramsey review
Monday, September 1, 1997
Police and prosecutors will meet with the FBI in Quantico, Va., early this month to confer on the JonBenet Ramsey case, but district attorney Alex Hunter won't be in attendance.
Hunter, through spokeswoman Suzanne Laurion, said attending the Sept. 8 and 9 meeting with the FBI's Child Abuse and Serial Killers Unit "at this time would be premature."
Police will brief the district attorney's office Wednesday in Boulder in advance of the trip, but the briefing will be less complete than expected, Laurion said in a written statement.
"The District Attorney's office had expected a preliminary review of the entire case to date," the statement said. "The police department now advises that the Sept. 3 preliminary review will be partial in nature, involving only the physical evidence collected thus far."
Chief Trial Deputy District Attorney Peter Hofstrom, Senior Trial Deputy District Attorney Trip DeMuth and Special Investigator Lou Smit will travel to Quantico for the meeting with the FBI.
The meeting "is but one additional step" in the investigation into the 8-month-old case, Hunter said through his spokeswoman. "There still is much work to be done."
Police have been conferring regularly with the FBI and have been working with prosecutors and their investigators in a special "war room." Police also have brought in a team of three lawyers to review the case.
JonBenet, 6, was found beaten and strangled Dec. 26 in the basement of her family's home about eight hours after her mother said she found a ransom note demanding $118,000.
There have been no arrests and no suspects named. Hunter has called the parents a focus of the investigation, although he has stressed investigators are pursuing all leads.

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The BoulderNews Ramsey Archive

Articles from the Daily Camera

FBI briefs D.A. on meeting
Hunter's office: arrest not imminent in Ramsey case
By ALLI KRUPSKI
Camera Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 10, 1997
Boulder police and district attorney representatives investigating the JonBenet Ramsey homicide emerged from a meeting with the FBI in Virginia on Tuesday saying there's still work to be done in the case.
"An arrest is not imminent," said Suzanne Laurion, spokeswoman for the Boulder County District Attorney's office.
Members of the Boulder Police Department and the district attorney's office reviewed the case over the past two days with agents from the FBI's Child Abduction and Serial Killer Unit in Quantico, Va. The approximately 4-hour meeting Tuesday involved 16 people, according to FBI spokesman Kurt Crawford. The gathering included chief trial deputy Peter Hofstrom, senior trial deputy Trip DeMuth, retired Colorado Springs homicide investigator Lou Smit, Boulder Police Sgt. Tom Wickman and police detectives Jane Harmer, Steve Thomas, Tom Trujillo and Ron Gosage.
The FBI has assisted investigators throughout the Ramsey case. Patsy Ramsey, the girl's mother, reported finding a ransom note demanding $118,000 on Dec. 26 and called police. About eight hours later, John Ramsey, the girl's father, and a friend discovered the 6-year-old strangled and gagged with duct tape in the basement of her home.
Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter did not attend the conference because the investigators discussed only "the physical evidence collected thus far."
But Bill Hagmaier, chief of the FBI's Child Abduction and Serial Killer Unit, briefed Hunter on the meetings.
"The FBI provided much valuable input in terms of investigative approaches and directions," Hunter said in a prepared statement.
Hagmaier praised the officials investigating the murder, Hunter said.
"... he was impressed by the uniformly high level of commitment, as well as the firm grasp on the issues that was exhibited by both police officers and attorneys working the case."
Meanwhile, Crawford said he couldn't reveal details of the meeting.
"I thought it went well, from what I could tell," Crawford said.
Crawford noted that law enforcement agencies often consult with the FBI.
"They (FBI agents) are basically information brokers," Crawford said. "They learn from other cases and pass it on."