Perfect Murder, Perfect Town : The Uncensored Story of the JonBenet Murder and the Grand Jury's Search for the Final Truth

829 Pages·1999·2.13 MB·English

by  Lawrence Schiller

PERFECT
MURDER
PERFECT
TOWN
Lawrence Schiller
To KATHY, MY FRIEND AND WIFE,
for the four loving years
we’ve shared together
AN APPRECIATION
To Charlie Brennan, my skillful
colleague in interview and research,
for the year we labored side by side in
Boulder, feeling as devoted as family
“Evils that befall the world are not nearly so often
caused by bad men as they are by good men who are
silent when an opinion must be voiced.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This work attempts to take the story of the mur-
der investigation of JonBenét Ramsey out of the
context of the newspaper reports and sound bites
that have formed the nation’s opinion of the case and
place it into a more complete context.
This book is based on the memories of those inter-
viewed, my own observations, reports, transcripts, and
other documents I obtained during my research.
The passages that appear in the first person have
been edited. Words, phrases, and even segments of
the interviews on which the passages are based were
removed and sentences rearranged to present the
material in continuity. It was not done to make accounts
more meaningful or to improve on what interview
subjects said but to avoid duplication and confusing
references and to make the transition from speech to
print more fluent.
Lawrence Schiller
January 1999
CONTENTS
Epigraph ....iv
Author’s Note ....v
Christmas Greeting ....vii
PART ONE A Death in Paradise ....1
PART TWO The Hatfields and the McCoys ....217
PART THREE Stories within Stories ....425
PART FOUR Destruction Derby ....587
Character List ....755
Acknowledgments ....765
Appendix A ....773
Appendix B ....779
Appendix C ....793
Permissions ....799
Name Index ....805
About the Author
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
Dear Friends and Family,
It’s been another busy year at the Ramsey house-
hold. Can’t believe it’s almost over and time to start
again!
Melinda has graduated from the Medical College of
Georgia and is working in Pediatrics ICU at Kennestone
Hospital in Atlanta. John Andrew (2nd) is a Sophomore
at the University of Colorado.
Burke is a busy fourth grader where he really shines
in math and spelling. He played flag football this fall and
is currently on a basketball binge! His little league team
was #1. He’s lost just about all of his baby teeth, so I’m
sure we’ll be seeing the orthodontist in 1997!
JonBenét is enjoying her first year in “real school.”
Kindergarten in the Core Knowledge program is fast
paced and five full days a week. She has already been
moved ahead to first grade math. She continues to enjoy
participating in talent and modeling pageants. She was
named “America’s Royale Tiny Miss” last summer and
is Colorado’s Little Miss Christmas. Her teacher says
she is so outgoing that she will never have trouble deliv-
ering an oral book report!
John is always on the go traveling hither and yon.
Access recently celebrated its one-billion $$ mark in
sales, so he’s pretty happy! He and his crew were
underway in the Port Huron to Mackinac Island yacht
race in July, but had to pull out midway due to lack of
wind. (Can you believe that?) But, his real love is the
new “old looking” boat, Grand Season, which he spent
months designing.
I spend most of my “free time” working in the school
and doing volunteer work. The Charlevoix house was on
the home tour in July and will likely appear in one of
the Better Homes and Garden publications in 1997. On
a recent trip to NYC, my friend and I appeared amid the
throng of fans on the TODAY show. Al Roker and Bryant
actually talked to us and we were on camera for a few
fleeting moments!
We are all enjoying continued good health and look
forward to seeing you in 1997! One final note…thank
you to all my “friends” and my dear husband for sur-
prising me with the biggest, most outrageous 40th birth-
day bash I’ve ever had! We’ll be spending my actual
birthday on the Disney Big Red Boat over the new year!
Merry Christmas and much love,
The Ramseys