02-21-2017, 12:20 AM
The Denver Post
August 16, 2006
Released under court order Wednesday, the last sealed
portions of JonBenet Ramsey’s autopsy report focused on the cord
and the stick used to strangle her.
The stick is 4 1/2 inches long and broken on both ends,
according to the autopsy report. It’s spotted with “”several
colors of paint” and glistens with varnish.
“Printed in gold letters on one end of the wooden stick is
the word “Korea,”’ Boulder County Coroner John Meyer’s
nine-page report states.
The end of another word appears from
beneath the cord on the stick, and strands of blond hair are
caught in the knot and the cord.
An autopsy photograph shows the cord wrapped around the stick
seven times and spotted with royal blue and black paint.
Investigators have checked the paint on the stick against paint
in the Ramsey home.
“The stick could be very significant,” said one veteran
metro-area homicide investigator. “”Is it some memento of
someone’s journey there (to Korea), and where was it normally
kept? And where is the rest of it?”
Dr. Tom Henry, Denver’s chief medical examiner, said details
in Wednesday’s report probably were released last to allow time
for comparison with statements collected in the investigation.
“This would be one way to find out who’s telling the truth and
who’s not.”
But Henry and other forensic experts who have reviewed the
document stuck by earlier statements that the key to identifying
the killer isn’t in the autopsy report.
Arapahoe County Coroner Dr. Michael Dobersen cautioned
against reading too much into the autopsy. “”The findings are
only part of the whole story,” he said.
The information released Wednesday describes how the coroner
found JonBenet’s body covered with a blanket and a Colorado
Avalanche sweatshirt when he entered the home at 8:20 p.m. on
Dec. 26. The body lay face up, with arms over the head, Meyer
wrote.
Boulder detective Cmdr. John Eller declined to comment about
whether the release of the autopsy report will harm the
investigation, now into its eighth month. Nor would he comment
about evidence described in the autopsy report.
“It belongs in court,” he told The Denver Post.
Investigation continues
Eller said his detectives have been contacting about 35 sex
offenders registered in Boulder for possible connections to the
case. “”We’re looking for additional leads, information and to
shut down potential defenses,” Eller said.
He added that his investigators were “”out until about 2 a.m.
(Wednesday). They haven’t stopped. That needs to be stressed.”
Hal Haddon, John Ramsey’s attorney, said the newly released
information about the cord and stick supports the family’s
contention that the apparatus was brought into the Ramsey’s home.
“What it tells us is this was well planned. The way it was
knotted, the way it was constructed, it was clearly a planned
thing,” Haddon said.
In analyzing the ransom note, it too “”was
well planned and constructed in a very deliberate way,” he said.
JonBenet’s body was clothed in a long-sleeved white T-shirt
with a silver-sequined star on the front, white long underwear
and panties. The long underwear and panties were stained with
urine. The panties, which had the word “”Wednesday” on the
waistband, also were stained in the crotch with red spots up to
a half-inch in diameter.
Heart on her hand
She also was wearing a gold identification bracelet bearing her
name and the date Dec. 25, 1996. A cross hung on a gold chain
around her neck, and she wore a gold ring on the middle finger
of her right hand. A heart was drawn in red ink on the palm of
her left hand. Her hair was gathered in two ponytails, one on
the top of her head and another at the back.
“The urine doesn’t tell me very much because it’s very
common for the … bladder to relax” at the time of death,
(Tom) Henry said.
He said he assumed the stains were blood but that
it’s impossible to tell just from the autopsy report whether a
sexual assault took place.
Dobersen said, “”Most pathologists and physicians who have
looked at the report seem to lean in the direction of a sexual
assault as far as interpreting those injuries.”
Earlier releases from the report showed JonBenet died of
strangulation and an 8.5-inch-long skull fracture; it gives no
clue about which happened first. The girl also had injuries to
her genital area, but experts differ over whether she was
sexually assaulted.
No time of death
John Ramsey found his daughter’s body in the basement of their
home at 755 15th Street about 1:20 p.m. the day after Christmas.
He carried her upstairs, where someone covered the girl with the
Avalanche sweatshirt.
That morning, her mother had found a note demanding $118,000
for the girl’s safe return.
The autopsy report does not have an estimated time of death.
“I consider estimation of time of death to be an interpretive
finding rather than a factual statement,” Meyer explained in a
prepared statement that accompanied the report.
Still not released are reports on toxicology and other tests
on evidence collected from the body, including samples from
JonBenet’s blood, body orifices, hair, eyelashes, eyebrows and
clothing.
Meyer has long claimed that release of the report could harm
the investigation. Parts of the autopsy were released on Feb.
14. When the seal on the rest of the report came up for renewal
May 15, a district court judge ordered most of the rest
released. Meyer unsuccessfully appealed the release all the way
to the state supreme court.
Investigators from the police department and the district
attorney’s office are planning to visit the FBI in Quantico,
Va., in early September to confer on the case.
So far, District Attorney Alex Hunter, deputies Pete Hofstrom and Trip DeMuth and
special investigator Lou Smit, along with police Detectives Jane
Harmer, Steve Thomas, Ron Gosage, Tom Trujillo and Tom Wickman
are expected to make the trip.
Also Wednesday, the Boulder district attorney’s office said
that as of June 24, it had spent $70,669 investigating the
Ramsey murder. Expenses are running about $9,000 a month, said
spokeswoman Suzanne Laurion.
Published Aug. 8, 1997
August 16, 2006
Released under court order Wednesday, the last sealed
portions of JonBenet Ramsey’s autopsy report focused on the cord
and the stick used to strangle her.
The stick is 4 1/2 inches long and broken on both ends,
according to the autopsy report. It’s spotted with “”several
colors of paint” and glistens with varnish.
“Printed in gold letters on one end of the wooden stick is
the word “Korea,”’ Boulder County Coroner John Meyer’s
nine-page report states.
The end of another word appears from
beneath the cord on the stick, and strands of blond hair are
caught in the knot and the cord.
An autopsy photograph shows the cord wrapped around the stick
seven times and spotted with royal blue and black paint.
Investigators have checked the paint on the stick against paint
in the Ramsey home.
“The stick could be very significant,” said one veteran
metro-area homicide investigator. “”Is it some memento of
someone’s journey there (to Korea), and where was it normally
kept? And where is the rest of it?”
Dr. Tom Henry, Denver’s chief medical examiner, said details
in Wednesday’s report probably were released last to allow time
for comparison with statements collected in the investigation.
“This would be one way to find out who’s telling the truth and
who’s not.”
But Henry and other forensic experts who have reviewed the
document stuck by earlier statements that the key to identifying
the killer isn’t in the autopsy report.
Arapahoe County Coroner Dr. Michael Dobersen cautioned
against reading too much into the autopsy. “”The findings are
only part of the whole story,” he said.
The information released Wednesday describes how the coroner
found JonBenet’s body covered with a blanket and a Colorado
Avalanche sweatshirt when he entered the home at 8:20 p.m. on
Dec. 26. The body lay face up, with arms over the head, Meyer
wrote.
Boulder detective Cmdr. John Eller declined to comment about
whether the release of the autopsy report will harm the
investigation, now into its eighth month. Nor would he comment
about evidence described in the autopsy report.
“It belongs in court,” he told The Denver Post.
Investigation continues
Eller said his detectives have been contacting about 35 sex
offenders registered in Boulder for possible connections to the
case. “”We’re looking for additional leads, information and to
shut down potential defenses,” Eller said.
He added that his investigators were “”out until about 2 a.m.
(Wednesday). They haven’t stopped. That needs to be stressed.”
Hal Haddon, John Ramsey’s attorney, said the newly released
information about the cord and stick supports the family’s
contention that the apparatus was brought into the Ramsey’s home.
“What it tells us is this was well planned. The way it was
knotted, the way it was constructed, it was clearly a planned
thing,” Haddon said.
In analyzing the ransom note, it too “”was
well planned and constructed in a very deliberate way,” he said.
JonBenet’s body was clothed in a long-sleeved white T-shirt
with a silver-sequined star on the front, white long underwear
and panties. The long underwear and panties were stained with
urine. The panties, which had the word “”Wednesday” on the
waistband, also were stained in the crotch with red spots up to
a half-inch in diameter.
Heart on her hand
She also was wearing a gold identification bracelet bearing her
name and the date Dec. 25, 1996. A cross hung on a gold chain
around her neck, and she wore a gold ring on the middle finger
of her right hand. A heart was drawn in red ink on the palm of
her left hand. Her hair was gathered in two ponytails, one on
the top of her head and another at the back.
“The urine doesn’t tell me very much because it’s very
common for the … bladder to relax” at the time of death,
(Tom) Henry said.
He said he assumed the stains were blood but that
it’s impossible to tell just from the autopsy report whether a
sexual assault took place.
Dobersen said, “”Most pathologists and physicians who have
looked at the report seem to lean in the direction of a sexual
assault as far as interpreting those injuries.”
Earlier releases from the report showed JonBenet died of
strangulation and an 8.5-inch-long skull fracture; it gives no
clue about which happened first. The girl also had injuries to
her genital area, but experts differ over whether she was
sexually assaulted.
No time of death
John Ramsey found his daughter’s body in the basement of their
home at 755 15th Street about 1:20 p.m. the day after Christmas.
He carried her upstairs, where someone covered the girl with the
Avalanche sweatshirt.
That morning, her mother had found a note demanding $118,000
for the girl’s safe return.
The autopsy report does not have an estimated time of death.
“I consider estimation of time of death to be an interpretive
finding rather than a factual statement,” Meyer explained in a
prepared statement that accompanied the report.
Still not released are reports on toxicology and other tests
on evidence collected from the body, including samples from
JonBenet’s blood, body orifices, hair, eyelashes, eyebrows and
clothing.
Meyer has long claimed that release of the report could harm
the investigation. Parts of the autopsy were released on Feb.
14. When the seal on the rest of the report came up for renewal
May 15, a district court judge ordered most of the rest
released. Meyer unsuccessfully appealed the release all the way
to the state supreme court.
Investigators from the police department and the district
attorney’s office are planning to visit the FBI in Quantico,
Va., in early September to confer on the case.
So far, District Attorney Alex Hunter, deputies Pete Hofstrom and Trip DeMuth and
special investigator Lou Smit, along with police Detectives Jane
Harmer, Steve Thomas, Ron Gosage, Tom Trujillo and Tom Wickman
are expected to make the trip.
Also Wednesday, the Boulder district attorney’s office said
that as of June 24, it had spent $70,669 investigating the
Ramsey murder. Expenses are running about $9,000 a month, said
spokeswoman Suzanne Laurion.
Published Aug. 8, 1997