Jim Marino

[jameson245]

Quote:1999-02-18: “Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, JonBenet and the City of Boulder”
Written by Lawrence Schiller, February 18, 1999

PMPT Page 166sb

"Thomas and Gosage then interviewed Access Graphics employees David Harrington, Susan Richart, and Jim Hudson and a former sales representative, James Marino. Detective Thomas told Marino, "I know you didn't have anything to do with this. I just need for you to answer a few questions so we can cross your name off the list." The detectives found nothing out of the ordinary about any of them.

For the time being they were cleared."

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(SNIP)

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PMPT Page 449

"That same week, Lou Smit received a letter from John Ramsey, who gave the investigator his list of suspects in his daughter's murder. Jeff Merrick, Mike Glynn, and Jim Marino - all of whom had once worked for him - and Bill McReynolds, who had been Santa at their Christmas party. To Smit it was clear that Ramsey was desperate for the police to check these men, because hey had all but stopped looking for suspects other than him and his wife. Smit, too, frustrated. He was eager for the case to be turned over to the DA's office, because he knew Pete Hofstrom would be a fairer arbiter of the evidence."

After the first of the year, Smit showed Ramsey's letter to Alex Hunter, who then showed it to the police. The detectives found it odd that Ramsey had written to Smit at home and that he had named Jim Marino as a suspect when Marino was appearing on television in support of the Ramseys."

[jameson245]

September 25, 1997

RIVERA: All right. Well, rather than just name-calling, I want to ask Jim Marino, before I get to John Soderman and Lisa Rykman, the reporter for Rocky Mountain News up there, what did the cops ask you? First of all, what time did they come to see you?

Mr. MARINO: No, they had me come to the station.

RIVERA: So you went to the station house. What day of the week, do you remember?

Mr. MARINO: I don't remember.

RIVERA: Remember the month?

Mr. MARINO: The--immediately
.
RIVERA: Immediately.

Mr. MARINO: Yeah, sure.

RIVERA: Was it still in December, then?

Mr. MARINO: Yeah, there was 160 people on a list, apparently.

RIVERA: All right. You came to the station house. How did you feel about doing that?

Mr. MARINO: I was insulted.

RIVERA: What'd they ask you?

Mr. MARINO: If anybody knows Jim Marino from the case and the Ramseys' side especially would know that there--just absolutely no way that I could have been anywhere near the house.

RIVERA: What'd they ask you?

Mr. MARINO: They asked me what I did that evening, where I was, alibis. They taped me for an hour and a half. They pulled hair out of my very few hairs that I have left in my head. They had me write the ransom note. Twice they had me do that.

RIVERA: Really?

Mr. MARINO: And I write in block letters, and apparently they wanted me to write it like the letter, and I said, You c--you can make me write this a million times. I can't write it like you guys want me to write it.' And now that I see the--the ransom note, it looks like a child wrote it, quite frankly.

RIVERA: Oh, it looks like a faker wrote it to me.

Mr. MARINO: Yeah, John or Patsy knows how to spell business,' I guarantee you. There's two S's in business.' The--and I saw--said to John--I said, at the end of it, it says--points to SBTC, which apparently is Subic Bay Tr--Training Center. There's a...

RIVERA: Where John was stationed during the Navy.

Mr. MARINO: Right. There's a plaque on his wall. If you sit at his desk, you can see the plaque. So someone sat at this desk and wrote this note, apparently. I asked John--I said, Why would you point to yourself?' And he just laughed, 'cause it's ridiculous. The--the er--all the evidence points to him, so whoever did this wanted the evidence to point to him.

RIVERA: Tell the truth, Jim. Weren't you mad at John Ramsey when the police summoned you? Didn't you believe that he, in a desperate attempt to throw the finger of suspicion in another direction, fingered you?

Mr. MARINO: At first, yes. And in fact, I found out in April, when Patsy did her--her--her own briefing, which was several hours long, she named all of our--us as fra--as friends of the Ramseys as top suspects.

RIVERA: Is it not a fact that the first time you and I spoke, you still felt that John Ramsey was the man who fingered you?

Mr. MARINO: I'm upset at that, but it doesn't mean that I don't have graciousness of the Lord to say I'm sorry. The man helped me out all those years. He's a good man to me.

[jameson245]

Quote:2000-04-11: “JonBenet, Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation”
by Steve Thomas and Don Davis, April 11, 2000

ST Page 121

"They also had recited a list of suspects for us-Jeff Merrick, Mike Glynn, and Jim Marino, all former Access employees who had been seen at a mysterious dinner with Tom Carson, currently the company's chief financial officer. Then he shocked us by also offering the name of Fleet White. The Ramsey camp had turned on one of its best friends.

Gosage and I returned to Access Graphics for an appointment with CFO Tom Carson, who had been so negatively portrayed by Patsy's mother and who was now linked by John Douglas to a suspicious dinner with Merrick, Marino, and another friend, Mike Glynn. Unlike most of the others at Access, Carson was open and helpful and had a rock-solid alibi. At the time JonBenet was killed, he was in France with his girlfriend, Natalie, and her parents.

He dismissed the controversial dinner as just a get-together with old friends, not a conspiracy to commit murder across a table in a public restaurant in which John Ramsey was a part-owner. I would devote many hours to running down the stories of the others named, and the result was always the same. It was an innocent gathering that meant nothing to our case.

Carson had no idea the Ramseys had given us a copy of the gently

ST Page 122

"worded handwritten sympathy note he sent them after the murder. Team Ramsey asked us to see if there was any link to the ransom note.

Another of those at the dinner, Jim Marino, had known John Ramsey since the 1970s in Adanta and said he was a good guy with no enemies. When Marino had an accident in 1978 and was temporarily confined to a wheelchair, Ramsey offered him a sales job, which turned into long-term employment. Marino was making $51,600 a year when he left Access Graphics and considered himself a loyal friend of John Ramsey.

Detective Gosage started to take hair samples before Marino could warn him that some were hair plugs that cost ten dollars apiece. He would be cleared as a suspect but remained an ongoing character in the case. Even while he defended his pal John Ramsey on national television, Marino would repeatedly be pointed out by Ramsey and his lawyer as a murder suspect."

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(SNIP)

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ST Page 257

"Beckner put a personal letter from John Ramsey to DA investigator Lou Smit, dated December 18, on my desk. It had been mailed to Smit's house, and long weeks had elapsed before it reached us. "Patsy and I are so very thankful you came into our lives at this time," Ramsey wrote to Smit. It looked to me as if the investigator were being seduced. Ramsey spent almost an entire single-spaced page fingering Santa Bill McReynolds as the killer. Was SBTC really supposed to be SBJC- Santa Bill and Janet Claus? Santa Bill wasn't as frail as he might seem, Ramsey suggested, and the ransom note indicated the cleverness of a real writer, such as Janet McReynolds.

I later telephoned Bill McReynolds, and again he answered all my questions. "I'll help with anything you need," he said. "I didn't do anything wrong." Although we had cleared the McReynolds family months ago, the DA's office and Team Ramsey would remain fixated on him.

John Ramsey suggested in his letter to Smit that other suspects might emerge. It could be anyone who read a newspaper article about his company passing the billion-dollar mark in sales, or someone who saw JonBenet riding in the Christmas parade, or maybe it was one of the customers of Access Graphics. That expanded the suspect list by another thirty thousand or so. For good measure, he threw in his loyal supporter Jim Marino as a possibility. Later in January, Marino received a voice mail message from his old pal, complimenting him for "doing such a good job [defending Ramsey] on TV." Ramsey ended the call with, "Love ya, brother!"

[jameson245]

EMAIL FROM JIM MARINO to jameson July 20, 2001

I had asked Jim how he thought he came to be on the "suspect list" -

"... all employees were included in the list of suspects. I was quickly cleared along with 40 others. John was not involved in this 'list'."

Jim Marino pointed out that even the head of Human Resources, Gary Merriman, was on that "suspect List."

"John and I have been close friends for over 25 years, and I left Access with his blessing. I had never been to his house , however, since I felt as an employee, I did not want myself associated with "the family " in those days."

"John and I met discreetly as buddies- but never in the context of work... only he and I and Patsy knew this."

I asked Jim Marino specifically about the dinner that took place at Pasta Jay's - did he think that being at that dinner caused him to be suspect?

"As far as this "dinner" referred to - I am assuming you mean the one where Don Paugh saw some people meeting at Pasta Jays and thought there was some sort of conspiracy. For one- I wasn't at this Dinner- Mike Glynn set it up and John and I were invited- but, I think I was out of town. Anyway- it was exaggerated by the press like everything else - I guess due to the ransom note saying something about a foreign group or something- like it was a conspiracy. Mike and I are Christians and Mike was coming through town and simply wanted to meet some of the old gang and it was nothing more."

I didn't know how Jim and John were now - - but Jim offered this:

"John and I see each other twice a year and we correspond regularly."

Jim said he didn't think John "... would be friends with a suspect." He said, "In fact- I don't believe that this was anyone John knows- it was a wicked Child porn deviant that doesn't deserve time on earth."

Jim did express hope that the case would be solved, "...when we find the DNA match."

[jameson245]

2001-12-02: Webbsleuths Forum (http://www.webbsleuths.com)


Posted by jameson on Dec-02-01 

Did you know that Marino did a Q&A for this forum? Well, he did - - here it is:

Jim Marino answered questions from forum members...

From LovelyPigeon:

When the BPD interviewed you, were you asked if you thought certain people should be suspects?

Yes, they did - good cop bad cop scenerio... I would not volunteer ANY names - they even tried to Get me to Say Patsy... Like : " Well, you said you've known John for 20+ years and he couldn't have done this.... But, you didn't say Patsy couldn't have done it." ... I said - I didnt know Patsy like I knew John.... This is more serious than a some traffic accident, to name someone is judgemental and how can I do that as a Christian????

Were you ask if you personally had a "suspect" they should investigate? (I am not asking to be supplied any names)

YES

Were you ever asked about stun guns? Did you know of anyone at AG that owned one?

NO - didnt see that till the TV report about Lou Smit

DonBradley wrote, "To some, this crime seems far too "targeted" against the Ramseys to be the work of a 'wicked child-porn deviant' and that a deviant would have had no interest in writing even a brief note, much less a lengthy one.

A smart deviant that has done this before would be smarter than the Boulder PD... in fact ANYONE could outsmart them..... I mean - what if there really is a cover up here and they found a city official involved- has anyone ever looked at that angle ?? I mean , the Keystone cops could have done a better job... Steve looked at me several times and said " We know its the Ramseys , I just have to get enough proof."

What made you think this was the work of a deviant? Why do you mention child-porn'? Do you have any reason to believe that photographs were taken by the murderer?

Watch 16mm...who else could do such a crime and put tape on a beutiful childs face and pull that rope so hard that it cut her and a blow to the head that would kill a horse... could a parent do that ??

How would you characterize the manner of the BPD interrogation? Competent, focused?

Yes- focused on ONE thing - proving the Ramseys guilt.

Would you describe the BPD as receptive to opinions?

They laughed at me.

sharkie wrote - "My question would be when Police interviewed you, did they emphasize that John Ramsey placed you on his suspect list?"

Yes - every time they saw me- Merrick believed it- I knew John better- he never would have done that... In fact he told me later when I confronted him that they asked him who might have something against him and HE DID MENTION Jeff Merrick- only because of the letter Jeff wrote to Lockheed threatening John.

And from Maikai:

1. What's your take on John Ramsey using his good ol' southern common sense in the ransome note? ???????????/

dont know- weird like everything? Did the person Know John as a southern gentleman- they he didnt know him before Atlana- since John is a Yankee- Michigan !!!!

2. Do you think the writer of the note was associated with Access Graphics---or even knew the Ramseys that well?

No more than you would know reading the paper

3. What kind of person do you think did this crime? Any idea on the primary motive?

Could be money - too little- I think its Child porn - money from pictures or something- lots of Snuff portn out there - I found out AFTER the crime- see 16mm again.

4. Did you meet with Steve Thomas? If yes, what did you think of him?

Liked Him... pleasant

If not--who interviewed you, and what did you think of the interview?

Focused on me knowing something of the Ramseys no one else had - and everytime - couldn't convince him that they were innocent.

5. Did they try to turn you against John or Patsy Ramsey?

Yes-and even when I doubted occasionally- I went to John and he showed me the truth.

6. How did Patsy interact with John's children from his previous marriage?

Like her own children and always gracious to EVERYONE- Too open - she probably gave cookies to the murderer and didnt know it the day before!!!!