From the Katie Couric interview:
In fact, Lou Smits theory is at odds with that of another former detective on the case, Steve Thomas, who contends that in a fit of rage Patsy Ramsey fatally struck her daughter on the head and later strangled her in an effort to cover up the crime.
Smit: Guilt is not determined by Steve Thomas and innocence is not determined by Lou Smit. A jury does that.
Sheriffs detective Steve Ainsworth also worked with Steve Thomas during the JonBenet Ramsey investigation.
Couric: Steve Thomas wrote a book about this, espousing his his theory about what transpired that night.
Detective Steve Ainsworth: I heard that.
Couric: What do you think of him as a detective?
Ainsworth: The work he had done before this was all in narcotics. And that is a unique position, in that, your suspect is already identified. Then you go about getting the evidence to prove whatever violation you suspect him of. And and in a homicide investigation or almost any other criminal investigation, its kind of putting the cart before the horse. You need to follow the evidence, and then develop the suspect, rather than the other way around.
I think that he became not necessarily over-zealous. But he had a difficulty in shaking that way of investigation. Because if you do it for a while, its very difficult to make that transition.
Smit, whos worked over 200 homicide cases, believes strangulation was the cause of death, not part of a staged cover-up. He says that his theory is reinforced by a medical condition called petechiae, found on JonBenet.
Couric: She had something called petechiae.
Smit:Yes.
Couric: What is that, and why is it significant?
Smit: Petechiae is seen in strangulation cases. What happens is that when a person is strangled, the small blood vessels in the eye burst, causing little pinpoint hemorrhages in the eye. And these are called petechiae.
JonBenet did have these pinpoint hemorrhages in her eyes. This only occurs when a person is being strangled while theyre still alive. You dont get petechiae after a person is dead.
Couric:Why hit her on the head?
Smit: Well, again. The person who did this wanted JonBenet dead; no doubt about it. That blow to her head was extremely forceful. Took a lot of strength to make that particular injury. It is a large, displaced fracture to the right side of the head of JonBenet. It extends all the way from the back of her head, all the way to the front of her head.
The person who did this wanted to brutally kill JonBenet. That was probably one of the last things that this person did, prior to throwing her in that room.
The Boulder Police department asked Dr. Michael Doberson, a coroner, to study autopsy photographs of JonBenet. He believes there would have been much more internal bleeding inside the brain, if JonBenet had been struck first and strangled later.
I would disagree with the theory of the Boulder police that any of the changes that are seen at autopsy that are associated with the ligature strangulation are staged in any way, says Dr. Doberson.
Detective Smit says whoever killed JonBenet left a lot of clues behind at the crime scene fibers, hair and DNA evidence that, Smit says, doesnt match up with anyone in the Ramsey family.
Smit: When you have an autopsy, one of the things that they do is, they do clip the fingernails. And in the fingernail clippings, they did find DNA. The primary source of DNA belonged to JonBenet. And that may have even been accountable for her trying to get the garrotte. But a secondary source was also found in both the samples from the right hand and the left hand.
And foreign DNA is foreign to JonBenet, but it can point a very strong finger at who may have done it.
Also, they found DNA in JonBenets panties. She had bled during the sexual assault portion of the crime. Again, primary source, they know thats JonBenet. It was her blood. But there is also a secondary source of DNA. Again, foreign. And it matches the DNA in the fingernails of her hands. This is now in three areas.
Couric: When you say foreign, it means not belonging to John, Patsy, or Burke Ramsey?
Smit: Thats right. The point of it is, is there is foreign DNA. Theres common foreign DNA. It is not John, it is not Patsy, it is not Burke.
So, just to take this and say its degraded, and throw these beautiful clues away? You cant do it. You have to plug these these clues into the intruder side of the story as well. If they match the Ramseys, Im sure that that would be very conclusive evidence that one of them did this. But you just cant throw it away. You have to put that into the intruder side of the story. And thats very strong evidence.
Smit says a hair found on this blanket (refers to crime scene photo) covering JonBenets body following her murder, is another key piece of evidence.
Smit: One of these hairs is gonna be very, very significant in this case at some time. It is a Caucasian hair found on the blanket that was on JonBenet. But whoever left it there, better have a very good reason for being in the basement. So far, it has not been identified by anyone. Could it just be a random hair? Sure. But could it be the killer? Yes.
Couric: This hair did not belong to any of the Ramseys.
Smit: Thats right. It has been tested against the control samples that were submitted by the Ramseys. And it does not match theirs.
Couric: There were reports that there were red fibers found on JonBenet that matched a sweater Patsy Ramsey was wearing.
Smit: Patsy Ramsey was sitting on the same blanket, probably, that night, when she changed JonBenets clothing.
Im not saying that you should throw this evidence away. You just have to give it the weight that its supposed to. And in court, if it ever would go to court, this would be argued back and forth.
But as a detective looking at the case, thats part of this that Im looking at. Which would perhaps point towards the Ramseys. But again, the majority of the information that I see in this case points at the intruder. But Im not gonna just disregard those fibers.
Perhaps more chilling, according to Detective Smit, is the evidence he says JonBenets murderer didnt leave behind: the paintbrush, the stun gun and six pages of a practice ransom note.
Smit: People perceive the Ramseys to be guilty. Not because of evidence but because of perception.
In day four of Katie Courics exclusive interview, detective Smit and others who have never spoken out about the Ramsey murder case, explain their theories about the ransom note. We should note, former detective Steve Thomas, Boulder Chief of Police Mark Beckner, and Boulder D.A. Mary Keenan, once again refused our interview requests.
CREDIT to acandyrose.....
http://www.acandyrose.com/05042001lousmit-todayshow.htm
all days can be viewed on her site
