"In the Bedroom of JonBenet, I stood looking at the formal portrait in the ornate gold frame above her dresser, gripped by a haunting feeling that she wanted me to look harder. Later, strips of black duct tape similar to what had been taped over her mouth were discovered on the back of that picture."
ST Page 73
Originally we hoped to prove the black duct tape was from the same pieces found on the back of several portraits in the house.By determining the manufacturer, we might be able to find where it was sold and then track it back to the Ramsey house. We already thought that Patsy might have purchased a roll of such tape from McGuckin’s.
The FBI lab said that both tape samples, from the mouth and the pictures, were a low grade and of low quality, possibly the Shufford Mills model PC-600, but they wouldn’t call it a match
By September 1997 Detective Gosage and I visited the Shufford Mills factory in Hickory, North Carolina and learned that the duct tape was made in small quanties. In fact it only comprised 0.4 percent of the company’s product. We determined that it was sold at McGuckin’s
Shufford Mills gave us various tapes for testing, the dates when changes were made in yarn and scrim counts, recipies for various adhesives, and the various production periods, all of which we sent back to the FBI. In November 1997 the lab said the pieces of tape came from different production runs and had different yarn counts. Same brand, same type, different production run
ST pages 281-282
A detective also found the Boulder portrait framer, who confirmed that the duct tape on the picture was his and that he bought his tape at McGuckin’s.
ST Page 282
"Detective Byfield, for example, had found duct tape that looked similar to the tape found in the wine cellar on the back of two paintings in the home, one of which was hung in JonBenet’s bedroom. The police would later learn that the tape had been placed on the frames by Better Light Photography Studio in 1993 and didn’t match the tape Ramsey said he had ripped off JonBenet’s mouth."
PMPT Page 106
TT: Who was the family photographer?Did the family photograph do JonBenet and Burke?
PR: We went for a while to a fellow named Willis. I can’t remember his last name, but he as at Better in Light Photography. And he’d usually take a Christmas picture. And then I started going to Moto Photo there in, down in Deckens (inaudible).
PR interview 1997
On Dec 2 and Dec 9 of 1996, PR purchased an item from McGuckin’s Hardware which cost $1.99.
TheShufford Mills model PC-600, black duct tape sold for $1.99.
“I retrieved one sample package, a fifty-foot length of white Stansport 32-strand, 3/16-inch woven cord that I had bought. Van Tassell pulled the cord out, frayed an end, held it against the end of the neck ligature, and said, "Look." The soft white braid and inner weave appeared identical. "I think this is the same cord," he said.”
ST Page 261
On Dec. 2, 1996, PR purchased an item from McGuckin’s Hardware which cost $2.29.
The Stansport 32-strand, 3/16-inch woven cord sold for $2.29.
