#1 Walsh is correct, there is no rule book to reaction, however there are facts, like the Ramseys hired lawyers. I think the fact that they hired lawyers on the advice of friends is KEY here. This was not their original idea. If there is documentation that I have missed that says the Ramsey's requested lawyers themselves, please post it.

#2 I think the first CNN interview was quite telling. Compare and contrast the photos of the Ramseys from that time to recent photos. I won't claim to know WHAT they were feeling but they look spent. my point being: they were in no way acting like unfeeling robots.

I feel sorry for all involved - - so many have suffered because of this terrible act.

I think the killer did too. I think this was his first "kill" and I think it was not like the fantasy.

I think that is the reason we haven't seen him kill again.

=>there was a killer on the loose
=>that killer had violated their daughter, their lives
=>that killer might do the same again
=>the Ramseys were the best possible witnesses - they were in the house and no-one knew their daughter better than they

How could they possibly be sure that there wasn't some tiny morsel of information which they could provide which might lead to the capture of the monster? In their shoes, I would WANT a trained investigator to ask me the questions which might unlock some important detail.

Here's an analogy:-

Have you ever mislaid your keys/purse? Have you hunted high and low for the missing item and then, in complete frustration enlisted the help of a friend or family member and said "Come on, THINK! What did I do when I came home last night? I took off my coat, went into the kitchen...." In other words, you are enlisting help to brainstorm your movements in the hope that something will jog your memory. Then your friend says "You said something about chicken" and BINGO! you remember that you fetched some chicken pieces from the freezer in the garage and sure enough, the missing item is there, beside the freezer.

Memories fade fast - especially for the tiny details. Just one of those tiny details might not have been so tiny.

In this respect, the Ramseys apparent reluctance to sit down and have this brainstorming session of JonBenet's last known movements with the very people who were in charge of the investigation is puzzling at the very least. I simply don't accept claims/excuses of "the BPD were mishandling the case", "the Ramseys did co-operate". The fact is that the BPD WERE in charge of the investigation and the Ramseys did NOT sit down with them in earnest until FOUR MONTHS after the murder. Signing releases and answering written questions are no substitute for a real 'no holds barred' interview. We only have to take note of how many "I don't recall"s appear in transcripts of Ramsey interviews to wonder how many tiny crucial details have been lost forever.

When warding off a polygraph, John Ramsey says that he felt guilt because he didn't protect his daughter. This is so natural and in presuming his innocence, I would never blame him for not protecting JonBenet from her killer than night. However, I truly think the Ramseys have let JonBenet down badly by not sitting down with the BPD at the start.

How many of us would not jump into a river to save our drowning child in case we got hurt ourselves? It is the most natural thing in the world to put your child before yourself. John Ramsey said that:-

From 1st documentaryJohn: That's the most difficult question I've ever been asked and I've been asked that before. I would have given my life for JonBenet and I regret, I will regret for the rest of my life that I wasn't able to that night. To answer your question, no we did not.

He says that he would have laid down his life for JonBenet, but the fact is that he wasn't willing to risk going to prison for JonBenet - if that was what resulted from helping the police with the investigation.

OK, they may have been put in the frame for a murder they didn't commit, but as a parent, I would rather go to prison knowing that I had done everything I could to assist in the search for my baby's killer than to spend the rest of my life knowing that I may have been responsible/partly responsible for the fact that the monster was still free.

"He says that he would have laid down his life for JonBenet, but the fact is that he wasn't
willing to risk going to prison for JonBenet - if that was what resulted from helping the police
with the investigation."

If John's not the killer: how would his going to jail help find Jonbenet's killer?? If John went to jail, he would be in JAIL and the killer would go free.

A: The Ramseys not only hired an attorney - they hired investigators - David Williams and Ellis Armistead. They hoped they would be able to work with the BPD on this. Those investigators met with the Ramseys and asked questions - - I would hope they asked the right ones that might jog their memories.

Imagine this. You come home and you find a thousand dollars missing from your desk - you put it there right before going to meet your friends for dinner. You have two friends with you - they were at dinner and came home with you to visit a while.

Friend #1 instantly tells you that you must be mistaken - - you either had forgotten where you REALLY put it - or you spent it - or you were lying about ever having that much cash there.

Friend #2 has some doubts because hir didn't see the money but is willing to work with you - - asks if anyone knew about the money, if the door to the house was locked, if anyone had a key... was anyone supposed to be in the house that night, maybe a neighbor saw someone?

Which friend are you going to trust to help you get to the bottom of it?

How would you feel if friend #1 went to the neighbor and said - - Hey, I know hir didn't have the money but I gotta ask, you see any thieves around here tonight?

Pretty close to what happened here - - people were told it was a domestic incident and the streets were safe. The cops were like Friend #1 and they found themselves mistrusted.

Jones, the killer has gone free anyway.

If John's not the killer, but had co-operated fully with the police and ended up going to jail, then yes, that would have been a travesty of justice. The Police would have done a botch job. But no-one would ever have been able to point their finger at John Ramsey and say that he put himself before his little girl.

The fact is that the Police NEEDED the Ramseys' help desperately. They needed to investigate and eliminate the Ramseys from their enquiries. The fact that the Ramseys did NOT make themselves fully available to help the police, meant that the Police could NOT eliminate them and as they were simply (and correctly) unwilling to accept the Ramseys' word at face value, the trail subsequently ran cold.

The police were them 24 hrs a day after the body was found, until they left to go to Atlanta to the funeral.

Police arrived at Fernie's house to question them, and doctor said Patsy was in no condition to go to the police station. So police asked questions at the Fernie's house, and questions were answered.

John and Patsy (and Burke and Melinda and John Andrew) all gave samples of whatever was asked for at the Justice Center. Blood, fingerprints, hair, etc

John and Patsy never refused to answer questions or be interviewed.

The investigators did not have the inestigative powers of the BPD. They couldn't raise warrants. The BPD could not share their case information with them

The Ramseys were well within their rights to hire whomever they liked. But that should have been as an added bonus to the police investigation - not an alternative. There was nothing to be gained by setting up a rival investigation to the official one - especially at such an early stage.

No, but their 'co-operation' was surrounded by unreasonable conditions. That is not 'full co-operation'.

Maybe if I had been in charge of the investigation, I would have allowed Patsy her doctor, and I would probably have agreed to a neutral location for the interviews - just to get the interviews, but I certainly agree they should have been interviewed separately.

The only thing I can say that sums it up: "If at first you don't succeed, try try again."

Jayelles, I agree with you that the Ramseys had "terms" to their meetings with the investigation. Whether they will do things differently the next time we may never know. They have not shut their doors to the investigation from what I have read.

(John from DOI)
"Shortly after the jurors started working, Patsy and I began talking about what the grand jury could mean. She was really frustrated, thinking how this would delay the hunt for JonBenet's killer. "Look," I said, "we all know that our common mission is to find the killer, but something else is very much afoot here."

Patsy paused for a moment, as if unsure what to say. "I don't quite understand," she answered.

"You need to recognize what's happening," I explained further. "The number one job of our attorneys and investigators has always been to keep the two of us out of jail." My words had a cold, hard ring.

"You've got to be kidding," she stammered.

"The police department has the sole intent of putting us in the gas chamber. You and I now have to focus totally on making sure that doesn't happen."

"Okay," she answered and took a deep breath. "I think I get the picture."

"We've got children and will have grandchildren. We've got to get through this now, so we can live to be with them."

"Yes," Patsy answered.

"For the moment, we have to make sure that you and I aren't sent to jail. Once the grand jury is behind us, then we can return to our number one goal, finding the person responsible for this."

From John's statement above, we have the veritible map which the Ramseys will live by, as long as they are in danger of going to jail. Good, bad or indifferent it is the truth.

Personally I think the BPD should have taken them up on it. Still investigate the ramseys if they wanted - but use all resources offered.

Instead they said no - - we can do this - - and they urned away the Denver cops as well as many others who CERTAINLY could have helped without damaging the case.

It was the egos that they were thinking of - - not the case.

What if it was YOUR kid - - wouldn't you want ALL resources used?

Hell, I really dislike Wecht - - but if he offered to pay for DNA tests, I wouldn't say no. Not like he was going to be in the lab. And I don't really think any respectable lab would lie for Wecht or the Ramseys - - especially when they know the results would be checked again and again by OTHER labs after the results pointed to a killer.

Also: I don't think it's so crazy for John and Pasty to have a team working on keeping them from the gas chamber. Dying or spending their lives in jail was not going to being their daughter back.

But they offered to pay for DNA tests and the finest investigators to work for the BOULDER AUTHORITIES!

But they are not - - they want the information out and they are fighting for justice.

That says innocent to me.

What else says innocent? Their sorrow when they talk about missing their baby girl. And their joy when they talk about what she brought to them in her life.

I don't always agree with what the Ramseys do - - but nothing they have ever done made me waiver in my faith in their innocence. The evidence says they didn't do it - - and they areacting like innocent people.

Detective Tom Haney to Patsy Ramsey: "JonBenét got up and somebody in that house - legally,
lawfully, in that house - one of the three of you, also happens to be up or gets up because she makes
noise and, there is some discussion, or something happens, there's an accident, somebody........."

Patsy Ramsey: "You're going down the wrong path, buddy."

Detective Tom Haney: "Okay, somebody accidentally or somebody gets upset over bedwetting. That's
one of the things that's been proposed, okay?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Didn't happen. If she got up in the night and ran into somebody, it was somebody
there that wasn't supposed to be there. I don't know what transpired after that, whether it was an
accident, intentional, premeditated or what not, but it was not one of her three family members that
were also in that house. Period. End of statement."

I got a few emails after the 48 Hours program telling me how bad the writers felt that they had believed the media hype and.... now they are not so sure the Ramseys are guilty. They want the investigation to start again - - and they want people like Oliva checked out.

They never seemed concerned about staying sober so they "could keep their stories straight" - and they never said anything that indicated guilt. Nothing, nada, zilch.

A good many of those who purport to sit in judgment seem to have none.

There is wide range of behaviors that are common in stressful situations and reactions to them.

Although there may be many who condemn the Ramseys for having lawyers, they would have been fools not to have lawyers.

Yep, a certain rookie homicide detective spent all of his money on lawyers for a CIVIL MATTER after badmouthing the Ramseys for lawyering up while being suspects for a HOMICIDE. Talk is cheap.

NOW THAT'S A STATEMENT! You really do know how to "nail it", Don! This made me smile!!

>There is wide range of behaviors that are common in
>stressful situations and reactions to them.
>
>Although there may be many who condemn the Ramseys for
>having lawyers, they would have been fools not to have
>lawyers.

Couldn't agree more!

Keep up the astute posting! I really am being honest when I say I enjoy your posts.

Thanks.

I've never thought the Ramsey's behavior was perfect, but then I would hardly expect it to be perfect under normal circumstances and certainly not under such extreme circumstances. I do recall that the Eisenbergs were immediately criticized for hiring a lawyer, but given the later acts of official misconduct involving perjury to obtain warrants and arrest affidavits based on clearly falsified 'transcripts' it seems "lawyering up" was the right move.