News reports spoiled police plans to interview slain girl's brother, 11

By Lisa Levitt Ryckman
and Kevin McCullen Rocky Mountain News Staff Writers

BOULDER -- A police interview of 11-year-old Burke Ramsey fell through because details of the negotiations were leaked to the media, the boy's attorney said Thursday.

Jim Jenkins said two weeks' worth of talks with Cmdr. Mark Beckner, who heads the investigation into the December 1996 slaying of of Burke's 6-year-old sister, JonBenet, appeared to be close to resolution after a telephone conversation last Friday.

"We agreed we were 95 percent there,'' the Atlanta-based criminal defense lawyer said.

Within five minutes of that call, Jenkins said, he was contacted by a reporter who knew all the details of his private conversation with Beckner.

Beckner "told me he personally didn't do it,'' Jenkins said. "But (he said) that he is powerless to control the unauthorized release of confidential information by others in his department. I do not believe this.''

But Beckner said Thursday in a statement that he is satisfied the leak didn't come from the Police Department.

"There is absolutely no advantage to me or to the Boulder Police Department to disclose any information regarding the discussions with Mr. Jenkins. In fact, just the opposite,'' Beckner said.

"I have since discovered that there are other sources where the information could have come from.''

He did not elaborate.

Regardless, Beckner said it is important that Burke and his parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, be interviewed. The parents, who police interrogated last May, have declined to be questioned again.

"Given the refusal, for whatever reason, of some people to cooperate in this investigation, we will attempt other investigative avenues to obtain the information necessary to complete this investigation,'' Beckner said.

Burke, who is not considered a suspect, has been questioned twice by the Boulder police.

The first interview occurred on

the day that JonBenet's battered body was found in the basement of the family's Boulder home, and again on Jan. 8, 1997.

The second interview, conducted by a psychologist in the presence of a detective, was extremely detailed, Jenkins said.

The final stumbling block to a third interview was the police insistence that Burke not discuss it afterward with his parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, whom investigators consider suspects. The couple have maintained their innocence.

Jenkins and other Ramsey family attorneys expressed dismay over the latest breakdown in talks with police.

"I think this whole game has been orchestrated to heap as much mud and pain on the Ramseys as possible,'' Ramsey attorney Hal Haddon said. "I think they've engineered it in such a fashion that nobody reasonable would want to cooperate with them.''

Jenkins said he sent Beckner a letter on Thursday formally ending the discussion of another Burke Ramsey interview.

"I told him that under the circumstances of the leak, I see no reason or purpose to negotiate with the Boulder Police Department,'' said Jenkins, who also represents John Ramsey's two older children, Melinda and John Andrew.

February 20, 1998