Former Boulder Chief Faults Police In JonBonet Ramsey Case

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) – Former Boulder police Chief Mark Beckner faults the police in the JonBonet Ramsey case during an "Ask Me Almost Anything" session for Reddit.

Beckner did not realize his comments made during the session would filter out into the public.

"I talked to the organizer and my impression was that this was a members-only type group that talked about unsolved mysteries all around the world," Beckner told the Daily Camera.  "In fact, they had to give me a password to get in. I didn't know it was an open-architecture type thing, or I wouldn't have done it."

At first Beckner did not get much feedback from the session, but it as of now the session has almost 500 comments.

"I tried to be honest and fair," Beckner told the Daily Camera. "I think the only thing I would emphasize is that the unknown DNA from JonBenet's clothing is very important. And I'm not involved any more, but that has got to be the focus of the investigation. In my opinion, at this point, that's your suspect."

JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in her home in 1996.  Her body was found about eight hours after she was reported missing in the basement of her parent's house. The case remains unsolved, even after several grand jury hearings.

One grand jury voted to indict both John and Patsy Ramsey, however the then-Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter refused to sign the indictments, siting insufficient evidence to prove the charges at trial.

Both parents have always proclaimed their innocence.  Patsy lost a battle with cancer in 2006, and John now lives out of state.

In August 2006, then-District Attorney Mary Lacy ordered the arrest in Thailand of American schoolteacher John Mark Karr, who incriminated himself in JonBenet's slaying through a lengthy email correspondence and series of phone conversations with University of Colorado journalism professor Michael Tracey. Karr was brought back to face charges but was abruptly cleared and released on the basis of DNA testing.

No one has ever been criminally prosecuted in the death of the six-year-old.

The current Boulder police Chief Greg Testa did not know Beckner was going to discuss the case on Reddit. "I learned about it by seeing it posted online," Testa told the Daily Camera. "I can't control him. He's not an employee here anymore."

Although the case has never been solved and is still considered an open homicide investigation, Beckner said during his Reddit session that the case is "not actively being worked, unless some new information would become available."

Testa told the Daily Camera that two detectives are currently assigned to the Ramsey case. "The work they're doing is, anytime we get info from the public, tips, or leads, that information would be evaluated and assigned to a detective to look into," Testa said. "It's not actively being worked, in terms of new information, but new information that comes in, is looked at. That was really the situation when Beckner was here, too. That hasn't changed."

Beckner also gave his opinion on what he thought about Lacy during the Reddit session. "My gut reaction was that Mary Lacy did not know the facts of the case and was making a big mistake," Beckner said during the session. "His confession, once they shared it with us, did not match the evidence at the scene."

"After she asked for our help in proving he did it, we knew in about 18 hours he was not the guy. We were able to confirm he was not even in Colorado at the time by just doing some routine checking and then proved her wrong."

Beckner admitted that the Ramsey's position in the community influenced how the case was handled.

Beckner currently teaches law enforcement classes online through Norwich University in Vermont.