JonBenet Case: More $$ Sought

Boulder County District Attorney Alex Hunter plans to seek more money to continue the grand jury investigation into JonBenet Ramsey's death.

That all but guarantees the investigation will continue beyond mid-August, reports Raj Chohan of CBS station KCNC.

Hunter is seeking three more months of funding, or about $50,000, which would cover expenses through October. Hunter spokeswoman Suzanne Laurion Monday cautioned however, that the request, to be submitted next week to the county commissioners, shouldn't be taken as a sign the grand jury will meet that long, she added.

"We may not need to use up all that money," Laurion said.

So far, reports Cohan, the combined city-county spending on the Ramsey case is close to $2 million.

The grand jury, which was convened in September, hasn't met for more than two months. Insiders tell Chohan the panel is awaiting the results of forensic testing.

Laurion said she couldn't confirm that because the proceedings are secret. But she said yellow tape roping off jurors' cars in a parking lot near the county justice center hasn't been up for a while.

"May 25 was the last time the yellow tape was up," she said.

Adams County District Attorney Bob Grant, one of Hunter's advisers on the case, has said the grand jury was awaiting results of testing of evidence and that the investigation is ongoing.

Funding for the grand jury was due to run out at end of June, but was extended through July.

So far, Hunter's office has spent $477,250 on the murder case, dating from December 1996 when 6-year-old JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's Boulder home.

The county's total expense, including Hunter's costs, is $547,498, Laurion said.

Patsy and John Ramsey, JonBenet's parents, are under investigation in their daughter's death. The Ramseys, who moved to Atlanta with their son, Burke, in July 1997, have maintained their innocence.