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Administrator 784 posts samarkandy Administrator 784 posts
samarkandy
People seem to wonder how I came across these documents. Apparently some people even think they were leaked to me and that the documents were therefore obtained illegally. 

To set the record straight I will tell you that I applied for these documents by emailing the Boulder District Attorney and requesting them through the Colorado Open Records Act. This was back in December 2016. These are the emails. I had a private detective prepare the emails for me in the correct format. This is what he wrote:


Sent: Wednesday, 14 December 2016
Subject: Re: CORA REQUESST-RAMSEY

Jack Peters

Deputy District Attorney

20th Judicial District

1777 6th Street

Boulder, CO 80302

303.413.7071

  Pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA), section 24-72-201 and the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act, (CCJRA), section 24-72-301, I respectfully request for inspection by digital format:

the electropherograms from Brode for the cords used to create both the wrist bindings and the garotte including the paint brush handle and ligature and any and all correspondence relating to the analyses of the DNA from Brode to the Boulder District attorney’s Office, Boulder Police Department or any other law enforcement agency in connection with the investigation of Jon Benet Ramsey      

If there are any fees for searching or making available these records, please inform me if that cost will exceed $300.

Please let me know within three working days following receipt of this request when the records will be made available for inspection. If access to these records will take longer, please cite the extenuating circumstances and let me know.

I ask that the records be available if possible in electronic format and transmitted to my email address at - -. In the event you deny any portion or all of this request, please provide me with a written explanation of the reason(s) for your denial, including a citation for each specific statutory exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law.

If you conclude that portions of the records of the records that I request are exempt from disclosure please provide the remainder of such records for inspection, redacting only the portion or portions that you claim are exempt.

I thank you in advance.

 

Three sets of CORA files were sent by Jack Peters to my private detective on 17 December 2016. The first was a bundle of 53 pages, the second a bundle of 99 and the third a bundle of 117.

After reading through them I discovered that the specific files I had requested were not included. I had the private detective make a second request. I was informed though, that the DA's Office did not have those files. I was surprised to learn this given that it was through the DA's Office that the request for those tests had been submitted. I presume the people in the DA's Office who made the request did not file the report. That would be Jane Harmer and Andy Horita.

 
 
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REQUESTED
To:Peters, Jack
Cc: - 

29 Dec 2016 at 5:13 am

Hi Jack hope you are well and  had a great Christmas, back to work…thank you for the last bit of information as it relates to CORA # 2.

 

After review of that information (CORA 2):

 

the electropherograms from Bode for the cords used to create both the wrist bindings and the garotte including the paint brush handle and ligature and any and all correspondence relating to the analyses of the DNA from Bode to the Boulder District attorney’s Office, Boulder Police Department or any other law enforcement agency in connection with the investigation of Jon Benet Ramsey     

 

There are a few items I had anticipated but did not see. I would like to request those items, see  below  (1 and 2,) if another CORA request is required I will be more than happy to draft one. There is a book written by a former investigator with the District Attorney's Office, James Kolar: Foreign Faction, Who Really Killed JonBenet Ramsey? pages 412 through 417. In it he described results obtained by Bode from other crime scene items and this is the area of concentration I am most interested. I would like to review the  relevant electropherograms, covering  the dates December 2007 through December 2010.More specifically:

 

“We (referring to Andy Horita, another investigator) collectively recapped the DNA evidence that had been analyzed in this investigation, and it included the following:

 

1-“6.) The new technology of Touch DNA had located another

sample of DNA located on the wrist bindings that

belonged to a different unidentified male.

 

2-“7.) The new technology of Touch DNA had located another

sample of DNA located on the garrote that belonged to yet

another unidentified male.

 

I  also  respectfully request  all correspondence between the dates December, 2007 through December 2010 between BODE, the Boulder County District Attorney’s  Office, the Boulder Police Department, Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation, other law enforcement agencies not specifically mentioned  along with and any and all experts.

 

Thanks in advance.

 - -


On February 9 Jack Peters sent us the three bundles of documents assuring us that was all they had. 
 
 
Ramsey open records request - 1 of 3
Peters, Jack <jpeters@bouldercounty.org>
To:--
9 Feb 2017 at 3:42 am

Dear --,

 

I have received the request that you made for open records regarding the Ramsey case. We have very limited records on this case at this time. I have included the entirety of the records that we have. The size of the records exceeds our attachment size limit, so I will send it in three emails. The attachment in this email is the first of three

 

Also, I do not know whether the contents of our records match exactly the DNA testing records that you referenced in your request. That said, I’m sending you all that we have, so you should be able to determine whether it includes what you are looking for. The Boulder Police Department or the Colorado Bureau of Investigation may also have records that may be different from the ones that we have, although I don’t know what they do or do not have.

 

 

Please feel free to contact me with any further questions.

Best,

Jack Peters



Three days later I emailed Jack Peters with the same request. 

From:  - -
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 4:34 PM
To: Peters, Jack
Cc: - -
Subject: JonBenet Ramsey murder case DNA

 

Dear Mr Peters,   

 

I thank you for the records you have provided to me in response to my previous CORA request. I now submit a second request for information that was not included in the records I have received from you thus far.

 

My first submission included the following “I am requesting the DNA analyses results for both items – the cord of the wrist ligatures and the garrote (including the paintbrush handle and cord) and that they be provided in the form of the original electropherograms that would have been generated from the laboratory analyses of the respective DNA samples.” Unfortunately the above documents were not included amongst those you provided. 

 

However, in one of the documents you did provide – ‘Ramsey records part 1 of 3.pdf’ pages 34 to 36, there are three pages of a CBI Forensic Laboratory Examination Report dated January 19, 2009 and stamped as having been received by Andy Horita, Chief Investigator for the Ramsey case in your office,on January 23, 2009.

 

After noting the items on which DNA mixtures were detected, which included the neck ligature and the wrist ligature on page 2, the CBI report continues on page 3 by stating: “For partial profiles, only the loci used in the statistical calculation are listed.” This statement in the CBI report clearly infers that further details of the DNA analyses of the neck and wrist ligatures (and other items) are included in the CBI report, yet the pages of the report that include these details are not amongst the documents you provided to me.

 

As further evidence that Andy Horita on behalf of the DA’s Office, did indeed receive these extra details from CBI, I note that prior to the publication of his book in 2012, 'Foreign Faction, Who Really Kidnapped JonBenet?', James Kolar, a former investigator with your office, stated on page 417 of the book that he was told by Horita: “The strength of the loci (genetic markers) observed in the cord of the wrist bindings were reported to be 6 markers, and those of the male in the garrote were 7.” These details are not included in any of the documents you provided to me.

 

For Andy Horita to be aware of this information he must have received the further information from CBI that I refer to above and which therefore, should be in the DA's Office records pertaining to the Ramsey case. This information would be in the form of statistical calculations for the loci identified by CBI and possibly supported by electropherograms and supplied with the January 19, 2009 report that was received by you from CBI on January 23, 2009. 

 

With this information in mind and pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act (CRS 24072-201+) and the Criminal Records statute (CRS 24-72-301+), I respectfully request the statistical calculations for the loci identified by CBI and possibly supported by electropherograms developed by their forensic team for the ‘neck ligature’ and the ‘wrist ligature’ on January 13, 2009.

 

I ask that the records of the CBI DNA analyses for the ‘neck ligature’ and the ‘wrist ligature’ be made available to me, if possible in electronic format and be transmitted to my email address at - - .

 

In the event you deny any portion or all of this request, please provide me with a written explanation of the reason(s) for your denial, including a citation for each specific statutory exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law.

 

I look forward to your response in three business days, as is required by the statute and I thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

 

Respectfully,

 - -


Once again Jack Peters wrote back saying they had sent all the documents they had.
 

 Jack <jpeters@bouldercounty.org>
To: - -
Cc: - -,Finn, Sean

14 Feb 2017 at 3:57 am

 - - ,

I apologize but as I indicated when I provided the documents to you, those are all the records that we have.

Best,

Jack Peters

 
 
These are the CORA documents in the state that I received them from the DA’s Office
 
There was no order whatsoever within the 3 bundles of documents. I started posting them on by one here and commenting on them. Then a few people asked me for copies of the CORA documents, which I did with the exception of one RDI poster who had always been particularly rude to me and then began his renewed attacks on me when I refused to give them to him. One of the posters o gave them to was -searchinGirl and once she had them she spent hours and hours getting them in a logical order and posted them all here: 
 
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samarkandy Administrator 784 posts
samarkandy
see also 

https://jonbenetramseymurder.discussion.community/post/i-wasnt-the-first-person-to-obtain-documents-through-the-colorado-open-records-act-10294345?pid=1309746589
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samarkandy Administrator 784 posts
samarkandy
Based on the fact that nearly all of the CBI DNA results 1997 to 1999 files, as well as many others, were missing from the CORA files I have long suspected that this was because Boulder Police deliberately did not hand these over to Mary Lacy in 2002 when she took over the case.

https://jonbenetramseymurder.discussion.community/post/what-documents-did-boulder-police-withhold-from-the-da’s-office-in-2003-when-they-were-12033149?pid=1329492358



Just going through old stuff I came across this December 2002 news article about Ollie Gray. It seems this was the very thing that he was worried about at the time:

"Gray fears that the Boulder Police Department may hold back on what it turns over to the district attorney. "Are they going to release to the district attorney's office all the DNA tests, what the results were, what other evidence has been tested?" Gray said."

 
The above quote is from the article reproduced in full below:
 

Police won't join DA on Ramsey probe Boulder cops' feud with family cited

John Ingold and Howard Pankratz, Denver Post. December 22, 2002


The Boulder Police Department will no longer investigate the JonBenét Ramsey murder case and plans to turn the investigation over to the Boulder District Attorney's Office, the city's police chief announced Friday. The switch comes as the long-dormant investigation into the 6-year-old beauty queen's brutal 1996 slaying is heating up with what the Ramseys' attorney terms "new leads and new information."

 
The move also comes as Ramsey attorney Lin Wood prepares to file a civil lawsuit against the Boulder Police Department, and just months after he sent a letter to Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner and District Attorney Mary Keenan urging them to take Boulder police investigators off the case.
 
 
Beckner said in a statement released Friday that the decision to transfer the investigation from police to the district attorney's office is a mutual one. He said that having investigators who have never worked on the case take a fresh look will be beneficial, and he said he hopes the switch makes the Ramseys more cooperative with the investigation. "The primary reason for this change is an attempt to further the investigation in a positive manner," Beckner said. "This is a strategy to address concerns expressed by the Ramseys and their attorney that the Boulder Police Department is not following up additional leads."
 
 
Wood said JonBenét's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, welcome the switch. They have long criticized Boulder police for what they felt was a preoccupation with them as suspects, to the exclusion of seriously examining other possibilities. Wood praised Keenan, a longtime Boulder prosecutor who was elected district attorney two years ago, as professional and fair-minded. "If Mary Keenan seeks any information from John or Patsy Ramsey, including requests to speak with them, the Ramseys will quickly and unconditionally respond with a 'yes,"' Wood said. "I think that says clearly that the Ramseys are convinced that Mary Keenan is unbiased and will be thorough in her investigation of all potential suspects."
 
 
In the early hours of Dec. 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey found a three-page ransom note on a staircase in the family's large Tudor home demanding $118,000 for JonBenét's safe return.John Ramsey discovered his daughter's body about eight hours later in the basement storage room, where the family had kept Christmas gifts.
 
 
Keenan, reached at her office Friday, declined to talk about the investigation. "I'm not commenting on it at all," she said. Both Beckner and Wood hinted that a standoff between police and the Ramseys forced the move. "It is our hope that by changing the dynamics of the investigation, information maintained by the Ramseys will be forwarded to the DA's office for follow-up," he said. "Obviously, it is impossible to investigate information you do not have access to." Wood said trust between the Ramseys and Boulder police - never strong - has eroded even further in recent months. "I know that there have been new leads and new information in the case," Wood said. "And because of my concerns about how that information would be either followed up on, or better yet perhaps ignored, that information was provided to the district attorney's office and not the Police Department."
 
 
Ollie Gray, a Colorado Springs private investigator who has been working for John and Patsy Ramsey for three years, called the announcement a "very positive step - if they go through with what they are saying.” Gray said that he has submitted many leads and reports to Boulder police in the past two years. In May 2000, he said, he submitted a 50-page report to the department and has followed up since with several additional reports. "We have been providing them with credible leads which we felt beyond our capability to follow up on," he said. Those leads require court-approved search warrants or court-approved orders for hair and blood samples, Gray said. Gray said he has heard from the department once - about a pair of boots that he believed may have left some prints at the crime scene. Police said the boots didn't match the prints.
 
 
Wood said Boulder investigators have not looked at several people he said were potential suspects deserving of thorough investigation. Wood did not reveal the identity of his suspects. He said advances in forensic science may give new value to physical evidence found at the scene. "There's some very, very good leads out there that need to be investigated. I know that for a fact," he said.
 
 
Gray fears that the Boulder Police Department may hold back on what it turns over to the district attorney. "Are they going to release to the district attorney's office all the DNA tests, what the results were, what other evidence has been tested?" Gray said.
 
 
Boulder city spokeswoman Jennifer Bray said police will cooperate fully with the district attorney's investigation and turn over all their material. Gray said he thinks the case can be solved and that he would like to see Boulder involved in bringing the murderer to justice. Since almost the beginning, Gray said, the Police Department and the special prosecutors assigned to the grand jury investigation believed John and Patsy Ramsey were responsible for their daughter's death. After hearing testimony for 13 months, the grand jury adjourned without issuing any indictments. "From very, very early on in this case, Boulder was convinced that John and Patsy Ramsey were the guilty people," Gray said..
 
 
Wood said he has assembled a team of seven lawyers from several firms to put together a possible suit against the Police Department. Although he has not formalized the complaint, Wood said the lawsuit may focus on possible constitutional rights violations and defamation against the Ramseys. Wood said he may not file the suit if he determines it would hinder the DA's investigation..
 
 
This will be the fourth time the Ramsey investigation has changed in "strategy and responsibility," Beckner said in his statement. Each time, he said, the case has advanced. Reached at his office Friday, Beckner said he is happy that the district attorney's office is now taking over the case. In his statement, Beckner said he had no regrets in giving up the investigation. "We don't care how or who solves this case," he said. "And if this helps, then it is the right thing to do.".
 
 
Correspondent Marilyn Robinson contributed to this report.
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samarkandy Administrator 784 posts
samarkandy
 
 
I gave the CORA documents to searchinGirl who then got them sorted and up on the wiki. As a result pages and pages of documents (all the ones that the DA’s office had copies of, that is) became available for case followers to read for themselves.
 
 
 
If we hadn’t done that, all people would have been able to see would have been the ones Jameson, who had managed to get hold of the documents for Charlie Brennan, was prepared to release with her own ‘insightful' comments, as she had started doing in February 2017
 


A week later she wrote this detail about the BODE DNA testing of the neck and wrist ligatures. But her comments show that she missed the whole point of why Harmer and Horita did those tests as well as missing entirely the significance of the results

https: https://www.webbsleuths.org/portal.php?page=77

03-15-2017, 11:32 PM

I have some detailed files on the DNA and thought you might be interested in knowing the lab has checked for DNA from not just buccal swabs and hair follicles but toothpicks, sun flower seeds, gum, tissues, pillowcase, swabs from steering wheels and arm rests. If LE determines a suspect is worth following up on, there are lots of ways to capture the DNA.

Here is the full report of the BODE DNA testing of the neck and wrist ligatures:

https://jonbenetramseymurder.discussion.community/post/2009-dna-test-results-of-neck-and-wrist-ligatures-submitted-by-harmer-and-horita-without-9801644?pid=1306124696
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