Jailhouse tipster is one of many
Authorities expect more as anniversary of JonBenet's death nears 
By Sandra Fish, Camera Staff Writer
December 24, 2002 

http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/city_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2422_1630212,00.html 

It's the season for tipsters, at least when it comes to the almost 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey homicide case. 

One of the latest is from a California federal prison inmate who said he thinks he knows who killed the Boulder girl on Dec. 26, 1996. 

But a letter from Robert B. Cook's attorney to Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood earlier this month focused on confirming the size of the reward the Ramseys might offer for solving the crime. Dennis Shea, a Santa Barbara lawyer, twice mentioned a $1 million reward his client thought the Ramseys were offering, according to a fax of the letter the Daily Camera received Monday. It was unclear who sent the fax. 

"That's some guy who claimed to have heard some jailhouse confession," Wood said. 

He said he doesn't think the family ever offered a $1 million reward but did offer $100,000 at one time. Wood and a Ramsey family investigator don't think Cook's offering is a bona fide lead in the case. 

"Almost everything he gave had to do with things that were already in the news," said Lou Smit, a retired Colorado Springs police detective who once worked on the case for the Boulder County District Attorney's Office and now works for the Ramseys. 

Wood said he still receives "lots" of tips six years after the 6-year-old girl was found strangled in the basement of her family's home near Chautauqua Park. 

"You try to look at each one of them because you never know," Wood said. 

Smit said he keeps a database of tips and tipsters, even those like Cook's offer. 

"You'd be surprised how many calls we get," Smit said. "A lot of them are tips, a lot of them are psychics. ... I do write down every one of these. We never know when a name will cross with something else we're working on. I don't think I've ever turned anyone away." 

Boulder police officials announced last week that Boulder County District Attorney Mary Keenan will be reopening the Ramsey investigation, looking into new leads. Smit said he'll offer her his database if she wants it. 

And Smit expects the phones to keep ringing as the anniversary of JonBenet's death comes Thursday. 

"We do get more this time of year," he said.