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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ramsey Search Warrants Show Police Sought Child Pornography Evidence

Associated Press

From the beginning, authorities suspected JonBenet Ramsey had been sexually abused and examined whether there was a link between her death and child pornography, search warrants released Monday showed.

Investigators seized computers, disks, keyboards and other computer equipment from the Ramsey home in the days following the slaying, because “the relation of computers to crimes of a sexual nature is common,” says one of the warrants.

So far, however, investigators have failed to turn up any evidence of child pornography, according to the district attorney’s office.

The 65 pages released Monday reveal an early suspicion that 6-year-old JonBenet was the victim of a sex crime. It also reveals that investigators had an immediate - and unusual - interest in the family, said University of Colorado Law Professor Christopher Mueller.

“It’s not surprising that they would search the household because that’s the crime scene,” Mueller said.

“But a thorough search that goes into the clothing of other members of the family and that goes into the video camera and computer memory and any traces from the Internet that might be found on the computer - those aspects of the search show police from the very beginning were very, very interested not only in the premises, but in Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey.”

JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her Boulder home on Dec. 26, about eight hours after Patsy Ramsey said she found a ransom note demanding $118,000.

Other items seized from the home, according to the warrants released Monday, include hair fibers from the Ramsey’s bed, a golf club and a baseball bat, rope from the backyard and pens and markers.