Master Sleuth Added To Ramsey Case
A legendary Colorado homicide detective and a forensic psychiatrist have been added to a team investigating JonBenet Ramsey’s murder.
The selection of retired El Paso County Sheriff’s Capt. Andrew “Lou” Smit, veteran of more than 150 murder cases, and the unidentified scientist complete a special task force set up to investigate the child beauty queen’s slaying, authorities said.
Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter began assembling the team last month. It includes four other metro area district attorneys, forensic scientist Henry Lee and attorney Barry Scheck.
The forensic psychiatrist has already been at work on the 6-year-old’s Christmas night slaying for several weeks.
Smit, a 61-year-old Colorado Springs resident who retired in June, is known as a master sleuth with a deep spiritual faith and an unwavering allegiance to victims.
“He’s not out for the glory,” said El Paso County Sheriff’s Capt. T J. Shull. “He wants to do this for JonBenet Ramsey and he wants to do this for his God.”
Assistant Boulder District Attorney Bill Wise said Smit would begin work Monday on a contract paying him $5,000 monthly in salary and expenses.
“It is not that the Boulder Police Department has not done a good job, because they have,” said Wise. “It’s a fresh set of eyes, a guy who’s a nose-to-the-grindstone type.”
Smit once sifted through a hundred bags of a family’s garbage looking for the clue that nailed a killer. He’s been known to carry pictures of victims from unsolved cases in his billfold.
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