NEW YORK, Sept. 13 -- One of the Colorado detectives initially assigned to the JonBenet Ramsey case says she's convinced the little girl's father killed her. In an exclusive interview on ABC's 'Good Morning America,' Linda Arndt said today when she saw John Ramsey carrying the lifeless body of his daughter up from the remote basement room where she was found, it became clear to her Ramsey was responsible for his daughter's death. Arndt said she feared for her life while she was in the Ramsey home. 'I leaned down to her face and John leaned down opposite meand his face was just inches from mine,' Arndt told interviewer Elizabeth Vargas. 'We had a nonverbal exchange that I will never forget and he asked if she was dead and I said, 'Yes, she's dead,' and I told him to go back to the room and to dial 911. 'As we looked at each other and I remember -- I wore a shoulder holster -- tucking my gun right next to me and consciously counting out the 18 bullets.' When asked why, she added, ''Cause I didn't know if we'd all be alive when people showed up. I knew what happened. I knew what happened to her.' Arndt, who was removed from the case, said Ramsey's behavior before his daughter was found was odd. She said he displayed no reaction when a promised ransom call never materialized. JonBenet was reported missing early on the morning of Dec. 26, 1996, and a hand-written ransom note was found on a back stairway.
Police investigated the situation as a kidnapping until her body was found hours later after Arndt told Ramsey and a friend to search the family's Boulder, Colo., mansion from top to bottom. JonBenet was found in a remote basement storage room. No one has been arrested for the killing. A grand jury has been investigating the crime for nearly a year and is funded through Oct. 20. Investigators have said they could not rule out JonBenet's mother, Patsy, as the person who wrote the ransom note and that the parents remain under an 'umbrella' of suspicion. ---
Copyright 1999 by United Press International. All rights reserved. ---
