STARTING OVER

By TERRY MCCARTHY/BOULDER

Why has the murderer of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey not been arrested, almost 10 months after her bludgeoned body was found in the basement of her house? If Boulder, Colo., police chief Tom Koby is to be believed, the problems lie in the press coverage, in strains with the district attorney's office, even in the "very intense personality" of Boulder's chief detective--and not in Koby's much criticized leadership of the police department. Brandishing a copy of the U.S. Constitution, Koby stunned a press conference in Boulder last Friday by dumping his top detective from the case and railing against the media. At the same time, he brushed aside substantive questions about the slow progress in the investigation.

In an apparently preplanned move at the press conference, Koby produced a copy of the Constitution and asked for those who had read it to raise their hands. He then pointed to the First Amendment, which he said gave the press "awesome freedom and also awesome responsibility. I think the responsibility is lacking in this case. I'm not mad at you; I'm disappointed in you."

In replacing Detective Commander John Eller with Patrol Commander Mark Beckner as supervisor of the investigation, Koby said he "thought the chemistry might work better." Koby was the subject of a no-confidence vote by members of his department in May, and police sources say relations between Koby and Eller had been strained for months. "This public backbiting is out of control," says Craig Silverman, a former Denver prosecutor. "This was a good day for the killer of JonBenet." Silverman says the removal of Eller could prove disastrous should the case ever go to trial. "A jury will not convict if it doesn't trust the police and doesn't trust the prosecutor," he said. "Now it is clear the police don't even trust each other, and that will all be exploited by the defense attorneys."

--By Terry McCarthy/Boulder