Stephen Singular on Lou Smit

The most important thing to understand about Lou Smit is that he deeply cared about the truth. In another time in American history, this remark might seem so obvious that it wouldn’t need to be pointed out, but we are not living through that era. As someone who’s written numerous books about true crimes and watched the criminal justice system misfire in several high-profile cases because homicide detectives or District Attorneys ignored forensic evidence and jumped to conclusions, I cannot state this strongly enough. What made Lou special in the JonBenet Ramsey case and many others was that he did not assume he knew things when he didn’t yet know them. He had the rarest of all things -- a genuinely open mind -- the one piece of equipment those working on criminal investigations need the most. These are not small matters, especially these days.

In the past few years, the United States has leaped to a number of conclusions about crimes associated with terrorism, which have led us into countless deaths and injuries, incalculable financial and human costs, and wars without end. What if we’d simply followed the Lou Smit model, gone after the handful of people actually responsible for the carnage of September 11, 2001, and matched the 90% solved murder rate that distinguished his entire career? Lou’s endless curiosity, his compassion for everyone involved in a criminal situation, and his instincts for sniffing out the truth never betrayed him.

I spent many hours speaking with him about the Ramsey case and on one occasion at his home I watched an elaborate and highly-informative, audio-visual slide show he’d put together on the homicide. This was years after he’d “officially” stopped working on the murder and sitting with him during the presentation was in some ways a heartbreaking experience (you couldn’t help but feel that the person most capable and most committed to solving the crime in Colorado was not welcome to do his job in co-operation with law enforcement.) The Boulder Police Department had its way in focusing on JonBenet’s parents as her killers and in driving Lou out of the investigation. The results of this strategy speak for themselves. Nearly fourteen years after the girl’s death, the case remains unsolved and former Boulder DA Mary Lacy cleared the Ramsey’s as murder suspects in 2008, based on hard DNA evidence. To the end of his life, Lou never stopped working on his own to break the case, but there wasn’t enough time or enough help from the right people.

The death of JonBenet would never have been easy to solve, but I’m convinced that if Smit had been given a real chance to pursue leads he never spoke about publically, and to interview potential suspects he was never able to get to, the story of the Ramsey case might be far different today. He wasn’t a great man because of what he knew about this homicide or any other. He was a great man because he understood how little you could ever know about human beings or human reality until you took the time to look below the surface of events and make the deeper connections. His passion for that was unlimited. We’ve never needed people like him in public service more than we do today.

Stephen Singular, a two-time “New York Times” bestselling author, grew up in Lyndon, Kansas. In 1972, he graduated with a history degree from the University of Kansas and became a freelance writer in New York. His articles have appeared in New York Magazine, Psychology Today, Inside Sports, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and American Photo. From 1983 to 1987, he was a staff writer at The Denver Post. Since then, he’s published 20 books about high profile crimes, social criticism, and business and sports biographies. He’s appeared on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” FOX-TV, MSNBC, COURT-TV, ESPN, and many other media outlets. His website, www.stephensingular.com, provides more information about all of his books. He lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife and son.

The Wichita Divide: The Murder of Dr. George Tiller, the Battle Over Abortion, and the New American Civil War will be published by St. Martin’s Press in early 2011.

crime prime time

There is some noise that In Cold Blog, a true crime blog founded by best selling author Corey Mitchell, is expanding it's well established presence on the airwaves. It's contributors are award winning journalists and writers the likes of Stephen Singular, author of Presumed Guilty - An Investigation into the Jon Benet Ramsey Case, the Media, and the Culture of Pornography

Here's one of the In Cold Blog weekly television show promo's--

second singular

Stephen Singular just published a follow up about JonBenet's case over at In Cold Blog--

The JonBenet Ramsey Case: Never Give Up – Part Two
July 24, 2009
By Stephen Singular

"Last month I did a piece on Boulder’s JonBenet Ramsey murder case, which got a far bigger and more heated response than anything else I’ve written for In Cold Blog. Some readers agreed with what I said, but others vehemently did not; armchair experts from coast to coast e-mailed to tell me how foolish and misguided I was in actually believing that the case remained unsolved -- they’d figured it out years ago. I was surprised by the passions the 12-year-old murder still stirs among those interested in true crime...

As for my not solving the case yet when so many others have, it might be good to remember one thing: This is the only known murder in human history in which a body and a ransom note were found in the same location. There are reasons for this odd fact that we’re still uncovering -- reasons that don’t make it a simple crime. Unless the only person you have to convince that you’ve cracked it is yourself."

Stephen Singular is the author of nineteen books which range in topics from high-profile crimes and social criticisms, to business and sports biographies. He currently resides in Denver, Colorado. You can find out more about this author by visiting his website at stephensingular.com

who's on first

Checking in on Singulars post over at "In Cold Blog", subsequent reader comments seem to echo Singulars premise that anyone other than Boulder PD/task force, some more likely than others, have tenacity and leads that could eventually solve the case--


The JonBenet Ramsey Case: Never Give Up
By Stephen Singular
June 2004, 2009

"The most famous unsolved murder in America -- the JonBenet Ramsey case in Boulder, Colorado -- is cold, but not dead. For those who’ve believed that this maddening 1996crime will never be solved, don’t be so certain. A group of mostly civilian investigators has never stopped digging below the surface of this homicide and in the past year there’s been movement on various fronts..."

singularly important

The JonBenet Ramsey Case: Never Give Up
June 24, 2009

By Stephen Singular

"The most famous unsolved murder in America -- the JonBenet Ramsey case in Boulder, Colorado -- is cold, but not dead. For those who’ve believed that this maddening 1996 crime will never be solved, don’t be so certain. A group of mostly civilian investigators has never stopped digging below the surface of this homicide and in the past year there’s been movement on various fronts....

There’s work left to be done on the Ramsey case and some people, including myself, are still doing it. On In Cold Blog I’ll provide occasional updates on the murder probe being done outside official circles. "

Stephen Singular is the author of nineteen books which range in topics from high-profile crimes and social criticisms, to business and sports biographies. He currently resides in Denver, Colorado. You can find out more about this author by visiting his website at stephensingular.com