Detective “I know who killed JonBenèt”

Video Transcript:

Hello, I'm Kristian and Clientin New York and welcome to a special edition of Time Tunnel. With the John Beney Ramsey murder back in the headlines, today we travel back to 1999, three years after the six-year-old was strangled. ABC's Elizabeth Vargas talked with Linda Arnt, the Colorado detective, who first handled the case, and she had her own suspicions about who the killer was. Who's John Beney? Oh, hello. Nearly three years after the murder of John Beney Ramsey, the case remains unsolved, but the detective who first handled the case has no questions about who is guilty. I know who killed John Beney. There's no doubt in my mind who killed John Beney. And until while this investigation is still ongoing, I don't think it's appropriate that I say that name out loud. Linda Arnt was the first detective on the scene at the Ramsey House on December 26, 1996. The morning John and Patsy Ramsey had reported their six-year-old daughter John Beney missing. Arnt was the only officer there for much of the day. She later would be roundly criticized, vilified, and oppressed as responsible for a bungled investigation. Now she's speaking out to set the record straight, telling her side of that dramatic day three years ago. It all began with a call at 6.30 in the morning from her sergeant. He said there's been a kidnapping. He involves a six-year-old girl. There was a ransom note, a two-and-a-half page ransom note. And according to the ransom note, there was going to be a phone call from the author. And they were supposed to call between 8 and 10 a.m. So I was supposed to get to the house for purposes of monitoring the phone call. 810 a.m. Arnt arrived at the Ramsey home and meets John Ramsey for the first time. How did he strike you? Corjal. Corjal? Mm-hmm. Uffset? Corjal? Distraught? Corjal? Did it strike you at all that he was—that that was behavior that was unusual for somebody whose child was just kidnapped? It's been my experience that people respond to trauma in different ways. So if someone has a response that is different from mine, I don't put judgment to it. I'll just note it. And that is what she says she did all morning. Make mental notes of all things curious, including, she says, the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey remained apart in separate rooms for most of the day. That at one point, she says John Ramsey took time out in the middle of the crisis to read his mail. I remember seeing John in the kitchen, looking through his mail, and I made a note that he was looking at his mail, and then I wondered where did your mail come from. Isn't it possible maybe he was opening the mail looking for a clue from the kid never? I don't know. And I don't speculate. It's a piece of information that I see. It's something that I know. You thought it was unusual, however. I can say that it stuck out. 10 a.m. The deadline imposed by the writer of the Rants of Note for a telephone call. 10 o'clock comes and goes and there's no acknowledgement within the house from anyone that the deadline imposed by the author of the Rants of Note has come and gone. Nobody said it's 10 o'clock and the kidnappers haven't called. Nobody said that. Was that something else you took note of? Absolutely. By 10.30 in the morning, Arnt was the only police officer in the house with John and Patsy Ramsey, their pastor and four family friends. As they waited for news, the tension was mounting. Arnt called her station house for backup repeatedly, but none had arrived. How many times did you call the police department asking where your backup was and what was going on? Well, I remember at least two calls. Both times I was told everybody's in the meeting. They got your message and that was it. Were you feeling pressure being in charge of a group? Was this large and with anxiety that high? Oh, Dr. Mendes Pressure. 101 PM, although the house had already been searched by patrolman before she arrived, Arnt says that in order to break the building tension, she asked John Ramsey and his friend Fleet White to search the house again, topped a bottom, looking for anything out of place. She says she gave them specific instructions not to touch anything. She says John Ramsey headed straight to the basement. He heard Fleet White scream for an ambulance and then a chilling discovery. For Arnt, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. And I see John Ramsey carrying John Bonay up the last three steps from the basement. And my mind exploded. And everything that I had noted that morning, that stuck out instantly made sense. And John Bonay was clearly dead. Then she's been dead for a while. I ordered him to put John Bonay down. And Nelt mixed her and I leaned down to her face. And John leaned down opposite me and his face was just enticed from mine. And 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 the online one one. And as we looked at each other, I remember an unwar shoulder holster. Tucking my gun right next to me and consciously counting, I've got 18 bullets. Why did you do that? Because I didn't know if we'd all be alive when people showed up. I said everything made sense in that instance. And I knew what happened. Do you think your fear was well-founded? You bet I do. There's no doubt in my mind. To this day? Never wavered. You were afraid because you thought the killer was still in the house. I knew it. Absolutely. Absolutely. One 10 p.m. detective aren't moved John Bene's body from the hallway to the living room. John Ramsey came back into the living room. And he grabbed a throw that was on the back of a chair. And he says, can we please, could you please cover her body? And as he's saying it, he's already put the blanket on top of her. Aren't would later be harshly criticized for two key decisions, asking John Ramsey to search the house and allowing John Ramsey to place the blanket on John Bene's body. You had to know that that was going to contaminate evidence. John Bene's body was in and of itself a crime scene. Would it be nice if John hadn't found John Bene? Absolutely. And would it be nice if he hadn't put a blanket? Yeah, it would be great. It would be nice if there were other people to help control and keep people away. That would have been wonderful, but that's not the circumstances that I had available that day. Still alone in the living room with John Ramsey, aren't then heard Patsy Ramsey's voice. And I heard a whale, just a gutter-roll, moan, aching whale from the back area. Probably one of the most pitiful things I've ever heard and anguished. I saw the rest of the people, the Patsy and the pastor and the four friends come from them towards the living room. So if you want to say goodbye to John Bene, this is the only time you'll have to do it. And oh, there's just so much. There's so much pain. And I call 911. I get my radio number. And I said, the kidnapping has turned into a murder. This house had suddenly become a homicide crime scene. Oh, it became hell. John Bene was brought up at about five minutes after one. And at 10 after one, nobody had shown up. And I looked out the window to the street and I saw an ambulance slowly drive by. And I thought, I am in the twilight zone. Meanwhile, the pastor led the Ramses and their friends in prayer in the living room, holding hands as John Bene's body lay before them. I thought that would be the best way to organize everyone, to keep them distracted, to keep them from touching John Bene and to keep them focused on something other than other than looking at John Bene. In 20 p.m., after three hours as the only officer on what aren't calls an incredibly tense crime scene, and 20 minutes after John Bene's body was found, backup finally arrived. The next day, the autopsy on John Bene was conducted. Linda aren't was there. I hadn't seen savagery done to a child or even an adult until the doctor peeled back her out and saw that horrific fracture to her head. It was the length of her head. It was eight and a half inches long and there was something else even more disturbing. She had trauma to her vagina. What kind of trauma? It would be trauma that would be consistent with injuries seen in sexual assault cases. Recently? I guess the best way to say that was what was seen was not a first time injury. The coroner in fact said the evidence was inconclusive, but ABC News has confirmed that three medical experts who consulted for the Boulder Police Department concluded the injuries were consistent with prior sexual abuse. As the Ramsey investigation dragged on for weeks, then months, and then years, the criticism of Linda aren't's actions that December day continued. But she still defends her actions, saying she has become a scapegoat for a flawed investigation. And Linda aren't remains convinced that she knows who killed John Bene Ramsey. She will not say the killer's name, but as no doubt that justice will never be done. Do you think this person will ever be indicted, will ever be charged or convicted? No. What you're saying is whoever killed John Bene Ramsey will get away with murder. Yes. That was 1999. In June of 2001, a federal judge dismissed her lawsuit, saying aren't failed to prove the police chiefs violated her first amendment rights. Stay tuned to ABC News now and ABCNews.com for the latest information. That's all for this special edition of Time Tunnel. Now back to the present with ABC News.