Editing Killing of JonBenét Ramsey (section)

===Intruder theory===
The police and the prosecutors followed leads for intruders partly due to the unidentified boot mark left in the basement room where JonBenét's body was found.<ref name="Newsweek 2016"/> 

Early persons of interest included neighbor Bill McReynolds; Chris Wolf, a local reporter whose then-girlfriend reported him as a suspect; family housekeeper Linda Hoffmann-Pugh; and a man named Michael Helgoth, who died in an apparent [[suicide]] shortly after JonBenét's death. Hundreds of [[Forensic DNA analysis|DNA tests]] were performed to find a match to the DNA recovered during her autopsy.<ref>{{cite news |date=September 23, 2016 |title=Santa and the housekeeper: The forgotten JonBenet suspects |work=news.com.au |url=http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/santa-and-the-housekeeper-the-forgotten-jonbenet-suspects/news-story/c921605802d5086911a1a34780225a4d |url-status=live |access-date=September 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225033037/https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/santa-and-the-housekeeper-the-forgotten-jonbenet-suspects/news-story/c921605802d5086911a1a34780225a4d |archive-date=February 25, 2021}}</ref> In a 2003 defamation lawsuit related to the case (''Wolf v. Ramsey''), involving the Ramseys publicly identifying an early suspect in the case, Judge [[Julie E. Carnes]] wrote: 
:[T]here is virtually no evidence to support [Wolf's] theory that [the Ramseys] murdered their child, but abundant evidence to support their belief that an intruder entered their home at some point during the night of December 25, 1996, and killed their daughter.<ref name=Wolf-v-Ramsey-2003/>

Lou Smit, a detective in the case, assessed the evidence and concluded that an intruder had committed the crime.<ref name=taha>{{cite news |last=Taha |first=Nadia |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/us/14smit.html |title=Lou Smit, Detective in JonBenét Ramsey Case, Is Dead at 75 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 13, 2010| access-date= August 14, 2010| archive-date= November 14, 2020| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201114115030/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/us/14smit.html| url-status= live}}</ref> On the night JonBenét was killed, there had been two windows that were left slightly open to allow for electrical cords for the outside Christmas lights to pass through, a broken basement window, and one unlocked door.<ref name="Maloney" />{{efn|name=window}} Smit's theory was that someone entered the Ramsey home through the broken basement window. Critics have questioned this theory, because there was an intact [[cobweb]] in the basement window.<ref name="Time Inc."/> The steel grate that covered the window also had undisturbed cobwebs, and the foliage around the grate had been undisturbed.<ref name="Thomas and Davis">{{cite book |vauthors=Thomas S, Davis DA |title=JonBenet: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation |isbn=978-1-4299-8173-6 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |year=2011 |pages=40, 48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pC3k1vnwLhEC&pg=PA40|access-date=August 27, 2019|archive-date=September 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909161343/https://books.google.com/books?id=pC3k1vnwLhEC&pg=PA40|url-status=live}}</ref> There were also cobwebs in the tracks of various windows, and dust and debris were on some sills.<ref name="Thomas and Davis"/> Smit believed that the intruder subdued JonBenét using a [[electroshock weapon|stun gun]] and took her down to the basement. JonBenét was killed and a ransom note was left.<ref name="RS">{{cite magazine |author=McDonell-Parry |first=Amelia |date=September 20, 2016 |title=3 Big Ways 'The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey' Got It Wrong |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/3-big-ways-the-case-of-jonbenet-ramsey-got-it-wrong-w440970 |url-status=live |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510033929/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/3-big-ways-the-case-of-jonbenet-ramsey-got-it-wrong-w440970 |archive-date=May 10, 2018 |access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref> Smit's theory was supported by former FBI agent [[John E. Douglas]], who had been hired by the Ramsey family.<ref name=taha/>{{efn|In his book ''The Cases That Haunt Us'', former FBI agent [[John E. Douglas]] (hired by the Ramsey family) writes that he quibbled with a few of Smit's interpretations but generally agreed with his investigation and conclusions. Douglas particularly praised Smit's discovery in autopsy photos of what appeared to be previously overlooked evidence of a "[[electroshock weapon|stun gun]]" having been used to subdue JonBenét.<ref name=taha/>}} Believing that the Ramseys were innocent, Smit resigned from the investigation on September 20, 1998, five days after the grand jury was convened against the Ramseys.<ref name="HP Timeline" /> While no longer an official investigator on the case, Smit continued to work on it until his death in 2010.<ref name=taha/>

Author Stephen Singular in his book ''Presumed Guilty'' (1999, revised 2016)<ref>Singular, Stephen. Presumed Guilty: An Investigation into the JonBenét Ramsey Case, the Media and the Culture of Pornography. New Millenium Press, 1999, ISBN 1893224007. 2016 edition self-published via Amazon Kindle.</ref> refers to consultations with cyber-crime specialists to argue JonBenét attracted the attention of [[Child pornography|child pornographers]] and [[Pedophilia|pedophiles]] affiliated with the child pageant scene. Singular further believes the investigation was overly focused on the Ramsey parents, hampering investigation into alternate scenarios, and the Ramseys were not responsible for the murder other than perhaps unwittingly exposing their daughter to sexual predators. Singular speculates this scenario explains why the grand jury did not recommend indicting the Ramsey parents for murder, but for child abuse or endangerment for placing their daughter in a risky situation.<ref>{{citation |title=The Pornography Connection |first=Patrick |last=Bellamy}}</ref>

It was determined that there had been more than 100 burglaries in the Ramseys' neighborhood in the months before JonBenét's murder. There were 38 registered [[sex offender]]s living within a {{convert|2|mi|km|adj=mid}} radius of the Ramseys' home.<ref name= CBSLeung2004>{{cite web |last1=Leung |first1=Rebecca |title=JonBenet: DNA Rules Out Parents |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jonbenet-dna-rules-out-parents/ |website=CBS News|access-date=August 10, 2016| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160115025353/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jonbenet-dna-rules-out-parents/|archive-date=January 15, 2016 |date=December 16, 2004}}</ref> In 2001, former Boulder County prosecutor Trip DeMuth and Boulder County Sheriff's Detective Steve Ainsworth stated that there should be a more aggressive investigation of the intruder theory.<ref name="DC Smit theory"/>

One of the individuals whom Smit identified as a suspect was Gary Howard Oliva, who was arrested for "two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a child and one count of sexual exploitation of a child" charges in June 2016, according to Boulder's ''[[Daily Camera]]''. Oliva, a registered sex offender, was publicly identified as a suspect in an October 2002 episode of ''[[48 Hours (TV series)|48 Hours Investigates]]''.<ref name="Oliva">{{cite news |author=Brennan |first=Charlie |date=June 21, 2016 |title=Ramsey murder suspect charged in Boulder child porn case |work=Daily Camera |url=http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_30041518/jonbenet-ramsey-murder-suspect-gary-oliva-charged-boulder-child-porn-case |url-status=dead |access-date=September 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405032045/http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_30041518/jonbenet-ramsey-murder-suspect-gary-oliva-charged-boulder-child-porn-case |archive-date=April 5, 2019}}</ref>

In ''The Killing of JonBenét: The Truth Uncovered'', broadcast by [[A&E (TV network)|A&E]] on September 5, 2016, DNA and forensic scientist expert Lawrence Kobilinsky stated that, based on forensic DNA analysis of evidence, "an unidentified male committed this crime".<ref>{{cite news |author=Kovaleski |first=Jennifer |date=September 6, 2016 |title=New details revealed about JonBenet Ramsey's murder in A&E documentary |url=http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/front-range/boulder/new-details-revealed-about-jonbenet-ramseys-murder-in-ae-documentary |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224180946/https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/front-range/boulder/new-details-revealed-about-jonbenet-ramseys-murder-in-ae-documentary |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |access-date=September 30, 2016}}</ref>

The District Attorney's office investigating pedophiles indicated to former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman that the District Attorney's office followed the intruder theory. The Ramseys developed a relationship with District Attorney Mary Lacy and her office, which was criticized by authorities such as the city's mayor, Leslie L. Durgin.<ref name="NYP Morabito"/><ref name="NYT Bungled" />{{efn|The city's mayor Leslie L. Durgin said, "I'm extremely concerned about the relationship between the district attorney's office and the Ramsey attorneys. The perception is that they are closer than we thought." Ann Louise Bardach, ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' journalist, wrote that there were weekly breakfast meetings between a Ramsey defense lawyer and Peter Hofstrom, the prosecutor's liaison to the Ramsey family.<ref name="NYT Bungled" />}} Silverman said, "Once you have conceded the possibility of an intruder, I don't see how any Ramsey could ever be successfully prosecuted."<ref name="NYT Bungled" /> Gordon Coombes joined the office as an investigator under Lacy when they were testing JonBenét's clothing for touch DNA. He also said that Lacy strongly supported the intruder theory and talked about it with the staff. Although he was not directly involved with the case, he said he was told not to voice opposition to the theory because he might lose his job. "It just seemed weird the whole premise of ... this attempt to influence the entire agency," he stated.<ref name="NYP Morabito" />