Ramsey Housekeeper To Give "Dramatic New Evidence"

Former Ramsey Employee Says Public Doesn't Know All The Facts

Wayne Harrison, Senior News Editor
July 5, 2001, 6:59 a.m. MDT

DENVER, Colo. -- The former housekeeper of John and Patsy Ramsey promises to give "dramatic new evidence the (Ramsey) grand jury wasn't allowed to see" before a federal judge on Thursday.

Attorneys for Linda Hoffmann-Pugh will ask the judge why she can't write about her experiences before a grand jury that investigated the death of the Ramseys' daughter, JonBenet.

Hoffmann-Pugh, through her New York attorney Darnay Hoffman, had filed a federal lawsuit against the Boulder District Attorney's Office, claiming that she was prevented from speaking publicly or writing about her testimony before the Boulder County grand jury.

She claims that an enormous amount of information involving the murder and the Ramsey family has never reached the public because of the grand jury secrecy laws.

Hoffmann-Pugh worked as the housekeeper and nanny for the Ramseys prior to Dec. 26, 1996, when JonBenet's body was found in the basement of her home. Despite an intense investigation, no indictments were issued by the grand jury. In fact, the grand jury never even issued a report. No one has been charged with JonBenet's murder, and the high-profile case remains unsolved almost six years later.

Hoffman's lawyers are basing their arguments on a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in which a Florida newspaper reporter, investigating a crime, was forced to testify before a grand jury. After testifying, he could no longer write about the crime. The Supreme Court ruled that the law was unconstitutional.

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