BOULDER, Colo. -- Police Chief Mark Beckner has launched a letter writing war against critics in other police agencies who claim his investigators have ignored evidence that an intruder killed JonBenet Ramsey.

The dispute was triggered after Boulder County Sheriff's Detective Steve Ainsworth and El Paso County Sheriff John Anderson commented on the case on national television and in newspapers over the past two months. Both supported a theory that an intruder killed JonBenet.

Boulder police detectives have been instructed not to cooperate with Ainsworth on any investigation, according to Chief Mark Beckner's letter to Boulder County Sheriff George Epp.

Becker (pictured, left) asked that Ainsworth "be appropriately disciplined for his misconduct" in discussing the case and criticizing the Boulder Police Department's investigation.

Beckner also told Epp that he has asked Louisville police Cmdr. Bill Kingston to remove Ainsworth from the multi-agency task force headed by Kingston, which investigates police shootings in Boulder County. "At the least, Ainsworth will not be allowed to participate in any investigations in Boulder as a member of the county's team that investigates police shootings," Beckner wrote.

Discussion

THE MURDER Who do you think killed JonBenet Ramsey?

Kingston declined to comment on Beckner's letter but said that Ainsworth will remain a member of the shooting investigation team.

Beckner sent the letter after Ainsworth appeared on NBC's "Today" show in early May and endorsed former investigator Lou Smit's theory that an intruder killed JonBenet. In the letter, Beckner reminded Epp of a May 2 meeting of county law enforcement heads, at which Beckner told Epp that he would "probably file a complaint" about the appearance.

Epp, Beckner wrote, said Ainsworth would only "talk about Smit's character." "In fact he spoke very little about Lou Smit, but was instead . . . critical of the BPD, and even expressed his own personal opinion," Beckner wrote.

Ainsworth said on NBC that he has not seen any "compelling" evidence pointing to John and Patsy Ramsey as suspects in their daughter's Dec. 26, 1996, death.

In a June letter, Beckner criticized Anderson for claiming a killer was on the loose in Boulder while police focused their investigation on the Ramseys.

"I am appalled that a police executive would be so outspoken about another agency's ongoing investigation, especially given the fact that you have no involvement in our investigation," Beckner wrote.

Anderson fired back with a letter of his own. He said that he spoke out to support his former homicide partner, Lou Smit, who crafted the intruder theory while working on the investigation. Anderson also offered to send detectives to Boulder to help solve the case.

"It is completely bizarre. This is yet another answer to the perennial Ramsey question, 'What next?"' said Denver attorney Scott Robinson, who has followed the case since the 6-year-old beauty queen was slain in 1996.

Beckner said Monday that police have not ruled out an intruder as the killer. "I think we have said that we find no evidence of a forced entry," he said.

Gov. Bill Owens, in a meeting with the editorial board of The Gazette, recently speculated that Beckner and investigators can disprove the intruder theory but don't want to show their hand prematurely.

"Prosecutors can address everything that Smit has raised that points to an outsider. But if they do that publicly, they tell the person who killed JonBenet what the prosecutor knows," he said. "My concern is what Lou has done is publicize evidence that should have remained private until the trial."

Owens met with prosecutors and reviewed the evidence not long after taking office in 1999. Smit resigned from the case in 1998, claiming the Ramseys were innocent.

JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home on Dec. 26, 1996, in Boulder. A grand jury examined evidence but disbanded without issuing an indictment. Her parents since have moved to the Atlanta area.

Additional Resources:

• Mark Beckner's Official Biography
• Mark Beckner Fan Club Web Site
• Ramsey Family Web Site