"The police chief [Mark Beckner] issued a brief statement a week and a half ago in response to a call from Fox News saying they'd heard we had made an attempt or interviewed Burke Ramsey," says City of Boulder spokeswoman Sarah Huntley. "The police department is not discussing who they've tried to interview, but the police chief did acknowledge that based on recommendations of the 2009 advisory task force, the department was attempting to reach out to people who may have information about the case."
Huntley confirmed that the task force issued recommendations about interviews -- which suggests that panel members may have assembled a list of individuals worthy of new conversations.
As for the possibility of interview subjects being revealed down the line, Huntley says, "the department is not going to comment publicly on who they're going to speak with unless putting out information on this would further the investigation."
Last year, Huntley points out, "we said we would be treating this investigation as a cold case, and the advisory panel recommended that we look at everything from start to finish."
These efforts don't mean the case is being singled out for special scrutiny. "This case is being treated with the same degree of importance of any other cold case involving a serious crime," she says. "The way the Boulder Police Department works cold cases is that detectives who are assigned to active, ongoing cases work cold cases in between those other investigations."
As for how many cops are on the Ramsey beat, Huntley says that varies depending on "what needs to be done at any given time."
News agencies such as CBS News have implied that the new interviews might constitute a break in the case -- but Huntley sees this slant as premature, merely characterizing the investigation as "ongoing."
In regard to the latest burst of attention the case has received from the media, she says, "This is the Ramsey case. We know there's a lot of interest and scrutiny in what the police are doing to try to solve this very tragic case, so that doesn't really surprise us. But we have to focus on what's best for the investigation."
Meanwhile, the Boulder Daily Camera reports that Burke, who was nine at the time of his sister's slaying, has been contacted.
