Week of December 22, 1998:

Globe: Finger of Guilt Pointed at Santa - But he insists he's innocent

Two years after Little Beauty's Christmas night murder, Ramseys and ace detective claim neighbor is on suspect list...

A former top investigator in the JonBenét Ramsey case has joined the tragic tyke's parents in pointing the finger of suspicion at Bill McReynolds - the man who played Santa at the Ramsey family Christmas party two days before her murder, say sources.

But in an exclusive interview, McReynolds, 67, told GLOBE that he's totally innocent.

"A suspicion by some that I could have had anything to do with the murder of JonBenét Ramsey has been a continuing torture," says the retired journalism professor.

"I only saw JonBenét Ramsey five times in my life, and certainly not on the night she was so brutally killed."

GLOBE contacted McReynolds after learning from sources that investigator Lou Smit had put him on a list of seven possible suspects in his letter of resignation from the case. Smit quit last summer, saying the investigation was too focused on the slain 6-year-old's parents.

John and Patsy Ramsey have been saying McReynolds could be involved for almost the entire two years since the tiny beauty queen's battered and strangled body was found in the basement of their $1.3 million home on December 26, 1996, say insiders.

"The reasons Smit included Santa Bill's name on his suspect list were probably because of two things," confides a source.

"First, Santa Bill was in the Ramsey home on a number of occasions and had some knowledge of the complicated layout of the house.

"Second, JonBenét told a friend on the day before she died that Santa had told her he intended to pay her a special visit."

GLOBE has previously revealed that cops crossed McReynolds off their suspect list after grilling him several times. He voluntarily gave them handwriting, blood and hair samples.

We also reported some strange coincidences. McReynolds' own daughter Jill was abducted at age 9 in 1974 along with a friend, who was molested by the kidnapper. The incident happened on Dec. 26 - the same day JonBenét's body was found.

And in 1976, McReynolds' wife Janet wrote a play called Hey Rube. It was based on a true story about a girl who is kidnapped and taken to a basement, where she is raped and murdered!

GLOBE has also learned from sources that police wanted to question TV journalist Charles Kuralt's camera crew about McReynolds. Shortly before JonBenét's death, the CBS team filmed McReynolds for an "On the Road" segment about Santas. Kuralt died in 1997 but detectives want to trace and interview the film crew to check if McReynolds said anything revealing.

But McReynolds insists he's innocent.

"Nothing would be more terrible," he told GLOBE, "than having JonBenét's killer go unpunished."

Craig Lewis