Report: Ramsey friend sold information to National Enquirer

BOULDER, COLORADO - A confidant of John and Patsy Ramsey said she sold handwriting samples and interrogation transcripts from their daughter&#39;s murder investigation to a supermarket tabloid for $40,000. <br> <br> Susan Bennett, 51, of Hickory, N.C., told the Rocky Mountain News she sold the material to the National Enquirer because she believed that its publication would prove the Ramseys&#39; innocence. <br> <br> It was used in the tabloid&#39;s Dec. 3 edition in a 31-page story headlined: ``JonBenet Secret Video Evidence: New Clues Expose Mom & Dad!,&#39;&#39; on newsstands Friday. <br> <br> Ramsey attorney L. Lin Wood said the couple feels betrayed that a friend would sell information. Wood said tabloids have cast suspicion on the parents throughout six years of reporting on the unsolved case. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s horribly naive to believe that the tabloids are going to fairly and accurately report on any issue or piece of evidence as it pertains to John and Patsy Ramsey,&#39;&#39; Wood said. <br> <br> Wood said the information sold to the Enquirer was part of a discovery order in a federal libel lawsuit brought against the Ramseys by Chris Wolf, who the Ramseys called a suspect in a book they wrote about the murder. <br> <br> Wood said Wolf&#39;s lawyer, Darnay Hoffman of New York, denied providing Bennett with the material. Hoffman was unavailable for comment. <br> <br> Bennett, befriended by the former Boulder couple through her advocacy of their innocence, said she sold a transcript from an April 1997 police interrogation of the Ramseys, videotapes of a June 1998 police interrogation and handwriting samples from Patsy Ramsey. <br> <br> ``People make it sound as though I turned on the Ramseys,&#39;&#39; Bennett said. ``I still believe 100 percent they are innocent.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> JonBenet Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the family&#39;s Boulder home on Dec. 26, 1996. No arrests have been made, but JonBenet&#39;s parents have remained under suspicion. <br> <br> David Perel, editor of the National Enquirer, did not confirm the source of the information in his publication. He said the Enquirer is planning to publish a book about the case next year. <br> <br> Wood said Bennett does not face legal action, but said he will investigate to see if she obtained the information in violation of a court order, and if the source of that information can be prosecuted for it. <br> <br> ``John and Patsy will no longer communicate with Ms. Bennett and will not share any information with her,&#39;&#39; Wood said. <br> <br> The Ramseys previously sued American Media, publisher of the National Enquirer, over a story about their son, Burke, and won a settlement.