"DAN" Rearragned Is "DNA"

 Back in 1996, everyone in Boulder, Colorado had a theory about who killed Jon Benet Ramsey. Much in the same way back in the 1980s everyone from that college town had a story about Dan Fogleberg, it was one of the creepy ways that a community can plug in. The murder of a six-year old beauty pageant contestant was news for months, now decades, because of its tawdry nature. 

And because no one was ever "caught."

The story was perhaps highlighted by the fact that the Ramseys were wealthy. Not that there weren't plenty of wealthy residents of Boulder and its surrounding mountain evirons, but connecting salacious details to a family that had recently moved there from, old all places, Atlanta. Not that there was any particular issue with Georgia or Atlanta, but because as open-minded as the folks in Boulder attempted to be, the "Native" bumper stickers that they proudly displayed on their vehicles were just a hint at their xenophobic attitudes. The white-hot intensity of the media that swarmed the city that once played home to Mork and MIndy eventually drove the Ramseys out, maintaining their innocence all the while. It would seem that the locals were happy to believe that there was an alien in their midst who lived in the attic of a Victorian near downtown who drank with his fingers and sat on his face. 

They just weren't able to get comfortable with the kindergarten beauty pageants. The images of a gussied-up six year old were featured prominently in every story about the case. It was a "scene" that Boulderites and eventually a great portion of the rest of the country were never comfortable. How could justice be served in this case when the outside wrapper was so, you know, icky? 

And now, once again, the vault has been reopened to the potential of new DNA evidence that will clear the family from the ugly speculation that has swirled about them since that Christmas morning way back in 1996. 

Who cares? Well, it pains me to confess that I found this most recent surge in publicity worth mentioning here, so I am not immune to that circus of speculation. I just hope when they're done we can get back to good old fashioned stories about Dan Fogleberg. 

A different kind of creepy.