Secret lair was uncovered by cops in case linked to JonBenét Ramsey after dad told how he feared attacker watched family

POLICE investigating a horrific child sex attack that could be linked to the murder of JonBenét Ramsey found evidence of a secret lair the culprit may have been hiding in to spy on his 12-year-old victim.

Nine months after the mysterious murder of six-year-old JonBenét, a young girl who attended the same Boulder, Colorado, dance school as the slain beauty queen was attacked by a masked intruder in her bed.

The girl, whom The U.S. Sun is referring to under the pseudonym "Amy", awoke in the early hours of Sept. 14, 1997, to find a man dressed in all black standing at her bedside with his hand over her mouth.

The attacker addressed Amy by her real first name and threatened to knock her out if she screamed.

Over a period of several horrifying minutes, Amy was sexually assaulted by the unidentified assailant.

Amy's family believes the man intended to abduct her, however, the potential plan was foiled when the girl's mom burst into the room wielding a can of mace, having woken up after hearing the sound of whispering voices from down the hall.

The assailant - who Amy's family likened to a "Ninja" - fled the home by leaping out of a second-floor window and then vanished like a ghost in the night. He has never been found.

In a previous interview, Amy's father said he believes the attacker had been surveilling the family for some time prior to the incident, likely targeting his daughter at her dance school, Dance West, before waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

Police files obtained by The U.S. Sun reveal that investigators were alerted to a potential lair where Amy's attacker may have been hiding as he watched the victim and her family.

The family's direct neighbor to the east told police two months after the attack that they'd found evidence that someone had been living in a seldom-used apartment located above their garage.

The unauthorized dweller had left behind a number of items and trash, including empty beer cans, that were collected by Boulder PD investigators, according to the documents.

Amy's father stressed to police that he believed whoever had been staying above his neighbor's garage was likely the culprit responsible for sexually assaulting his daughter.

It's unclear if the items were ever tested for DNA. Boulder PD declined to offer clarity when approached by The U.S. Sun for comment.

Amy's dad also says he begged police to investigate the possibility that the attack on his daughter could be linked to the murder of JonBenét, who was found dead in the basement of her parent's home less than two miles away just nine months earlier.

In addition to attending the same dance school, both of the girls performed in a number of public events in the months before they were both victimized.

But Amy's dad said Boulder police were "dismissive" and "disinterested" in investigating any potential parallels between the two cases and were at times hostile toward him for making the suggestion.

THE SAME CULPRIT?

JonBenét's father John Ramsey shares Amy's dad's suspicions, insisting in an exclusive sit-down interview last month that he "definitely" thinks the two incidents are linked.

He, like Amy's dad, believes his family was being watched in the months preceding JonBenét's death.

John Ramsey called perceived similarities between the two incidents "unbelievable". More shocking still, he said, was that Boulder detectives didn't take Amy's dad more seriously when he urged them to investigate the cases as one.

"It could very well be the same guy," John said, speaking from his living room in Utah. "I really thought this was related; there's a similar mode of operation, and it needs to be considered a possible link.

"But it's shocking, absolutely shocking [that Boulder police didn't investigate the link] ... they absolutely should have."

It's like a second bank robbery in a small town: you've got to look and see if there's a connection.

John Ramsey

Dozens of suspects and persons of interest have come to the fore in the 26 years since JonBenét was found beaten and strangled to death in the basement of her family home on Dec. 26, 1996.

John and his wife Patsy were, for more than a decade, considered the lead suspects in the murder probe before they were exonerated of any wrongdoing by the district attorney in 2008.

Several others have been screened and interrogated by police over the years but an arrest has never been made.

Still hoping to unmask his daughter's attacker is Amy's father, who says he was so dismayed by Boulder PD's handling of the case he launched his own individual probe to track the culprit down, but still, he's yet to identify him.

BLOND-HAIRED SUSPECT

Both Amy and her mother provided police with a description of her attacker, police documents show.

In her account, Amy painstakingly described the entire assault in sickening detail.

"[Amy] was sleeping on her stomach when she awoke to someone tapping her on the back," reads the report.

"[Amy] first thought it was her father returning from his work trip to Argentina a day early. [Amy] described that the male put his hand over her mouth, and told her to be quiet."

She described the attacker as having a deep voice when he spoke and large-ish hands.

He reportedly uttered several phrases to Amy throughout the duration of the assault, including: "If your [sic] scream I will hurt you," and "[Amy] stop moving."

Amy said she believed the man was "old" by the way he spoke, but in his 20s judging by the way he dressed.

She said the attacker was wearing a black or navy baseball cap backward on his head and a black long-sleeve pullover shirt with a short collar.

It was too dark in her bedroom to see the man's facial features, Amy said, but she described him as clean-shaven.

Her mom, meanwhile, told police the assailant was around 5'6"-5'7" tall and between 20 and 30 years of age.

While she insists she didn't get a good look at his face, she said he appeared to have "blondish" or light-brown hair and smelled strongly of cigarette smoke.

TWO 'BOTCHED' INVESTIGATIONS

Amy's father accused Boulder PD (BPD) of bungling the probe into the attack on his daughter by failing to properly secure evidence, overlooking potential leads, and being generally "uninterested" and "unhelpful."

On several occasions, he called the investigators on the case "incompetent" and "arrogant."

The remarks mirrored John Ramsey's characterization of BPD investigators exactly.

The case files obtained by The U.S. Sun regarding Amy's case reveal that two of the detectives who oversaw JonBenet's murder also investigated the attack on Amy.

Those detectives were Linda Arndt and Thomas Trujillo.

Arndt, who had been the only cop on the scene when JonBenet's body was found, was removed from the Ramsey case in 1997 amid stinging criticism and widespread ridicule of the way she handled the investigation and failed to secure the crime scene.

After taking an extended period of medical leave, citing "physical exhaustion and strain," Arndt then was assigned to Amy's case on Sept. 17 - three days after the attack.

It was Arndt who Amy's parents had told they both believed the attack was linked to JonBenet's case, the report reveals.

Arndt also conducted interviews with some of Amy's friends, something that had angered her father, effectively outing her as a victim of sexual assault to her peers - something the family had wished to keep secret.

Trujillo, meanwhile, was recently ousted as the head of BDP's investigations unit and reassigned to night patrol after an internal review revealed that a number of unspecified cases had not been properly investigated between 2019 and 2022.

A 36-year veteran of the force, Trujillo also received a three-day suspension without pay and was recommended for termination.

As a consequence of the reassignment, Trujillo will no longer be involved in any of the department's ongoing investigations, including the JonBenét Ramsey case, a spokesperson confirmed to The U.S. Sun.

Four other officers in BPD's investigations division were also cited for misconduct.

STALKER FEARS

John Ramsey said he's itching to learn more about the incident involving Amy.

He believes his daughter's killer was stalking his family for months before her death.

Evidencing his beliefs, John claims, is that a mystery intruder was once found staying in JonBenét's bedroom at their holiday home in Michigan.

John says he was alerted to the apparent intruder by one of the family's housekeepers months after his daughter was found dead.

In the summer of 1996, the housekeeper had gone into the holiday home to ready it for the Ramseys' arrival when she saw a suitcase and other belongings - appearing to belong to an adult male - neatly laid out in JonBenét's bedroom.

The individual wasn't inside the home at the time, and the housekeeper didn't think anything of the discovery, John said, believing the family had likely let a friend stay at the often-vacant property.

"She told us: 'When I came to clean and freshen up your house there was somebody who was staying in JonBenét's room but he wasn't there,'" claimed John.

"The person wasn't there. But he had a suitcase. Everything was really neatly arranged.

"[The housekeeper said:] 'I didn't say anything about it because I thought you must've let one of your friends come to stay here' - which we didn't.

"And why would he stay in JonBenét's room?" asked John.

"If you're just camping out in our house, that would've been the last room you'd have stayed in.

"There's a room on the ground floor, so if you had to leave fast you could get out but to stay in JonBenet’s room would have been the last room I would have picked if I was not supposed to be there."

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE

John, who turned 79 in December, is worried that he's running out of time to get answers about who killed JonBenét.

He is once again campaigning to have the case removed from the jurisdiction of Boulder PD so that fresh eyes can look over the case and better resources applied to the investigation before time for him runs out.

He also recently appealed to the Governor of Colorado Jared Polis to instruct BPD to release any DNA evidence they have to a state-of-the-art genealogy lab.

Additionally, John is urging investigators to revisit the attack on Amy to finally establish whether there are any concrete links between the incident and the murder of his daughter.

"It's like a second bank robbery in a small town: you've got to look and see if there's a connection," he said.

"And in my mind, there was a huge connection, both in terms of how it was accomplished, the fact they were both children, and that my daughter and Amy both went to the same dance school.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to say, 'Wait a minute, this is serious. We've got to look at this as a possible connection.'

"But they didn't ... it's insane."