At that moment all fingers pointed towards the Ramsey parents for the murder of their child (Exposure 3). .
Lou Smit, a homicide detective worked on the case of JonBenet for about 18 months. Between all the police and detectives working on the case there were a few theories jumping around as to who had actually killed the young girl ("Did" 1). "Smit formed another theory using key pieces of evidence" ("Did" 2). He considers that JonBenet had caught the murderer's eye in a Boulder parade. The intruder came in to the home through a basement window while the family was out attending a Christmas party. During that time, he wandered the house and had written the ransom note using a pen and paper found in the kitchen. Close to midnight, the intruder quietly sneaked back into the home, and into JonBenet's room, used a stun gun to temporarily immobilize her, and then carried her down to the basement. There in the hidden room, the man sexually battered her while at the same time choking her with a garrote. Smit then believes that JonBenet must have woken up and tore the duct tape from her mouth and started screaming. Worried that someone might here, the murderer struck her with his flashlight to quiet her down. After the incident, there was no time to reclaim the ransom note and the killer left the home through the window. While escaping through the window, the intruder had left a scuff mark on the wall, and an unidentified handprint ("Did" 2). Smit's theory is incorrect and it can be easily explained why there was not an intruder.
The first piece of evidence that turns the case away from an intruder is the unidentified palm prints found in the basement. It was informed that the hand print was found on the upper portion of the door panel that led to the room where JonBenet's body was discovered. It's also said that this door with the handprint on it had a nail used as a door latch.