Randall DeWitt Simons, 66, a photographer — who had reportedly previously photographed JonBenét Ramsey, shortly before her murder two decades ago — has now been arrested on charges of child pornography.
This is not Simons’ first run-in with the law; in 1998, he grabbed headlines after he was arrested for walking down a Colorado street nude.
According to Lawrence Schiller‘s book, Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, Simons was talking under his breath, saying that he did not kill JonBenet.
The July 2, 2019 arrest of Simons came in as a result of a year-long investigation by authorities who are part of the Oakridge Police Department, Oakridge, Oregon.
The investigation led to the discovery of several laptops, cameras, and other devices related to his alleged crimes.
It all started with a tip from an A&W restaurant worker who had noticed that someone was using the free Wi-Fi provided to download illicit content.
Authorities were quickly able to trace the connection back to a computer that belonged to someone who lived close to the restaurant.
However, the man was not in possession of the device anymore — he had given it to Simons.
Police were then able to catch Simons as he was logging into the Wi-Fi of the restaurant from his own home, as he also lived close by. They then got a search warrant and executed it shortly after.
Simons explained the presence of the various recording equipment by stating that he worked as a child photographer.
This only prompted authorities to contact various locals and inquire into whether they had left their children unattended with the man at any point, informing them of the charges he is currently facing.
Simons has been slapped with 15 counts of second-degree encouraging child sex abuse.
After being arraigned, the man opted for not guilty pleas to all of the charges and is set to return to court on August 7.
While authorities never viewed Simons as a suspect in the JonBenét murder, he did get the media’s attention in 1997.
For the sum of $7,000, Simons sold his entire portfolio of glamour photos that he took of JonBenét to an agency.
When asked about his decision, he claimed: “My career is done. I’ll probably never work again.”
Pamela Griffin, the woman who introduced Simons to Ramsey’s family, thinks he might have something to do with her murder.
She told the Daily Mail: “I am begging the police to look again at this man. Randy used to call me on occasion and confide to me about his marital woes, but after JonBenét’s death, he called acting odd.”
She continued with: “He was saying things like, ‘I have a feeling the Boulder Police Department think I’m responsible in some way for JonBenét’s death and I can’t prove that I didn’t do it. And I don’t have an alibi for where I was on Christmas Day 1996. I told him he needed one, but he said he didn’t want Lynda, his wife at the time, to find out where he had been. I didn’t know if he was having an affair or hiding something else.”
In light of Simons’ arrest, some like Griffin are urging the Boulder Police Department to give him a second look as a top suspect.
