[Steve Thomas goes on GMA; date = Feb 16, 1999; Copy furnished courtesy Justice Watch Forum]

Gibson: now former Boulder Police Detective Steve Thomas is joining us here in New York, good to have you here.

Thomas: Good Morning.

Gibson: What do you make of this fact that the tabloid reporter from The Globe, which is hardly a paragon of journalistic excellence, make of this fact that this fella was obviously getting big leaks from the District Attorney's office?

Thomas: Well that became a big concern to us as detectives, and he ultimately acted in confidential informant capacity to us as a mole inside the DA's office with almost unlimited access to the DA which the Detectives did not have but Shapiro detailed for us some indiscrete behavior and disclosures that were going on inside the DA's office which presented quite an ethical dilemma for the police and a long story short the detectives wound up wearing an undercover body wire and we memorialized on tape what Shapiro in an informant capacity told us about Hunter.

Gibson: the divisions between the district attorneys office and the police dept in boulder got so great that you were conducting an undercover operation, not to solve the crime, but to find out what was going on in the DAs office?

Thomas: It became disgraceful,I did a quick read of Schiller's book yesterday and he paints a mostly accurate and compelling picture of some of what was occurring but it was simply disgraceful you're exactly right that's what we were doing.

Gibson: Somebody was wearing a body wire

Thomas: Myself

Gibson: You were wearing a body wire, recording this reporter, Jeff Shapiro, with what he was telling you was coming out of the District Attorney's office?

Thomas: That's right.

Gibson: Do you still have those tapes?

Thomas: I believe those tapes exist

Gibson: And what do they show?

Thomas: They show a series of indiscrete disclosures to the tabloids, but what was most shocking to us was the DA engaged the tabloids in a smear campaign against a police commander, one of Hunter's own cops, Hunter shared some sensitive personnel files and documents with the instruction to the tabloids to smear this commander.

Gibson: This Commander Eller?

Thomas: Yes,

Gibson: Smearing him personally?

Thomas: yes

Gibson: designed to do what? What was the whole purpose of that?

Thomas: It was so ugly inside this thing, and Hunter wanted Eller removed so badly from this case he resorted to these tactics.

Gibson: When you resigned, you wrote that the DA's office was thoroughly compromised, effectively crippled this case, the fact that the office was so compromised, do you think Alex Hunter, the DA ought to resign?

Thomas: I think the DA should to resign.

Gibson: One other thing, I want to ask you about, there have also been allegations that there was fault a lot of fault to go around, and indeed the evidence on the case is thoroughly compromised, as soon as a day after the body was discovered

Thomas: There are some issues, one of which I'll discuss at some point, but, Patsy Ramsey's sister of late has gone quite public with some issues including this bear, but it was the same sister who the day after the murder returned to the crime scene and left that crime scene with closed containers, zippered bags and stuffed animals, so I think there's some questions there.

Gibson: Patsy Ramsey's sister you say was removing evidence from the crime scene?

Thomas: She was removing items from the crime scene, the day after the murder

Gibson: that could have been evidence?

Thomas: Potentially certainly.

Gibson: You know what they were, and do you know why she took them?

Thomas: Well, I think I don't know, and she certainly knows, and I think there will be answers to that at some point.

Gibson: Well it's just more evidence to the fact that this is such a bedeviling case, and that there are just so many holes in the investigation.

Steve Thomas, thanks for being with us.