Lou Smit | JonBenet detective, 75

Lou Smit, 75, a longtime police detective who first investigated and then supported JonBenet Ramsey's parents, died Wednesday at a hospice in Colorado Springs, Colo. He had cancer.

Mr. Smit's long career included years as an investigator for the Colorado Springs Police Department and the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, where he was captain of detectives. His dogged police work was credited with helping lock up more than 200 killers.

He became known nationally when he was coaxed out of retirement to help investigate the 1996 death of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, who was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her parents' Boulder home.

Mr. Smit later resigned because he believed authorities were wrongly focusing on the parents, John and Patsy Ramsey.

Mr. Smit said that unidentified DNA under JonBenet's fingernails and on her underpants pointed to an intruder as the culprit, not her parents. He later worked for the Ramseys.

In 2008, former Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy publicly exonerated JonBenet's family in the girl's death.

Mr. Smit helped solve other high-profile sayings in Colorado, including the 1975 rape and murder of Karen Elisa Grammer, the sister of actor Kelsey Grammer. - AP