Lou Smit

Andrew Louis "Lou" Smit (April 14, 1935 – August 11, 2010) was an American police detective in Colorado Springs, Colorado who worked on a number of notable cases before his retirement in 1996. He was later recalled to work on the murder of JonBenét Ramsey.

Life and career Smit having tried various businesses and failed, prayed for a solution and saw as an answer from God a call he received from a cousin who served on the Colorado Springs Police Department suggesting that he apply to serve. Working his way up to the rank of detective, Smit was involved in a number of notable cases including the conviction of spree killer Freddie Glenn for a series of murders, including the 1975 killing of Karen Grammer, younger sister of actor Kelsey Grammer. In 1995, he arrested Robert Charles Browne for the 1991 murder of Heather Dawn Church. Church's father had been one of the original suspects in his daughter's murder, but Browne ultimately confessed to a total of 48 murders and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Smit retired in 1996 from the El Paso County, Colorado Sheriff's department where he had served as captain of detectives.

In 1997, three months after the murder of JonBenét Ramsey, Smit was asked by the district attorney's office to come out of retirement to assist with the investigation. While initial suspicions had been that Patsy Ramsey was responsible for the murder and that John Ramsey had been protecting his wife, Smit resigned from the case after 18 months having concluded that the Ramseys were not responsible for the murder and that the Boulder Police Department had been unjustifiably pursuing the Ramseys as suspects despite DNA and other evidence that showed that some other person was responsible for the killing. Smit was survived by three daughters, a son and nine grandchildren.