The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey: Intruder or Cover-Up?
The Ramsey family: John Bennett Ramsey, Patsy Ramsey, 9 year-old Burke Ramsey, and 6 year-old JonBenet Ramsey. They lived in an 11,000 square foot home in Boulder, Colorado.
John Ramsey was a multi-millionaire, working at a business called Access Graphics, and Patsy Ramsey was a former beauty queen, having been crowned Miss West Virginia of 1977.
Because her mother had been a beauty queen, Jonbenét was put in pageants very early on and had won several titles.
On the night of the murder, the Ramsey family was at a Christmas party hosted by close friends of theirs, Fleet and Priscilla White. They were some of the last people to see Jonbenét alive.
The Ramsey's reportedly left the White's house around 10 pm. According to both John and Patsy, Jonbenét fell asleep in the car and they brought her straight upstairs to bed before going to bed themselves, as they had an early flight the next day.
The Murder:
On December 26, 1996, at 5:52 am, Patsy Ramsey called 911. On the call, she told the dispatcher that there was a ransom note on the staircase and that her daughter, Jonbenét, was gone.
Police arrived at the home no more than seven minutes later, and not long after, several friends of the Ramsey's arrived, having been called by Patsy and asked to come over immediately.
John Ramsey and Fleet White search the whole house together. Fleet found a broken window in the basement, which John claimed he had broken earlier that year when he locked himself out of the house. Fleet also opened the door to the wine cellar, but couldn't find a light switch, so he didn't look much further.
Unfortunately, even once police arrived, the scene was not properly sealed off, and friends of the family were coming in and out of the house constantly, contaminating the crime scene and making it difficult to investigate the scene.
Detectives arrived nearly two hours after police first arrived. Only one detective brought a tape recorder with them, which was hooked up to their phone in case of a ransom call, which never came, despite the ransom note stating they would call between 8 and 10 am.
At around 1 pm, Detective Linda Arndt suggested that John and Fleet go and search the house again. This time, John was the one who looked into the wine cellar in the basement, and that's when he found Jonbenét's body.
By that time, rigor mortis had already set in. Her arms were raised above her head, and her hands were tied loosely with rope. There was duct tape over her mouth, and a thick nylon cord wrapped around her neck. Her body was also partially covered with a blanket.
John immediately removed the duct tape from his daughter's mouth, picked his daughter up, holding her out in front of him at arms length, and rushed upstairs with Jonbenét. All of this contaminated the crime scene even further, making it even harder to collect evidence.
Autopsy Results:
The autopsy revealed that the cause of death was asphyxiation by strangulation, however, there was also an 8 1/2 inch crack in Jonbenét's skull from blunt force trauma that doctors say also likely would have killed her. This blow likely knocked her out, but it did not break the skin, so all the bleeding was inside her skull.
Her dinner from the previous night was completely digested, but pineapple was found in her stomach, indicating she hadn't gone straight to bed like her parents said.
There were also abrasions found on her lower back and cheek, which are said to be consistent with stun gun marks, however, some people think they are from wooden train tracks that her brother Burke often played with.
There were also blood and wood fibers from a paintbrush in her vaginal canal, indicating she had been sexually assaulted. Unidentified DNA was found under Jonbenét's fingernails as well as in her underwear.
Evidence:
Ransom note: there was a three page ransom note left on the bottom of the staircase. It was written on a pad from the Ramsey kitchen with a pen from the Ramsey house. It asked for $118,000 -- the exact amount John had received as a bonus that year -- and that they not contact the police or tell anyone about the kidnapping or they would kill Jonbenét. Once it was discovered that it had been written inside the home, all of the Ramsey's and close friends gave handwriting samples. Patsy was the only one who couldn't be cleared.
There was a broken window in the basement that John claimed he broke earlier in the year. There was a suitcase under the window and a bootprint on the suitcase. However, there were cobwebs around the window, indicating it may have been staged.
There was DNA found under Jonbenét's fingernails and in her underwear, along with a matching fingerprint on her long johns that has never been identified.
There was a bowl of pineapple and milk on the kitchen counter that had Burke's fingerprints on it. Some of that pineapple was found in Jonbenét's stomach.
Several items were never found, including the roll of duct tape, the unused section of rope used for the garrote, the object used to cause the head trauma, some of the pages from the notepad with practice ransom notes, and part of the broken paintbrush used to make the garrote.
Several experts have also said that they heard Burke's voice in the background of the 911 call, meaning that Burke was not actually asleep like John and Patsy kept stating.
Burke's baseball bat was found outside the home, and had no fingerprints or DNA, indicating it had been wiped clean. It also contained fibers from the carpet in the basement, which proves it had recently been in the basement.
Burke has been documented having issues with anger before, once hitting Jonbenét with a golf club out of anger. The maid who worked for the Ramsey's had also seen Burke 'playing doctor' with Jonbenét on several occasions.
Patsy had on the same makeup and clothing as she did the night before and her bed did not seem to have been slept in.
Experts have determined that Jonbenét showed previous signs of sexual abuse.
Theories:
There are a lot of theories surrounding this case. Some people believe an intruder did it, others believe that Burke did it and that John and Patsy helped cover it up. Others believe that John or Patsy did it alone and that they are (possibly) covering for each other.
Theory 1: An intruder did it: In this theory, an intruder broke into the house, possibly through the broken window, after the Ramseys had gone to bed, took Jonbenét from her room, possibly intending to truly kidnap her. Jonbenét fought back, so they hit over the head with something heavy, knocking her out, and they then sexually assaulted her. It's possible they'd already written the ransom note and decided to leave it, or that they wrote it after accidentally killing her to avoid them finding her body, giving them enough time to get out of town.
Theory 2: Burke did it, and John and Patsy covered it up: In this theory, Burke may have gotten hungry and gone downstairs to make himself a snack, which explains the pineapple and milk on the counter. It's possible Jonbenét wandered downstairs and grabbed a piece of pineapple from the bowl. Burke got mad, and hit her over the head, not meaning to seriously hurt her, but he accidentally cracked her skull open and she was knocked out. He took her down to the basement, where he 'experimented' with her, which would explain the traces of wood in her vaginal canal, and he strangled her, which ended up killing her. Patsy and John see what he's done and panic. They decide they don't want to lose both their children, and they begin to stage the scene, duct taping her mouth, loosely tying her hands above her head, covering her body with the blanket, writing the ransom note, and telling Burke to go to bed. They call the police and their friends, who immediately come over, which contaminates the crime scene. When John 'finds' her body, he removes the duct tape, picks her up, and carries her upstairs to further contaminate evidence.
3. Theory 3: John did it: In this theory, it's possible that the previous signs of sexual abuse had been from John. He went into her room after Patsy had gone to bed, intending to molest her. Maybe Jonbenét threatened to tell on him, or maybe he accidentally went too far and hurt her. She was crying,
so he took her downstairs for some pineapple and milk. She was still upset with him, and he realized he couldn't keep it going like it was, so he grabbed something heavy and hit her over the head. He realized what he had done and brought her down to the basement, where he strangled her and staged the scene. Maybe John went upstairs and wrote the ransom note, trying to disguise his handwriting, not even realizing it looked like Patsy's. Or maybe Patsy realized what he'd done and didn't want what. had really happened to get out, so she wrote the ransom note to help cover it up.
4. Theory 4: Patsy did it: In this theory, it's possible that Jonbenét wet the bed and Patsy just got upset. with her. Maybe she was downstairs with her mother, eating the pineapple her mother prepared her, when Patsy accidentally shoved her, making Jonbenét fall and crack her head open. Patsy panics, so. she takes her down to the basement and strangles her and stages the scene. She writes the ransom note, 'finds' it on the stairs and immediately calls 911, saying her daughter has been kidnapped.
Has anybody been charged with the murder?
To this day, nobody has ever been charged with the murder of Jonbenét Ramsey. However, John and Patsy Ramsey were put up on charges early on, where the grand jury on the case voted to indict them on charges of child abuse resulting in death. Despite this, the District Attorney at the time decided not to sign the indictment, stating there was not enough evidence, and the grand jury was dismissed.
There has also been over a hundred other suspects in the case.
John Mark Karr once confessed to the murder, but he was released when his DNA did not match the DNA found on Jonbenét's body.
Police also looked into a man named Bill McReynolds, who worked as a Santa Claus at the party the Ramseys had gone to, and who had reportedly given Jonbenét a note that read, "Something special will happen to you after Christmas." However, he was cleared of the murder.
Another suspect was Michael Helgoth, who owned a pair of Hi-Tec boots, which could have been the boots from the bootprint under the broken window, as well as a stun gun, which could have matched the marks on Jonbenét's back and cheek. He died of suicide shortly after her death, and the police also cleared him after his DNA did not match.
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