JonBenet Ramsey

The Case of JonBenet Ramsey

In 1996, Boulder, Colorado was a town of just over 90,000 people. It was populated by mostly middle-class residents and had little to no crime rate. John Ramsey was the CEO of a computer company and his wife, Patsy Ramsey had been Miss West Virginia in 1977. Their first child was a boy, named Burke Ramsey. Then, three years later, John and Patsy had JonBenet Ramsey. The family was very active in the community. Seeing as Patsy had quite the pageant background, she wanted the same for her daughter. JonBenet competed in many pageants and earned several titles, but just around Christmas Day in 1996, the Ramsey’s lived would be forever changed.

It was Patsy Ramsey that first discovered JonBenet was missing. In the early hours of December 26, 1996, she found a two-and-a-half page ransom note sitting on the stairs written to Mr. Ramsey. The note disclosed information that is crucial to the crime. Both James Fitzgerald, a retired FBI supervisory special agent and forensic linguistic profiler, and Brenda Anderson, a forensic document examiner, have their doubts about this ransom note. Immediately, it was clear to see that the note was unusual. Typically, ransom notes are kept as short as possible, but JonBenet’s note was extremely drawn out and gave a lot of detail. Anderson believes that whoever wrote the note started with a style of handwriting that was not typical, but as the letter progressed, the handwriting became more natural. She also believes that the handwriting looked “type-writer” style, which was more common for women than men. The letter stated that those who took JonBenet were a “group of individuals” that represented a “small foreign faction”. This is off-putting because usually ransom notes are written in attempts to show power, so “small” is out-of-place. The letter then says that “we respect your bussinesses”. First, the word business is misspelled. Fitzgerald believes this is an intentional attempt to prove their “foreignness” because several more difficult words are spelled correctly later in the note. Anderson also believes that this written in an attempt to put distance between the investigation and John’s business and to protect the Ramsey’s source of income. Next, the kidnapper demands that “withdrawn $118,000 from the [Ramsey’s] account”, but ironically, this is the exact amount that John Ramsey received that year as a bonus. Both Fitzgerald and Anderson believe that this note was written by a women considering there is “feminine” language scattered through the note, such as “listen carefully”, “watching over your daughter”, “do not particularly like you so I advise you not to provoke them”, and “be well rested”. Despite being initially addressed to Mr. Ramsey, he was referred to as John three times in the letter, meaning whoever wrote the note felt comfortable with him. Finally, the ransom note warns four times that if anyone is alerted, “she dies”. This hints that when the note was written, JonBenet was already dead. If she were still alive, it would have been written “she will die”.

Upon finding the note and looking in her daughter’s room, Patsy claims she woke her husband and called 911. Jim Clemente, a former New York City prosecutor, retired FBI supervisory special agent, and profiler met with the woman the received the 911 call. She claimed something felt off about the whole conversation, but it got very odd when the call “ended”. Apparently, Patsy believed she hung up the phone, but she was not fully disconnected from emergency services. The 911 operator claims there was an immediate shift in tone on the other line and it sounded as if three people were talking, but Patsy claims her son Burke was still asleep in bed and only her and her husband were awake. There have been audio enhancements of the conversation on the other line, but the call itself is what is most certain. Patsy says, “We have a kidnapping. Hurry, please.” She does not state that it is her daughter who has been kidnapped. The operator asks her to explain what is going on and Patsy says, “We have a, there's a note left and our daughter is gone.” It seems as though she goes to say the same thing twice, but cannot bring herself to do it. Patsy then first says that there is a note left and her daughter is gone. Clemente believes order is important. The first thing Patsy should have said is her daughter is gone. Instead, she mentions the note first. The 911 operator asks Patsy how long ago was it, and Patsy says, “I don't know. I just found a note and my daughter's missing.” The word “just” is used as if Patsy is trying to minimize her actions or time from that morning. Next, instead of using “gone” again, Patsy uses the term “missing”. This change in vocabulary hints she may known more than she is telling. The operator asks if the notes says who took [her daughter]. Patsy only responds with, “What?” This is most likely a stalling technique used for a sensitive subject, but it could be that Patsy simply didn’t hear the operator. The operator repeats the question and this time, Patsy says, “No, I don't know it's there... there is a ransom note here.” Despite the note kind of saying who took her, Patsy initially just says “no”. Next, rather than calling it a note, again, Patsy calls it a ransom note. This is another change in vocabulary that points to deception. The 911 operator asks for clarification and Patsy now says, “It says S.B.T.C. Victory... please.” In actuality, the note read “Victory! S.B.T.C.”, which makes Clemente believe that Patsy Ramsey did not have the note in her hand at the time, otherwise a panicked mother would read the signature in order. The operator asks who she is, so Patsy says, “Patsy Ramsey... I am the mother. Oh my God. Please.” Rather than say, “I am her mother”, Patsy says she is “the mother”. This makes it all less personal and puts distance between herself and JonBenet. The operator asks if Patsy knows how long her daughter has been gone, to which Patsy says, “No, I don't, please, we just got up and she's not here. Oh my God. Please.” Again, Patsy uses the term “just” as if she is trying to minimize the action or time taking place that morning. Finally, Patsy asks that the operator “Please send somebody,” before trying to hang up. To the operator, that seemed strange because typically with those kind of calls, the person will not even consider hanging up until police arrive. It’s as if the 911 operator is their lifeline. The possible statements the Clemente and his team believe they heard are John Ramsey saying, “We’re not speaking to you.” Then Patsy asks “What did you do?” Finally, a younger male voice seems to say, “Well, what did you find?” But, it is difficult to understand the conversation even with modern technology, so that conversation has been deemed inconclusive.

After calling 911, the Ramsey’s apparently called several family friends and urged them to come over, even though the ransom not clearly stated not to contact anyone. Police arrived and conducted a first search of the house, but did not find any sign of forced entry. A forensics team was also sent to the house, but they only believed it was a kidnapping, so they only sealed off JonBenet’s bedroom. With all the people in the home that morning, it is said that a lot of evidence was probably destroyed that would’ve been of great help to the investigation. One of the detectives, Linda Arndt asked Mr. Ramsey and his friend, Fleet White, to look around the home to see if they could find anything off. Mr. Ramsey immediately headed downstairs as if he knew that was where he would find JonBenet. Sure enough, the first room he headed to in the basement had JonBenet. White even claims that John cried out before he had flipped on the light switch. JonBenet was found with duct tape covering her mouth, nylon cord around her wrists and neck, and her torso covered by a white blanket. John Ramsey immediately picked up his daughter and carried her upstairs. Then, Arndt moved her to the living room. This goes against the most basic of police procedure and each time JonBenet was moved, evidence was destroyed. After undergoing an autopsy, it became evident that JonBenet died of strangulation and a skull fracture. Sexual assault was not ruled out, but it did not appear JonBenet had been conventionally raped. The autopsy also revealed that the last thing JonBenet had eaten was pineapple. In police photos taken of the house, there is a bowl of pineapple sitting on the table. When checked for fingerprints, the only fingerprints found were Burke Ramsey’s, but Patsy and John claim they do not remember preparing a bowl of pineapple for feeding any to JonBenet. They do maintain the their son slept through the whole episode, though.

There have been several theories about who killed JonBenet. The first and most common is that an intruder committed the crime. Lou Smit, a detective who came out of retirement to assist the District Attorney's office with the case, assessed the evidence and concluded that an intruder had committed the crime. Smit's theory was that someone broke into the Ramseys' home through a broken basement window. The intruder subdued JonBenet using a stun gun and took her down to the basement. JonBenet was killed and a ransom note was left. Smit's theory was supported by former FBI agent John E. Douglas, who had been hired by the Ramsey family. This is rather plausible for many reasons. JonBenet was a successful pageant girl and this could have possibly attracted the attention of child pornographers or pedophiles. There had been nearly 100 break-ins over the past couple months in Boulder before JonBenet was killed and there were about 38 registered sex offenders in the area.

Another popular claim is that either Patsy or John killed their daughter. In the death of a child, it is typically always a family member or caregiver. Initially, police concentrated solely on Patsy and John as the suspects, but because of their relationship with the District Attorney, the police was discouraged from doing so. Despite this, it is theorized that one of the parents, specifically Patsy, had an angry outburst and struck JonBenet, then developed an elaborate cover-up in order to protect themselves.

The last, and personally most interesting, theory is that her older brother killed her. According to the family, Burke had quite the temper. He apparently hated having a younger sister that his mother doted so much on. Apparently, Patsy told one family friend that Burke struck JonBenet with a golf club on one occasion and gave her a scar. The theory is that Burke got up in the middle of the night and made himself a bowl of pineapple and milk. This was JonBenet’s favorite snack, so when she wandered out of bed herself and saw him eating, she used her fingers to pluck a piece out of the bowl before running off from her brother. He chased after her and grabbed a flashlight on the counter, striking her just once, but hard enough to fracture her skull. If this is true, it isn’t easy to say if he intended to harm her or if he didn’t understand he could.Patsy and John upon finding this scene did everything in their power to protect Burke.

Many have done their best to figure out what truly happened to JonBenet. When a defenseless, 6-year-old girl is murdered, it is deeply saddening because she had so much more to share with the world, but the chance was taken from her too soon. I’m not sure if her murder will ever be solved, but she deserves that people keep trying.

Bibliography

Clemente, Jim, prod. "The Case Of: JonBenét Ramsey." The Case Of: JonBenét Ramsey. 18 Sept. 2016. CBS. Web. 03 Dec. 2016.

McClish, Mark. "JonBenet Ramsey Murder Statement Analysis." Statement Analysis. Statement Analysis, Oct. 2016. Web. 04 Dec. 2016.