Unit 1012 wishes a Merry Christmas to JonBenét
Ramsey and her
loved ones. The six-year-old beauty was murdered on Christmas Day 1996. Her
murder has been left unsolved. Nevertheless, the comrades of Unit 1012 will
honor her and she will be one of The 82 murdered children of
Unit 1012, where we will not forget her.
Units
1012 DO NOT support a wrongful conviction, so in her case, we will leave it to
God who will judge the guilty person who murdered her. We will remember how she
live and not how she died.
JonBenét
Ramsey
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Born
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JonBenét
Patricia Ramsey
August 6, 1990 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
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Died
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December
25 or 26, 1996
(aged 6) Boulder, Colorado, U.S. |
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Cause of death
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Asphyxiation due to strangulation
Craniocerebral trauma |
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Body discovered
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Boulder,
Colorado, U.S.
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Resting place
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Known for
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Murder
victim / child beauty pageants
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Parents
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Relatives
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Burke
Ramsey (brother)
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JonBenét
Patricia Ramsey (/ˌdʒɒnbəˈneɪ pəˈtrɪʃə ˈræmzi/; August 6, 1990
– December 25 or 26, 1996) was a six-year-old American beauty
queen who was killed in her family's home in Boulder,
Colorado,
on December 25, 1996. A lengthy ransom note was found in the house, and her
father, John Ramsey, found the little girl's body in
the basement of their house about eight hours after she was reported missing.
She sustained a broken skull from a blow to the head and had been strangled; a garrote was
found tied around her neck. The official cause of death, as reported by the autopsy, was
"asphyxiation
due to strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma". Time
magazine reported that it was officially ruled a homicide. The
case generated nationwide public and media interest, in part because her mother
Patsy
Ramsey (herself a former beauty queen) had entered JonBenét in a series of child beauty pageants. The case still remains
an open investigation with the Boulder Police Department.
The police
suspected JonBenét's death was caused accidentally, either by Patsy or
JonBenét's nine-year-old brother Burke, and believed the ransom note and
appearance of the body were staged by the parents to cover it up. In 1998, both
the police and District Attorney stated that Burke was not a suspect. The
Ramseys gave several televised interviews, but resisted police questioning
except on their own terms. In October 2013, unsealed court documents revealed
that a 1999 grand jury had recommended charges against John and Patsy for child
abuse resulting in death. However, the district attorney said there was
insufficient evidence to warrant charges being filed. In 2003, trace DNA taken from the
victim's clothes was found to belong to an unknown male, inducing the district
attorney's successor in 2008 to send the Ramseys a letter of apology, declaring
the family "completely cleared". In February 2009, the Boulder Police
Department took the case back from the district
attorney and reopened the investigation.
In addition
to JonBenét's brief beauty pageant career, media coverage of the case has often
focused on her parents' wealth and the unusual evidence found in the case.
Media reports have also questioned the police's handling of the case. Ramsey
family members and their friends have filed defamation suits against several
media organizations.
Brief life
JonBenét was born in 1990 in Atlanta, Georgia, the younger of the two children of Patsy
and John Ramsey. Her older brother, Burke, was born
three years earlier. Her first name was a portmanteau
of her father's first and middle names. At the time of her death, JonBenét was
enrolled in kindergarten at High Peaks Elementary School in
Boulder, Colorado.
Death
Following her death in Boulder, JonBenét
was interred at St. James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta,
Georgia. Her grave is next to that of her mother (who died of ovarian
cancer ten years after JonBenét) and that of her much older half-sister
Elizabeth Pasch Ramsey (who had died in a car crash in 1992 at age 22),
daughter of John Ramsey and his first wife, Lucinda Pasch. Further information
on JonBenét's death can be found at a special article on this topic.
Parents
John Ramsey
was the president of Access Graphics, a business computer system company that
later became a subsidiary of Lockheed
Martin. The family moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1991, where Access
Graphics' headquarters was located.
It was there
that Patsy Ramsey entered her daughter in various child beauty pageants.
JonBenét had won the titles of America's Royale Miss, Little Miss Charlevoix,
Little Miss Colorado, Colorado State All-Star Kids Cover Girl, and National
Tiny Miss Beauty. JonBenét's active role in child beauty pageants and Patsy Ramsey's
reported "pageant mother" behavior were reported on by the
media after the murder.
In the summer
of 1997 (approximately six months after JonBenét's death), the Ramseys left
Boulder and their summer home in Charlevoix, Michigan and moved back to
Atlanta, Georgia. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian
cancer at age 49 in 2006 and was interred next to her daughter.
Text of the ransom noteMr. Ramsey,
Listen carefully! We are a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction. Wedorespect your bussiness [sic] but not the country that it serves. At this time we have your daughter in our posession [sic]. She is safe and unharmed and if you want her to see 1997, you must follow our instructions to the letter.
You will withdraw $118,000.00 from your account. $100,000 will be in $100 bills and the remaining $18,000 in $20 bills. Make sure that you bring an adequate size attache to the bank. When you get home you will put the money in a brown paper bag. I will call you between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery. The delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested. If we monitor you getting the money early, we might call you early to arrange an earlier delivery of the money and hence a [sic] earlierdeliverypick-up of your daughter.
Any deviation of my instructions will result in the immediate execution of your daughter. You will also be denied her remains for proper burial. The two gentlemen watching over your daughter do not particularly like you so I advise you not to provoke them. Speaking to anyone about your situation, such as Police, F.B.I., etc., will result in your daughter being beheaded. If we catch you talking to a stray dog, she dies. If you alert bank authorities, she dies. If the money is in any way marked or tampered with, she dies. You will be scanned for electronic devices and if any are found, she dies. You can try to deceive us but be warned that we are familiar with law enforcement countermeasures and tactics. You stand a 99% chance of killing your daughter if you try to out smart [sic] us. Follow our instructions and you stand a 100% chance of getting her back.
You and your family are under constant scrutiny as well as the authorities. Don't try to grow a brain John. You are not the only fat cat around so don't think that killing will be difficult. Don't underestimate us John. Use that good southern common sense of yours. It is up to you now John!
Victory!
S.B.T.C
Evidence
Ransom note
According to the testimony of Patsy Ramsey given on
December 26, 1996, she realized that her daughter was missing after finding on
the kitchen staircase a two-and-a-half-page ransom letter
demanding $118,000 for her safe return—almost the exact value of a bonus her
husband had received earlier that year.
The ransom note was unusually long and the police
were told by the FBI that it was also very unusual for a ransom note to be
written at the crime scene. It was considered by the police to be staged and
included an unusual use of exclamation marks and acronyms and did not have any
fingerprints.
The ransom note and a practice draft were written
with a pen and pad of paper from the Ramsey home.
According to a Colorado Bureau of Investigation
report, "There are indications that the author of the ransom note is
Patricia Ramsey." However, they could not definitively prove it.
A handwriting expert Cina Wong after a three-week
analysis of the ransom note believes it was written by the child’s mother Patsy
as the author of the note used four different variations of the letter ‘A,’ and
that JonBenet’s mother uses the same four types of ‘A.’
Household
activities
The only
people known to be in the house on the night of JonBenét's death were
the victim and her immediate family: Burke, Patsy and John Ramsey. Despite
specific instructions in the ransom note that police and friends should not be
contacted, Patsy Ramsey telephoned the police at 5:52 a.m. MST. Patsy also called family and friends.
Two police
officers responded to the 911 call and arrived at the Ramsey home within three
minutes. They conducted a cursory search of the house but did not find any sign
of a break-in or forced entry.[31][a]
John Ramsey made arrangements to pay the ransom. A forensics team was
dispatched to the house. Believing that the case was a kidnapping, only
JonBenét's bedroom was cordoned off to prevent contamination of evidence. There
was no process taken to prevent contamination of evidence in the rest of the
house.
Friends and
the family's minister arrived at the home to support the Ramsey family. Victim
advocates also arrived at the scene. Friends and advocates picked up and
cleaned surfaces in the kitchen, possibly destroying evidence. Boulder Police
Detective Linda Arndt arrived about 8 a.m. MST, with the goal of awaiting the
kidnapper(s) instructions, but there was never an attempt to claim the money.
Discovery of
the body
At 1 p.m. MST, Arndt asked Fleet White (a friend of
the Ramseys) and John Ramsey to search the house to see if they could find if
"anything seemed amiss." Ramsey and White started their search in the
basement and John found his daughter's body in a basement room. Duct tape
covered her mouth, nylon cord was found around her wrists and neck, and her torso
was covered by a white blanket. Ramsey immediately picked the body up and took
it upstairs. Arndt then moved her into the living room. Each time that she was
moved potential evidence was contaminated or disturbed for the returning
forensics team.[33][b]
Patsy stated that JonBenét was not wearing the clothing that she was wearing
when she put her daughter to bed. She was now dressed in white leggings and a
shirt.
John, Patsy, and Burke Ramsey provided handwriting,
blood, and hair samples to the police. John and Patsy participated in a
preliminary interview for more than two hours and Burke Ramsey was also
interviewed within the first couple of weeks following JonBenét's death.
Autopsy
The results of the autopsy revealed
that JonBenét had been killed by strangulation
and a skull fracture. The official cause of death was
"asphyxiation
due to strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma". There was no
evidence of conventional rape, although sexual
assault could not be ruled out. Although no semen was found, there was
evidence that there had been a vaginal injury and at the time of the autopsy it
appeared her vaginal area had been wiped with a cloth. Time magazine
reported that her "death was ruled a homicide."
A garrote (made from a length of nylon cord and the broken
handle of a paintbrush) was tied around JonBenét's neck and had apparently been
used to strangle her. Part of the bristle end of the paintbrush was found in a
tub containing Patsy Ramsey's art supplies, but the bottom third of it was
never found despite extensive searching of the house by the police in
subsequent days.
The autopsy also revealed that JonBenét had eaten
pineapple only a few hours before her death. Photographs of the home taken on
the day when JonBenét's body was found show a bowl of pineapple on the kitchen
table with a spoon in it. Police reported that they found JonBenét's
nine-year-old brother Burke Ramsey's fingerprints on this bowl. However, both
Patsy and John Ramsey said they did not remember putting the bowl on the table
or feeding pineapple to JonBenét. The Ramseys have always maintained that Burke
slept through the entire episode until he was awakened several hours after the
police arrived.[14]:w186–87[43]
Mixed blood
sample
In December
2003, forensic investigators extracted enough material from a mixed blood
sample found on JonBenét's underwear to establish a DNA profile. That DNA
belonged to an unknown male person. The DNA was submitted to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a
database containing more than 1.6 million DNA profiles, but the sample did not
match any profile in the database.
In October
2016, new forensic analysis uncovered that the original DNA actually contains
genetic markers from two individuals other than the victim, JonBenét.
Investigation
Experts, media
commentators, and the Ramseys have identified potential suspects in the case.
Boulder police initially focused almost exclusively upon John and Patsy Ramsey,
but by October 1997 had over 1,600 people in their index of the case.
Complicating
the resolution of the investigation [and applicable theory] were errors made in
the initial investigation, including loss and contamination of evidence, lack
of experienced and technical staff on the investigation, shared evidence with
the Ramseys, and delay in formal interviews with the parents.[50][c]
Smit and the
District Attorney's Office presented the case, with 437 evidential items
pointing away from the Ramseys, to the Boulder police in May 1998 but were
unable to successfully challenge their steadfast belief that the Ramseys were
guilty. The District Attorney's office sought to take control of the
investigation. Due to the animosity between the police department and the DA's
office and the pressure to obtain a conviction, Roy Romer,
the governor of Colorado, interceded and named Michael Kane as special
prosecutor to initiate a grand jury. Two of the lead investigators in the case
resigned. Lou Smit resigned because he believed that the investigation had
incompetently overlooked the intruder hypothesis. Steve Thomas quit in protest
because he believed that the investigation had failed to successfully prosecute
the Ramseys.
A grand jury
was convened beginning September 15, 1998, based on the probable-cause
standard to indict the Ramseys for culpability in the death of their daughter.
In 1999, the grand jury returned a true bill to charge the Ramseys, but Boulder
County District Attorney Alex Hunter did not prosecute them because he did not
believe that he could meet the higher standard of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, which is
required for a criminal conviction.
Mary Lacy,
the Boulder County District Attorney, took over the investigation from the
police on December 26, 2002. In April 2003, she agreed with a federal judge who
sat on a 2002 libel lawsuit case that evidence in the suit is "more
consistent with a theory that an intruder murdered JonBenet than it was with a
theory that Mrs. Ramsey did." On February 2, 2009, Boulder police Chief
Mark Beckner announced that Stan Garnett, the new Boulder County District
Attorney, was turning the case over to his agency and that his team would
resume investigating it. Garnett found that the statute of limitations was
exceeded from the 1999 grand jury true bill, and did not pursue review of the
case against the Ramseys.
In October
2010, the case was reopened. New interviews were conducted following a fresh
inquiry by a committee that included state and federal investigators. Police
were expected to use the latest DNA technology in their investigation. There
was no new information gleaned from those interviews, according to ABC News.
It was
reported in September 2016 that the investigation into JonBenet's death
continues to be an active homicide case, per Boulder Police Chief Greg Testa.
Theories and
suspects
Main article: Death of JonBenét Ramsey theories
Intruder theory
There are two
types of theories about the death of JonBenét. One is the intruder theory that
was pursued by the Boulder District Attorney's office,[e][f]
with whom the Ramseys developed a relationship.[g]
Although the police may have had the Ramseys under an "umbrella of
suspicion", they and the prosecutors followed leads for intruders partly
due to the unidentified boot mark left in the basement room where JonBenét's
body was found.
Early
suspects included neighbor Bill McReynolds who played Santa Claus, former
family housekeeper Linda Hoffmann-Pugh, and a man named Michael Helgoth who
died in an apparent suicide shortly after JonBenét's death. Hundreds of DNA
tests were performed to find a match to the DNA recovered during her autopsy.
Lou Smit, a
detective who came out of retirement to assist the District Attorney's office
with the case in early 1997, assessed the evidence and concluded that an
intruder had committed the crime. Smit's theory was that someone broke into the
Ramseys' home through the broken basement window. The intruder subdued JonBenét
using a stun gun and took her down to the basement. JonBenét 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. [h]
Believing that the Ramseys were innocent, Smit resigned from the investigation
on September 20, 1998, five days after the grand jury convened against the
Ramseys. While no longer an official investigator on the case, Smit continued
to work on it until his death in 2010.
Stephen
Singular, author of the book Presumed Guilty: An Investigation into the JonBenét
Ramsey Case, the Media and the Culture of Pornography, refers to
consultations with cyber-crime specialists who believe that JonBenét, due to
her beauty pageant experience, could have attracted the attention of child
pornographers and pedophiles.
It was
determined that there had been more than 100 burglaries in the Ramseys'
neighborhood in the months before JonBenét's murder. There were 38 registered
sex offenders living within a two-mile (3 km) radius of the Ramseys' home.
In 2001, former Boulder County prosecutor Trip DeMuth and Boulder County
sheriff's Detective Steve Ainsworth stated that there should be a more
aggressive investigation of the intruder theory.
One of the
individuals that Smit identified as a suspect under his intruder theory was
Gary Howard Oliva, who was arrested for "two counts of attempted sexual
exploitation of a child and one count of sexual exploitation of a child"
charges in June 2016 according to Boulder's Daily Camera. Oliva, a
registered sex offender, was identified as a suspect in an October 2002 episode
of 48 Hours Investigates.
The Killing
of JonBenét: The Truth Uncovered, broadcast by A&E on September 5, 2016, concluded that
an unidentified male was responsible for JonBenét's death, due to DNA analysis.
Dr. Lawrence Kobilinsky commented that the documentary showed that an intruder
"committed that sexual assault and murdered JonBenet."
Family member
theory
The second is the theory that a family
member was involved in her death. Boulder police initially concentrated almost
exclusively upon John and Patsy Ramsey. According to Gregg
McCrary, a retired profiler with the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
"statistically, it is a 12-to-1 probability that it's a family member or a
care giver" who is involved in the death of a child. From the police's
perspective, they did not see evidence of a forced entry, saw evidence of
staging, such as the ransom note, and did not find the Ramseys cooperative in
helping them solve the death of their daughter.[i]
The Ramseys had stated that their reluctance was due to their fear that there
would not be a full investigation for intruders and that they would be hastily
selected as the key suspects in the case, according to Daily Camera.
One theory is
that Patsy, who did not have a history of anger or spanking, accidentally
struck JonBenét after a bed-wetting episode, which led to her death.
Theoretically, the strangulation could have been a "red-herring"
aspect to the cover-up that followed. Burke, who was nine-years-old at the time
of JonBenét's death, was interviewed by investigators at least three times. The
first two interviews did not raise any concerns about Burke. A review by a
child psychologist stated that it appeared that the Ramseys had "healthy,
caring family relationships." In 1998, Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner
said during an interview with a news reporter that Burke Ramsey was not involved
in the killing of his sister. In May 1999, the Boulder County District
Attorney's office reiterated that Burke Ramsey was not a suspect in the murder
of JonBenét. He had never been a suspect.
A $100,000
reward was offered by the Ramseys in a newspaper ad on April 27, 1997. Three
days later, they submitted to separate formal interviews for the first time at
the Boulder County Justice Center.
In 1999,
Colorado Governor Bill Owens told the parents of
JonBenét Ramsey to "quit hiding behind their attorneys, quit hiding behind
their PR firm."[i]
A Colorado grand jury
had voted in 1999 to indict the parents, John and Patricia Ramsey.[j]
The indictment cited "two counts each of child abuse" and "did
unlawfully, knowingly, recklessly and feloniously permit a child to be
unreasonably placed in a situation that posed a threat of injury to the child's
life or health, which resulted in the death of JonBenét Ramsey, a child under
the age of sixteen." Among the experts in the case were DNA specialist Barry
Scheck and forensic expert Dr. Henry Lee. On October 13, 1999,
Alex Hunter, who was the district attorney at the time, refused to sign the
indictment, saying that the evidence was insufficient. This left the impression
that the grand jury investigation had been inconclusive. In 2002, the statute
of limitations on the charges expired. The indictment was not known publicly
until October 25, 2013, when previously sealed court documents were released.[k]
On July 9,
2008, the Boulder District Attorney's office announced that, as a result of
newly developed DNA sampling and testing techniques (touch DNA
analysis), the Ramsey family members were no longer considered suspects in the
case. [l]
Gordon Coombs, former investigator for the Boulder County District Attorney's
office, questioned total absolution of the Ramseys.[m]
The police
sought to interview Burke Ramsey in September 2010, according to Lin Wood, the
Ramsey family lawyer. In 2012, Foreign Faction – Who Really Kidnapped
JonBenet? by A. James Kolar, former investigator under Boulder County
District Attorney Lacy, was published. The book discounts the intruder theory
and proposes scenarios of Ramsey family involvement in JonBenét's death.
The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey,
broadcast on CBS on
September 18 and 19, 2016, used a group of experts to evaluate the evidence and
asserted that Burke hit his sister in the head with a heavy object, perhaps not
intending to kill her. The ransom letter was an attempt to cover up the
circumstances of JonBenet's death. The Ramsey family lawyer, L. Lin Wood,
threatened to sue CBS for libel (defamation) based on its conclusion that
JonBenét was killed by Burke.
False
confession
John Mark Karr, a 41-year-old elementary
school teacher, was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, on August 15, 2006 and falsely
confessed to murdering JonBenét. He claimed that he had drugged, sexually
assaulted, and accidentally killed her. According to CNN, "Authorities
also said they did not find any evidence linking [Karr] to the crime
scene." He had provided only basic facts that were publicly known and
failed to provide any convincing details. His claim of drugging JonBenét was
doubted because no drugs were found in her body during the autopsy. DNA samples
taken from Karr did not match DNA found on JonBenét's body.[n]
Defamation
lawsuits
Lin Wood, the Ramseys' family attorney, filed defamation lawsuits
against the media after JonBenét's murder. Star magazine
and its parent company American Media, Inc. were sued on their son's
behalf in 1999. Defamation suits have been filed by the Ramseys and their
friends against several unnamed media outlets. A defamation suit was filed in
2001 against the authors and publisher of JonBenét: Inside the Ramsey Murder
Investigation. The suit against Don Davis, Steven Thomas, and St. Martin's Press was settled out of court the following
year.
John and Patsy Ramsey were sued in two defamation
lawsuits arising from the publication of their book, The Death of Innocence.
These suits were brought by two persons named in the book who were said to have
been investigated as suspects by Boulder police. The Ramseys were defended in
those lawsuits by Lin Wood and three other Atlanta attorneys, James C. Rawls,
Eric P. Schroeder, and S. Derek Bauer. They obtained the dismissal of both
lawsuits, including an in-depth decision by U.S. District Court Judge Julie
Carnes that "abundant evidence" in the murder case pointed to an
intruder having committed the crime.
In November 2006, Rod Westmoreland, a friend of
John Ramsey, filed a defamation suit against an anonymous web surfer who had
posted two messages on Internet forums using the pseudonym
"undertheradar" implicating Westmoreland in the murder.
During a September 2016 interview with CBS Detroit and The
Case of: JonBenet Ramsey documentary, forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz
accused Burke of killing JonBenét. On October 6, 2016, Burke Ramsey filed a
defamation lawsuit against Spitz. Burke and his attorneys, who include Lin
Wood, are seeking a total of $150 million in punitive and compensatory damages.
Wood also claims that he will file suit against CBS at the end of October.
Publications
- Carlton Smith (1997). Death of a little princess: the tragic story of the murder of JonBenét Ramsey. New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks. ISBN 0312964331.
- Linda Edison McLean with foreword by Patsy Ramsey (1998). JonBenét's mother: the tragedy and the truth. Parsons, WV: McClain Print Co. ISBN 0870125966.
- Eleanor Von Duyke and Dwight Wallington (1998). A little girl's dream? A JonBenét Ramsey Story. Austin, TX: Windsor House. ISBN 1881636445.
- Cyril H. Wecht and Charles Bosworth, Jr. (1998). Who killed JonBenét Ramsey?. New York: Onyx Book. ISBN 0451408713.
- Lawrence Schiller (1999). Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: The Uncensored Story of the JonBenét Murder and the Grand Jury's Search for the Final Truth. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060191538.
- Stephen Singular (1999). Presumed guilty: an investigation into the JonBenét Ramsey case, the media, and the culture of pornography. Beverly Hills, CA: New Millennium Press. ISBN 1893224007.
- John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker (2000). "The JonBenét Ramsey Murder". The Cases That Haunt Us. New York: Scribner. ISBN 978-0-684-84600-2.
- Steve Thomas and Don Davis (2000). JonBenét: inside the Ramsey murder investigation. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312253265.
- John Ramsey and Patsy Ramsey (2001). The death of innocence: JonBenét's parents tell their story. New York: Onyx. ISBN 0451409736.
- Walter A. Davis (2003). An evening with JonBenét Ramsey. Philadelphia: Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 1413411096.
- Don Gentile and David Wright, ed. (2003). JonBenet: the police files. Boca Raton, FL: American Media. ISBN 1932270035.
- A. James Kolar (2012). Foreign faction: who really kidnapped JonBenét?: a former lead investigator breaks six years of silence. Telluride, CO: Ventus Publishing. ISBN 0984763201.
- Paula Woodword (2016). We Have Your Daughter: The Unsolved Murder of JonBenét Ramsey Twenty Years Later. Prospecta Press. ISBN 1632260778.
Video
- "City under siege: The news media's coverage and Boulder officials' secretive handling of the investigation into the murder of JonBenét Ramsey". Nightline. January 31, 1997. LCCN 00568713. ABC.
- "Case Closed: The Boulder Police Department's investigation into murder of JonBenét Ramsey". Nightline. May 30, 1997. LCCN 00571015. ABC.
- Edward Lucas, director (2000). Getting Away with Murder: The JonBenét Ramsey Mystery (television). Fox Broadcasting Company. LCCN 2003632300.
- Bill Kurtis, executive producer (2000). Investigative reports. Jon Benét – anatomy of an investigation (television). A&E Television Networks. LCCN 2001646808.
- "JonBenét Ramsey.". Haunting Evidence (television). Court TV. October 4, 2008. LCCN 2009595419.
- Jim Clemente, Laura Richards, Stan Burke, James Fitzgerald, James Kolar, Henry Lee, Cyril Wecht, Werner Spitz (2016). The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey (television). Critical Content (CBS broadcaster).
- David Mills and Janet Taylor, executive producers for Mill Productions (September 5, 2016). The Killing of JonBenét: The Truth Uncovered (television). Mills Productions for A&E network.
Notes
1.
It was later determined that had been some
unlocked windows and an unlocked door that night. In addition, a basement
window was previously broken by John Ramsey when he was locked out of the
house. Lou Smit, proponent of the intruder theory, believed that the intruder
entered through this basement window. A suitcase was found on the floor almost
directly underneath this window. Smit theorized the attacker(s) planned to use
this suitcase to get either JonBenét alive as a kidnap victim, or her body, out
of the house, but this proved impossible.
Former FBI profiler John
E. Douglas, who was brought in to assist the Ramsey's lawyers on case in
January 1997 to assess whether the Ramseys were involved, stated that if a
family member was involved in a murder, they would generally construe events so
that another person found the body. In this case, John found the body and his
friend followed him into the basement room. When a family member is involved in
a murder, they are likely to cover their child's body in a protective manner,
covering all but their head. In this case, just the torso was covered, which
did not denote the kind of act a parent would generally perform. In addition,
John removed the duct tape from her mouth and loosened the cord around her,
which goes against the theory of "staging" the body.
A Boulder defense attorney, Lee Hill, commented that:
"The public feels that the police have coddled the Ramseys because they
are rich and influential in Boulder."
Boulder Police Chief Greg Testa stated in September 2016
that "To date, the Boulder Police Department has processed more than 1,500
pieces of evidence, including the analysis of over 200 DNA samples. [...] Our
major crimes unit has received and reviewed or investigated over 20,000 tips,
letters or emails. Our detectives have traveled to over 18 states and
interviewed or spoken with more than 1,000 individuals."
The initial District Attorney, Alex Hunter, pursued an
investigation of convicted pedophiles in the Boulder area, yet also said that
he would not clear the Ramseys. His interest the District Attorney's office
taking the actions to investigate pedophiles indicated to former Denver
prosecutor Craig Silverman that the District Attorney's office followed the
intruder theory. Silverman also said, "Once you have conceded the
possibility of an intruder, I don't see how any Ramsey could ever be
successfully prosecuted."
According to Gordon Coombes, Boulder County district
attorney's office investigator from 2008 to 2011, during the time that he
worked in the office District Attorney Mary Lacy frequently held staff lunch
sessions to prove the theory that JonBenét was killed by an intruder.
The city's mayor Leslie L Durgin said, "I'm extremely
concerned about the relationship between the district attorney's office and the
Ramsey attorneys. The perception is that they are closer than we thought."
Ann Louise Bardach, Vanity Fair author, wrote that there
were weekly breakfast meetings between a Ramsey defense lawyer and Peter
Hofstrom, the prosecutor's liaison to the Ramsey family.
In his book The Cases That Haunt Us, former FBI
agent John E. Douglas (hired by the Ramsey family) writes
that he quibbled with a few of Smit's interpretations but generally agreed with
the Smit's investigation and conclusions. Douglas particularly praised Smit's
discovery in autopsy photos of what appeared to be previously-overlooked
evidence of a "stun gun" having been used to subdue
JonBenét.
James Brooke of The New York Times said "The
Ramseys have consistently maintained their innocence. But for four months after
the murder, they declined to talk to the police. Instead, they mounted a
defense team that sounds like a defense lawyer's Christmas carol: eight
lawyers, four publicists, three private investigators, two handwriting analysts
and one retired F.B.I. profiler."
Burke testified at a 1999 grand jury hearing. His
attorney, Jim Jenkins, sought to prevent his testifying at the grand jury and
to eliminate him as a suspect before the DA's office reported that Burke was
not and had never been an suspect.
In September 2013, Daily
Camera reporter Charlie Brennan and the Reporters Committee for Freedom
of the Press filed a lawsuit to press DA Stan Garnett to release the grand
jury's indictment. In mid-October, the judge ruled that the DA must show why
the indictment should remain sealed. The
Denver Post (a sister paper of the Daily Camera) published an
editorial calling for the indictment to be unsealed.
In light of the new DNA evidence, Boulder County District
Attorney Mary Lacy gave a letter to John Ramsey that same day, in which she
officially apologized to the Ramsey family members:
This
new scientific evidence convinces us ... to state that we do not consider your
immediate family, including you, your wife, Patsy, and your son, Burke, to be
under any suspicion in the commission of this crime.... The match of Male DNA
on two separate items of clothing worn by the victim at the time of the murder makes
it clear to us that an unknown male handled these items. There is no innocent
explanation for its incriminating presence at three sites on these two
different items of clothing that JonBenét was wearing at the time of her
murder....To the extent that we may have contributed in any way to the public
perception that you might have been involved in this crime, I am deeply sorry.
No innocent person should have to endure such an extensive trial in the court
of public opinion, especially when public officials have not had sufficient
evidence to initiate a trial in a court of law.... We intend in the future to
treat you as the victims of this crime, with the sympathy due you because of
the horrific loss you suffered.... I am aware that there will be those who will
choose to continue to differ with our conclusion. But DNA is very often the
most reliable forensic evidence we can hope to find and we rely on it often to
bring to justice those who have committed crimes. I am very comfortable that
our conclusion that this evidence has vindicated your family is based firmly on
all of the evidence.
Former investigator for the Boulder County District
Attorney's office Gordon Coombs claimed that: "We all shed DNA all the
time within our skin cells. It can be deposited anywhere at any time for
various reasons, reasons that are benign. [...] To clear somebody just on the
premise of touch DNA, especially when you have a situation where the crime
scene wasn't secure at the beginning . . . really is a stretch."
14.
Authorities had tracked Karr down by using
the Internet
after emails were
sent regarding the case to Michael
Tracey, a journalism professor at the University of Colorado. After
Karr was arrested and brought back to the US, he was released to face
extradition for child pornography charges that originated in
Sonoma County, California. Karr was subsequently released from the child
pornography charges due to lack of evidence. While under investigation, the
press coverage of Karr's false confession was described as a media
frenzy.
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