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Killing of JonBenét Ramsey

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JonBenét Patricia Ramsey (August 6, 1990 – December 25, 1996) was a beauty pageant queen who was found murdered in the basement of her parents' home in Boulder, Colorado, United States, eight hours after being reported missing. The case drew national attention when no suspect was charged and suspicions turned to possible family involvement. The tantalizing clues of the case have inspired numerous books and articles that attempt to solve the mystery.

File:Jonbenet2.jpg
JonBenét Ramsey

The case returned to the news with the August 16, 2006 arrest of an American second grade teacher found in Bangkok, Thailand. The suspect was identified as 42-year-old John Mark Karr, a former school teacher.

Life

File:JonBenet.jpg
A pageant picture of JonBenét Ramsey

Ramsey was born at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, and moved with family to Colorado when she was a year old. Her name is a combination of her father's first and middle names, John Bennett. Her mother, Patsy Ramsey, enrolled her daughter in a variety of different beauty pageants in several states. In addition, she funded some of the contests in which Ramsey was involved. Patsy Ramsey was herself a former beauty queen, having held the title Miss West Virginia 1977; her sister was Miss West Virginia 1980. John Ramsey, JonBenét's father, is a wealthy businessman, president, and chief executive officer of Access Graphics, a computer services company.

Ramsey held a number of child beauty contest titles, including (in no specific order): Little Miss Charlevoix Michigan, Colorado State All-Star Kids Cover Girl, America's Royal Miss, National Tiny Miss Beauty, Little Miss Merry Christmas, Little Miss Colorado, and Little Miss Sunburst.

John Ramsey stated that he found his daughter's body in the basement of their 15-room home in Boulder on December 26, 1996, the day after Christmas.

Ramsey's grave lies in Saint James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia, next to the grave of her mother Patsy Ramsey (died 2006), and Elizabeth "Beth" Ramsey (died 1992), a child from John's first marriage who died in an automobile accident. JonBenét's grandmother is also buried nearby. A total of 13 Ramsey headstones lie in the cemetery.

The murder case

On December 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey (according to her own testimony) discovered that her daughter was missing after finding a three-page ransom note inside the family residence. Despite specific instructions that the police and friends not be contacted, she telephoned the police and invited over family and friends. The local police conducted a cursory search of the house but did not find any obvious signs of a break-in or forced entry. The note suggested that the ransom collection would be monitored and JonBenét would be returned as soon as the money was obtained.

In the afternoon of the same day, Det. Arndt asked Fleet White, a friend of the Ramseys, to take John Ramsey and search the house for "anything unusual." Upon this request, John Ramsey and two of his friends started their search in the basement first. There in the wine cellar John found his daughter's body covered in a white blanket. He carried the body up the stairs and placed her onto the floor of the foyer. Det. Arndt then moved the body to the base of the Christmas tree. Later that evening the police authorized the removal of the body by issue of a search warrant. Typically, this procedure would be performed under consent of the parents.

The results of the autopsy revealed that JonBenét was killed by strangulation and a skull fracture. A garrote made from a length of nylon cord and the handle of a paintbrush had been used to strangle her; her skull had suffered severe blunt trauma; she may have been sexually assaulted. The official cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma. The other half of the paint brush was found in a tub of Patsy Ramsey's art supplies. [1] It was noted by experts that the construction of the garrote required a special knowledge of knots. Autopsy also revealed that the child had eaten pineapple only a few hours before the murder, of which her mother claimed to be unaware.

Clues

Police investigations within and around the residence discovered the following clues which were, by some, interpreted as evidence of intrusion:

  • two dissimilar footprints in the wine cellar that did not match to any of the shoes in the residence
  • a third footprint of unknown match on the outer part of the window of the room by the wine cellar (John Ramsey claimed that the window was malfunctioning)
  • a possible footprint on a suitcase, placed directly below the same window
  • a rope that was foreign to the residence found on the bed of the guestroom located near JonBenét's room
  • physical marks on JonBenét's body that suggest the use of a stun gun
  • blood sample on JonBenét's underwear that did not match any known suspect

The note

Investigators determined that the lengthy ransom note was written on a pad of paper that belonged to the Ramsey family. A Sharpie felt-tip pen similar to the one used to write the note was found in a container on the Ramseys' kitchen counter, along with other pens of the same type [1]. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on the same pad of paper, a practice sheet of the ransom note was found. No fingerprints could be detected on the note. The text of the note had many odd features, including the fact that $118,000 was demanded. Perhaps coincidentally, or not, John Ramsey earned a bonus that year of $118,117.50. Also during investigation of the home, police reported that John Ramsey's Bible was found on his desk in his office open to Psalm 118. The police regarded the ransom price a suspiciously low amount of money in proportion to John Ramsey's income. The parents have invariably held that the crime was committed by an intruder, and a group of investigators favor that theory.

Several handwriting samples were taken from a number of suspects who might have written the ransom note. Forensic analysis cleared everyone except for Patsy Ramsey, whose writing style bore some resemblance to the ransom note.

Later developments

In December 2003, forensic investigators extracted enough material from a mixed blood sample found on JonBenét's underwear to establish a DNA profile. The DNA belongs to an unknown male. The DNA was submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a database containing over 1.6 million DNA profiles, mainly from convicted felons. The sample has yet to find a match in the database, although it continues to be checked for partial matches on a weekly basis.

Later investigations also discovered that there were more than 100 burglaries in the Ramsey's neighborhood in the months prior to Jon Benet's murder, and that 38 registered sex offenders were living within a 2-mile radius of the Ramsey's home. [2]

JonBenét's mother, Patsy Ramsey, died of ovarian cancer on June 24, 2006[2], at the age of 49. She had been battling cancer off and on after first being diagnosed in 1993. She had a recurrence in 2003. She had been aware the Boulder County (Colorado) District Attorney's Office was investigating a suspect later arrested in Bangkok, Thailand on August 16, 2006.

2006 Arrest

On August 16, 2006, Reuters reported that a suspect who was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand for unrelated sex crime charges. Authorites reportly tracked him down with the internet. [3]. Karr is said to have confessed to elements of the murder that were not available to the general public. Currently he is in transit to Colorado for further investigation. [4] The media has reported that the suspect is 41-year-old John Mark Karr, a former second grade teacher.[5].

Defamation lawsuits

Several defamation lawsuits have ensued since Jon Benét's murder. Lin Wood was the attorney for John and Patsy Ramsey and has prosecuted defamation claims on their behalf against St. Martin's Press, Time, Inc., The Fox News Channel, American Media, Inc., Star, Globe, Court TV and The New York Post.

Speculations

Case speculation by experts, media and the parents has supported different theories. For a long time, the local police supported the theory that her mother had accidentally killed JonBenét in a fit of rage after the girl had wet her bed on the same night. Another theory was that John Ramsey had been sexually abusing his daughter and murdered her as a cover. John Ramsey's son Burke Ramsey was also targeted by speculation, and asked to testify at the grand jury.[3] Police suspicions were initially concentrated almost exclusively on the members of the Ramsey family. Yet, the girl's parents had never shown any prior signs of aggression, nor any suspicious behavior towards their children.

The Ramseys have invariably held that the crime was committed by an intruder. Some police investigators and private detectives support the Ramseys' theory. John Douglas, former head of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, was hired by the Ramseys to examine the case. He contended that the Ramseys were not involved in the murder, and that it was unlikely that anyone would resolve the case.

With such contradictory evidence, a grand jury failed to indict the Ramseys or anyone else in the murder of JonBenét. Not long after the murder, the parents moved to a new home in Atlanta. Two of the lead investigators in the case resigned, and there have been accusations of a cover-up in the district attorney's office. The case has remained unsolved.

It has been speculated that the FBI intentionally fueled public suspicions by supplying misleading information to the press, all in an effort to pressure John and Patsy Ramsey into confession.

Pop culture

In fictional portrayals of her life, JonBenét has been played by Dyanne Iandoli, Mackenzie Rosman, and Julia Granstrom.

On a Weekend Update segment of Saturday Night Live, Norm MacDonald joked that the Ramseys were going to have another baby, to which the audience reacted poorly. Slightly embarrassed, MacDonald said, "They'll have a new little bundle of joy in their life."

The sketch comedy show Mad TV once featured a sketch in which the Ramsey parents play on an episode of Hollywood Squares, and eventually kill everyone else on the show. The show also did a sketch in which Alex Borstein played Patsy Ramsey who was helping Meg Ryan (played by Nicole Sullivan) and Tom Hanks (played by Pat Kilbane) who were acting in the television movie of the story of the Ramseys. There was also a skit where the parents hosted a morning show entitled "Good Morning, Boulder."

In an episode of Family Guy, during one of the show's cutaways, Peter Griffin promises the Ramsey parents that he will not rest until he finds their daughter's murderer. The cutaway strongly implies that they are, in fact, the killers.

D12's Shit on You contains the lyrics "Got JonBenet Ramsey in my '98 Camry."

The Ramseys, along with O. J. Simpson and Gary Condit, are portrayed in the South Park episode "Butters' Very Own Episode" and it is implied strongly that each committed the murder of or concealed vital information concerning the people they were respectively associated with.

The British indie rock group Queen Adreena performs a song written by lead vocalist Katie-Jane Garside called "FM Doll", which is about JonBenét's murder.

Female rapper Princess Superstar, in her song "Keith and Me," sings, "I'm Miss rapping Jonbenet."

Rapper Immortal Technique, in his song "Revolutionary," raps, "Don't make me choke you down like JonBenet Ramsey."

Jonbenet Tribute Song http://www.atcsimulator.com/jonbenet.mp3 (C) 1997 by BradleyRussellbdavis 00:56, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ JonBenet: Anatomy of a Cold Case - Court TV
  2. ^ "Jonbenet Ramsey's mother dies". MSNBC/AP. 2006-04-07.
  3. ^ "Man arrested overseas in JonBenet Ramsey slaying". Boston Herald. August 16 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Arrest made in JonBenet Ramsey case". Reuters. August 16 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Arrest Sources: Arrest made in JonBenet Ramsey case". CNN. August 16 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • Hickey, Eric. Encyclopedia of Murder and Violent Crime.
  • M., Ronald and Stephen T. Holmes. Profiling Violent Crimes.
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