JonBenét Ramsey

JonBenét Patricia Ramsey

On the night of December 25, 1996, six‑year‑old JonBenét Patricia Ramsey was killed in her family's home at 755 15th Street in Boulder, Colorado. She was reported missing early on December 26, and her body was found about seven hours later in the basement of the house. Her skull had been fractured, and a garrote was tied around her neck. The autopsy determined that the cause of death was asphyxia...

On the night of December 25, 1996, six‑year‑old JonBenét Patricia Ramsey was killed in her family's home at 755 15th Street in Boulder, Colorado. She was reported missing early on December 26, and her body was found about seven hours later in the basement of the house. Her skull had been fractured, and a garrote was tied around her neck. The autopsy determined that the cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma, and the case was ruled a homicide. The Boulder Police Department initially focused on the Ramsey family, particularly a handwritten ransom note found in the house, which investigators believed had been written by JonBenét's mother, Patsy Ramsey. Police theorized that the note and the condition of JonBenét's body had been staged by Patsy and her husband, John Bennett Ramsey, to conceal responsibility for the killing. In 1999, both the police and the district attorney stated that JonBenét's nine‑year‑old brother, Burke, was not a suspect. That same year, a grand jury voted to indict the Ramseys for child abuse resulting in death and for accessory to a crime. Then-district attorney Alex Hunter declined to sign the indictment, saying there was insufficient evidence to prove the charges at trial. In 2002, a new district attorney, Mary Lacy, assumed control of the case and advanced the theory that an intruder had entered the home and committed the killing. In 2003, trace DNA recovered from JonBenét's clothing was found to belong to an unidentified male, and the Ramseys were excluded as contributors. In 2008, Lacy sent the family a letter stating that they were cleared by the DNA results. Subsequent district attorney Stan Garnett would say, in 2016, that Lacy's decision was not legally binding, and that Lacy never should have written the letter. In 2009, the Boulder Police Department resumed control of the investigation and continues to treat the case as an open homicide. The killing drew extensive national and international media attention, fueled by JonBenét's participation in child beauty pageants, the family's wealth, and the unusual evidence associated with the case. Media coverage scrutinized the police response, advanced competing theories, and prompted multiple defamation suits by Ramsey family members and associates. The case remains unsolved, and the Boulder Police Department provides periodic public updates. Life and interment JonBenét Patricia Ramsey was born on August 6, 1990, in Atlanta, Georgia, the younger of two children of Patricia "Patsy" Ramsey (1956–2006) and John Bennett Ramsey (born 1943). She had an older brother, Burke (born 1987), and three older half-siblings from her father's first marriage. Her given name was created by combining her father's first and middle names, while her mother's first name was used as her middle name. During the 1996-97 school year she was enrolled in kindergarten at High Peaks Elementary School in Boulder, Colorado. On December 26, 1996, JonBenét's body was discovered in the basement of her family's Boulder home. She was buried on December 31, at St. James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia, where she was interred beside her half-sister Elizabeth Pasch Ramsey, who had died in a car crash nearly five years earlier at age 22. Parents John Ramsey is a businessman who was the president of Access Graphics, a computer company that later became a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin. His first marriage ended in divorce in 1978. In 1991, John had moved with Patsy, his second wife, and family to Boulder, where Access Graphics' headquarters was located. Patsy Ramsey entered JonBenét in various child beauty pageants, where she 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's reported "pageant mother" behavior were reported by the media after the murder. Six months after JonBenét's death, the Ramseys moved to a new home in Atlanta after a summer at their vacation retreat in Charlevoix, Michigan. Patsy died of ovarian cancer at age 49 in 2006. She is interred next to her daughter. Evidence 911 call and initial search for the child The only people known to be in the house on the night of JonBenét's death were her immediate family: Patsy and John Ramsey and their son Burke. The ransom note contained specific instructions against contacting police and friends, but Patsy telephoned the police at 5:52 a.m. MST. She also called family and friends. Two police officers responded to the 9-1-1 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 forced entry. Officer Rick French went to the basement and came to a door that was secured by an additional wooden latch at the top of the door frame. He paused for a moment in front of the door, but walked away without opening it. French later explained that he was looking for an exit route used by the kidnapper; since the wooden latch was holding the door closed from inside the house, the kidnapper could not have used this door and then closed the latch from the inside, ruling this out as a possible exit. JonBenét's body was later found behind the door. With JonBenét still missing, John made arrangements to pay the ransom. A forensics team was dispatched to the house. The team initially believed that the child had been kidnapped, and JonBenét's bedroom was the only room in the house that was cordoned off to prevent contamination of evidence. No precautions were taken to prevent contamination of evidence in the rest of the house. Meanwhile, friends, victim advocates, and the Ramsey family's minister arrived at the home to show support. Visitors picked up and cleaned surfaces in the kitchen, possibly destroying evidence. Boulder detective Linda Arndt arrived at about 8:00 a.m. MST, in anticipation of receiving further instructions by the kidnapper(s), but there was never an attempt by anyone to claim the money. Discovery of the body At 1:00 p.m. MST, Detective Arndt asked John Ramsey and Fleet White, a family friend, to search the house to see if "anything seemed amiss." They started their search in the basement. John opened the latched door which Officer French had overlooked; his daughter's body lay in one of the rooms. JonBenét's mouth was covered with duct tape, a nylon cord was found around her wrists and neck, and her torso was covered by a white blanket. John picked up her body and rushed upstairs. When JonBenét was moved, the crime scene was further contaminated, and critical forensic evidence was disturbed for the returning forensics team. Each of the Ramseys provided handwriting, blood, and hair samples to the police. John and Patsy participated in a preliminary interview for more than two hours, and Burke was also interviewed within the first couple of weeks following JonBenét's death. Eyewitnesses Scott Gibbons, a neighbor, claimed that around midnight, while looking from his kitchen window, he saw the upper kitchen of the Ramsey residence lit up with dimmed lights. Neighbor Melody Stanton reported that she awoke shortly after midnight to the sound of a child's scream coming from the Ramsey residence. Ransom note Patsy Ramsey reported that she found a two-and-a-half-page handwritten ransom note on their kitchen staircase. The note demanded US$118,000 for JonBenét's return. John pointed out to the first police on the scene that the amount was nearly identical to his Christmas bonus of the prior year, which suggested that someone who would have access to that information would be involved in the crime. Investigators looked at several theories behind the dollar amount demanded, considering employees at Access Graphics who might have known the amount of John's prior bonus. They also considered the possibility that the ransom demand was a reference to Psalm 118 and spoke to religious sources to determine possible relevance. The ransom note appears to echo film dialogue. The films Ruthless People, Ransom, Escape from New York, Speed and Dirty Harry are considered to be potential sources. The ransom note was unusually long. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) told the police that it was very unusual for such a note to be written at the crime scene. The police believed that the note was staged, because it did not have any fingerprints except for Patsy's and authorities who had handled it, and because it included an unusual use of exclamation marks and initialisms. The note and a practice draft were written with a pen and notepad from the Ramsey home. According to a Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report, there were "indications that the author of the ransom note is Patricia Ramsey." However, the evidence fell short of a definitive conclusion. Michael Baden, a board-certified forensic pathologist, who had consulted with both sides of the case, said he had never seen a note like it in his 60-year experience and that he did not think it was written by an outside stranger. A federal court ruled it highly unlikely that Patsy wrote the note, citing six certified handwriting experts. The court lamented the self-proclaimed experts—without credentials—interfering in the case by accusing Patsy with no scientific basis. Autopsy The autopsy revealed that JonBenét was killed by strangulation and a skull fracture. The official cause of death was "asphyxia by 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. Evidence also suggested that the paintbrush used in the garrote was also used for sexual assault. At the time of the autopsy, the pathologist recorded that it appeared her vaginal area had been wiped with a cloth. Her death was ruled a homicide. A garrote that was 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'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 revealed a "vegetable or fruit material which may represent pineapple," which JonBenét had eaten 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. However, neither John nor Patsy said they remembered putting the bowl on the table or feeding pineapple to JonBenét. Police reported that they found Patsy Ramsey's fingerprints on the bowl. Blood samples 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, and excluded the DNA of each of the Ramseys. 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, a report said that new forensic analysis with more sensitive techniques revealed that the original DNA contained genetic markers from two individuals other than JonBenét. A. James Kolar, who was a lead investigator for the DA's office, said that there were additional traces of male DNA found on the cord and paintbrush that Boulder district attorney Mary Lacy did not mention, and that there were six separate DNA samples belonging to unknown individuals that were found by the test. Former FBI profiler Candice Delong believes that the DNA, having shown up identically in several different places on multiple surfaces, belongs to the killer. Former Adams County, Colorado, District Attorney Bob Grant, who has