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Destiny Houser

ENG 1201

Professor Sobocinski

20 March 2020

The Death of a JonBenet Ramsey

On December 26, 1996 the family of JonBenet Ramsey’s lives were changed

forever. People across the country had woken to the tragic news of JonBenet Ramsey,

who was found dead in her home, at only six-years-old. Many people believe the

Ramsey family had an unknown intruder enter their house that night. Others believe

they were helping someone close to them stay safe. In conclusion JonBenet’s brutal

murder was covered up by her father John Ramsey. John did this because he was

trying to keep his wife Patsy and son Burke out of question because one of them

murdered her.

JonBenet Ramsey was born on August 6, 1990. JonBenet took part in many

beauty pageants. She had even won over five titles. Even though she was a pageant

winner, it does not mean she enjoyed what she was doing. Her mother and her

grandmother in fact always pushed her to be in pageants without really giving her a

choice. Although her mother was okay with her doing pageants that does not exactly

mean her father was fond of the idea. Her father John felt as though they sexualized her

and that kind of creeped him out a bit. The real question is how her brother Burke felt

about all of this. He must have wanted some type of attention, but JonBenet seemed to

get it all.
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On December 25, the family attended a Christmas party held at a family friend’s.

The drive home was just long enough got JonBenet to fall asleep. When the family

arrived home JonBenet was already fast asleep. From there John carried JonBenet to

her bedroom from the car and tucked her into her bed. Soon after, the Ramsey family all

were supposedly in bed. Some suggest on this night JonBenet had a bed wetting

incident and her mother Patsy had a raging incident and killed her daughter. Reports

show JonBenet regularly had these accidents (Oliver).

The morning of December 26, Patsy Ramsey woke up around 5:00 a.m. When

she came down the spiral staircase of the home there was said to be a note sitting on

the lower steps. The ransom note found was giving the family steps to get their child,

JonBenet, back in one piece and alive safely. The note asked for the family to not call

the police and it also asked for $118,000. The note also said that JonBenet was

kidnapped and obviously still alive. As Patsy read the note, she decided to see if

JonBenet was in her room. When Patsy arrived at her room JonBenet was nowhere to

be seen. At 5:22 a.m., Patsy called the Boulder Police telling them JonBenet was

missing. Although there was a ransom note left behind. The odd part was during this

call Patsy did not start off by telling them her daughter was kidnapped. Patsy also hung

up on the 911 operator.

Soon after the 911 call the police arrived at the home, they immediately searched

and found no signs of JonBenet. After they searched, they questioned all the family

members and asked them to submit samples of their handwriting to compare them to

the note found. The handwriting samples cleared John and Burke from suspicion. The

only family member not cleared was Patsy. The police and detectives at the scene
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asked John and close friend, Fleet White, to search the house to see if they could

possibly find any sign of JonBenet that they could have missed. They decided to then

search the basement first. John grabbed his Fleet by the arm and went straight to the

basement door in which JonBenet’s body was found. As soon as John saw her body, he

took the duct tape from JonBenet’s mouth, threw a white sheet over her body, picked

her up, and took her upstairs to the couch. Doing all of this destroyed all DNA and any

evidence that would have been on JonBenet. Her body was found at approximately one

p.m. around eight hours after being reported missing (JonBenet Ramsey). When

JonBenet was found, her body was already starting to decompose. This led

investigators to believe that this all happened at around ten p.m. December 25th.

For a six-year-old JonBenet’s body showed that she had had some type of

sexual orientation. It also seemed as though the night she died she may have been

sexually abused. JonBenet had a history of going to her doctor due to having vaginal

irritation. Although her parents claimed the irritation was caused because of a bubble

bath. There was also blood found in her underwear along with genital injury. JonBenet’s

vaginal opening was bigger in size than a normal six-year-old. JonBenet was also found

with abrasions on her back and her neck from what they believed was from a stun gun.

Studies have shown the size and space between the abrasions did not match up with

the supposed stun gun used (Sager) (“JonBenet Ramsey Murder - December” 1).

Although investigators found that they did match parts of a toy train found near

JonBenet’s body. She was also found with traumatic skull trauma. On the right side

there was a 7x4 inch area of hemorrhage (JonBenet Ramsey Murder). On the removal

of the skull cap, there was a thin film of a subdural hemorrhage measuring
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approximately 7-8 cc over the surface of the right cerebral hemisphere (JonBenet

Ramsey Murder) (“JonBenet Ramsey Murder - December” 2). There were also signs

that she died from some type of strangulation (“JonBenet Ramsey Murder - December”

3, 4, 5). JonBenet was also found with a garrote around her neck made with what

seemed to look like the end of a broken paint brush (“JonBenet Ramsey Murder -

December” 6). Pineapple was also found in her digestive system. The fingerprints on

the cup of pineapple were JonBenet’s brother, Burke’s fingerprints. They ruled out there

was no pineapple at the party the family attended the night before. The underwear

found on her body was bought for Patsy’s niece, but JonBenet had begged her mother

to keep the underwear for herself. Everyone in the family knew this story (Enyart). Patsy

claimed she had never seen the underwear before. Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner

stated:

“We know from the evidence she was hit in the head very hard with an unknown
object, possibly a flashlight or similar type item. The blow knocked her into deep
unconsciousness, which could have led someone to believe she was dead. The
strangulation came 45 minutes to two hours after the head strike, based on the swelling
on the brain. While the head wound would have eventually killed her, the strangulation
did kill her. The rest of the scene we believe was staged, including the vaginal trauma,
to make it look like a kidnapping/assault gone bad” (Enyart)
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(“JonBenet Rasmey Murder - December 26, 1996 Crime Scence - The Body 755

15 th Street, Boulder, Colorado.”)

It is a given that the crime was not handled correctly at all. First off, the scene

was not closed off which allowed the family to and others to come and go as they

pleased. Other things observed by the detectives and officers was the writer of the

ransom note never called the family home, there also were not footprints outside in the

snow, and there was a single footprint from a boot left in the room JonBenet was found.

This led detectives to automatically believe a family member had set up the crime

scene. The family also refused a formal interview and a polygraph test. There was also

a suitcase found in the same room. Patsy had insisted it belonged to no one in the

family, but it was said to be JonBenet’s older brother John Andrew Ramsey (Oliver).

Inside was a semen-encrusted blanket and a Dr. Seuss book (Oliver). The semen on

the blanket was tested and came back to be John Andrew Ramsey. The only problem

that came from this was he was said to not be in town at the time of the murder. The

family also refused to allow investigators to interview John Andrew. The duct tape and
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rope remainders were never found along with the boot the footprint was made with.

Although there were four red fibers on the duct tape found and they match Patsy’s

jacket from that day (Enyart). The garrote that strangled JonBenet was made from the

end of a broken paint brush. The remainder of the paint brush was found in Patsy’s art

supplies in the boiler room. The paper used to write the ransom came from the home.

The investigators do not understand why an intruder would have written a three-page

long note inside of the home. Especially with using the family's materials. Why would

the intruder take the risk of getting caught by a family member that could possibly be

awake or wake up? When the tape was examined, they found there were no signs of

the tongue trying to dislodge the tape. There was also what seemed to be a perfect

imprint of her lips on the tape. Which indicates the tape would have been put over her

mouth after the death. The cord around JonBenet’s wrists was also said to have been

too loose to be able to restrain someone.

There have also been other indications of staging. The first indication is there

was a small triangle of cobwebs that were completely undisturbed in the broken

windowsill. The windowsill in which led to the room where her body was found. There

was broken glass and scuff marks around the broken window with no signs of

disturbance on the windowsill (JonBenet Ramsey). Another odd fact was Patsy seemed

to be wearing the same clothes from the night before. It took the police over a year to

get the clothing worn from that night, credit card bills, and phone records (Enyart).

Officer Barry Harkopp interviewed the next-door neighbors to see if they heard anything

on the night of her murder. When the family were questioned, they stated that they

heard absolutely nothing during the night. Scott Gibbons stated he “saw strange lights
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and movements come from the kitchen around midnight” (Enyart). Another neighbor

Melody Stanton stated she “woke up to a scream and the sound of metal clashing

against cement” (Enyart).

There have been over 400 people investigated for this case. From the

fingerprints to all the DNA that was able to be used, none have been a match including

the Ramsey families. Another thing to remember is how much evidence was destroyed

all because of JonBenet’s father, John Ramsey. The DNA on the body was possibly

covered up by John to keep other family members safe. Therefore, making this case

ultimately unsolvable. There was DNA found on JonBenet’s fingernails from two males

and one female that have still yet to be identified because it is too small and degraded

to determine the source of the DNA (Sager). Now the real question is if the DNA was

John, Burke, and Patsy. I feel as though that would make perfect sense. This DNA does

not match the DNA found on her clothing either. The DNA on the underwear may not

have been from the murderer at all. The underwear may have never even been washed.

The findings could be from one of the people that manufactured the product, other

customers, or even store employees.

The Ramsey family have also made it known they do not want to investigate the

investigation and further. In 2003, the blood from the underwear was extracted and

tested and there is still no DNA match. Although it was determined as an unknown

male. In 2008, the Boulder district attorney said the Ramsey family was not considered

guilty from the evidence they have due to new DNA technology (JonBenet Ramsey). In

2013, court documents were revealed from 1999 saying the jury had voted that her

parents abused her resulting in death (JonBenet Ramsey). There has also been false
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confession by JonBenet’s teacher John Mark Karr. He confessed to committing the

murder ten years after JonBenet’s death. He was said to have confessed in very

graphic detail, but all the details he used were publicly available. He refused to admit

how he would have entered the home and said he drugged JonBenet. When her

autopsy came back, JonBenet had no drugs in her system. They DNA tested him and

when it came back, he was not a match. John was not charged with anything; he was

dismissed as a suspect. He was also written off as a pedophile. John later came out

and denied that he confessed. Sadly, the case is still opened and unsolved.

The biggest part of the whole investigation is the famous ransom note that was

left in the Ramsey home. It could be hiding exactly who killed JonBenet Ramsey. The

whole note was trying to disguise the handwriting of the writer. The ransom note is

shown in Figure 7, 8, and 9 (“Articles”). As the note goes on, all the a’s start to slowly

change so they do not match exactly. Whoever wrote this also did this with the t’s.

Investigators estimated that the note took about or a little over twenty minutes to write.

That is without thinking about exactly what they were going to write. The ransom note

demanded $118,000 which was the exact amount that John Ramsey’s Christmas bonus

check was (Huber). The odd factor about this was only the family knew the amount of

the bonus check. This note was also supposedly written by a small foreign faction. This

faction went by SBTC. They were sure to be very detailed on saying who they were,

random information, and what they do as a faction. The weird fact about this is from

1968-1969 the Navy stationed John Ramsey at Subic Bay Training Center (Enyart). I

conclude that this is where the foreign faction letters SBTC come from. The writer of the

note also never called or arrived at the home. This note was not typical at all and it was
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also extremely long. They found multiple lines of the ransom note were taken from

movies such as Dirty Harry (1971) and Speed (1994) (Sager). The family also tends to

use the word hence a lot in interviews. Not many people tend to use the word hence.

The reason to point this out is because the note included the word hence multiple times.

When the family was asked to do handwriting tests, as said before, Patsy was the only

member of the family not to pass. Her letters looked very similar to the ones in the

ransom note and instead of writing $118,000 in numbers she spelled it out. In the letter,

the writer says he or she respects his victim’s business. What intruder would respect a

victim's business? As stated, before the detectives did find the notepad the ransom note

was written on. It was found in the home among Patsy’s belongings. There were exactly

seven pages torn from the center of the pad for a three-page note (Enyart). The

detectives also found a partial draft of the ransom note. Boulder Police Chief Mark

Beckner stated “The FBI told us they had never seen a 3.5-page ransom note. Also, no

note has ever been written at the scene, and then left at the scene with the dead victim

at the scene, other than this crime” (JonBenet Ramsey). The only thing about this entire

note is the writer never called. The time they said they would call went by with no

questions asked by the family. All these signs on whole the writer could be, which I

would point at, Patsy Ramsey.

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(Anderson 7, 8, and 9)

There have been many people considered to be suspects in this unsolved

mystery. The only important ones are Burke, John, and Patsy Ramsey because they

are all trying to cover up which one of them killed poor JonBenet. The first suspect is

Burke Ramsey. When all of this went on, his parents specifically shielded him from the

press. A lot of people believe he may have gotten angry with JonBenet for eating some

of his pineapple and hit her upside the head with a nearby flashlight (Lovitt). There were

also wounds on her back from what they think was a stun gun, but the two marks are

slightly far apart to be a stun gun. The marks did match one of Burke’s toy train tracks

that was nearby on the scene (Lovitt). When all of this happened, Burke said his mother

was overreacting and going psycho. He was also said to be happy and carefree.

The next suspect is John Ramsey. I conclude that he was trying to cover up who

committed this crime. When he was asked to search the house, he went straight where

he found JonBenet. He also picked JonBenet up and pulled the duct tape from her
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mouth killing all the DNA evidence on her body. He was also caught on the phone after

the murder by a detective talking about getting a flight to Atlanta as soon as possible.

John was said to be showing very strange suspicious behavior.

Finally, Patsy Ramsey is the last suspect. Many think JonBenet had a bed-

wetting accident and that made her accidently murder her daughter and may have even

slammed her head into a hard surface (Lovitt). Also, the paintbrush the garrote was

made from was one of Patsy’s belongings. Also, the paper pad the ransom note was

written on was found in Patsy’s belongings. She also did not pass the writing test for the

ransom note as stated before. Many believe she wrote the ransom note with her own

pad of paper and pen to cover up the murder of her daughter.

JonBenet's family seemed to have something to do with her death and they

covered up what happened to her to keep someone in the family safe. More specifically,

John is covering up the death of JonBenet to keep his wife Patsy and son Burke safe.

This can be concluded from the actions of the family on the day of her death. The way

JonBenet passed was not fair. She had a whole life to live but because of her family she

fell so short of all the possibilities that were waiting for her.
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Work Cited

Anderson, Brenda. “Articles.” Expert Handwriting Analysis, 19 July 2013, 29 Feb 2020,

www.experthandwritinganalysis.com/2013/07/19/unmasking-the-ramsey-ransom-

note/.

Enyart, Bob. “The Clue That Breaks the Ramsey Case.” The Clue That Breaks the

Ramsey Case | KGOV.com, 29 Jan. 2013, www.kgov.com/jonbenet-ramsey-

murder-clue-that-breaks-the-case.

Huber, Lacy. “30 Crazy Facts About the Death of JonBenet Ramsey.” 22 Words 30

Crazy Facts About the Death of JonBenet Ramsey Comments, 13 March 2020,

www.twentytwowords.com/unsettling-facts-about-the-mysterious-death-of-

jonbenet-ramsey/.

“JonBenét Ramsey.” Crime Museum, 2017, www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/cold-

cases/jonbenet-ramsey/.

“JonBenet Ramsey Murder - December 26, 1996 Crime Scene - The Body 755 15th

Street, Boulder, Colorado.” Crimescene-Thebody.htm, 10 Nov. 2010, 29 Feb 2020,

www.acandyrose.com/crimescene-thebody.htm.

“JonBenet Ramsey Murder Fast Facts.” CNN, Cable News Network, 18 Dec. 2019, 29

Feb 2020, www.cnn.com/2013/08/29/us/jonbenet-ramsey-murder-fast-

facts/index.html.
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Lovitt, Bryn. “Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey? 8 Possible Suspects.” Rolling Stone, 25

June 2018, 29 Feb 2020, www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/who-killed-

jonbenet-ramsey-8-possible-suspects-129125/the-mother-129180/.

Oliver, Mark. “10 Strange Little-Known Facts About JonBenet Ramsey's Family.”

Listverse, 11 Nov. 2019, 12 March 2020, www.listverse.com/2016/10/02/10-

strange-little-known-facts-about-jonbenet-ramseys-family/.

Sager, Jessica. “The Most Bizarre Things about the JonBenet Ramsey Case.”

NickiSwift.com, Nicki Swift, 16 Apr. 2018, 14 March 2020,

www.nickiswift.com/4778/bizarre-things-jonbenet-ramsey-case/.