MURDER: JonBenét Ramsey (PART 1)

JonBenét Ramsey was brutally murdered on December 26, 1996. Her family was asleep upstairs while the poor little girl endured a very horrific death. What happened to JonBenet Ramsey and why are we still searching for answers 26 years down the track? 

In this series we will have an in-depth look at the family, the facts of the case and speculate on what could have happened to this beautiful 6-years-old child.  

 JonBenét Ramsey (Source: unknown) 

THE RAMSEY FAMILY 

The Ramseys were a well-known family in Boulder, Colorado in United States of America. The unit was comprised of father John Ramsey, mother Patricia "Patsy" Ramsey, and the two children 9-year old Burke and 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey. She was born on 6th August, 1990. The father also had two children from a previous marriage, another son and daughter. 

JonBenét and Burke with their older half-siblings (Source: unknown) 

John worked as CEO and president of Access Graphics, which in 1996, was a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin. Before this position, he founded a company called Advanced Product Group, and this was one of three companies that merged to form Access Graphics. At the time, he was considered a high profile businessman in his home town. In 1996, he won the Entrepreneur of the Year by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. This was also the same year that Access Graphics had a turnover of a billion dollars. His net worth was around US$6.4 million at that time.

The mother, Patsy Ramsey, was also a prominent member of their local community. A former beauty queen, she won Miss West Virginia Pageant in 1977. After marrying John, she became involved in local charity works and was a devoted mother to their two children. As beauty contests were such a huge part of her life, Patsy saw massive potential in her daughter very early on. 

JonBenét as a young baby with her mother, Patsy (Source: unknown)  

JonBenét had been in the pageant circuit since she was 4 years old. In 1994, she won her first pageant, the Colorado State All-Star Kids Pageant. She also won Little Miss Charlevoix pageant from Charlevoix, Michigan and in Colorado at Little Miss Colorado, and also America's Royale Miss and National Tiny Miss Beauty. 

It is said that JonBenét was passionate for participating in beauty pageants after seeing her mother in a reunion show. Since then, her father strongly regrets the decision to put his daughter on public display, and encourages parents not to do it. 

JonBenét was a pageant queen (Source: unknown)  

On Christmas Day, 1996, the Ramseys went to have dinner with friends and left at around 9.30pm. Patsy said that JonBenét fell asleep in the car, and they took her straight to bed when the family arrived home.  

The next morning, the family woke up to a frightening nightmare. 

THE CRIME 

At 5.52am, on 26th December, emergency services dispatcher Kimberly Archuleta answered an extremely distressing call from Patsy Ramsey. She was very upset. Her breathing was frantic and Patsy was quite hysterical on the phone as she was explaining that her daughter, JonBenét, was missing and there was a ransom note in her home. Archuleta said that this was the ''hardest call" she ever took.

Owever, later on in an interview, Archuleta said that she was suspicious of the call, "I think that’s because there was something inside me that said, 'Something’s not right.'" She insists that she heard a third voice, that was distinctively heard on the phone call. 

The Ramsey residence in 1996 (Source: unknown) 

Patsy had woken up just after 5:00am and went to the kitchen. She found a two-and-half page ransom note left on the kitchen staircase. The note demanded that the family pay US$118,000 in exchange for their daughter's safe return. This raised alarm bells as it was the same amount as John's Christmas bonus. It suggested that it was someone who would have knowledge of his affairs at work. 

There are other aspects of this note that are strange. The phrasing used was straight out of a movie. Some words were misspelt. And the handwriting was quite weird, it started neat and then halfway through it became sloppy and different.  Here is the note in full: 

Mr. Ramsey,

Listen carefully! We are a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction. We do respect your bussiness but not the country that it serves. At this time we have your daughter in our posession. 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 earlier delivery pick-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 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

The Ramseys contacted the police shortly after finding the note, despite the kidnappers repeating if they do so, then JonBenét would be killed. While waiting for law enforcement to arrive, Patsy called some close friends to the home and informed them about what happened. There was about 18 people in total present in the Ramsey household. 

Even though the house was swarming with detectives, friends and family members, there was still no traces of JonBenét. After some hours, most of the police officers departed, and a lady detective called Linda Arndt was left in charge. It seemed strange to Linda that neither parent reacted when the kidnappers didn't make contact in the window of time that they promised, 8am to 10am. 

She tried to find them things to do so that they would be kept busy. Therefore, she suggested that John Ramsey search the whole house again. She insinuated that, maybe, something would jump out to him that seemed out of place. 

John started the search from the basement with close family friend, Flint White. This was a place that police had not been to while looking through the Ramsey residence. They used it as a wine cellar, so the room was very dark, with no windows. As soon as John opened the door to the cellar, he knew he found his daughter. She was slumped on the floor, on top of a white blanket. 

The blanket where JonBenét was found (Source: Boulder Police) 
 

The young girl had been hit over the head, strangled with a garrote made from nylon cord and a paintbrush that belonged to Patsy. There was also a high possibility she had been sexually assaulted. 

“Her hands were tied above her head. She had tape over her mouth. … I immediately knelt down over her, felt her cheek, took the tape off immediately off her mouth. I tried to untie the cord that was around her arms and I couldn’t get the knot untied." John later said in an interview. 

Crime scene photo of JonBenet (Source: Facebook, Boulder Police) 

He brought her upstairs, where the rest of the family was. Linda Arndt confirmed that the little girl was dead. Silently, she was thinking that maybe John was the one responsible for her death. Later on, she said that she was "...consciously counting that I’ve got 18 bullets".  

In Part 2, we will have a look at how police conducted the investigation and what evidence came out of it. We will also explore if the parents had something to do with it, and if not who else could have been responsible? And why, after 26 years, nobody has been arrested, even thought there were traces of DNA found. 

References:

• Romper: What Was John Ramsey's Job? The Family Was Extremely Wealthy
• Romper: What Pageants Was JonBenet Ramsey In? She Made A Name For Herself
• All That's Interesting: Inside The Unsolved Murder Of JonBenét Ramsey — And The Chilling Evidence Left Behind
• abc NEWS: Who killed JonBenet Ramsey? An investigator's dying wish keeps the search going with his family
• Crime Museum Org: JonBenét Ramsey
• Crime Weekly Podcast - Three- part series on JonBenet Ramsey