JONBENET RAMSEY unsolved case

INTRODUCTION
JonBenét was born at Northside Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia, on August 6, 1990, and moved with her
family to Colorado when she was just one year old. His name is the combination of his father's first
and middle names, John Bennett Ramsey (born December 7, 1943). Her brother, named Burke (born
January 27, 1987), was three years older than her. She was enrolled in Kindergarten at High Peaks
Elementary School in Boulder, Colorado. JonBenét's body was found on December 26, 1996 at her
family's residence in Boulder. She was buried at Saint James Episcopal Cemetery located in Marietta,
Georgia, on December 31. JonBenét was laid to rest next to her half-sister Elizabeth Pasch Ramsey,
who had died in a car accident nearly five years earlier at age 22.
 WHAT IS THE MYSTERY?
The JonBenét Ramsey murder was a case of homicide of a six-year-old American girl that occurred inside her family
home in Boulder, Colorado. A long handwritten ransom note was found in the house. Her father, John, found the girl's
body in the basement of their home about seven hours after she was reported missing. She had suffered a fractured skull
from a blow to the head and had been strangled; a club was found tied around his neck. The autopsy report stated that
JonBenét's official cause of death was "asphyxia by strangulation associated with head trauma". Her death was ruled a
homicide. The case generated public interest. The crime has yet to be solved and remains an open investigation with the
Boulder Police Department. The case gained national media and public attention, in part because JonBenét had been
entered into a series of child beauty pageants by her mother Patsy Ramsey (herself a former beauty queen), and when no
charges were filed. against any suspect.

Boulder police initially suspected that the ransom note had been written by Patsy, and that the note and the discovery of
JonBenét's body had been arranged by her parents to cover up the murder. In 1998, police and the District Attorney (DA)
said that JonBenét's brother, Burke, who was nine years old at the time of her death, was not a suspect.56 JonBenét's
parents gave several televised interviews, but they resisted police questioning, except on their own terms. In October
2013, unsealed court documents revealed that a 1999 grand jury had recommended indictments against the Ramseys for
allowing the girl to be in a threatening situation. John and Patsy were also charged with hindering the prosecution of an
unidentified person who had "committed... the crime of first degree murder and child abuse resulting in death".
However, the prosecutor determined that there was insufficient evidence to pursue a
successful prosecution.
In 2002, the successor to the district attorney took over the investigation of the case from
the police and mainly pursued the theory that an intruder had committed the murder. In
2003, traces of DNA taken from the victim's clothing were found to belong to an unknown
man; each of the family's DNAs had been excluded from this match. The district attorney
sent the Ramseys a letter of apology in 2008, stating that the family was "completely ruled
out" by the DNA results. Others, including former Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner,
disagreed. with exonerating the Ramseys, characterizing the DNA as small evidence that
was not shown to have any connection to the crime.9​: 11  In February 2009, Boulder police
dropped the DA's case and reopened the investigation .
National and international media coverage of the case focused on JonBenét's brief career in
beauty pageants, as well as her parents' wealth and unusual evidence found in the case.
Media reports questioned how the police handled the investigation. Ramsey's relatives and
friends have filed defamation lawsuits against various media organizations.
JonBenét Ramsey's headstone near Atlanta, where the family
had lived before moving to Boulder, Colorado
 THE CRIME
The disappearance and the ransom note.
Mr. Ramsey: Listen Carefully! We are a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction. We respect your
business, but not the country it serves.At this time, we have your daughter in our possession. 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 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 a.m. 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] earlier pickup 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 a 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 or
F.B.I. 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 way marked or tampered with, she dies. You can try to deceive us, but be warned
we are familiar with law enforcement countermeasures and tactics. You stand a 99% chance of killing your daughter if
you try to outsmart us. Follow our instructions and you stand a 100% 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's up
to you now John! Victory! S.B.T.C. this is what the letter said
According to statements Patsy gave to authorities on December 26, 1996, she realized her daughter was
missing after finding a two-and-a-half-page handwritten ransom note on the kitchen stairs at the Boulder
residence. of the Ramsey family. The letter demanded US$118,000 ($194,714 in 2021). John told police
first on scene that the amount was almost identical to his Christmas bonus from the previous year,
suggesting that someone who would have access to that information would be involved in the crime.
Investigators looked at various theories behind the dollar amount required, considering Access Graphics
employees who may have known of John's previous bonus amount. They also considered the possibility
that the ransom demand was a reference to Psalm 118 and spoke to religious sources to determine the
possible relevance. The ransom note was unusually long. The FBI told police that it was highly unusual for
such a note to be written at a crime scene. Police believed the note was staged, because it had no
fingerprints on it except for Patsy and the authorities who issued it. had driven.9 and because it included
unusual use of exclamation points and initials. The note and a practice draft were written with a pen and
notebook from Ramsey's home. According to a report from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI),
"There are indications that the author of the ransom note is Patricia Ramsey." However, the evidence did
not reach a definitive conclusion. Michael Baden, a certified forensic pathologist, who had consulted with
both sides of the case, said he had never seen a note like that in his 60 years of experience and did not
believe that it was written by an outside stranger.A federal court ruled that it was highly unlikely Patsy
wrote the note, citing six certified handwriting experts. The court lamented the existence of self-professed
experts, without credentials, trying to get their way into the case by accusing Patsy without scientific basis.
911 CALL AND INITIAL
SEARCH FOR THE GIRL
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 not to contact the
police and friends, but Patsy called the police at 5:52 a.m. m. MST. Patsy also called family and friends. Two
police officers responded to the 9-1-1 call and arrived at Ramsey's home within three minutes. They carried
out a cursory search of the house, but found no sign of forced entry.
Officer Rick French went into the basement and came to a door that was secured with a wooden latch. He
stopped 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 hijacker, which the locked interior peg ruled out. JonBenét's body
was later found behind the door.
With JonBenét still missing, John arranged to pay the ransom. A forensics team was dispatched to the house.
The team initially believed that the girl had been abducted, and JonBenét's bedroom was the only room in the
house that was cordoned off to prevent evidence contamination. No precautions were taken to prevent
evidence contamination in the rest of the house. Meanwhile, friends, advocates for the victims and the Ramsey
family minister came to the house to show their support. Visitors picked up and wiped down surfaces in the
kitchen, possibly destroying evidence. Boulder Detective Linda Arndt arrived around 8:00 AM. m. MST, in
anticipation of receiving further instructions from the hijacker(s), but no one attempted to claim the money.
 DISCOVERY OF THE BODY
That same day, Boulder Police Detective Linda Arndt asked John Ramsey to thoroughly search
the house, looking for "anything unusual." The girl's father began a detailed search along with
Fleet White, a family friend. In the basement, eight hours after noticing her missing, John
unlocked the door that Officer French had missed and he found his daughter's body in one of the
rooms. JonBenét's body had nylon cord around her wrists and neck, and her torso was covered by
a white sheet, her mouth covered with duct tape. John removed the tape covering the mouth of his
daughter's corpse and tried to untie the rope tied to her arms, which made it difficult to study the
crime scene later. That night the authorities allowed the removal of the body.
John picked up the girl's body and carried it upstairs. When JonBenét was moved, the crime
scene was further contaminated and critical forensic evidence was tampered with for the
returning forensics team.
Each of the Ramseys provided handwriting, blood and hair samples to police. John and Patsy
participated in a preliminary interview for more than two hours, and Burke was also interviewed
within the first few weeks after JonBenét's death.
AUTOPSY
JonBenét's official cause of death was strangulation, by means of a garrote that had been fashioned from
a nylon strap and the handle of a brush. His skull had an eight-inch-long crack, as a result of several
contusions, and he had brain trauma. The official cause of death was asphyxiation by strangulation,
associated with head 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 lesion.
At the time of the autopsy, the pathologist recorded that the vaginal area appeared to have been wiped
with a cloth. Her death was ruled a homicide. A club that was made from a piece of nylon rope 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 brush was found in a tub containing Patsy's art supplies, but the lower
third was never found despite police searching the house in the days that followed. The autopsy revealed
"plant or fruit material that may represent a pineapple", which JonBenét had eaten a few hours before her
death. Photographs of the house taken the day 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 giving JonBenét pineapple. Police reported that they found the fingerprints
JonBenét's nine-year-old brother, Burke Ramsey, in the bowl. The Ramseys have always said that Burke
slept through the night until he was awakened several hours after the police arrived.
 THE CLUES
Some clues found by investigators at the crime scene are:
A white, synthetic ligature (a rope or rope) tied around his neck, and another piece tied loosely to his right wrist, on the
sleeve of his T-shirt.
The rope around his neck was coiled around a four-inch wooden bar, with the word "Korea" printed on it in gold ink. A
portion of another word on the wooden bar was unreadable.
The wooden bar was broken unevenly on both sides, and was covered in various colors of paint and possibly varnish. Police
believe the bar was used to tighten the rope around the girl's neck.
Some of her hair was entwined with the rope around her neck.
JonBenét was lying on her back on the floor, covered by a sheet and a Colorado Avalanche hockey team sweatshirt. Cloth
tape was found in her mouth, according to John Ramsey.
His head was turned to the right and his arms were extended above his head.
She was wearing a white, long-sleeved, collarless T-shirt with a silver star decorated with sequins in the center. He was also
wearing white underwear, and urine stains were found on his underwear.
A heart drawing in red ink was found in the palm of her left hand, as well as a ring on her right hand.
BLOOD SAMPLES
In December 2003, forensic investigators extracted enough material from a mixed blood sample
found in JonBenét's underwear to establish a DNA profile. That DNA belonged to an unknown male
and excluded DNA from each of the Ramseys. . The DNA was submitted to the FBI CoDIS, a
database containing more than 1.6 million DNA profiles, but the sample did not match any profiles in
the database. In October 2016, a report said that a new forensic analysis using more sensitive
techniques revealed that the original DNA contained genetic markers from two people other than
JonBenét.
A. James Kolar, who was a lead investigator with the district attorney's office, said additional traces of
male DNA were found on the cord and brush that Boulder district attorney Mary Lacy did not
mention, and that there had been six separate DNA samples belonging to unknown individuals were
found by the test.Former FBI profiler Candice Delong believes that the DNA, having appeared
identically in several different places on multiple surfaces, belongs to the killer. The Former Adams
County, Colorado District Attorney Bob Grant, who has assisted the Boulder District Attorney's office
on the case for many years, also believes the DNA evidence is significant, saying any resolution of the
case would have to explain how the DNA appeared on various of JonBenét's clothes. Forensic
pathologist Michael Baden said: "Traces of DNA can be deposited in places and clothing from all
different media and not suspicious. There is no forensic evidence to show that it is a bizarre murder."
RESEARCH
Experts, media commentators, and the Ramseys have identified possible suspects in the case. Boulder
police initially focused almost exclusively on John and Patsy, but by October 1997 had more than
1,600 people on their people index. of interest to the case. The errors that were made in the initial
investigation complicated the resolution of the investigation and the applicable theory. Those errors
included loss and contamination of evidence, lack of technical and experienced investigative staff,
evidence shared with the Ramseys, and delayed informal interviews with parents. Lou Smit was a
detective who came out of retirement in early 1997 to help the Boulder County District Attorney's
office with the case. In May 1998, he presented his findings to the Boulder police with other staff from
the District Attorney's Office, concluding that the evidence pointed away from the Ramseys. They
were unable to successfully challenge the police department's belief that the Ramseys were guilty. The
district attorney's office tried to seize control of the investigation. Due to animosity between the police
and the district attorney's office, and the pressure to obtain a conviction, Colorado Governor Roy
Romer interceded and appointed Michael Kane as a special prosecutor to initiate a trial. Two of the
lead investigators on the case had opposing views. Both Lou Smit and Steve Thomas eventually
resigned from Smit because they believed the investigation had incompetently overlooked the intruder
hypothesis, and Thomas because the district attorney's office interfered and did not support the police
investigation of the case.
A grand jury was convened effective September 15, 1998 to consider indicting the Ramseys on the charges related to the case.
In 1999, the grand jury returned a true bill to indict the Ramseys on putting the girl at risk in a manner that led to her death
and obstructing a murder investigation, based on the probable cause standard applied in those trial proceedings. But Boulder
County District Attorney Alex Hunter did not prosecute them because he did not believe he could meet the higher standard of
proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt that is required for a criminal conviction. Mary Lacy, the incoming Boulder County
district attorney, took over the police investigation on December 26, 2002. In April 2003, she agreed with a federal judge
involved in a 2002 defamation case. that the evidence in the lawsuit is "more consistent with the theory that an intruder
murdered JonBenét than with Ms. Ramsey's theory." On July 9, 2008, the Boulder District Attorney's office announced that ,
as a result of newly developed DNA sampling and testing techniques (tactile DNA analysis), members of the Ramsey family
were excluded as suspects in the case. Lacy publicly exonerated the Ramseys. On February 2, 2009, Boulder Police Chief
Mark Beckner announced that Stan Garnett, the new Boulder County District Attorney, would turn the case over to his agency
and that his team would resume the investigation. Garnett found that the statute of limitations for the crimes identified in the
1999 true grand jury bill had expired and he did not proceed with the review of the case against the Ramseys. n October 2010,
the Boulder police reopened the cold case. New interviews were conducted following a new investigation by a committee that
included state and federal investigators. Police were expected to use the latest DNA technology in their investigation. No new
information was obtained from those interviews. In September 2016 it was reported that the investigation into JonBenét's
death remains an active homicide case, according to Boulder Police Chief Greg Testa.In 2015, Beckner disagreed with
exonerating the Ramseys, stating, "It's absurd to exonerate anyone based on a little bit of evidence that hasn't yet been proven
to be related to the crime."He also claimed that the unknown DNA of JonBenet's clothing "has to be the focus of the
investigation" at this time and that, until proven otherwise, the suspect is the donor [sic] of that unknown DNA."In 2016,
Gordon Coombes, a former investigator with the Boulder County District Attorney's office also disputed the full acquittal of
the Ramseys, stating: "We all shed DNA all the time inside our skin cells. It can be deposited anywhere and at any time for
various reasons, reasons that are benign. Wiping someone clean just on the premise of touching the DNA, especially when you
have a situation where the crime scene wasn't secure at first... that really is overkill." Steven E. Pitt, a contracted forensic
psychiatrist Boulder authorities said, "Lacy's public exoneration of The Ramseys was a huge slap in the face for Chief
Beckner and the core group of detectives who had been working on the case for years."
 THEORIES AND SUSPECTS
Suspicions towards his relatives
From the beginning of the investigation, the defensiveness of JonBenét's parents had drawn the attention of the authorities. They also found the hiring of two criminal defense attorneys, a private investigator, and
public relations expert Pat Korten strange. Likewise, his brother Burke, who had always lived in the shadow of his famous sister, was considered a suspect, despite the fact that he was only nine years old at the time
of the murder. This as a result of a possible resentment that he could harbor; However, those who knew him assured that he was always introverted and shy, and the fact of not being the center of attention did not
offend him in the least, according to the official website. Although the family assured that both boys had a good relationship, in the summer of 1994, Burke accidentally hit JonBenét with a golf club in the face while
playing bat. The minor's left cheek had to be reconstructed by a plastic surgeon. Another clue that would help to blame the child is a phrase that he would have said to his psychologist, Suzanne Bernhard, thirteen
days after his sister died: "Now I am getting my life back." Finally, it emerged that after the murder, Burke spent all day crying and watching a video where JonBenét appeared in one of her many beauty pageants.
Police tried to interview Burke Ramsey again in September 2010, according to L Lin Wood, a prominent libel (libel) attorney retained by the Ramsey family in 1999. ​In 2012, the book Foreign Faction: Who Really
Kidnapped JonBenet? Boulder County District Attorney, Lacy. The book dismisses the intruder theory and proposes scenarios of the Ramsey family's involvement in JonBenét's death.20 In mid-October 2013, a
judge ruled that the district attorney must show why the indictment should remain sealed. The Denver Post (a sister newspaper to the Daily Camera) published an editorial calling for the case to be reopened.
Although they battled for years, John and Patsy could never shake off the social condemnation that the media took it upon themselves to spread. Vanity Fair magazine, for example, claimed that the girl had died
while her parents played a sexual game with her that got out of control, something that has never been proven. A similar theory was put forward by coroner and writer Cyril Wecht in the January 12, 1997 edition of
the Globe tabloid, which caused controversy, among other things, because the article included explicit photographs of the police report on the case. Finally, In 2003, the court considered that the evidence found at
the crime scene was not enough to blame his relatives, and they were exonerated.4There are two types of theories about the death of JonBenét. One is the family member theory.Boulder police initially focused
almost exclusively on the parents, John and Patsy Ramsey. According to Gregg McCrary, a retired FBI profiler, "statistically, it's a probability 12 to 1 to be a family member or caregiver" who is involved in the
homicide of a child. Police did not see evidence of a forced entry, but they did see evidence of the staging of the crime, such as the ransom note. They did not find the Ramseys cooperating to help them solve their
daughter's death. The Ramseys had said that their reluctance stemmed from their fear that there would not be a full investigation for the trespassers, and that they would be hastily selected as the key suspects in the
case, according to the Daily Camera. One theory is that Patsy hit JonBenét in a fit of rage after a bed-wetting episode and strangled her to cover up what had happened, after mistakenly thinking she was already dead.
However, Patsy had no prior history. known for uncontrolled anger. JonBenét's brother later said, "They didn't hit us, nothing like that, nothing like, nothing like laying a finger on us, let alone killing their son. "In
theory, the strangulation could have been a "red herring" aspect to conceal other elements of the assault and murder. 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 him. A review by a child psychologist indicated that the Ramseys appeared to have "healthy, caring family relationships." In 1998, Boulder
Police Chief Mark Beckner said during an interview with a news reporter that Burke Ramsey did not he was involved in the murder of his sister. In May 1999, the Boulder County District Attorney's office reiterated
that Burke Ramsey was not a suspect. Investigators had never considered him a suspect. The Ramseys offered a $100,000 reward in a newspaper ad dated April 27, 1997. Three days later, more than four months after
their daughter's body was found, they underwent separate formal interviews for the first time. at the Boulder County Justice Center. In 1999, Colorado Governor Bill Owens spoke up and told the Ramsey couple to
"stop hiding behind your lawyers, stop hiding behind your public relations firm. "A Colorado grand jury voted in 1999 to indict the parents.8081 The indictment cited "two counts each of child abuse" and said the
parents "unlawfully, knowingly, recklessly, and criminally allowed a child to be unreasonably placed in a situation posing a threat of harm to the child's life or health, resulting in the death of JonBenét Ramsey, a girl
under the age of sixteen."Among the experts who testified in the case were DNA specialist Barry Scheck and forensic expert Henry Lee. On October 13, 1999, Alex Hunter, who was the district attorney at the time,
refused to sign the indictment, saying the evidence was insufficient for prosecution. The public thought the grand jury investigation had been inconclusive. In 2002, the statute of limitations on grand jury indictments
expired. The grand jury vote to indict the Ramseys was not publicly revealed until October 25, 2013, when previously sealed court documents were released. The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey, a show broadcast on
CBS on September 18-19, 2016, used a panel of experts to evaluate the evidence. The group theorized that Burke hit his sister over the head with a heavy object (possibly a flashlight) after she stole a chunk of
pineapple from his bowl, perhaps not intending to kill her. They suggested that the ransom letter was an attempt to cover up the circumstances of JonBenet's death. On behalf of Burke Ramsey, her attorney filed
defamation lawsuits against CBS, the show's producers, and several of its contestants, based on many of the allegations. his affirmations
intruder theory
The second theory is the intruder theory. Police and prosecutors followed up on trespassing leads in part because of the unidentified boot mark left
behind in the basement room where JonBenét's body was found. Early suspects included neighbor Bill McReynolds, who played Santa Claus; Linda
Hoffmann-Pugh, the family's former housekeeper, 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 his autopsy.Lou Smit, a detective on the case, evaluated the
evidence and concluded that an intruder had committed the crime. On the night JonBenét was murdered, there were two windows that were left slightly
open to allow electrical wires to pass through where the lights passed. exterior Christmas lights, a broken basement window, and an unlocked door.
Smit's theory was that someone entered the Ramsey home through the broken basement window. This has been criticized because there was an intact
cobweb on the basement window. The steel grating covering the window also had intact cobwebs, and the foliage around the grate had not been
disturbed .There were also cobwebs in the tracks. of several windows, and some sills had dust and debris. Smit believed the intruder subdued JonBenét
using a stun gun and took her to the basement. JonBenét was murdered and a ransom note was left behind. Smit's theory was supported by former FBI
agent John E. Douglas, who had been hired by the Ramsey family. Believing the Ramseys were innocent, Smit resigned from the investigation on
September 20, 1998, five days after the grand jury convened against the Ramseys . Although he is no longer an official investigator for the case, Smit
continued to work on it until his death in 2010.Stephen Singular, author of the book Presumed Guilty: An Inquiry into the JonBenét Ramsey Case, the
Media and the Culture of Pornography (2016), refers to consultations with cybercrime specialists who believe that JonBenét, due to her beauty
experience in the contest, 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 leading up to 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 District Attorney 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 people Smit identified as a suspect was
Gary Howard Oliva, who was arrested on "two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a child and one count of sexual exploitation of a child" in
June 2016, according to the Daily newspaper report. Camera Boulder. Oliva, a registered sex offender, was publicly identified as a suspect in an
October 2002 episode of 48 Hours Investigates.The JonBenet Murder: The Truth Revealed, broadcast on A&E on September 5, 2016, concluded that
an unidentified man was responsible for JonBenét's death, based on forensic DNA analysis of the evidence. In the documentary, DNA expert and
forensic scientist Lawrence Kobilinsky stated that "an unidentified male committed this crime". The district attorney's office that investigates
pedophiles told former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman that the district attorney's office followed the intruder theory. The Ramseys developed a
relationship with District Attorney Mary Lacy and her office, which was criticized by officials including the city's mayor, Leslie L Durgin. Silverman
said, "Once you've admitted to the possibility of an intruder, I don't see how any Ramsey could be successfully prosecuted." Gordon Coombes joined
the office as an investigator under Lacy when they were testing JonBenét's clothing for tactile DNA. He also said that Lacy strongly supported the
intruder theory and discussed it with staff. Although he was not directly involved in the case, he said he was told not to voice opposition to the theory
because he could lose his job. "The whole premise of ... this attempt to influence the entire agency seemed strange," he stated.