Jon Bennet Ramsey Essay, Research Paper
It was Christmas night 1996, Boulder, Colorado. The Ramsey family was on their way home from a Christmas party. Jonbenet was asleep in the backseat of the car. The Ramsey s were planning a trip to their family home in Michigan the next morning.
When the morning of December 26th came, something happened that would change not only the Ramsey s life, but also the city of Boulder as well as all of America forever.
As Patsy Ramsey headed down the stairs of her 15 room Tudor home just after 5:00 am, she came upon 3 pieces of paper sitting at the bottom of the stairs. The 3 pieces of paper were a ransom note warning the Ramsey s that if they didn t come up with $118,000 dollars, their precious 6-year-old daughter, Jonbenet would die. They went on to say that if the Ramsey s notified authorities, she would also die. A call would come in at approximately 8-10 am that morning, and they would be informed of the whereabouts to exchange their daughter for the money. However, that call never came.
Patsy screamed up to John. They both re read the ransom note again. The police were dispatched to the Ramsey home at 5:25am.
It was within this most critical time period that the police made the biggest mistakes, which may be the reason why the case has yet to be solved and probably never will.
First off, when police were dispatched to the house that morning, they were told that there was a child missing, and there was a ransom note left behind. Any person with the slightest bit of common sense would believe that a crime has now taken place, especially a police officer. This means, treat the home as a crime scene. This was not done. The home should have immediately been vacated of anyone who need not be there, sealed off, and properly searched. Instead friends and family were allowed in an out as they pleased. The fact that they didn t seal off and search the house could have ruined potentially crucial evidence. Instead of the police searching the home, they allowed John Ramsey to search the home with a family friend by the name of Fleet White. During the search of the basement, John Ramsey found his daughter s body. Why didn t an officer accompany him on the search? Instead, John found the body, carried it upstairs and disturbed the crime scene. Brutal damage. Some of the police officers claim to have seen a drop of some sort of fluid on Jonbenet s abdomen as John carried her lifeless body into the living room. This too was ruined because of police stupidity when Boulder detective Linda Arndt decided to cover the body with a blanket so that Patsy wouldn t be so upset.
The Ramsey s then left the house to stay with friends. Police decided (now just a little too late) to treat the home as a major crime scene. This had been the only murder in Boulder that year, so the police used this as their scapegoat for their lack of experience. This is no excuse. They should have still known the proper procedure for crimes of such a nature.
The Police were highly suspicious of the Ramsey s now, This suspicion was heightened when her father found Jonbenet s body. So if John Ramsey hadn t found her body, god only knows if these so called police officers would have ever realized a crime had taken place. Somehow the suspicions of the police had been leaked to a local journalist. Obviously the information came from the Boulder police department. Nothing seemed to add up this point.
First off, the ransom note was written with a pad and pen found in the Ramsey home. Secondly, it just so happened that the amount of the ransom was the same amount that John Ramsey had received for a Christmas bonus. Next, the body was found in a small room that described as almost impossible to find if you hadn t known the house. Also, the ground had 2 inches of snow, yet there were no footprints on the ground by the basement window was open. The Ramsey s virtually never left their doors unlocked, and they also had an alarm system. But coincidentally the alarms were not on that evening, and the doors were unlocked.
This leads us to believe that the killer not only knew the house well but they were confident enough to spend a significant amount of time there. Enough time to brutally murder and sexually assault this beautiful little girl, write a ransom not using the Ramsey s stationary, and exit the house. They must have been present throughout the whole house that evening. Yet, they were not scared of getting caught committing such a heinous act? Who wouldn t suspect a member of the Ramsey family?
As the mourning parents prepared for the memorial of their daughter, another battle began. The authorities told the Ramsey s that they could have their daughters body, if they would agree to an investigation with the police. Another wrong move by the Boulder Police department.
The Ramsey s were interrogated and gave blood and hair samples along with fingerprinting and a few handwriting samples also. But the police had already given the Ramsey s a copy of the ransom note, which gave them plenty of time to perfect their handwriting, and they also only had to write 5-7 samples when they should have had to submit 15-20.
Police secured a search warrant for the Ramsey home, and seized virtually everything. Even things that were of little importance
The Denver Police department and the FBI had offered their help several times, but were turned down by Boulder police. Both the Denver police and the FBI have much experience in homicide and could have been a very valuable asset to this case.
There has been much finger pointing throughout the year of suspects. The Boulder Police department were highly suspicious of the parents from he start as was much of the country, but the parents named their own list of suspects in their book titled The death of Innocence. Among these people were a former housekeeper, a former nanny, and many angry former business associates of John Ramsey. Nothing has ever come out of this.
This is exactly what happened:
Jonbenet Ramsey was found in the basement of her home wrapped in a blanket. There was duct tape across her mouth, arms over her head, a white cord tied around her wrists. There was a piece of a broken paintbrush looped through the cord.
Taken to the basement, maybe lured out of her bedroom with the promise of food, which would explain the pieces of undigested pineapple in her stomach, duct taped her mouth, sexually assaulted, strangled with a garrote, and hit over the head with a blunt object. This little girl died a painful death.
An FBI criminal profiler concluded that Jonbent knew her killer, and that the killer was from small circle of family or friends.
However, there is some evidence that suggests that the killer was from outside the house. There was an unidentified palm print found on the door of the wine cellar. It didn t belong to John, Patsy, or their son Burke. There was a scuffmark on the basement wall below the window which could be evidence that someone climbed in or out of the window. There was a pubic hair found on the blanket that didn t belong to any of the Ramsey’s, and a piece of broken glass below the window which was open, the sill showing signs of disturbance.
Another important factor in this case is the time of death. Jonbenet was last seen alive at approximately 10:00 pm December 25th and her body was found at 1:05pm December 26th. Police reported the smell of decomposition of the body. The rate of decomposition is determined by room temperature and the body s enzyme activity. They also noticed the body was in an advanced state of rigor mortis. The onset of rigor mortis begins approximately 2-4 hours after death and takes 6-12 hours for the body to be fully affected, 24-36 hours for rigor mortis to go away. The fact that her whole body was set with rigor mortis proves that she must have dies shortly after 10:00 seeing as she was last seen at 10 and first noticed missing at 5:00 am.
This was a tragic murder that could have been possibly solved if not for the stupidity of the Boulder Police Department. There were many theories I have touched upon, and now it is time to draw my own conclusions.
Looking back, remembering when the murder happened, my opinion was automatically the same as most of the American public- the parents did it.
Now that I have read into and really studied the element s of the crime, I still believe the parents are responsible. here is my theory:
They seemed like the perfect family. John was a very well to do businessman, Patsy a former beauty queen, with 2 beautiful children. They had the lifestyle everyone wanted. A beautiful home, beautiful vacation homes, a daughter who won several beauty pageants, an extravagant social life full of parties and friends. But on the inside. There was much more. Patsy seems to me to be the one who killed Jonbenet. Something about the way she looks, leads me to believe she has a short fused temper, and for some reason, on the night of December 25th, she snapped. I feel John was an accessory after the fact. Patsy probably informed John of what she had done, and they both came to a compromise to make it look like a kidnapping. If Patsy was responsible, maybe this is the reason why there was no body fluid found in or on the victims body. The fact that one or two of the parents killed Jonbenet would answer the questions that the ignorant police department couldn t figure out.
I think that the Boulder Police department knew for a fact that the parents were the killers and were either paid off or were afraid to say something because they knew how highly influential the family was and felt that if they accused the Ramsey s, they might lose their jobs.
Whether my theory is right or wrong is not important. The important thing is that the case be solved.
Currently, the case is still open but there is no money in the budget devoted to tirelessly finding the killer. The parents have the money. Why don t they sponsor an around the clock search and investigation? Because they are guilty, and they don twant to blow up more dust. I know if my child was brutally violated and then murdered, I would stop at nothing, no matter how much money it took, to find the killer and bring him or her to justice. Isn t it funny that they don’t feel that way?