Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Researh Paper
Researh Paper
Destiny Houser
ENG 1201
Professor Sobocinski
20 March 2020
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
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
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
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
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
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
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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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
(Anderson 7, 8, and 9)
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.
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
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
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/.
cases/jonbenet-ramsey/.
“JonBenet Ramsey Murder - December 26, 1996 Crime Scene - The Body 755 15th
www.acandyrose.com/crimescene-thebody.htm.
“JonBenet Ramsey Murder Fast Facts.” CNN, Cable News Network, 18 Dec. 2019, 29
facts/index.html.
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Lovitt, Bryn. “Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey? 8 Possible Suspects.” Rolling Stone, 25
jonbenet-ramsey-8-possible-suspects-129125/the-mother-129180/.
Oliver, Mark. “10 Strange Little-Known Facts About JonBenet Ramsey's Family.”
strange-little-known-facts-about-jonbenet-ramseys-family/.
Sager, Jessica. “The Most Bizarre Things about the JonBenet Ramsey Case.”
www.nickiswift.com/4778/bizarre-things-jonbenet-ramsey-case/.