I asked my one friend Laurel to give me an unsolved mystery. Her response was, “JonBenét Ramsey.” I’ve heard about the unsolved mystery of JonBenét, and I’ve heard how horrible and tragic it was. Before you read, I’d like to give you a little trigger warning about the case. It includes homicide of a younger child, sexual assault, and the topic of kidnapping. Alright, let’s get to it.
JonBenét Patricia Ramsey was born on August 6th, 1990. JonBenét was considered as an “American Beauty Queen” because of beauty pageants she participated in and won. John Ramsey, JonBenét’s father, was a businessman and president of Access Graphics, a computer software company. His first marriage failed, and ended up with divorce with JonBenét’s biological mother. In 1991, John had moved in with his second wife, Patsy.
Now it’s time we get to the actual murder of JonBenét. She was killed in the early hours of December 26th, 1996 at the age of six years old. The parents of JonBenét, John and Patsy, awoke to find JonBenét missing from her bed. In their home on the stairs, Patsy found a ransom note demanding $118,000 for their daughter’s safe return. The note warned the family to not get the police involved, but Patsy called them anyways. The police arrived around 5:55 A.M. They found no signs of forced entry, but they didn’t search the basement where the body of JonBenét would eventually be found.
There were many investigative mistakes made during this case. Only JonBenét’s bedroom was taped off and the whole house was available for people to come in and roam around which destroyed a lot of potential evidence. They also informed the Ramseys of evidence and severely delayed interviews with her parents. The police called around 1:00 P.M. and instructed John Ramsey to look around the house. There, he would go into the basement and find his lifeless daughter. He brought her upstairs immediately destroying potential evidence and disturbing the scene.
During JonBenét’s autopsy it was found that she had died from asphyxiation due to strangling and was found to have a skull fracture. Her mouth was covered in duct tape and her wrists and neck were wrapped with a white cord while her torso was covered in a white blanket. There was no conclusive evidence of rape because no semen was found at the crime scene or on her body. However, her genital area was wiped clean as if sexual assault did occur.
Theories
The first theory we are going to dive into is the family theory. The theory that someone in the Ramsey family had something to do with her murder. First, the police thought that the ransom note was oddly long and written using a pen and paper from the Ramsey house. The note demanded the exact money that John had received from a bonus earlier that year. The Ramsey family was also reluctant to talk with police. The family was tested for their handwriting to compare to the ransom note. Burke, JonBenét’s older brother was cleared as well as John. However, Patsy’s handwriting could not be conclusively cleared, but there was no other evidence that it could’ve been her.
The second theory is the intruder theory. This theory supports the idea that an intruder did in fact enter the Ramsey home and kill JonBenét. The evidence to support this theory is that first there was a bootprint found next to JonBenét’s body, but it did not belong to anyone in the family. Second, the window in the basement was smashed open and most likely the entry point for the “so-said” intruder. There was blood found from an unknown male on JonBenét’s underwear. The floors were carpeted which could have made it possible for the family not to hear the murderer.
My Take
I thought it was the father who did it back when I heard about this case. Now that I’ve gotten all the clear facts, I do think it could have been an intruder. I think what really makes me think this is the blood on her underwear from an unknown male and the footprint next to her body which didn’t belong to anyone in the family. I do think that the mistakes made in the investigation most likely scuffed the results of the case.
Photo Citations
El dr. Phil Le pregunta a burke ramsey si cree que su madre mató a JonBenet. Noticias. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://es.dolcevita-mz.com/dr-phil-asks-burke-ramsey-if-he-thinks-his-mother-killed-jonbenet
Worthen, M. (2020, November 17). JonBenét Ramsey. Biography.com. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/jonbenet-ramsey