Who killed Jonbenet Ramsey?

 

Unless you have been living under a rock the last 27 years, the name Jonbenet Ramsey means something to you. This little girls "disappearance" and murder rocked not only the community of Boulder, Colorado, but the world. 

Sometime between Christmas day and December 26th, 1996 something horrible had happened to Jonbenet. To this day, we don't know what. 

The mystery surrounding the Jonbenet case are both disturbing and fascinating. Either there was a stranger hiding in the shadows of the family's mansion or a member of her own family did the deed. 
In the beginning, the Boulder Police Department believed the latter, while Lou Smit believed the former. 

While much evidence does point to someone within the home, much more points to an intruder. It's a confusing case, and we are going to look into the details surrounding the case and look into the three theories that have been widespread between amateur sleuths on the internet. In the end we'll let you decide who you think killed Jonbenet. 

In order for you to get a clear picture, you need to know the entire story, and that means to backtrack to Christmas Day. The family attended a Christmas party at a friends house that day. It was on their way home that they claimed Jonbenet fell asleep in the car on the drive home. They said that John carried Jonbenet into the house and put her to bed. That was the last time anyone saw Jonbenet alive aside from her killer. 

In the early morning hours of December 26th, 1996, Patsy Ramsey got up early to get the family ready for a trip they were planning to take. She claimed she put her clothes on from the night before - something she claimed to do often - and headed out of her room. On the back staircase of the home she found a three page ransom note laid out on one step. When she read it she had discovered someone took her daughter and was demanding $118,000 in ransom. The letter had clear instructions, not to call the police, that the house was being watched, and that a call would come later that morning with further instructions. The note was clear that, unless these instructions were followed they would kill Jonbenet.

So, naturally Patsy picked up the phone and called 911 immediately. After getting off the phone with 911, Patsy called everyone she knew and asked them to come to the house. Naturally, when the Boulder Police Department arrived at the house, they thought this was a kidnapping case, so allowed Patsy's guests to stay in the house, and participate in multiple searches of the house. While they waited for a call - that would never come. 

There were of course a few things out of the ordinary that took place in the house that day, that the officer in charge took note of. For one thing, Patsy seemed to be putting on a show for her guests and the police. The house had been searched several times by police and guests. John was acting cordial and suspicious. Burke never left his bedroom, and then John vanished for about thirty minutes. 

Ironically, the last time the house was searched John went straight to the basement and into the wine cellar where he found Jonbenet wrapped in her blanket. Her hands were bound behind her head, she had duct tape on her mouth, and something around her neck. She also wasn't moving, yet something came over John. He removed the tape, picked up his daughter and ran upstairs with her! Where he laid her down in the living room, and he and Patsy laid all over her sobbing and crying. The police now had a murder on their hands, and a contaminated crime scene. 

The autopsy revealed that while she suffered a blow to the head, Jonbenet died of strangulation. There had been no conclusive results that she had been raped, though her vagina had been wiped clean, and she had been sexually assaulted. There was also traces of pineapple in her stomach. Oddly enough there was a bowl of pineapple in the house, with Burke's finger prints on it. 

Mysterious 911 Call: 

They say that when Patsy hung up the phone after speaking to 911 that the phone didn't disconnect. That they could hear three voices speaking in the background. One belonged to John, one Patsy and the third was a child, probably Burke. The 9 year old supposedly stayed in his room the entire time. Through his mothers sobs, and the police all over the house. Not once did Burke ask what was going on, where his sister was or why the police kept checking his bedroom. The whole situation was becoming strange and the evidence against the family seemed to be piling up.

The Ramsey's were caught trying to leave town, and they immediately got a lawyer. Yet, on top of that they refused to talk to the police, but did not hesitate to go to the media. 

Things only got worse from there before they got better. 

The Ransom Note:

The ransom note was long, too long for an average kidnapping. Yet, this family wasn't your average family, and it means that a note this long is possible. However, the note was three pages long! This would take a very long time to write, and lots of practice right?

Something that looked bad on the Ramsey's in itself, but looked much worse when it was discovered that the note was actually written on a legal pad of Patsy's with a pen from inside the house. There were also several practice letters discovered, and after taking handwriting samples from the family, the handwriting closely matched Patsy's. Note to mention that the $118,000 that the kidnappers asked for happened to be the exact amount of John's bonus that year, and it certainly started to look staged. 

The Suitcase:

The Ramsey house had a large basement. Jonebenet was found on one end in the wine cellar - but on the other side of the basement was a broken window under a grate. Now, John admitted that he broke the window himself weeks before when he was locked out of the house. Yet, this doesn't mean it didn't make a good entrance, and later exit of an intruder. Lou demonstrated that a grown man could easily go in and out of this window. Carefully placed underneath this window was a suitcase, placed as a stepping stone, and the suitcase had a footprint on it as if someone used it to boost themselves out of the broken window. 

Of course, this was initially dismissed by the police, claiming that a spiderweb was undisturbed and there were no footprints in the snow. However, spiderwebs can appear pretty quickly, and all the photos of the house that day show no traces of snow anywhere. 

The "Taser" Marks:

When Jonbenet was found she had what Lou described as taser marks on her neck and back. Lou claimed it was likely that Jonbenet got up in the middle of the night after wetting the bed. Had a snack of pineapple, and was surprised by an intruder using a taser on the child. This would explain the single scream that the neighbor heard that we will talk about in just a little while. 

Of course, others claim that these marks came from a toy train track that was found in the house. But was it really?

Another theory, is that the marks were made by buckles in the suitcase, and that Jonbenet was inside this suitcase for several minutes. As the intruder intended to remove her from the house. 

The Blanket:

When Jonbenet was found she had her blanket wrapped around her legs. It looks as if whoever put Jonbenet in the wine cellar, they actually cared for the little girl. Why would a stranger do this and why that particular blanket?

Theory #1 The Intruder

What happened to Jonbenet? Lou and many internet sleuths believe there was an intruder in the house that night. whether it be a pervert fixated on Jonbenet because of her beauty pageants or a couple of individuals angry with John because of his work. Which is what the letter suggests. Someone broke into that home, most likely through the broken window in the basement when the family was at the Christmas party. 

They most likely wrote the letter while they waited and perhaps constructed the garret with materials from inside the house, then hid in the house waiting in the shadows for the family to return and go to bed. 

The house was huge there were lots of places to hide, and we're sure that John and Patsy never even thought of searching the house when they got home. This theory is the most likely out of three but we'll give you a look into the other theories that are out there. Dark and twisted theories, that are just that. 

Theory #2 John & Patsy Ramsey

Looking at everything it's not hard to come to the conclusion that this was a cover up. That one or both of the parents were involved in the assault and murder of the child. One part of this theory takes a look at Patsy Ramsey, who was frustrated with Jonbenet's bed wetting. We know the little girl wet the bed that night. This theory goes that Patsy was frustrated and struck Jonbenet a little too hard. However, that theory is filled with many holes. The main thing being that Jonbenet died of strangulation and not the blow to the head. She was also at least sexually assaulted. Still, the theory is out there, and that John knew and went along with the cover up, to protect his wife. However, this theory doesn't make any sense does it?

The other part of the theory is that John accidentally killed Jonbenet during a sick fantasy with the girl. That Patsy knew, and covered it up to protect her husband and her family. However, this theory makes John look like a monster to do these things to his own daughter, and again the theory just doesn't make any sense. Therefore, it is unlikely that either parent were involved in the murder of their daughter. 

Theory #3 Burke Ramsey

This theory was introduced by a CBS special that aired in 2016, called: The Case of Jonbenet Ramsey. Out of theories #2 and #3 this one seems the most likely. The documentary suggested that Burke killed his sister out of a fit of rage. It wouldn't be the first time violence had sprouted up between the siblings during a spat, in which Jonbenet had gotten hurt. According to a special airing of Dr. Phil in 2016. 

This was hard to dispute as Burke was apparently heard on the 911 call, and that he remained in his room the entire time. When police were finally able to question Burke about what happened, he acted strangely in that interview. Seeming cold and detached, like he didn't really care what had happened. Or of course, the likely thing is that he was just being a kid. 

Of course, to seriously suggest that Burke had anything to do with it, you would have to think a 9 year old knew what a garret was let alone know how to make one. However, many believe this theory, and believe that the parent's found out, and covered up the murder to protect their son. But do you really think that's what happened? Years later, while on Dr. Phil, Burke still pleads his innocence in the murder after all these years. 

Furthermore, if Burke had done this, than that would mean that his parents had sexually assaulted the girl, constructed and used a garret, and went to other extreme's  to stage the perfect cover up, and lets face it why would two grieving parents go to those extremes just to protect their other child, when it would have been more simple to say she hit her head?

More Evidence Suggesting an Intruder:

The intruder theory does have more evidence to support it. For one thing there was a boot print found in the wine cellar near where Jonbenet was found that didn't belong to anyone in the house. There was the broken window, the suitcase, and there were drops of blood belonging to an unknown male found in her underwear. The floors in the mansion were also covered in carpet, making it easy for the intruder to move through the house to the basement, carrying Jonbenet undetected. 

It wasn't until 2006, when Mary Lacy took over the case did she admit that the intruder theory was the most likely case. Given the evidence and the fact that touch DNA was found on her long johns. 

In 2008, Mary released the following statement:

“The Boulder District Attorney’s Office does not consider any member of the Ramsey family, including John, Patsy, or Burke Ramsey, as suspects in this case. We make this announcement now because we have recently obtained this new scientific evidence that adds significantly to the exculpatory value of the previous scientific evidence. We do so with the full appreciation for the other evidence in this case.

Local, national, and even international publicity has focused on the murder of Jonbenet Ramsey, Many members of the public came to believe that one or more of the Ramsey’s, including her mother or her father or even her brother, were responsible for this brutal homicide. Those were suspicions not based on evidence that had been tested in court; rather, they were based on evidence reported by the media.”

In 2010, when the case was reopened, further testing concluded that the DNA samples came from two individuals not one. In 2016, the DNA samples were sent to the Boulder Bureau of Investigation for further testing using modern methods in hopes they can construct a stronger DNA profile of Jonbenet's killers. 

It was also in 2016, when CBS aired a documentary called: The Case of Jonbenet Ramsey, in which they point the finger at Burke even though his name had already been cleared. Burke filed a $750 Million dollar lawsuit against the network. The lawsuit was private, so we don't know what the outcome was in 2019, but Burke's lawyer was noted saying:

"Amicably resolved to the satisfaction of all parties."

Our Theory:

On Christmas day, while the Ramsey's were at the Christmas party at least two individuals if not more entered the home. They were angry with John pertaining to something with his work, and demanded the $118,000 dollars they probably thought they were cheated out of. While the family was gone, they took Patsy's legal pad, and a pen from the house and wrote a three page letter explaining this as well as their instructions. Then they waited in the shadows, for the family to return and go to bed that night. 

When the family came home, Jonbenet was already asleep and put in bed, but the rest of the family probably didn't go to bed right away. Burke had gotten himself a bowl of pineapple, which he didn't finish and being a kid left his mess and went to bed. Soon followed by both parents. 

Sometime between 12 and 1 AM, Jonbenet probably got out of bed having wet it and went downstairs. She was eating some of Burke's pineapple, when she was surprised by at least one of the intruders, she screamed but they quickly muffled that scream with a hand or duct tape before she woke anyone in the household. They quickly took her to the basement and tried to stuff her into the suitcase, she either didn't fit, or was too heavy to carry out the window. So, they hid with her in the wine cellar. These men were obviously bad men, and possibly were excited by what they were doing. They probably had sick fantasies, and therefore constructed a garret for that exact reason. They continued to torture the little girl the rest of the night in her own house. They either killed her on accident, or purposely when they learned that Patsy had called the police, and slipped out the basement window undetected in all the commotion around the house. 

Conclusion:

The mystery surrounding this case is intriguing. It's hard to pinpoint what exactly happened to Jonbenet and it looks like we may never know. However, with mountains of evidence to comb through, and many movies and documentaries to watch the case is a favorite among amateur sleuths much like ourselves. 

There are so many questions that we haven't even scratched the surface. But, if you want to investigate the case more, than we will warn you. Once you go down the rabbit hole of the Jonbenet case, there is no going back. The Jonbenet case is still open and remains unsolved. Was it an intruder or someone close to home, you decide.