A Different Perspective

JonBenet Ramsey-Labyrinth of Lies Pt 2

To recap from the introductory article, “Labyrinth of Lies” , the crime scene was hopelessly compromised by:

• First responders from Boulder P.D. failing to check the windowless corner basement room where the body lay
• Boulder P.D. departing, after a cursory residence walk through leaving just one detective, Linda Arndt, on the premises to await the ransom call with no police radio
• A large contingent of Ramsey invited visitors who had free rein to walk around the house and yard with neither supervision nor restriction
• John being allowed to drop out of sight between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
• John moving the corpse from the cellar up to the first floor
• John removing duct tape from JonBenet’s mouth
• John removing a blanket that the body laid upon, parts of which had been folded over the corpse creating a “papoose” effect
• John loosening one of the two wrist bindings

And, oh yes, by Patsy throwing herself over JonBenet’s body as soon as John laid her down on the floor….and oh yes, by Detective Arndt picking JonBenet up from there and laying her under the Christmas tree.  Seriously, this was a farce. (foolish show; mockery; a ridiculous sham.).

From this point forward, a trial, even the thought of “the State of Colorado vs  murderer X ” was as dead as JonBenet.  The perpetrator wouldn’t need an F Lee Bailey to skate out of this.  This be a slam dunk, even for a one eyed public defender.

 

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 that 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 attaché 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 an 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 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 anyway marked or tampered with, she dies. You will be scanned for electronic devices and if any are found, she dies.

You can try to deceive us, but be warned we are familiar with law enforcement counter-measures and tactics. You stand a 99 percent chance of killing your daughter if you try to outsmart us. Follow our instructions and you stand a 100 percent chance 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  Use that good, sense of yours. It’s up to you now, John”

It sounds like it is lifted from a grade B novel. It is long, rambling and ridiculous. Police have always theorized that the killer sat and calmly penned that red herring after slaying JonBenet.  He/She/They have just garroted a six year old child,  cracked her skull in half  and sexually abused her in her own home with three other family members upstairs.  He/She/They stop and write a wordy, rambling ransom note for a dead child. Cool, cool cucumbers.

The pad that it was torn from was found in a kitchen drawer.  The public was told that there was evidence of a practice note left in the pad.  The Sharpie was there among some other pens.  Patsy Ramsey had acknowledged to police that the pad and the Sharpie were hers.

Hence

Most of us don’t use the word “hence” very often, if at all.  “Therefore” is what most of us seem to prefer.  The ransom note contains the rarely used  “hence” and the housekeeper, Linda Hoffman Pugh, was quick to point out to Boulder P.D. that Patsy not only used the word “hence” with some frequency but she also used exclamation points in her letters and notes.  Patsy had also been overheard telling John to “grow a brain” from time to time.

There was also the problem of the $118,000 ransom.  John was far, far wealthier than that.  It was an oddly low amount but worse, it matched the bonus check that he received five days earlier.  Who would have known that?

Experts brought in to analyze the note agreed that it had been written by a woman.  A man would have written something short and to the point. They also agreed that the writer must have felt that they had plenty of time.  In the end the consensus was that the writer was female, had had a good education, and was likely thirty five to forty years old (Patsy had just turned forty the month before and she was well educated).

 P’s and Q’s

 

Patsy and dozens of other potential suspects were asked to submit handwriting samples. Handwriting experts  concluded that the closest match was Patsy Ramsey.  She scored an overall 72% probability of being the author of the ransom note.  The fact that the legal pad that it was torn from was found in her kitchen drawer raised that to a 99.99999%. Obviously.

Odds and Ends

The Ramsey family had returned from dinner at close friend Fleet White’s home on the 25th at approximately 9:30 p.m.  JonBenet had fallen asleep in the back seat of the car as had nine year old brother Burke. Both were carried to their respective rooms  and placed in their beds.

John awoke first the following morning and he showered.  Patsy got out of bed around 5:30 a.m, dressed and went down the spiral staircase which led to the kitchen.  The three page note was spread out at the bottom of those stairs.

Patsy Ramsey had answered the door for police a little after 6 a.m.  They noted that her hair was combed, she was wearing full makeup and was dressed in black velvet pants and a red top.  This is what she had been wearing the previous evening.  They thought that suspicious, wondering if she had actually been up all night.

There was a bowl of pineapple sitting in a bowl on the table in the breakfast nook  The autopsy revealed that there was pineapple in JonBenet’s small intestine.  How did it get there?  Who fed her pineapple after she had been placed in her bed?  Did someone wake her up and walk her downstairs?

Boulder P.D. found no signs of forcible entry to the house, however there was a broken, unlocked window in the basement under a grate which was large enough for an adult to fit through.  There were also two first floor windows open very slightly, just enough to accommodate  electrical cord that connected to exterior Christmas lights.

There was a Mag-lite flashlight sitting on the kitchen counter.  John’s older son, John Andrew, had given it to John as a gift.  It was clean of any fibers and hair as well as fingerprints and was suspected of creating the odd shaped hole and massive fracture in JonBenet’s skull.

The Ramseys hired a top notch legal team almost immediately.  They also appeared on several television interview programs and held their own press conferences.  From that point forward, Boulder P.D.  played hardball and the Ramseys played extreme defense.

The Body

JonBenet was found laying on her back, duct tape covered her mouth; arms were stretched up and back, hands resting above her head.  She was deep into rigor mortis and smelled of decomposition.  Someone had drawn a vague heart shape in faint red pen on one of her palms, laid her on a blanket and folded the blanket over her “papoose style”.   The white top  that she had worn to Fleet White’s house was still on the body but the bottoms were different.  The bottoms had been changed before JonBenet was tucked in by her parents. The underpants she was wearing were several sizes too big for her and were stained with urine and what looked like blood.

White cord wrapped tightly around her neck connected to a peculiar garrote fashioned out of one of Patsy’s paint brushes.   Both ends of the paint brush had been broken off.  The brush end was found in Patsy’s art supply tray which was on the basement floor.  Small wood splinters were found right next to the tray, confirming that the garrote had been made that night and in that spot.  The tip end of the brush was never found.

It was not readily apparent but JonBenet had been dealt a sharp, powerful, single blow to the top rear of her head.   There was a hole in her skull and a fracture more than eight inches long.  On a six year old, that is most of their skull.  This was the work of a vicious psychopath.

 The Autopsy

The cause of death was ruled to be strangulation by garrote accompanied by a sharp force blow to the head by an unknown object.  Traces of pineapple were found in the small intestine.  The cord around the neck was extremely tight and had dug a deep furrow all the way around the entire circumference of the neck.  There was some bleeding under the scalp but swelling in the tissue, as well as the brain itself, was minimal.

There was some evidence of recent sexual contact  of an ambiguous nature.  Evidence of rape was not noted, yet the autopsy identified  hyperemia around her vagina extending slightly into the vaginal orifice.  Medical Definition of HYPEREMIA:   excess of blood in a body part (as from an increased flow of blood due to vasodilation) :  congestion

A small abrasion was noted at the 7 o’clock position of the same area.  Small amounts of blood were notated in the vagina and small areas of dry blood were adhered to the labia minor.  No source for the blood was identified in the autopsy….blood, but no wound.

 

Pin the Tail on the Patsy

There was one more poignant, and potentially damning, detail.  JonBenet’s favorite pink night gown, which had been sitting in the basement dryer, was on the floor next to her.  Surely, no intruder would know which item in the dryer was JonBenet’s favorite.

It wasn’t long before Boulder P.D. made it obvious that they had one, and only one, suspect in mind.   The prevailing theory within Boulder P.D. was that JonBenet had wet her bed.  Her enraged mother struck her in the head, possibly with one of JonBenet’s trophies.

The killing was accidental and the frantic mother rushed the body to the basement, staged the strangulation and sex abuse, then sat down and composed the torturously long ransom note,   With no sign of a break in, a 72% handwriting match to the ransom note,  the match between John’s bonus and the $118,000 ransom,  the favorite pink nightie on the floor next to her, the red “heart” on the palm……

It was time, ladies and gentlemen,  to pin the tail on the Patsy.

 

Part 3 The Worm Turns

https://adriaen22.wordpress.com/2015/02/14/jonbenet-ramsey-labyrinth-of-lies-part-3/