Biography
American homicide victim, one of the most famous and frustrating cases
of the '90s. The daughter of a charming socialite, Patricia Ann Paugh
(born 12/29/1956 in Parkersburg, VW) and wealthy businessman John Bennett
Ramsey (born 12/07/1943, Lincoln, NE), JonBenet had an older brother,
Burke (born 1/27/1987, Murietta, GA) and two older half-siblings, John
Andrew (who lived at the Ramsey home) and Melinda. They were both out of
town on the night of the murder. The family lived in a 15-room Tudor style
home in Boulder, Colorado.
Called "America's Tiny Little Miss," the adorable child was a
six-year-old beauty and talent contest winner, dressed in sophisticated
costumes and able to model like a pro.
On Christmas night, 1996, she went to bed cheerfully. Sometime before
dawn, JonBenet was killed; her skull fractured; she had been sexually
molested and strangled with a cord. Duct tape was put over her mouth, and
her body was dragged downstairs to a small room in the basement. She was
wrapped in a blanket with her feet taped together, her head uncovered and
her arms above her head.
When her mom checked the household the following early morning, she
found that JonBenet was not in her room. Patsy Ramsey called the police at
5:52 AM, shouting "Send help!" and saying that her daughter was
missing and that a 2˝-page ransom note demanding $118,000 had been left
by the kidnapper on the steps of the back stairs leading to the kitchen.
The note read, "Dear Mr. Ramsey, We have your daughter..." It
was printed in block letters and had neat margins. It also made reference
to a Navy air base in the Philippines where John Ramsey had served. Four
misspellings in the note appeared to be intentional.
The police arrived at 5:55 AM and made a brief search of the house. Two
hours later, a detective arrived, and FBI agents came in at 10:30 AM. It
was not until 1:00 PM that someone thought to look in the basement and
John Ramsey discovered his daughter's body. He removed the tape from her
mouth and carried her upstairs. She laid on the floor beside the Christmas
tree until 10:45 that night, when the coroner's staff took the body to the
police morgue. When John Ramsey found JonBenet at 1:05 PM, her body was
completely set with rigor mortis, which indicates that she had died
between 10:00 PM on December 25 and 6:00 AM on December 26.
Devastating errors were committed by the police immediately following
the crime, so grievous that some critics said, “It was as if the police
were attempting to do everything possible to handicap the prosecution.”
They irrevocably disrupted the crime scene by allowing John Ramsey to pick
up his daughter's body and carry it upstairs to cover it with a blanket. A
cord attached to a wooden handle was wrapped around her neck. DNA evidence
was contaminated and as well, the Ramseys were not immediately and
separately interviewed.
The case remained in the media for the following four years, with
apparently no solid evidence to lead to the killer. The Ramsey parents
were the focal point of investigations, both of them leading suspects of
the police investigation. The ransom note was from paper belonging to the
Ramseys and fiber found on the duct tape used to bind the child was
consistent with that found on Patsy's clothing. The small amounts of
evidence were basically circumstantial and not enough to bring charges.
Though the ransom note was similar to Patsy's writing, it could not be
definitively proven.
The case was tried and the Ramseys lynched and damned by the media and
the public. Whether or not the case is ever solved, their lives have moved
from one hell to another. Week after week, JonBenet's exquisite features
were pictured in the tabloids until the public began to cry “Enough! Let
that poor child go.” Six months after the murder, Patsy, John and Burke
moved to a home in the Atlanta area to try to mend their lives.
A former beauty queen herself, Patsy began to enter her child in
pageants when she was five, donning elaborate costumes and sophisticated
makeup. The quantity of glamour shots of the little girl, some as
provocative as those of an adult model, helped to fuel public interest in
the case.
On 10/13/1999 a Boulder grand jury wrapped up a 13-month inquiry during
which it had examined 30,000 pages of testimony and evidence, bringing the
$2 million investigation to an inconclusive finish. They were no further
toward solving the murder than on that shocking day after Christmas three
years before.
The Ramsey's memoir, "The Death of Innocence," went on sale
3/17/2000, the same day that they began a string of TV appearances
objecting to their persecution in the media as being the killers of their
daughter.
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For More Information on the Web:
Who done it? Five compelling articles with completely different points
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