Shortly after 5:00 AM of December 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey woke up to find a ransom note on her kitchen staircase. Addressed to her husband it stated that their daughter, JonBenét Ramsey had been kidnapped. According to the note, it demanded a ransom of $118,000 for her safe return, almost exactly the same as the bonus that John Ramsey had recently received. Patsy Ramsey went to JonBenét’s bedroom and discovered that she was not there. John Ramsey called the police to report JonBenét missing at 5:25 AM, even though the note threated that JonBenét would be killed if the police were alerted. The ransom note stated that the kidnappers would be calling the Ramsey’s to give them instructions on how to deliver the ransom money. The call from kidnappers never occurred. Police immediately suspected the Ramsey’s had some type of involvement in the disappearance of their daughter. When her body was discovered eight hours later by John Ramsey and a family friend, it was wrapped in the white blanket from her bed, with a cord around her neck, her hands tied above …show more content…
her head and her mouth had duct tape covering it. With the autopsy that was performed it was determined that she had died from strangulation and had a skull fracture. There were signs of rape; however it appeared that there was some possibility that a sexual assault had occurred. It was also discovered that she had eaten pineapple within hours of her death and the state of rigor mortis approximated the time of death to be around 10 pm the night before to 6 am that morning. Investigators believed that the time of death was closer to 10 pm than 6 am. The crime scene held several key pieces of evidence that included the fact that there were open windows in the house, possibly more than one door that was unlocked and a basement window that was broken and could not be locked.
The broken basement window was not discovered until almost a year later and would be the most likely point of entry into the house. A bowl of pineapple was found in the kitchen but there were fingerprints from JonBenét‘s brother on it. The Ramsey’s claimed that Burke Ramsey was in bed asleep during the entire time that the incident could have occurred. Police also found a broken paintbrush in the basement’s boiler room, the other piece of the paintbrush that was used to create the handheld ligature. There were fingerprints, handprints, a boot print and a pubic hair that was found in the blanket wrapped around her body that has not been identified to the Ramsey’s or anyone that has been
investigated. From the beginning of the investigation, police botched several aspects of the investigation. Upon arriving at the residence, police themselves did not do a complete search of the property. They also allowed the Ramsey’s' pastor and friends of the family to come and go as they pleased instead of sealing off the area to preserve any evidence. When a search was finally started, detectives assigned John Ramsey and a family friend to do a search of the house instead of conducting the search themselves or had a police escort to assist John Ramsey as he looked for his daughter in the house. John Ramsey and the family friend started the search in the basement, where JonBenét’s body was found some eight hours after police were called. When offered assistance from the Denver Police Department that had significant resources and more experience in investigating murders, the police chief declined the offer. Both John and Patsy Ramsey spent years under the harsh limelight of the media but despite this no one from the Ramsey family was ever officially named as a suspect in the murder. The family strongly maintained their innocence and the Boulder County District Attorney cleared them of any wrongdoing with DNA testing. To this day the case remains unsolved, open but not active.
The Jonbenet Ramsey case has remained unsolved for twenty years now, and I realize, it might not ever be solved, but I do have a theory. My theory involves three different things, the build up, the murder and the cover-up. In the end, I do not think that there was an intruder that broke in the house, the evidence just doesn’t add up to that. I feel as if somebody in the family killed her, and the Ramseys covered it up. If you go even deeper, John Ramsey could have compensated John Mark Karr to take the blame, and to get some of all of the post-murder weight off of his chest. In order to find who killed J.B.R., we have to look into the Ramseys’ lives first. We know that the Ramseys had money, a lot of it. And the odd amount of money in the ransom note just doesn’t make any
I took pictures of all of the blood stains and collected the knife and fork as evidence.
From the first search of the nursery “a ransom note demanding $50,000 was found on the nursery window sill” (“Lindbergh Kidnapping”). This ransom letter was found to have handwriting similar to that of a German. After the case went cold for three days a second ransom note showed up, this time the price was raised to $70000 (“Lindbergh baby kidnapped”). The Lindbergh’s decided that after the second ransom note, saying that their kid was still alive, they decided it was time to pay the ransom money to save their child. They were able to negotiate with a man named John to pay the first ransom of $50,000. This transaction went down in a cemetery close to the Lindbergh house, and gave the mysterious man the nickname ‘Cemetery John’. This ransom money would later be used to find Bruno Hauptmann, the real
There has been many unsolved murder mysteries, and one of them is the case of Jonbenet Ramsey. The case hasn’t been solved for over twenty years. There have been many theories about the case, one of them is The Intruder Theory. The Intruder Theory states that someone broke into the house and murdered Jonbenet Ramsey on that infamous christmas night. There has been enough evidence to support that theory. In 2008 DNA was found to show that it was not anybody from the family. Though many believe that her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, and brother, Burke Ramsey are responsible for her murder. So many theories, yet none were answered.
The ransom note suggested the perp was not of the Ramsey family, but a possible suspect from John Ramsey job; The note was directed to Mr. Ramsey and referenced his job. Secondly, why would someone leave a ransom note if the victim was already dead? If the crooks wanted or needed the funds they would not have murdered the victim before receiving the ransom. The ransom note was staged to remove the Ramsey’s as suspects. On top of the ransom note the Boulder Police Department, the Ramseys’, the Ramseys’ lawyers, close friends, and legal team contributed to the investigative nightmare of the victim JonBenet. The home was presumably a kidnapping crime scene however the excessive people in the home corrupted the scene. The police did not seal off the crime scene, allowing family and friends to walk around the home. An additional issue is the father John Ramsey, John Ramsey discovered his deceased daughter removed the tape from her mouth, loosened he wrists, and removed the blanket that covered her lifeless body (Douglas & Olshaker, 2000). Not only did Mr. Ramsey remove key evidence from the victim, but transferred the body from the crime scene in the basement to the living room on the second floor and recovered the body with another
Sue Grafton once stated: “Except for cases that clearly involve a homicidal maniac, the police like to believe murders are committed by those we know and love, and most of the time they're right.” This is clearly the thought the Boulder Colorado police conceived in the case of little beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. As many have observed from the onslaught of media coverage, the day after Christmas 1996, six year old Jon Benet Ramsey was found buried under a white blanket, bound, beaten, and strangled to death in the wine cellar of their Boulder home. With such a strikingly rare and glamorous story of a six year old beauty queen dead, who was a part of a “perfect American upper-middle class family”, combined with a lack of a lead and ever mounting suspicion piling up against the parents it was no surprise to find that it was fuel to the media and soon stories sold and became a matter of competition between the press. So, like wildfire, this heart-breaking story spread, stretching across the nation, shattering the souls of the world. News broadcasts, magazine and newspaper articles, and television specials all shaped and molded peoples perceptions of this beautiful child’s murder, especially her parents, John and Pasty Ramsey’s involvement or lack there of. The police and FBI’s merciless quest to connect Jon Benet’s murder to her parents, seemed to cause the them to overlook important evidence, or at the very least dismiss suspicious findings that would otherwise send red flags to investigators. There are many contributors as to why this case remains unsolved including lack of investigative expertise, failure to protect valuable evidence, and focusing too much on the parents as suspects but, ultimately, the over involvement of...
clear to me that the Ramsey family murdered JonBenet. I think that Burke, her older
The ransom note was photographed in the wrong place, the police did not immediately search the house, and friends and family were allowed to enter the home. Due to the holidays, the coroner arrived more than six hours from when he was called. It was not until 1:20 p.m., a thorough search was proposed and ordered to do by John Ramsey (Ramsland). Since the police allowed family and friends to enter the Ramsey’s home, it enabled various people to touch vital evidence and compromise the crime scene. If the police would have properly secured the crime scene and took affirmative action sooner clear evidence could have been obtained, directing them to the killer. Jonbenet was found in her own home by her father after several hours of “searching” which immediately led people to become suspicious. Most compelling evidence suggests that JonBenet was murdered several hours before she was found. The time frame of death indicates that JonBenet was “abducted” right after her parents put her to bed. Evidence suggests no sign of forced entry, as well as a lack of footprints in the snow surrounding the house. Whoever committed this crime must have been familiar with the layout of the house since the body was hidden in the wine cellar in the basement (Bardsley and Bellamy). With this information, clearly someone inside the house was in some way involved in the murder of JonBenet. To be more specific, all signs point to John
Stated by John Ramsey, “As I was walking through the basement, I opened the door to a room, and knew immediately that I’d found her because there was a white blanket- her eyes were closed, I feared the worse but yet- I’d found her” (Bardesley, and Bellamy). On December 26, 1996, one of the most famous, unsolved murders took place in Boulder, Colorado (Christopher). The murder caused many events including accusations, interrogations, false claims, and examining of evidence. The case also caused the Ramsey family to go through a hard time. The murder of JonBenet Ramsey was very shocking and caused a huge investigation that is yet unsolved.
A society that presumes a norm of violence and celebrates aggression, whether in the subway, on the football field, or in the conduct of its business, cannot help making celebrities of the people who would destroy it, (Lapham, 1985). Unfortunately, such acts of rampage have become a prevalent factor in the Canadian culture. As a result of endless media coverage, Canadians now are constantly bombarded with countless images of violence. Many of which often portray a victim avenging their opponent by force. Thus, indoctrinating individuals to believe that it is only through aggression that problems are resolved. Rather than being punished for acts of violence, those who commit such offenses are often praised for their “heroism”. In addition, the success of films like The Godfather, Gladiator, and Troy further aid in reinstating we live in a society that praises violence. Furthermore, this ideology allows for people to partake in violent acts with little or no backlash from ones community. However, when an person strays away from the “norm”, they are likely to then be viewed as a deviant. Such cases of rejection within a society, are often seen in the portrayal of serial killers. Although our society tends to condone violence when it is directed towards a specific individual(s), it does not allow the killing of innocent bystanders. Instead, crimes that are targeted against a number of people over a long period, entail the harshest forms punishments under the law. Sadly, in executing the law for said crimes, those in charge often face much public scrutiny. Such occurrences were apparent in the faulty murder investigations of Canada's most notorious serial killer Robert Pickton. This is due to the fact that, the negligence of the Vancou...
Today’s news covers up the reality that is going around the world. The new is like a distraction for the people of America. He actors, politics, and rich families. The main distraction that has most people in the edge is Ethan Couch murder. A young under age DWI that kills four innocent people for driven under the influence. The punishment that was given to him is for a minor crime like stealing or something in that category. The dead means nothing to the murder but to the family it means the world and mostly if is there children. Parents should not have to see their children die. Why the government is corrupted, wealth, morals, and parents’ education are no longer in place to protect the innocent people.
The criminal justice system in America is full of different twists and turns and sometimes within all of these twists and turns, justice doesn’t always prevail. The police are held to higher standards than your average person. They are expected to be more capable of doing things, but in reality they are humans just like you and me and in the end they can only do so much. In the case on Jonbenét Ramsey, there were several factors that made justice hard to come by. Being a small child, the police at first assumed she was kidnapped so they didn’t search the house. Had they searched the house, things may have ended differently. I’m not really sure how much blame you could put on them for that issue in itself because it was a completely rational thought and nobody expects to find someone murdered in a house, especially if that person is a child.
"I see a perfect explosion, God's ammunition dump, going up in flames of righteousness, Satan storming heaven, his artillery captain, a fiercely grinning fool with red flayed cheeks, Damien by name, never to be Michael Hutchison again. The end is near. Kiss your ass goodbye people, it's time to pay up. Now is the judgment. I am the judge."-Damien Echols, (West Memphis Three Facts). The West memphis three is considered one of the most unfair trials in US history. On May fifth, three eight year old boys came up missing from their West Memphis, Arkansas homes. The next day, they were found brutally murdered in which appeared to be the attempts of a Satanic ritual. This lead to an opinion that only Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jesse Misskelley, due to the assumption, the investigators of this case, caused Jesse Misskelley to have a nervous breakdown caused by his unrecognized mental retardation, which forced a confession out of him. When word got out on this case, celebrities backed up the belief that the three boys were innocent and were giving an unfair trial.
Patty Hearst was a normal 19 year old girl, living in an apartment with her fiance and attending university in Berkeley, California, until one day her life, and the lives of everyone around her changed forever. On the evening of February 4, 1974, some members of the left-wing radical group called the Symbionese Liberation Army barged into Hearst’s home armed with guns, and beat up her fiance before kidnapping Hearst and bringing her to their house where she was kept blindfolded in a closet for 59 days. While locked in the closet, Patty Hearst was verbally and sexually abused and she was denied the use of even a toilet or toothbrush if she didn’t tell them that she agreed with the group’s ideas and beliefs. It is believed that while being locked in the closet like this, Patty was being brainwashed by the SLA and that she may have even developed Stockholm Syndrome, a condition in which a person who was kidnapped starts to empathise with their captor, and even starts defending them. This is how the Symbionese Liberation Army convinced Patty Hearst to join their group. They released an audio tape to the public in which Patty Hearst said she was changing her name to Tania and that she had decided to join the SLA. She then helped the SLA rob a bank and steal an ammunition belt from a sports store. After this, she started travelling around the country with two members of the SLA named John and Emily Harris, to try avoid being captured by the police. During this time, the police found a house where some members of the SLA were hiding out. Attempts to make the SLA members surrender ended up in a massive gunfight, ultimately ending up in the deaths of 6 SLA members. The FBI eventually found and arrested Patty Hearst on September 18, 1975. T...
My homicide case began when the Shreveport Police Department (SPD) received a call from a male caller via 911 reporting he found a body of a black male found in a park near a cul-de-sac in a residential area. I was dispatched and responded to the scene. Upon arrival, I began steps documenting the crime scene. I initiated a rough sketch of the scene and initiated my field notes. A cordon was initiated as I began identifying possible evidence and identifying witnesses and suspects. I canvassed the area and found four 9mm shell casings near the body.