Jonbenet Ramsey: A Study in Media, Wealth, and Crime

On the night of December 26, 1996, six year old Jonbenet Ramsey was murdered in her home. To this day, her murderer remains unknown. Over the past twenty years, there have been many theories and speculations on what happened that winter night. Soon after the story made its way into headlines everywhere, the public was outraged. People believed that Jonbenet’s parents were to blame for her death. Many people still believe that to this day. Regardless of who the killer was, this case showed how wealth, beauty, and massive amounts of media attention can affect the way a crime is handled.
The story started early Christmas morning. Jonbenet and her brother, Burke, ran downstairs to open presents. The whole family then went to a friend’s Christmas

party. On the way home from the party, Jonbenet fell asleep in the car, so her father, John, carried her to bed. That was supposedly the last time anyone saw the little girl alive. The next morning, as Jonbenet's mother, Patsy, woke up and walked down the stairs, she found a ransom note from her daughter’s killers. The note demanded that the Ramseys leave $118,000 for the safe return of Jonbenet. After Patsy read the note, she ran to Jonbenet's room. Realizing that her daughter was not in her bed, Patsey made a frantic phone call to 911. The police arrived soon after.
As the cops started their investigation, some of Patsy’s friends arrived at the house. She had invited them over to comfort her in her time of grief. With so many people coming and going, any evidence in the house became unreliable. The police then told John that they were going to search the house from top to bottom to see if they could find any clues to who could have done this to his daughter. John immediately rushed downstairs. Without turning any of the lights on, he found his daughter lying on the floor of their wine cellar, wrapped in a white blanket. He carried Jonbenet upstairs, laid her on the floor, and then an investigator moved her from the floor to the couch. After searching the house, the police found the rope that was used to strangle Jonbenet, but the autopsy concluded that Jonbenet had been struck in the head with an unknown object. This was the object that killed her. A year after the crime, John and Patsy appeared on television and said that they were afraid for their lives because there is still a killer on the loose. In 1999, a grand jury was assembled to hear the forensic evidence, but it was dismissed without any indictment. The case remained silent until 2008, when new DNA technology announced that the Ramseys could not have been responsible for the death of Jonbenet. Nonetheless, some still had suspicions about the Ramseys. Fast forward to today and the culprit is still unknown.
Anyone who knew, or worked for the Ramseys knew that they were a very wealthy family.

They had a large, elegant house, took many vacations, and bought their children many luxuries. Many people believe that their abundance of money had an influence on the case. Things happened during the investigation that were not supposed to happen. For example, John and Patsy were never questioned about the crime. Questioning the family is a common procedure, so why was it simply overlooked in this instance? Had the police officers been persuaded by someone? There is also a theory that the grand jury that was assembled in 1999 was “warped by the influence of money” (Prendergast).
One of Jonbenet's favorite hobbies was to compete in beauty pageants. Her mother had participated in them as well. While this a common activity for little girls to partake in, it made Jonbenet look like someone she wasn’t. All of the magazine and tabloid covers that discussed the case plastered pictures of the young girl glammed up at beauty pageants, not pictures of a six year old girl. This made it hard for people to understand the reality of the case. All they were presented with was a beautiful little pageant girl, and not a victim of a brutal crime

(Enochs).
From the very beginning the public could not get enough of the Jonbenet case. People were desperate to know who was responsible for this tragic murder, and what the killer’s motive was. Less than a month after the crime was committed, tabloids were covered with stolen crime scene photos (Ramsey).
Another question with an unknown answer is why. Why would anyone want to kill Jonbenet? If John and/or Patsy committed the crime, possible motives could have been jealousy, an outburst of wrath, or to cover up an accident. If the killer was someone outside of the house, it could have been a disgruntled worker trying to get back at John, or possibly someone who knew the Ramseys were wealthy and desired their money. The hardest thing for people to accept is that there could have been no motive at all, and that it could have been done out of pure hate. The lack of answers was difficult for everyone to accept.
The question still remains; who killed Jonbenet Ramsey? Nobody knows if there will ever be justice for her. Many people still believe that her family was in involved in her death, and that some sort of influence on officials covered up the clues that pointed to them. Others are simply shocked that the case was dismissed in such a nonchalant manner. However, this case did bring public attention to an important topic. Aspects of people’s lives that should be irrelevant in criminal trials still sometimes find way to unroot the integrity of our judicial system. The JonBenet Ramsey case is a prime example of possible corruption that remains in our country today.