Over twenty years since the death of the six-year-old JonBenet, the mystery has surrounded the whole story of who killed the young girl. With nobody having been brought to book since her death, many people including the media, police and former FBI officials have tried to carry out their investigation to reveal who killed the young queen. Several theories have been developed by various people to explain who they think murdered JonBenet. The majority of these approaches are accurate assumptions that cannot present valid arguments in the court of law to bring anyone to book. It has taken too long to bring justice to the innocent young soul who was murdered unjustifiably. In this discussion, we will stick to the theory that JonBenet was killed by her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey.
According to JonBenet’s mother Patsy Ramsey, she found a two and a half page ransom note in the house before she realized that her daughter was missing. The letter had a writing demanding the payment of $118000 to enable the killer release JonBenet (Joyce, 2014). The controversy here is the fact that the $118000 demanded by the killer represented the exact amount of money John Ramsey had received as a bonus. How did the killer know that John had received that precise amount of money? This question is probably the most difficult to answer by anyone else other than the main suspects, John and Patsy. Also, it is very unusual for the killer to write a two-page note at the scene of the crime. The content of the ransom note and the use of exclamation marks further raise more doubt about the author. It is most likely that the ransom note was stage managed by the family to try to show that someone else killed JonBenet. According to Katz (2010), Patsy gave a contradicting opinion regarding whether she knew the death of her daughter first or she got the ransom note before. In an interview with the police, she said that she got the ransom note in the house before she knew her daughter was missing. In another interview with the media, she gave a contradicting opinion claiming that she got the note shortly after the body of her daughter was found next to the kitchen basement.
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In another suspicious matter, the ransom note was written with a pen and a pad of paper from the Ramsey house. It brings the question as to how the murderer got access to Ramsey’s home, sat down to write a two and a half paged note within the same house before killing the victim. In a more serious matter, a handwriting expert Cino Wong analyzed the handwriting to identify who could have written the ransom note. On their finding, Cino Wong discovered some similarities in the handwriting of Patsy Ramsey and the writings in the ransom note (Hughes, 2014). It was found by the handwriting experts that the ransom note was written in a format with four different styles of letter ‘A,' a similar writing format observed in Patsy Ramsey handwriting. It indicates that the ransom note was written by Patsy to cover up any suspicion of being caught in a crime, another proof that the beauty queen was killed by her parents.
While the DA test conducted found no connection between the girl’s murder and the family members, possibilities are high that samples of evidence collected could have been interfered with before it was collected. Upon discovering the body of his daughter, he carried it from the scene to the house. At the time police were arriving, some parts of the house had been cleaned, a process that undoubtedly contaminated the evidence. It is therefore difficult to trust the outcome of the sample tests done because they had been contaminated to conceal the evidence.
In yet another more controversial issue, only the family members are in the Ramsey house at night. There is no likelihood of visitors being at home at such late hours of the night. Police in their investigation found that there was no place in the house where there was forced entry. There were no any breakages to either the house or the gate (Ng, 2010). How then did the murderer gain access to the house? This question leads to more queries surrounding the mysterious death of the beautiful young girl. Given that no it was not possible for anyone to gain access to the house when the gate was closed rules out the possibility of an external murderer, leaving the only suspects being the Ramsey’s who were present in the house. In yet another scenario. An autopsy done on the body of JonBenet found a sample of a vegetable that seemed to represent pineapples (Drake, et al. 2010). Pictures taken by the police on the day her body was discovered showed a bowl containing pineapples on the table. When questioned, John and Patsy denied having served their daughter with pineapples in her last meal before she was murdered. However, when the forensic tests were carried out, the bowl was found to contain the fingerprints of Burke, the brother of JonBenet. This raises more suspicion on how the parents claimed not to have served their daughter with any pineapples yet the bowl containing the same fruit with a spoon is found on the table.
Jon and Patsy, parents of the victim, were found to have been involved in a criminal offense previously. Unsealed court documents showed that in 1999, the couple was involved in a criminal case involving a child (Chancellor & Graham, 2014). The previous record of crime on children and child abuse makes them possible suspects in this case. Furthermore, an autopsy revealed that JonBenet was killed by strangulation. Her neck was tied with a nylon cord and a broken paintbrush which are the materials that must have been used to strangle her. In another more incredible event, the police found part of the bristle end of the brush in a drawer containing the art materials of Patsy. The question remains on how the killer got the part of the paintbrush while the other one remaining in the drawer where Patsy kept her art materials. It is also unclear how the murderer managed to get into the house and strangle the girl without any other family member hearing the noise and commotion in the victim’s bedroom.
The argument that her death could have been due to sexual assault and rape could not hold water. Tests done on the body showed no any rape attempts on the body of the victim (Wecht & Saitz, 2003). Even if the results showed that the girl was raped, the main suspects would still be her parents. A tricky question to answer will be how the rapist got into the house at night when it is believed only immediate family members of the victim are in the house at night. Another theory claims that the girl must have been killed by a pornographer. Journalist Stephen Singular argues that what he saw on the internet was similar to the way JonBenet was murdered. This view lacks any evidence connecting the murder to the pornographer. The fact that he saw the same scenario to the murder of the girl on the internet is not any tangible proof that can affirm his view. An argument that JonBenet must have killed herself is a theory with no any real proof. Not a single practical evidence can be attached to this particular claim rendering it unrealistic.
In conclusion, there is enough evidence to link John and Patsy to the death of their daughter. The evidence in the ransom does not indicate that it was written by Patsy and that the writing pad and the pen were from the same house is undoubtedly a proof. The fact that she was killed at night when it is expected that only immediate family members are in the house and there being no any breakages to the house is another evidence. The contradicting statements made by Patsy on what came first between discovering the body and the ransom statement raises more question than answers. The couple denying to have given the girl pineapples the previous night yet the autopsy confirms it is yet another proof. And given that the family has a crime record and child abuse in previous accusations; these are tangible and objective evidence to link John and Patsy to the murder of their daughter.
References
Chancellor, A. S., & Graham, G. D. (2014). Staged crime scenes: crime scene clues to suspect misdirection of the investigation. Investigative Sciences Journal , 6(1).
Drake, D. S., Bebernes, C. M., Wheeler, B. J., Stelflug, E. Z., Espenson, P. D., Van Auken, A. M., ... & Anderson, B. J. (2010). Drowning the smiley face murder theory. (Research Brief).
Hughes, D. J. (2014). An Angel betrayed: How wealth, power and corruption destroyed the jonbenet ramsey murder investigation contact and publish Dav . Strategic Book Publishing.
Joyce, L. E. (2014). Writing Violence: JonBenet Ramsey and the Legal, Moral and Aesthetic Implications of Creative Non-Fiction. New Writing , 11(2), 202-207.
Katz, H. (2010). Cold Cases: Famous Unsolved Mysteries, Crimes, and Disappearances in America. ABC-CLIO.
Ng, R. (2010). Child Beauty Queen: The Murder of JonBenet Ramsey (1996). Cold Cases: Famous Unsolved Mysteries: Crimes and Disappearances in America, 347.
Wecht, C. H., & Saitz, G. (2003). Mortal Evidence: The Forensics behind Nine Shocking Cases . Prometheus Books.
