By Monisha Shivaraj
With every issue, we know that I’ve talked about so many fashion related things, but today we’re going to talk about a fashion related person. From the ransom to the date of death, everything about the demise of the little beauty princess, JonBenét, still stays a mystery. For those of you who don’t know, JonBenét Ramsey was an American beauty queen who won her first pageant at the age of 4. She was the daughter of John Bennet Ramsey and Patsy Ramsey who herself was a pageant winner. Imagine having the confidence to face the spotlight at the age of 4!? (Yeah no I cannot).
What happened?
On the morning of the 26th December 1996, the police received a frantic call from Patsy Ramsey stating that their daughter was kidnapped and a ransom note was left behind. The ransom note demanded $118000 for JonBenét’s safe return. Unfortunately, this ransom was not even necessary because JonBenét’s body was discovered in their basement later that day. the first officer at the crime scene tells John to look around and see if something was missing. The first place he looked, which was missed by the police force earlier was the basement. Her body was found here. She was wrapped in her favourite white blanket and Her mouth was covered with duct tape, a nylon cord was around her wrist and neck. Being the father, Johns emotions took over or so it was portrayed. He immediately picked her up and carried her upstairs.
The autopsy disclosed that the cause of JonBenét’s death was strangulation and a skull fracture. The official cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma. Although it wasn’t rape, sexual assault wasn't eliminated. The garrote around her neck was a nylon cord and the broken handle from one of Patsy’s art supplies. The autopsy also stated that she had consumed pineapple just a few hours before her death.
Everything wrong with the puzzle
The ransom note. The handwritten ransom note was two and a half pages long. It was written on pages from the house and a pen that belonged to the Ramseys. Why would a kidnapper write such a prolonged ransom note instead of kidnapping the kid and just leaving??????
Okay then let us assume that the kidnapper had enough time to do so. Why does the letter look like a 9year old wrote it? Or it was staged well enough by an adult to make it look like it was not their handwriting. Now let us get to the ransom amount. Why would someone ask for $118000, like why $118? And this amount was similar to John’s (JonBenét’s dad) Christmas bonus. Coincidence? There were no fingerprints on the ransom note except for patsy’s because she was the one who found the note. so the note could have been faked?
Initially, it was a missing person case. Only JonBenét’s parents and brother were in the house over the night. There was no indication of forced entry except for a broken window. There was no evidence of a mere footprint in the heavy snow outside the house. So if an intruder did enter the house, how did he succeed to get in and out of the place without a trail of footprints that would lead back to him?
When an officer went to check the basement, it was locked from the outside. the wooden latch was sealed. This was why he did not go in, because if the kidnapper escaped from there then it wouldn't be locked from the outside.
Since it was a missing person case, only JonBenét’s room was cordoned to prevent contamination of evidence. There were no precautions taken to stop the hamper of evidence present in the rest of the house. By the time it was concluded as a murder here was no solid evidence left for the investigation.
what conclusion would one come to, if the victim's father is the one who finds the body of the victim? when john finds JonBenét's body he's immediately struck by emotions and without a second thought, picks his daughter up and carries her upstairs. this was major contamination of evidence.
The crime scene was completely disturbed and delicate and critical forensic evidence was disrupted. The DNA of an unknown male and 2 unknown footprints were also found at the crime scene.
The autopsy stated the consumption of pineapple a few hours before death. So apparently JonBenét was highly allergic to pineapple and Patsy claims that she did not feed her daughter with pineapples and she doesn't know how the bowl got there. The pictures captured a bowl of pineapples and this bowl had Burke Ramsey's (JonBenét’s brother) fingerprints all over them, though the Ramseys stated that burke was asleep all night.
Suspects
The Ramsey family was the first suspect. The ransom note? there was no potential evidence of an intruder? the only DNA found at the crime scene was that of the family? The handwriting analysis stated that it could have been patsy who wrote the note?
The first theory was that Patsy raged at JonBenét after a bedwetting episode and accidentally killed her daughter. Patsy was said to be a strict mother and there were several occasions when JonBenét bedwetting embarrassed her, but we never know, do we?
There was another theory that JonBenét’s brother, Burke Ramsey threw a flashlight at her while they were eating pineapple, the autopsy stated that she had eaten pineapple shortly before her death and there was also a skull fracture caused by the flashlight.
The crime scene looked staged effectively to misguide the police. Patsy or Burke could have accidentally killed JonBenét, and maybe this is why staging of the ransom was entailed? But again the autopsy conveys that she was still alive during strangulation which means it wasn't an accident.
John Mark Karr (an American teacher who had faced charges for murder, kidnapping and sexual assault) had confessed to having killed the girl but there was no evidence to this. He later said that he was there at the house when she was killed but he wasn’t the one who killed her. He also claims to know the identity of the killer he said he was the one who staged the crime scene to throw the police off from the real killer.
“Nobody wanted that little girl to die that night — nobody," Karr said. "Her death was an accident. I was with her when she died. But I was not the person who caused it."
There were various other suspects such as Bill McReynolds, generally known as Santa Claus. His wife had also written a play about a child getting assaulted and murdered in a basement. Bill McReynolds had visited Ramsey's house 2 days before the murder as Santa Claus. He also left a message that said, "You will receive a very special gift after Christmas.” Apparently, he was a little obsessed with JonBenét and requested his wife to mix the glitter gifted to him by JonBenét with his ashes.
Everyone said JonBenét was killed by her family. They weren’t grieving the loss of their daughter, is what the press and the neighbours said. Patsy probably carried her grief to her death bed., but people say what they want to say, don't they? No, I do not think JonBenét's parents killed her. Not at all. But yes, it did look like they covered for someone who killed her and I think her brother did. Probably an accident but he did it. The glimpse of losing one child was agony but to avoid losing another, both the parents staged her death. Nobody can ever fill the void you feel after you lose someone. I don't think they wanted it to happen but whatever happened was tragic.
It's been 24 years and this puzzle remain unsolved besides all the lines crossed. Probably the only one who can solve it for us is JonBenét herself.
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