Handicapping The Suspects

The post has nothing to do with horse racing. I have been sick as a dog for the last three days, and I passed the time by watching every documentary and every interview I could find that was related to the murder of JonBenet Ramsey on December 25th, 1996. And I am 100% confident that I have solved the crime using facts that have been known in the public domain for decades.

Let’s not spend a lot of time discussing the facts of the case.  By now, almost 22 years later, everyone should know what happened.  According to JonBenet’s mother, Patsy, she woke up on the morning of December 26th, found a ransom note from people claiming to have abducted JonBenet for ransom, and woke up her husband, John, who then read the note and instructed her to call the police.  The police showed up, and seven hours later, JonBenet’s body was found by John in the basement. For more than two decades, the case has gone unsolved.  Most people believe that either John, Patsy, or JonBenet’s brother, Burke, were responsible for her death and tried to cover it up by writing the note and hiding her body.  Others believe that an intruder broke in and murdered JonBenet.

I am here today to tell you that I know who is responsible.  I am not sure how or why JonBenet was killed.  But it’s as clear as day to me who did it.  It was Patsy, and Patsy alone.  Here is how I know.

There is no chance at all that John Ramsey would have instructed Patsy to call police if he knew that the body of his daughter was in the basement.  John was the CEO of a successful company.  He was very smart.  Bringing the police into the house guaranteed that the body would be eventually discovered and that the ransom note would be exposed as a diversionary tactic.  Think about it.  Once the police are in the house, how is anyone going to get the body out of the house?  So we know, since John was awake when the police were called and by all accounts is the one who told Patsy call them, that John was unaware that his daughter was dead and in the basement.  Unless you refuse to accept my assumption that John was smart enough to know the police would find the body.  But please.  That’s just common sense.  John was unaware that JonBenet was dead at the time the police were called.  Therefore, he is innocent.

So that leaves Patsy, Burke, or an intruder.

Let’s skip ahead to the night of December 26th, roughly six hours after JonBenet’s body is discovered.  Burke was sent to spend the night with family friends.  John and Patsy spent the night in the home of different friends.  Now, just imagine that you are John Ramsey. And imagine that you believe an intruder murdered your daughter in a failed attempt to extort money from you.  You allegedly have no idea who is responsible for the crime.  Are you really going to allow your son to spend the first night after the crime anywhere other than in your bed right between you and your wife?  Come on!  Any parent would keep that surviving child within arms reach for a year or longer.  What if the kidnappers tried to make up for their failed attempt to hold JonBenet for ransom by taking Burke? Or what if Burke got scared that whoever killed his sister might kill him?  The fact that Burke was sent to stay with friends means John and Patsy knew there was no risk to Burke, and that they were not feeling violated because a stranger had broken into their home and murdered their daughter.  Again, imagine that happened to your family. You wake up one morning and your daughter has been murdered in your own home.  Are you going to send you surviving kid to someone else’s house that next night?  No way.  You’d keep your family close.   Therefore, we know John and Patsy did not feel the sanctity of their home had been violated by a murdering intruder.

So that leaves Patsy and Burke as suspects.

And let’s revisit the fact used as evidence above.  If Burke had killed JonBenet and then one or both parents tried to cover it up, what are the chances they would send Burke to stay with friends and risk him either a) running his nine-year-old mouth and confessing to another parent, or b) having another psychotic episode and killing someone else?  Zero percent.  If Burke had killed JonBenet, John and Patsy would have kept him close to make sure he didn’t run his mouth and blow the whole story.  The fact that Burke was allowed to spend the night away from John and Patsy meant not only that they weren’t afraid of another attempted kidnapping, but that there was nothing for him to spill the beans about.  Therefore, we know Burke didn’t do it.

So that leaves just Patsy.

Patsy found the note.  Patsy was still wearing the clothes she had worn the previous night when friends arrived at the house the morning of December 26th, before JonBenet’s body was found.  Some handwriting experts think Patsy wrote the note.  Just about every sign points to her, and several other signs point away from others.  I believe she accidentally caused the death of JonBenet and tried to cover it up by staging an abduction.  But, because she was an hysterical mother who had just killed her daughter, and because sometimes women don’t think things through all the way, she wasn’t thinking clearly and neglected to figure out how she was going to get the body out of the house.  And I think John realized what had happened well before he discovered the body, and was determined to protect his wife.

Case closed.  You’re welcome.