It was Christmas day, 1996. The Ramsey's had just gotten home from a christmas dinner with their friends. Their suitcases were packed and in the front of the house. Patsy Ramsey had put her two kids to bed and had gone to sleep, excited for their vacation to Colorado, but what was about to transpire was far from exciting.
5:52 AM
Patsy Ramsey calls 9-1-1 in response to a ransom note found in her kitchen. She screams that her daughter is missing and that she needs to police to come as soon as they can. The ransom note she found called for $118,000 in return for their daughter. In the 9-1-1 call, Patty Ramsey is frantic saying short phrases and screaming, "hurry!" and "oh my god!", not really giving any more information than that. Three minutes later, the police show up to the Ramsey household. They search the house, but do not find any sign of forced entry. The only place they do not look is the basement because they believe that no on could have entered through the latched basement. They tell the Ramsey's they found nothing and send a forensics team to the house.
Between 6:00 AM and 1:00 PM
John Ramsey begins to make preparations to pay for the ransom while the forensic team begins their work around the house. Based on the police report that their was no sign of forced entry around the house, the forensic team only closes Jon-Benet's room to keep evidence secure. This would soon lead to their demise because most evidence from inside the house was destroyed by the Ramsey's friends and family coming to console them in their time of need. These few hours are crucial to the case because most of the important evidence was being wiped away and walked over by new DNA and fingerprints.
1:00 PM
The police suggest that the Ramsey's make their own search of the house so they could see if anything seems off-color. John Ramsey and family friend, Fleet White, begin their search in the basement where they ultimately find the body. The body is taken away by her father and more of the crime scene is destroyed by friends and family. Each family member gives DNA and is interviewed. Burker, her brother, is also interviewed later in the investigation
The autopsy showed no sign of rape and ultimately the cause of death was asphyxiation. In her stomach, the found a fruit like substance, possibly pineapple. This proves to very important later. The DNA showed that it could have been anyone, but not DNA was found in or near the body. The case was beginning to go cold. However, there's just a few theories that the police had about the little girl's death.
The investigation immediately turned on the Ramseys. The ransome note was compared to Patsy Ramsey's handwriting and the likeness was uncanny. Both of the parents were questioned and both denied any involvement in the murder. Burke Ramsey, her brother, also denied any involvement. He says he was sleeping when she was killed.
Now that we have gone through the logistics, let's talk theories.
Theory 1:
The first few theories the investigation looked at was a family relate murder. One idea is that Patsy Ramsey struck Jon Benet after the little girl had wet the bed. While this is not intentional murder, it could be possible that the family worked together to cover up the death and try to place the blame on someone else. The investigators thought that perhaps the strangulation was a distraction from the real cause of death. Many were suspicious due to the fact that the Ramseys would not be interviewed for months after and would not speak on the case. So the theory goes that Patsy Ramsey hit Jon-Benet over the head and panicked. Patsy and John decided to pretend that an outside suspect has killed Ramsey and that they placed a ransom note in hopes that they could plant their own evidence. They made it look like she was strangled and placed her in the basement, only to call the police saying that their daughter was kidnapped.
Theory 2:
The second theory goes along with the timeline of the first, but involves another suspect. Pineappple was found in the little girl's belly during her sutopy and photos of the crime scene showed a bowl of pineapple on the kitchen table with Burke Ramsey's fingerprints on it. Some investigators believe that Jon-Benet had taken some pineapple from Burke and he, in a fit or rage, hit her over the head with a toy of some sort, killing her. To protect their son, the ramseys followed the same procedure from above.
Theory 3:
The intruder theories follow suspects outside of the family. Investigators followed this trail due to a boot mark found near the body. Many people were tested, but there was no solid DNA proof that any of the suspects did it. This is also criticized because the investigator in charge of the case was also close to the Ramseys and most of her theories could be disproven such as undisturbed cob-webs. While intruder theories cannot be discredited, they also are not very likely due to the lack o evidence and lack of forced entry.
With many false confessions and unanswered questions, this case remains cold. Patsy Ramsey has died and John and Burke still refuse to confess anything. Maybe someday we will find out what happened to the young pageant queen from Georgia, but the case to this day remains unsolved.
