The night of December 25, 1996, the neighbors heard screaming and loud sounds from inside the Ramsey home, but when police arrived at the scene the Ramsey's claimed to not have heard a thing; so what really happened to JonBenét Ramsey? The case has yet to be solved. Twenty years ago JonBenét was murdered in the basement of her own home on Christmas night. Since then many conspiracy theories have risen:
1. Burke Ramsey, her older brother, murdered his sister out
of anger.
2. Patsy Ramsey murdered her own daughter unintentionally
out anger and got her husband to help cover it up.
3. A local man who dressed as Santa Clause murdered JonBenet
as her "special gift."
Character
Analysis
Who was JonBenét Ramsey? If you were
to ask anyone they would most likely define her as the young beauty pageant
girl whose murder case that has yet to be solved after 20 years. As a young child JonBenét was brought into
the beauty world by her mother, which led her to spending most of her life
doing beauty pageants. Anyone who knew JonBenét would recall her as a very
loving and caring child, everybody saw the beauty side of JonBenét, but no one
saw her as a normal ordinary kid like anyone else her age. The world saw her as
a spoiled young girl who had the glamourous world of the beauty life, but she
was more than what the outer world saw.
Jonbenet was only six years at the
time of her murder. This being said, she didn’t have that many options to what
she wanted to do. Her parents, mostly her mother, Patsy Ramsey, controlled most
of what she did. Since Patsy was into beauty pageants and all the glamour
things, she also wanted Jonbenet to be just like her. Jonbenet’s childhood was
very limited to what she wanted to do compared to other children her age.
During the times when she wasn’t all dolled up for her pageants, she enjoyed
being outdoors and just playing around. In the documentary, "The Case of:
Jonbenet Ramsey," the family’s gardener remembers how Jonbenet enjoyed
being outside while he was out doing his work. He also stated that she was very
social and would be talking to him about anything while they were both outside,
but many people did not see this other side of Jonbenet ("The Case of:
JonBenet Ramsey"). Her mother was more for her to be dressed up and
looking nice all the time. Her mother treated her more as an older child than
the actual age she was(1). Jonbenet was just as normal as any other girl her
age despite the beauty pageants.
Her parents, mostly Patsy, gave
JonBenet more attention than Burke, her older brother. She received all her
needs and wants as she wanted them without questioning ("The Case of:
JonBenet Ramsey"). Her if short span of life revolved around contests
because her mother wanted her that way. One thing that could have been the best
character trait she received from being in pageants was the way she socialized.
She was always speaking to someone and loved being around people(1).
JonBenet was only six years old when she was murdered, she
only had a short time to experience anything in life. The event of her murder
shocked so many people across the nation because of how young she was and the
mystery of the person who could do such a tragedy. She will always be
remembered as the beautiful, loving, and caring young girl that she was.
Project 3: Conspiracy Theories
After 20 years of the murder of Jon
Benet many conspiracies about what really happened that night have risen. The
most popular theories state that someone inside the house that night, her
parents or brother, murdered her each which have different reasoning. The one
that stood out the most to me was the Santa Claus that was said to have given
JonBenét a note that read she would receive a 'special gift' at Christmas.
The first conspiracy theory supposes
that Burke Ramsey, JonBenet's older brother, murdered her out of anger. This
theory suggests that after arriving home after the Christmas party Patsy, their
mother, served Burke a bowl of pineapples and went up to her bedroom after
doing so ("The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey"). Both parents stated that
JonBenét was asleep when they arrived home after the party and they tucked her
into bed, but many believe she woke up after her parents went to bed. When
JonBenét found her way downstairs she saw Burke eating the pineapples, in which
moments that followed she treated herself by reaching into his bowl. Burke
seemed to have built up anger towards his young sister and this was the last
straw for him, he hit his sister with what was in hands reach. The first thing
Burke got a hand of was a flashlight on the kitchen table, which followed with
a blow to the head and knocked JonBenét unconscious (1). Burke did not believe
the strike to the head would lead to JonBenet being knocked out,
this lead to Burke panicking and not knowing what to do with
his sister. He decided to wake up his parents to let them know what he had done
to his sister, his parents didn’t know how to react. Their first instinct was
to find a way to cover it up and make it seem as if someone had broken into the
house and murdered JonBenet. They took her to the basement so it seemed as if a
perpetrator had entered from the basement and sexually abused her and
eventually killed her (1). They later wrote the ransom note to make it seem as
if the person was a part of a group that kidnapped JonBenet and were asking for
money (Jensen 1). The most suspicious part about the ransom note was the amount
of money the group was asking for, it asked for exactly how much John's bonus
for the holidays was going to be. If the group that had kidnapped JonBenet was
a foreign faction as the ransom note had said, the mysterious question that
remains is how did the group know how much exactly he was going to receive?
This conspiracy has risen up in many occasions because of the pineapple pieces
found in the autopsy report ( "The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey").The
amount of attention JonBenet received from her parents, other family members,
and family friends was greather than of what Burke received on the daily basis.
Since JonBenet was into beauty pageants almost everyone talked about her
pageants and many other things, this probably made Burke feel like an outcast.
Burke wasn’t as talked about as JonBenet was which people believe contributed
to the outrage of anger towards his own sister. Also, the other major key that
played another role into believing Burke was capable of doing such a thing was
the incident that happened just a year before, Burke had hit JonBenet with a
gulf club out of anger which led to her being left with a scar (1). Researchers
that have done multiple runs on how hard Burke would have to hit JonBenet in
order to give her the blow to the head have come to a conclusion
that Burke would not have the strength to hit her hard
enough as the hit she had when she was murdered. In the documentary by CBS,
“The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey,” they repeat the incident with a replica of what
a young girl, like Jon Benet, skull would be like and give her the long and
thick hair JonBenet had. They bring out a ten-year-old boy, the age Burke was
at the time, and ask him to hit the replica as hard as he could, as the results
turn out it was almost the same as JonBenet’s. The only thing that may
contradict this is the size of the young boy in the documentary, Burke didn’t
weigh much, he was small for his age, the boy in the documentary may have been
a little bigger than Burke was at the time. This theory does not follow the
evidence that the police have collected because despite the possibilities, the
police have believed the fact that the parents have said Burke was in his bed
all through the night that this happened. It is also impossible for Burke to
have hit JonBenet so hard she became unconscious.
The second conspiracy theory that
has come along with this murder case is the mysterious Santa Claus that was
said to give JonBenet a note. Bill McReynolds was dress as Father Christmas at
a party the Ramsey’s had attended just days before JonBenet was murdered (Baker
1). In this conspiracy theory, it is said that the man dressed up had given
JonBonet a note that said she would receive a “special gift” for Christmas. The
Ramsey’s had hired him to dress up as Santa Claus for at least 2 years now, him
and his wife had become very fond of both Burke and Jonbenet (1). McReynolds
was greatly impacted by JonBenet because of the way she was as a person, he
described her to have an “angelic glow” (1). The love for JonBenet that the
McReynolds’s had was not the only thing the two families shared in common. On
December 26, 1974, Bill’s daughter was abducted and “witnessed the sexual
molestation of her friend,” who was also abducted (1). This
was also a reasoning the they had given the police that it
was evidence they had nothing to do with the murder of JonBenet. His wife,
Janet, had written a play named “Hey Rube” which was a script play about a
young girl who is molested, tortured, and murdered in a basement (1). The play
follows a close line to what had happened to JonBenet, although the play may
have been written as way to let go of the pain that she had felt about her
daughter being abducted, theorists believed differently (1). When the script of
the play was found in their home, they were many questions they had for the
couple, but there was no evidence that backed up that they had any involvement
in the case. They willingly gave the police samples of their hair and
handwriting (1). After the death of Bill in 2002, they were cleared of being
suspects because of the samples they had given were not matched to any found on
JonBenet. The note and the play written by his wife may have risen many
suspicions but there are many reasons why this does not ahold to holding Bill
McReynolds accountable for the murder. Mr. McReynolds was at a late age at the
time of the murder had just gone through with heart surgery the summer of that
year, because he was elderly and very fragile, he was ruled out as suspect (1).
The most common theory is that her
parents murdered her out of anger, or others also say Patsy caught John having
sexual interactions with their daughter and was outraged about it. There are
many reasons that have risen over the years why they may have murdered their
own daughter. The reasoning behind why they would murder their own daughter is
still, till this day unclear, but there is evidence that has been found that
leads to believe the family had something to do with the murder. From the
entire investigation, the one thing that sticks out the that leads to believe
that they had a part in the murder is the 911 call that Patsy made when they
discovered the ransom note. The
call consisted of Patsy telling the operator that her
daughter was missing, there was no other details about what may have happened
or where she might be. During the time, she is talking to the person on the
other line, she sounds panicked and frantic about the situation but when she
“hangs up” there is no panic or any sense of urgency to get the police to her
home (Moschella 1). Patsy believed she had ended the phone call, but she was
wrong, the operator could still hear the family on the other line. After 20 years
of the murder no one had asked the operator about the phone call and what was
said, the investigators in the documentary, The Case of: Jon Benet Ramsey,
brought the lady that answered the phone call into their own investigation lab,
her name was Archulate. She explains the way the call seemed rehearsed and
planned because of the voices after Patsy thought she had ended the phone call.
She says she stayed on the line because of the situation, most 911 callers stay
on the line until the police arrive so they know when help will arrive. In this
case, it’s not exactly what happened, Patsy tried ending the phone call as soon
as she told the operator what was going on and ended it as soon as possible.
Archulate could hear, what seemed to be, two voices in the background that were
debating over something that the operator could not hear clearly ("The
Case of: JonBenet Ramsey"). At the time the murder was committed there was
no audio enhancements that could help hear what was being said, they had to rely
on what they could hear by just listening. When investigators took the audio
into the lab they could hear more than two voiced bickering amongst each other
(1). The voice reduction allows them to hear what they believe is being said
which is -
“A male voice saying, “We’re not speaking to you,” followed
by a woman’s voice saying, “What did you do?” and a “smaller voice” saying,
“What did you find?”
All three of these voices are said to be the entire family
arguing about the situation. All of this can be heard in the 15 seconds after
the Patsy believed she hung up. This brought up many suspicions because when
the police arrived at the scene Burke was up in his room and his parents told
the police that Burke had not been downstairs the entire time, he had been in
his bedroom the entire time.
After the call had ended, the
Ramsey’s called neighbors, family, and family friends and told them the news
about JonBenet. This is when evidence all around the house got destroyed
because of so many people walking in and out the house. When the police arrived
at the scene there was already so many friends and family members that were
there, that they could not investigate and look through the entire home because
everything was already touched by others (Solin). Since the evidence was
already messed up there wasn’t many things could have done to look for any type
of force entry or anything that could lead to who murdered JonBenet. When the
cops started searching the house it is said that John went to the basement,
where her body was discovered, and before he even turned on the lights he
started to cry and he went straight to the body. It was like he knew it was
there, when he went to the body he carried it out and laid it out on the living
room for everyone to see (The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey). This completely ruined
everything for the cops, moving the body, and all the people being over at
their house ruined the chances of getting any evidence to even start the case.
The only thing that the police had was the ransom note,
which contributed to believe that Pasty did murder her own daughter because the
note matches Patsy’s handwriting (Solin). There was many things that lead to
believe it was either both parents or just Patsy. Both parents refused to go to
court and many people refused to talk about the case because they said they
weren’t allowed to (Harsanyi). Although there is no actual evidence, like DNA,
leading to believe that
they had a part in it, there’s bits that are major factor in
believing they had a part in the murder of their own daughter.
In conclusion, no one will never
know what really happened to Jon Benet the night of her murder. During a
survey, there was many people that believed her own parents murdered her. The
only thing that does not lead to believe her parents murdered her was the DNA
found on her underwear. There has yet to be a match for the two different DNA’s
found. The murder will always be a mystery.
The night of December 25, 1996, the
neighbors heard screaming and loud sounds from inside the Ramsey home, but when
police arrived at the scene the Ramsey's claimed to not have heard a thing; so
what really happened to JonBenét Ramsey? The case has yet to be solved. Twenty
years ago JonBenét was murdered in the basement of her own home on Christmas
night. Since then many conspiracy theories have risen:
1. Burke Ramsey, her older brother, murdered his sister out
of anger.
2. Patsy Ramsey murdered her own daughter unintentionally
out anger and got her husband to help cover it up.
3. A local man who dressed as Santa Clause murdered JonBenet
as her "special gift."
Many of the evidence has led to believe that someone inside
the house that night was the one who murdered JonBenet, but with DNA evidence
there is no way to know the truth.
Works Cited
Baker, Neal. “Shocking New Theory
That Man Dressed as Father Christmas Killed Six-Year-Old Beauty Queen.” The
Sun, 2016, www.thesun.co.uk/news/1840947/jonbenet-ramsey-murder-theory-suggests-man-dressed-as-santa-killed-beauty-queen/.
Harsanyi, David. “20 Years After
JonBenét's Murder, The Ramseys Still Look Guilty As Hell.” The Federalist,
2016,
thefederalist.com/2016/09/14/20-years-after-jonbenets-murder-and-ramseys-still-look-guilty-as-hell/.
Jensen, Erin. “'JonBenét's Mother:
Victim or Killer?' Paints Patsy Ramsey as Innocent.” USA Today, Gannett
Satellite Information Network, July 2016, www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/11/06/jonbents-mother-victim-killer-paints-patsy-ramsey-innocent/93135568/.
Moschella, Nicole.
“The 911 Operator Who Took Patsy Ramsey’s Frantic Call Just Dropped a Bombshell
about JonBenét’s Murder.” Rare, 2016,
rare.us/story/the-911-operator-who-took-patsy-ramseys-frantic-call-just-dropped-a-bombshell-about-jonbenets-murder/.
Solin, Jennifer. “JonBenét Ramsey
Death: Everything We Know About The 1996 Murder Case.” International
Business Times, 2016, www.ibtimes.com/jonbenet-ramsey-death-everything-we-know-about-1996-murder-case-2414961.
“The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey -
CBS.com.” CBS, www.cbs.com/shows/the-case-of-jonbenet-ramsey/.
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