Posted on 01/28/2013 3:41:53 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
BOULDER, Colo., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A grand jury indicted John and Patsy Ramsey in their daughter's death in 1999 but the Boulder, Colo., prosecutor declined to try the case, jurors said.
The couple have maintained their innocence after finding their young daughter JonBenet Ramsey slain in the basement of their home on Christmas night 1996.
A grand jury convened in the case indicted the couple with a class II felony, child abuse resulting in death. Members of the grand jury and others in the case told the Boulder (Colo.) Daily Camera the panel handed down the criminal indictment, but District Attorney Alex Hunter declined to sign it, believing the evidence didn't amount to enough to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
Grand juries are only required to determine probable cause to indict someone of a crime...
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
I thought Patsy died years ago?
This was at the time, back in 1999.
Buried.
That was a weird case. Not to accuse them of anything, but I recall that they were renovating their house at the time of the child’s death and they didn’t keep the rug that Jon Benet died on. They replaced the rug during the investigation.
“Where’s the poor thing’s body?”
She is buried in Saint James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia. Of course, her little spirit is with God.
Thank you. It was so long ago I didn’t recall if they’d found the body.
I’ve studied this case in-depth for several years now and always come to the same conclusion: one or both parents were responsible. However, I don’t believe it was premeditated. Something happened that caused a parent to snap (possibly JonBenet’s chronic bedwetting) and for myriad reasons, he/she/they decided to cover it up.
For me, the biggest piece of evidence that points to an “inside” job is the 2-and-a-1/2 page ransom note. No killer writes something like that. Plus it was written on a pad found in the house with a pen/sharpie found in the house.
I believe Patsy was the main perpetrator, and John knew or understood later what had happened and went along with it. Patsy died a few years back, probably taking the secret to the grave with her. However, there is still hope that John Ramsey, or his son Burke, who was in the house that night, may still tell all they know.
One word of caution if you decide to study this case: be prepared to drive yourself almost crazy. The story has as many twists and turns as the Ramsey’s sprawling Boulder home. However, you can maintain your sanity by remembering Occam’s Razor: “When you have two competing theories that make the same predictions, the simpler one is the better”.
Not discounting what you say, but I thought DNA evidence exonerated both Ramseys a few years back?
I believe they found the body in the basement of the family home. That is what was sort of weird with the case (among other things as well). The child was abducted from her own bed, removed to the basement, molested and strangled. The abductor left a ransom note (written on paper from the home) and her little body was discovered after the police arrived to investigate a kidnapping. I have the feeling that this is one of those cases that will never be solved. A lot of people thought the Mother did it or the brother. However, there was some sort of DNA left on the body that didn’t match the family. I always wondered if a stalker didn’t see her at one of the kiddie beauty pageants and got into the house to bide his time.
Good grief! Where did the unknown DNA come from if one of the parents did this?
In the fake ransom note there was a demand for $118,000. A very odd amount, except that John Ramsey had reportedly received that exact amount as bonus at work a couple of years earlier. The ransom note was written on one of the Ramsey’s notepads, using one of their pens. Whoever did it was someone who knew in detail about the Ramsey’s finances and took the time to sit down inside the house and write out a fake ransom note, probably minutes after the murder occurred. One of Patsy Ramsey’s paint brushes was used to make the garrote.
John Ramsey was ruled out as the author of the note based on handwriting analysis. Patsy Ramsey could not be ruled out as the author of the note.
She has appeared before the ulitmate Judge...
The amount.....The bonus ticked someone off. I believe the notepad and pen was right there in the house.
A weird and sad case indeed.
Very wealthy area....Probably lots of illegal or legal help. A gardener, a maintenance man, an employee or related to an employee.....someone who knew the house....
I more or less agree with you. I think JonBenet died accidentally, perhaps from horsing around with her brother, and the parents flipped out and tried to make it look like an abduction/murder. Wasn’t there a stun gun found in the home at the time?
I believe that Patsy wrote the “ransom note” in an attempt to cover their tracks. But unless the father or brother talk, the whole story will never be known.
Excellent question. The trace DNA that was found did not exonerate the Ramsey's, it simply makes known a previously undetected DNA source at the scene. It was from skin (not semen) so most speculate it was on the panties JonBenet was wearing at the time it was packaged. Keep in mind, JB had been redressed, wearing different clothes from what she went to bed in---according to Patsy. That package of oversized underwear disappeared and hasn't been found. (The Ramsey's admitted to buying the package, even though they were too big for JB.) There are so many odd facts in this case, with the pineapple in JB's stomach being one of the strangest. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this case is full of rabbit trails and can make you go a little crazy trying to track down what's true and what isn't. There are basically two camps in this case: RDI, Ramsey's Did it, and IDI, Intruder Did It. The strongest argument the IDI camp has is "What's the motivation? Mom's don't kill their kids". Au contraire, parents kill their children quite often. However, most cases are not as salacious as this. Tread lightly when looking into this case. It can quickly become all-consuming. One thing's for sure, that little girl has NOT received justice.
No. We all have “unknown DNA” on our clothing at any time. It doesn’t prove anything.
There was speculation from one of the investigators, that the DNA was from the factory where the underpants were made. The pair she had on when she was found were new out of a package in the home, and were too large...or that she had borrowed new underpants from a friend (she had lots of bathroom issues). I can’t remember which it was.
Incidentally, this investigator wrote a book (i read it a while ago) and came to the conclusion that Jon Benet wet her bed, mom was really irritated, and while cleaning her up, mom either shoved her or yanked her, causing her to hit her head on the tub (or sink?) in her bathroom. Serious head injury resulted. Mom panicked and set up the kidnapping/ransom scenario.
I’m typing this from memory, so some of the details might be slightly different, but the “mom did it and here’s how/ why” part is right.
I thought Patsy died years ago?
************
She died in June 2006. But what does that have to do with this story?
I believe that was Steve Thomas who wrote the book. His theory of what happened that night makes the clearest sense of this odd case. Most people who don't accept it do so on the belief that "a Mom doesn't kill a daughter she loves dearly". If only this were true.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I stick with Occam's Razor when analyzing this case: the simplest answer is most often correct. O.R. also states that "one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything".
In order to make the Intruder Theory work, we have to increase the entities to an almost absurd level, beginning with the ransom note. No killer sits down, in the house of the victim, and writes a 2-and-a-1/2 page ransom note WITH A PEN FOUND IN THE HOUSE ON A NOTEPAD ALSO FOUND IN THE HOUSE.
On a side note, my family and I were living in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1996 and my folks had come out for Christmas. We all remember how much fun we had that Christmas Eve and morning, followed by the feeling of sickness that came over us as we watched this case begin to unfold later that day. Boulder isn't that far from Cheyenne. As we were celebrating a joyous Christmas, just south of us a young girl's life was being brutally ended.
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