Patsy Ramsey, mother of JonBenet dies of ovarian cancer

Fox News | June 24, 2006 | Brytani

[Brytani]

Since one of the reasons so many people believe the Ramsey's are guilty of this murder is their hiring of a lawyer, I asked myself would I do the same in that situation. The answer is yes.

I know if my daughter was murdered in my home, I would be too distraught, angry, irrational and devastated to handle the situation correctly. I also know the police would look to me and my husband first as suspects in the murder. I would need someone who could handle the police in a rational manner, who could make sure my rights were being protected and finally someone who could raise hell with the police/investigators to make sure they are looking at all the evidence.

While I would obviously cooperate with the police via lie detectors, blood/hair samples, fingerprints, statements , alibis if needed I know I wouldn't be thinking completely rational and could easily say or do something that would cause speculation placed on me. Knowing I was innocent and someone had killed my child with the police looking solely at me would be almost as bad as the death.

I agree and understand completely why the Ramsey's hired a lawyer. I'd do the same in that horrible situation.

[IndyTiger]

I agree - I always thought it was JonBenet's older brother, and the parents couldn't bring themselves to admit it.

I also agree. I always thought the most plausible explanation was that JonBenet died accidentally, perhaps from roughhousing with the older brother, and the parents covered it up to make it look like an intruder was responsible. That would also explain the strange behavior of the parents during the police investigation.

[MAWG]

Stump ... meet Mud Fence.

[ARCADIA]

I agree with your basic sceanario.

I think it was person that knew the family on a casual basis, who was attracted to Jonbenet. I think he knew Patsy more the John and came from kiddie pageant world.

He snuck into the house while they were out that afternoon/evening. He came in through the basement, then into the kitchen and found the pad. I think the ramson note was an impulse idea. Maybe walking around the kitchen area of that mansion made him resent their wealth and he thought up a ransom note that he knew was bogus.

After the family went to bed, he went up to Jonbenet's room, took her down to the basement, killed her and left.

The big problem with this case has been the ransom note. Handwriting analysis aside, the content of the letter sounds just like a wife nagging her husband. It seems to know a lot about the family - the bonus, the joke about "good southern sense," the way John Ramsey is addressed.

The only way to reconcile that content with the intruder theory is that he had heard Patsy talk. Maybe not a lot, but enough to be able to channel it. He was probably hypersensitive to anything that Patsy said, so a few overheard remarks could have their way into the note.

[Brytani]

From page 4 of the autopsy report (www.smokinggun.com)

On the anterior aspect of the perineum, along the edges of closure of the labia majora, is a small amount of dried blood. A similar small amount of dried and semifluid blood is present on the skin of the fourchette and in the vestibule. Inside the vestibule of the vagina and along the distal vaginal wall is reddish hyperemia. This hyperemia is circumferential and perhaps more noticeable on the right side and posteriorly. The hyperemia also appears to extend just inside the vaginal orifice. A 1 cm red-purple area of abrasion is located on the right posterolateral area of the 1 x 1 cm hymenal orifice. The hymen itself is represented by a rim of mucosal tissue extending clockwise between the 2 and 10:00 positions. The area of abrasion is present at approximately the 7:00 position and appears to involve the hymen and distal right lateral vaginal wall and possibly the area anterior to the hymen. On the right labia majora is a very faint area of violet discoloration measuring approximately one inch by three-eights of an inch. Incision into the underlying subcutaneous tissue discloses no hemorrhage. A minimal amount of semiliquid thin watery red fluid is present in the vaginal vault. No recent or remote anal or other perineal trauma is identified."

From page 6 of the report under Genitalia.

"The upper portions of the vaginal vault contain no abnormalities. The prepubescent uterus measures 3 x 1 x 0.9 cm and is unremarkable. The cervical os contains no abnormalities. Both fallopian tubes and ovaries are prepubescent and unremarkable by gross examination."

From page 9 of the report under Vaginal Mucosa:

"All of the sections contain vascular congestion and focal interstitial chronic inflammation. The smallest piece of tissue, from the 7:00 position of the vaginal wall/hymen, contains epithelial erosion with underlying capillary congestion. A small number of red blood cells is present on the eroded surface, as is birefringent foreign material. Acute inflammatory infiltrate is not seen."

JonBenets hymen was partially intact with damage to the right portion of the hymen where discoloration (bruising) is evidence. It is speculated this damage was caused by the insertion of a finger, or similarly sized foreign object at the time of her assault/death. There was no signs of abuse to the anal area. The vaginal inflammation was listed as chronic and is explained by JonBenets pediatrician himself.

Dr. Francesco Beufh her pediatrician stated that JonBenet had been treated in his office for vaginal inflammation due to poor hygiene techniques. He also stated that in the 6 years he had been seeing JonBenet (her only doctor)he had not once seen any evidence of sexual abuse. Basically she was not cleaning herself well after urination and/or bowel movements causing chronic inflammation of the vaginal area. Not uncommon with young children and especially females still in diapers.

In 2001, the Boulder News (paid subscription that I can not post on here FR rules) ran an interview/debate between Dr. Cyril Wech, Dr. Richard Krugman, dean of the University of Colorado Medical School in Denver, and Dr. Joan Slook, pediatrician with the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Where JonBenets pediatricians statement was presented, they all agreed the inflammation could easily come from poor hygiene techniques and were not evidence of sexual abuse.

The abrasions on and in her vaginal vault are indicative of sexual abuse at the time of her murder. If, as the current investigators of the Ramsey case state, her murder was committed by a known sexual predator living in the area, it is not unusual or unlikely that her vaginal area would show signs of trauma from the event.

[Brytani]

Ahhhh someone else who's read the autopsy report.

Yes, her body did substain injuries post mortem, injuries that are not consistent with an accidential fall or push as has been speculated on here and from others.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Give me science any day over someones speculation on who may have written a note.

Expecially as this is an unusual situation. I know some people who have worked on forgeries where one wants to prove that two documents were not written by the same person; that's an easier question. The note in this case asks the opposite question.

[Brytani]

As we all know there is no legal ruling of "not guilty" however stating we don't know what the GJ did when they refused to indict says something. No ham sandwich there.

We also have to look at the current state of the case. The current DA, the current investigators including those who worked on the case from the beginning and new people brought in, all state that the Ramsey's had nothing to do with the murder and in-fact the evidence points to an intruder.

There is a saying in crime investigation "evidence doesn't lie, it's only misinterpreted". I can not tell you how rare it is for investigators to switch from stating one person did it to publicly and legally stating that the prior perp did not and they have changed the entire scope of their investigation. That is what has happened in the Ramsey case.

I have to wonder how much evidence was lost, how many leads are now so cold they can't be followed up on, how many memories have now faded, that the investigators shot themselves in the foot solely focusing on the Ramsey's while the murderer of JonBenet is still walking free, able to attack again.

[Brytani]

Detective Thomas was severely admonished by U.S. District Judge Julie E. Carnes during a law suit brought by the Ramsey's where the Boulder DA admitted the case is now focused not on the Ramsey's but on an intruder.

Det. Thomas had no prior experience in homicides and based his opinions on speculation not on facts. From the law suit and Judge Carnes...

"Carnes reserved special criticism for Thomas, the former Boulder detective upon whose theories the Wolf complaint was based. "Whereas Detective Smit's summary testimony concerning the investigation is based on evidence, Detective Thomas' theories appear to lack substantial evidentiary support," she wrote.

"Indeed, while Detective Smit is an experienced and respected homicide detective, Detective Thomas had no investigative experience concerning homicide cases prior to this case.

In short, the plaintiff's evidence that the [Ramseys] killed their daughter and covered up their crime is based on little more than the fact that defendants were present in the house during the murder," Carnes wrote."

This same lawsuit lays out evidence of an intruder that was previously ignored by the Boulder PD and is not the focus of the investigation.

Carnes' order also lists a series of largely uncontested facts that suggest an intruder entered the Ramsey home and murdered JonBenét. Among them:

• At least seven windows and a door in the Ramsey home were found open or unlocked after JonBenét disappeared. The alarm was off and windows were accessible from the ground level, including three that opened into the basement.

• Evidence suggested that an intruder climbed through a basement window and walked through the room where JonBenét was found.

• JonBenét's body was bound with complicated rope slipknots and a garrote that the order described as "sophisticated bondage devices" by someone "with an expertise in bondage." No evidence suggests the Ramseys knew how to tie such knots.

• Black duct tape found on JonBenét's mouth was never found in the Ramsey home, although evidence suggested "it came from a roll of tape that had been used before."

• Nothing in the Ramsey home matched dark animal hairs found on the duct tape and JonBenét's hands.

• Newly made, unidentified shoeprints, including one with a HI-TEC brand mark, were found on the basement floor. None of the Ramseys' shoes matched those prints.

• A palm print on the wine-cellar door where JonBenét's body was found does not match the Ramseys' palm prints and has never been identified.

• A baseball bat found outside the house with fibers consistent with fibers found on the carpet in the basement where JonBenét's body was found did not belong to the Ramseys.

• Brown cotton fibers found on JonBenét's body, the paintbrush used as a garrote, the duct tape and the ligature around her neck did not match anything in the Ramsey home.

• Male DNA found under JonBenét's fingernails and in her underwear does not match that of any Ramsey and has not been identified yet.

• A pubic hair found on the blanket covering JonBenét's body did not match that of any Ramsey.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1048518253788

[Brytani]

Exactly. For the longest time, handwriting analysis was considered not much better than phrenology when an analyst was asked to say a person wrote a particular line of text.

While handwriting analysis is a tool, no investigator will use the results of an analysis as their sole evidence. Mostly, handwriting analysis is used to authenticate antique documents/historical documents prior to sale or auction or to authenticate an autograph.

Now, if an investigator has a note where forensic evidence can be gathered, fiber, palm prints, fingerprints, ink matching, typewriter keys (more akin to the science of identifying toolmarks) they jump on it.

[MAWG]

" AHHHH someone else who's read the autopsy report."

Of course. It was obvious early on that the Boulder/Keystone Kops were gonna screw this case up 9 ways from Sunday, and they did. Autopsy report is the logical place to begin. Once I read the report, I knew we were dealing with a Sexual Homicide, to use John Douglas' term, and the killer was a depraved individual with a history of crime and mental problems. This guy was good. Very organized, experienced, thorough and most of all patient. I suspect that he has long since left Boulder.

[MAWG]

You have mail.

[Lazamataz]

I'm going to have Chinese for lunch !!

I had Kung Pao chicken, but they went too light on the red-hot peppers.

[Brytani]

You have a reply

[Artemis Webb]

Hey Lazamataz...my wife is a long time lurker and you're her favorite freeper. ( I think she likes you more than she does me). Do me a favor and say hi to Linda please and thank you!

AND KEEP YOUR PAWS OFF MY WIFE!!!

Artemis (Kung Pao Beef4me) Webb

[Lazamataz]

Hi Linda!

?

[TightyRighty]

Geez, I imagined you better looking than that!

[Lazamataz]

Geez, I imagined you better looking than that!

I do. It's just the only cartoon I could find of someone kissing a computer screen.

[Rte66]

That is very old information. Several of those items have been identified. Judge Carnes didn't have the case file on which to make her decision, only Lou Smit's report.