why do you believe this to be so?
The demand letter with an amount equal to the father's recent bonus. That's someone very close to the family who somehow picked up that information, but also someone kind of clueless about finances, as though that bonus was spare resources - a person who lives paycheck to paycheck unaware that bonus compensation is just a form of deferred salary and not some kind of windfall. Ramsey was obviously wealthy and the amount of that bonus was kind of irrelevant to the amount he coudl raise to pay a ransom. There are numerous accounts of the maid's financial troubles and her prior requests to borrow funds from the Ramseys.