[Larry Lucido]

and thus shared guilt/complicity in her death. There was no way they could point to the real killer without implicating one or both of them (especially if only one of them was involved), hence the Ramsey's need to call in their lawyers so early on.

That's been my sense all along. All the current calls to "apologize" for implicating mom and dad as accessories ring hollow, IMO.

[Alex Murphy]

If I allowed myself to wax full-blown conspiratorial on the subject, I'd say that John Ramsey was running a little after-hours child porn business out of his basement, and JonBonet was the product. Things got out of hand that night, and John's little side-business was going to be exposed as a result.

In my tinfoil-hat-opinion, the ransom note was Patsy's doing, and not part of John's covering up of the crime. Naming his bonus amount was a way of throwing a monkey wrench into the "official" Ramsey alibi. The amount would redirect police attention back onto John Ramsey, hopefully uncovering his late-night parties. It was her revenge on him for (indirectly) killing her baby girl.