The crime scene: What is known [JonBenet Ramsey]

cnn.com ^ | Friday, August 18, 2006; Posted: 2:01 p.m. EDT (18:01 GMT)

[delacoert]

(CNN) -- JonBenet Ramsey's body was discovered on December 26, 1996, in a storage room in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado.

A three-page hand-written ransom note demanding $118,000 was found on a back staircase leading down from the home's bedroom areas, according to the late Patsy Ramsey.

JonBenet's autopsy report, released by the Boulder County coroner in August 1997, is the main source of what is publicly known about the crime scene. The report included the following details:

[delacoert]

Just history. Maybe interesting.

[delacoert]

• A knotted white synthetic "ligature" (a rope or cord) was wrapped around her neck, and another piece was loosely tied around the right wrist over the sleeve of her knit shirt.
• The cord around her neck was looped around a 4 1/2-inch wooden "stick" with the word "Korea" printed on it in gold lettering. A portion of another word on the piece of wood was not legible.
• The stick was irregularly broken at both ends, and was covered with several colors of paint and possibly some varnish. Police believe the stick was used to tighten the cord around the girl's neck.
• Some of her pony-tailed hair was entwined in the knot of the cord around her neck.
• JonBenet was lying on her back on the floor and was covered by a blanket and a Colorado Avalanche hockey team sweatshirt. Duct tape was found on her mouth, according to John Ramsey.
• Her head was turned to the right and her arms were extended over her head.
• She was wearing a long-sleeved white knit collarless shirt with a silver star in the middle decorated with sequins. She also was wearing long white underwear, and there were red stains and urine on the panties.
• A red-ink drawing of a heart was on the palm of her left hand, and a gold cross hung around her neck. She also was wearing an identification bracelet stamped "JonBenet 12-25-96" and a ring on her right hand.

A Boulder Country judge ordered the autopsy report released over the objections of investigators, who contended it should not be released because it contained information that only the killer or killers would know.

[Joe Boucher]

Since this terrible event happened, several thousand other children have been murdered. Wars have taken place and are still currently.
More problems then GOD knows and still we obsess with this? I just don't understand.
I feel badly that this ever occured but come on, there are serious other events.

[delacoert]

Please post more about them.

[sandbar]

>>>Since this terrible event happened, several thousand other children have been murdered. Wars have taken place and are still currently.
More problems then GOD knows and still we obsess with this? I just don't understand.
I feel badly that this ever occured but come on, there are serious other events.>>>

If this were YOUR daughter, none of those others issues would be more important. You are callous and should be ashamed.

[PC99]

That's a lot of info - thanks for putting it out. I continue to be suspicious of the claims that this freaky guy knew secret details of the crime scene. Everything he has directly said, and his attempts to contact Patsy Ramsey and have a poem read at the child's grave, are signs of pathetic, delusional behavoir. Not what I would expect from a diabolical kidnapper/child killer/rapist.

[Solamente]

IMHO, these ultra-weirdo-creepy Ramsays rented the kid out in some semblance of a "Eyes Wide Shut" cult.

[GBA]

You make some very good points and I don't entirely side with those who say you're callous or whatever. To answer your question, I think the fascination with this case as opposed to the others you cite has to do with humans' sense of justice or, in this case, justice denied. In this case, she has meaning for us that the others don't yet. We could all imagine it, so it is more real. There has been no closure (apologies for the pop psychobabble), so we are unable to let it go. We, especially those with kids, wait for justice and answers as to who did it and why.

[Joe Boucher]

well just sit there and obsess there slick.

[Suzy Quzy]

Did the Ramsey's go to Georgia the day she was found dead?? Wendy Murphy said they did.

[sandbar]

>>>well just sit there and obsess there slick.>>>

Noone is obsessing, but don't make fun of people for keeping it in the forefront.

[Dante3]

There were many reasons why this case received more attention than others: the media played it up, it was a mystery, it was more interesting that other cases with the victim involved in the odd lifestyle of child beauty pageants. It had all the ingredients of a best seller.

[mockingbyrd]

The tried to go. I don't think they actually were able to leave. The police were stunned that they actually thought that they could leave. The Ramseys were outraged that they weren't allowed to leave town, John was making arrangements less than an hour after finding his daughter's body.

[Joe Boucher]

Yeah, you are reight. I just got a couple of notes like that and it seems rediculous.

[Red Badger]

This is "The Sam Shepard Case" of these times. Every period of history has a murder that grabs the public's attention and holds it for a period of years. "The Lindbergh Baby" is just such an incident as is "OJ" and the girl that disappeared in Aruba. These types of sensationalistic crimes go way way back to the Middle Ages or the invention of the printing press, at least. If you want to blame someone for this obstraction, it's the MSM..........

[apackof2]

What are you talking about?

[Suzy Quzy]

Wendy said they went....are you sure??

[GBA]

All true. And the story continues...

[delacoert]

...I think the fascination with this case as opposed to the others you cite has to do with humans' sense of justice or, in this case, justice denied.

I agree.

I've gone back and forth on whether or not I think Patsy was complicit (author of ransom note). I decided years ago that I couldn't really tell. This new "suspect" may or may not shed any light on the case. If Patsy Ramsey is innocent, I sure would like to see her completely vindicated (and vice versa).

[ElkGroveDan]

There was also an unknown stuffed animal found with her.

I recall this because when the story broke back in early 1997 the Boulder cops released a photo of it to see if anyone in the public knew about it. It was an awful photo taken under tungsten lighting that casued a yellow-ish color shift.

Since I had just acquired Photoshop at the time, I downloaded the photo and fixed the color and emailed it back to them. The investigator thanked me and mentioned it in a story a couple of days later.