Somebody knew exactly who they were targeting. No doubt whatever about that.
As to the ransom note being a cover for the Ramsey's guilt, I ask you, if you were trying to cover your guilt in the death of your child by pretending a kidnapper/sexual sadist/murderer had entered your home and done it, would YOU make a ransom demand for the exact amount of that year's bonus of one of the two of you???
I certainly would not.
How deliberate can you get. No one, not an intruder not the Ramseys could have accidentally grabbed that figure out of the air. To pin it on a kidnapper, just make the demand for a large sum of money. That's all you would have to do...not to raise all these suspicions against yourselves.
Some may think they were rattled and made a mistake in their plan to coverup. But no, it had to be a very deliberate choice to put that amount there. What did it get them, but more suspicion coming down on their own heads, because no one could figure out how a kidnapper would have known that to the dollar amount. If he was so close to them as to know down to the exact dollar, the cops could have zeroed in on such a person among those that they looked at.
I think, more likely, it is someone who should not have known because he was not really close enough to know, but somehow he found out. This fits Karr's MO, or if not Karr then somebody LIKE Karr.
I don't rule out the Ramseys until this case comes to court. But I don't see the dollar amount pointing to the Ramseys, just the opposite.
I don't mind if you see it differently. I don't fall out with anyone as long as non-hostile debate occurs.
JonBenet Suspect's Polly Klaas Obsession
Karr had girl's death certificate, letter from her killer in home
AUGUST 17--During a 2001 raid at the California home of John Karr, who was charged yesterday with the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, police discovered a copy of the death certificate of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered in 1993, and a letter from the girl's killer, court records show
~SNIP~
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0817062karr1.html
The amount of the bonus is public information in the company reports because it was a stock option bonus. Which also means it was not an actual dollar amount, but fluctuated with the market. The general amount may have even been report in trade or business publications, along the lines of "rising star CEO of yada yada company received a stock option bonus currently valued at.....".
I've always thought it was someone who "knew" the Ramseys but not necesarrily someone they knew of or about. Someone who wanted both to posess JonBenet and punish the parents.
Karr seems tailor made for that role, but they need to place him at the crime with some hard evidence and not just his crazy confessional statements.
A couple of additional points that may not have been clear:
There were no other fingerprints found on the bowl.
Also, the bat and flashlight had NO fingerprints on them. How is that?
Why didn't the intruder leave any fingerprints on the note or notepad? Was he wearing gloves through all this, including while he was feeding Jonbenet pineapple?
Pineapple, according the pathologists, was the last thing Jonbenet ate.
Yes, I agree that there is a lot more to this story and I'm reserving judgment until the DNA evidence is sorted out.
And finally one more point to support your assessment. If the coroner was off on the time of death, then why was her body already smelling by lunch time? She couldn't conceivably have died much later than 10 p.m.