JonBenet Ramsey's Parents Sue Fox News

Kansas City Star ^ | December 24, 2003 | Associated Press

[LurkedLongEnough]

DENVER - The parents of slain 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey filed a $12 million federal defamation lawsuit against Fox News Network over a story they say cast suspicion on them.

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Atlanta, John and Patsy Ramsey took issue with a report that aired last year for the six-year anniversary of JonBenet's death. In it, a Denver-based employee stated there has "never been any evidence to link an intruder to her brutal murder."

John and Patsy Ramsey have maintained their innocence and said an intruder killed JonBenet, who was found strangled and beaten Dec. 26, 1996, in the basement of their Boulder home. The Ramseys now live in Atlanta.

Prosecutors and a federal judge have said evidence in the case was more consistent with the theory that an intruder killed JonBenet. The parents were never charged.

A Fox employee in Denver referred questions to the network's New York office. Fox News spokesman Robert Zimmerman said he was unaware of the lawsuit and declined comment.

[beezdotcom]

It's a pity that we all get so jaded with the overload of this crap that we think of it as a parlor game or something.

Yes, and I really think the coarsening of the culture started (for me) way back in the 70's. I still vividly remember, as an 8 year old, hearing about that horrible story in Texas, where the kid died from poisoned Halloween candy, and then it turned out the father did it. That event left an indelible impression on me, and it forever emboldened my cynical side.

So few publicized events since then have contradicted this cynical view that it is sometimes easy to forget a)the selective nature of the publicity for these sorts of things and b)the happy exceptions to the cynical assumptions. But I'm working on it.

[Doc Savage]

Better to have cast it as a personal opinion, hence, " I have never seen or been given any information that an intruder was responsible for the death. Like wise I have no information linking the parents to the crime.

My personal opinion, granted to me under the First Amendment (assuming the Supreme Court has canceled it yet) is that they, the parents played a role in her death.

[Houmatt]

Besides the death of a beautiful child, the real shame is that the Boulder police bungled the investigation of her death so badly.

That, my friend, is one hell of an understatement. To quote Steve Dunleavy, those in charge of the investigation "couldn't catch a cold if they were naked in Alaska."

If things were done right, as it should have been, John and Patsy Ramsey would be sitting in prison right now, where they belong.

[Protagoras]

If things were done right, as it should have been, John and Patsy Ramsey would be sitting in prison right now, where they belong.

I guess you think they did it. LOL

[CaptainK]

I agree with you. I believe the mother lost it. She didn't know how to deal with an older child who still wet her bed.

[metalboy]

These two get me sick. If my kid was killed, the FIRST thing I would do, would go right to the cops, take a lie detector test, freggin` ANYTHING to help the cops. You can take AMC`s John Walsh as an example, when his son Adam was killed, he did what any normal parent would do, he took a lie detector, and even went ballistic because he thought cops weren`t doing enough! He hounded the cops forever, even went to DC.. What do these Ramseys do? They refuse to talk to cops..Say what?? they refuse over and over to take lie detector tests for months, then finally hire the "own lie detector tester"...Who do these two think they`re kidding? Then this woman, the mother, with the crocodile tears, what a phony, then talking about the death of her daughter like she lost a pet goldfish or something. Now they`re trying to cash in by complaining because "Boo hoo...They said there was no intruder and that makes us look suspicious" Oh woo pee doo, like you never looked like that before. Freggin` mutts.

[Tigercap]

It sure isn't right. I'd have to say it is sick.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Somebody landed on the Moon? (Other than that flight of B-24's that got lost during WWII.)

[Protagoras]

Bookmark for when it's solved.

[tray-sea]

this picture is disgusting. I thought most pagaents you didn't see six year olds with lipstick on. The hair is too adult as well.

I don't think most pageants for kids this young are supposed to be slutty looking, are they? I can see when kids are doing a dance recital they put makeup on, right, but not this.
She looks like a Vegas showgirl.

I am not sure the parents did it, but I will say that a lot of pictures I saw of JonBenet were too made up. I am not sure why her mother did that.

So this is my question for those who have done beauty pagaents -- do all the kids wear this much makeup?

I seem to remember a preteen pageant my girlfriend was in (mind you this was the 80's) and I don't remember her looking whore-ish but she was allowed to wear heels and a more adult dress and some makeup but not like this picture.

Thoughts please...

[skip2myloo]

Agree, this costume and appearance is inappropriate for a 5/6-Y-O.

Had not seen this particular photo before.

Still, I find some of the intruder theory compelling. Especially semen on her body and clothing that did not match DNA from the brother or father.

It's horrible to imagine whatever happened to this child.

[RedWhiteBlue]

Perhaps someone was cheating on their spouse.

I have wondered about something along those lines. Suppose there was a sicko that hung around little girls beauty pageants, and they struck up a "snuggly friendship" with Patsy so that they could be close to JonBenet? Then they go after their intended target -- JonBenet --- and she dies. Then Patsy has to cover for the sicko because she does not want to give up her marriage and the affluent lifestyle that comes with it. That would explain why the note seemed to be written in Patsy's handwriting and the presence of an intruder.

[nutmeg]

FoxFan ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my FoxFan list. *Warning: This can be a high-volume ping list at times.

[Houmatt]

Oh, come on.

First off, despite the gross stupidity of the Boulder Police Department in not securing the crime scene to the point that people were allowed to come and go as they pleased, there was no evidence the house had been entered from the outside.

You add to that the ransom note, written in a way that was strikingly similiar to Patsy's handwriting, and the completely unusual way the Ramseys behaved beginning right from the discovery of Jon Benet's body, you would have to be pretty bloody stupid to not see the only people who are and could be responsible for the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey are John and Patsy Ramsey.

[Houmatt]

I guess you think they did it.

Let me put it this way: If John and Patsy Ramsey did not kill Jon Benet, then she is still alive.

[Houmatt]

It is more than that.

The very first thing they did upon "discovering" Jon Benet's body? They called their lawyer. That's right.

And among the other things you mention, they also promptly left the state, refusing to be questioned by the BPD unless 1) They were questioned together and 2) The questions were submitted in advance.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

The "ransom note" was demonstrably in the mother's handwriting.

Unless and until that significant fact is somehow gainsaid, by hard, actual counter-evidence: it is wholly reasonable to work from the baseline assumption that one or obtoh of the Benet parents are complicit in JonBenet's grotesque murder.

[sinkspur]

Clearly you have no information on the case other than your impressions. Most child murders (stats please) are committed by the parents so you have no doubt they did it.

I have little doubt they did it, and, until proven otherwise, I will continue to maintain that somebody in the Ramsey family killed that little girl.

The "ransom note" is way too fishy.

[Bug]

I saw a devastating critique of the Boulder police investigation on one of those cable forensic shows. Can't remember if it was A&E's Cold Case, but I think it was. I was convinced that someone in the family had done it until I saw this show. They brought up the best homicide detective in the country from Texas to examine the evidence. He made a brilliant case that JonBenet was indeed killed by an intruder. I don't remember much more about it other than this detective backed up his theory with evidence and logic and completely convinced me of the parents' innocence.

[Houmatt]

I would bet you a dollar to a doughnut the ransom note was not even mentioned, let alone came into play, during this Texas cop's investigation.

As someone else has already said, you just cannot get around that note.