Table of Contents for

Unsolved Murders

THE MURDER OF JONBENÉT RAMSEY, 1996

A CHRISTMAS NIGHTMARE

A missing beauty queen, a bizarre ransom note, and a body in the basement. The tragic death of young JonBenét Ramsey was a multifaceted enigma that would defy explanation.

Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was destined for stardom. John and Patsy, her parents, were convinced of it. A former Miss West Virginia herself, Patsy Ramsey was determined that her pretty daughter should follow in her glamorous footsteps. In a cruel twist of fate, JonBenét would be buried in the same sparkly dress that she competed in. The tragic details of her death—and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it—make it one of America’s most notorious unsolved child murder cases.

AN IDEAL HOME

From a very young age, JonBenét was entered into beauty pageants. Dressed in flashy outfits embellished with sequins or other eye-catching decoration, she would stand center stage and perform her well-practiced routine. The Sunburst National Pageant, Little Miss Colorado, Little Miss Charlevoix, Colorado State All-Star Kids Cover Girl and America’s Royale Miss—JonBenét had competed in all of these beauty pageants and in many cases, won them. Just two weeks before she was brutally slain, she had been crowned “Little Miss Christmas.”

Main image: JonBenét Ramsey.
Clockwise from top: The Ramsey family home; John and Patsy Ramsey appeal for information about their daughter’s murder; JonBenét Ramsey in one of her beauty pageant costumes; suspect John Mark Karr.

The world remembers JonBenét with bleach-blonde hair and a face full of makeup, but there was much more to this bright little girl. She excelled in mathematics and was fascinated by nature. She enjoyed following around the Ramseys’ gardener, Brian Scott, while he worked.¹

“I REMEMBER HOW INTELLIGENT JONBENÉT WAS. THAT’S WHY I NEVER TALKED TO HER AS IF SHE WERE JUST A LITTLE KID.”

BRIAN SCOTT

AN IDEAL HOME

The Ramsey family—6-year-old JonBenét, her 9-year-old brother Burke, and John and Patsy—lived at 755 15th Street, Boulder, Colorado. Their home was an impressive brick house in the Tudor Revival style on a tree-lined avenue.

John Ramsey was President of Access Graphics, a successful computer company, while Patsy was a former pageant star turned housewife. The Ramsey family seemed to epitomize the American dream: a beautiful family, an exquisite house, and a vacation home in picturesque Charlevoix, Michigan. As Christmas 1996 approached, the Ramseys sent out their usual greeting card detailing the things the family had done during the year, along with a festive photograph. This was the last card they would send as a family of four.

On Christmas evening, the Ramsey family went to their old friends Fleet and Priscilla White’s party, which they attended every year. The family left around 10 p.m. Since they were traveling to their vacation home in Charlevoix the next morning and wanted to make an early start, according to John and Patsy, the whole family went straight to bed. Packing for the trip could wait until the morning. At around 5:45 a.m., Patsy Ramsey awoke and discovered a three-page, handwritten note on the spiral staircase that led from the master bedroom to the kitchen:

Mr. Ramsey,

Listen carefully! We are a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction. We do respect your bussiness [sic] but not the country that it serves. At this time we have your daughter in our posession [sic]. She is safe and unharmed and if you want her to see 1997, you must follow our instructions to the letter.

You will withdraw $118,000.00 from your account. $100,000 will be in $100 bills and the remaining $18,000 in $20 bills. Make sure that you bring an adequate size attache to the bank. When you get home you will put the money in a brown paper bag. I will call you between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery. The delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested. If we monitor you getting the money early, we might call you early to arrange an earlier delivery of the money and hence a earlier delivery pick-up of your daughter.

Any deviation of my instructions will result in the immediate execution of your daughter. You will also be denied her remains for proper burial. The two gentlemen watching over your daughter do not particularly like you so I advise you not to provoke them. Speaking to anyone about your situation, such as Police, F.B.I., etc., will result in your daughter being beheaded. If we catch you talking to a stray dog, she dies. If you alert bank authorities, she dies. If the money is in any way marked or tampered with, she dies. You will be scanned for electronic devices and if any are found, she dies. You can try to deceive us but be warned that we are familiar with law enforcement countermeasures and tactics. You stand a 99% chance of killing your daughter if you try to out smart us. Follow our instructions and you stand a 100% chance of getting her back.

You and your family are under constant scrutiny as well as the authorities. Don’t try to grow a brain John. You are not the only fat cat around so don’t think that killing will be difficult. Don’t underestimate us John. Use that good southern common sense of yours. It is up to you now John!

Victory!

S.B.T.C

After reading the note, Patsy rushed upstairs to find that JonBenét wasn’t asleep where she should be. She wasn’t in her bedroom. She wasn’t in the bathroom. She was gone. Disregarding the conditions laid down in the threatening note, Patsy called 911. She then called several friends, including Fleet and Priscilla White, and begged them to come over immediately for moral support.²

“WE HAVE A KIDNAPPING. HURRY, PLEASE.”

PATSY RAMSEY TO 911 OPERATOR KIM ARCHULETA

The first officer on the scene, Rick French, was unable to find any sign of forced entry and noted that the house’s security system had not been activated the night before. Contrary to normal protocol, the house was not cordoned off to preserve potential evidence. Police officers, the Ramseys, and their friends roamed freely around the place. At the designated time for the kidnapper to call, no phone call came.

THE WHITE DOOR

At approximately 2:00 p.m., an officer told John and Fleet to conduct another search of the house. John took the lead and they headed toward the basement. Near the back was a small white door leading to a wine cellar, which had been ignored during the initial search, as Officer French had only been looking for exit or entry points to the house. Inside this cellar, John and Fleet found JonBenét’s lifeless body. She was lying on her back with her arms raised above her head. A blanket was over her body and her mouth was sealed shut with duct tape. White cord was looped around her wrist and neck. Attached to the cord was a makeshift garrote constructed from a piece of a paintbrush. She had also received a blow to the head. As soon as he saw his daughter, John ripped the tape from her mouth, scooped her up in his arms, and rushed upstairs to the living room. Unfortunately, this act would prove extremely harmful to the investigation—the body should not have been touched, let alone moved, until a medical examiner had arrived on the scene. At this stage, the crime scene was severely compromised.

An autopsy concluded that JonBenét had been asphyxiated; she had also suffered blunt force trauma to the head, leading to craniocerebral trauma. Although there was no evidence of conventional rape, sexual assault could not be ruled out. Undigested pineapple was found in her stomach, indicating that she had eaten the fruit within two hours of her death. Further investigation revealed the other half of the paintbrush among Patsy’s art supplies in the basement.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

On the kitchen table, investigators found a bowl of half-eaten pineapple, as well as a heavy flashlight, though this was not thought important. The ransom note had been written using a pen and notepad that came from the kitchen. A rough draft of the note was also discovered. Whoever wrote it must have had detailed knowledge of the family’s life. Moreover, he or she must have been able to move easily around the house in the dark and find the wine cellar in the basement.

In the basement, a small window had been smashed. While this initially seemed suspicious, John said that he had broken it months earlier after accidentally locking himself out. On the windowsill was a layer of undisturbed dust and dirt as well as an intact spider web, suggesting that it was not an entry or exit point for an intruder.

The length and language of the ransom note was highly revealing to some investigators, who felt that the handwriting looked similar to Patsy Ramsey’s. The $118,000 figure that was demanded was the exact amount John Ramsey had received as a Christmas bonus, something that very few people could have known. Handwriting experts from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation decided that John Ramsey did not write the note, but their analysis regarding Patsy was inconclusive. Convinced that the police were regarding them as prime suspects in the murder of their daughter, both John and Patsy hired separate lawyers and refused to speak to investigators. They felt that they had told police everything they knew and could provide no more worthwhile insights into the case.

April 30, 1997 / John and Patsy Ramsey finally agree to separate formal interviews at the Boulder County Justice.

John and Patsy would only agree to an interview on condition that they received the police reports so that they could prepare for the questions. To the police, their reluctance to cooperate seemed to conflict with their earlier statements that they would do whatever was necessary to aid the investigation.

Throughout her short life, JonBenét had a frequent tendency to wet the bed. For some, this cast further suspicion on John and Patsy, as bedwetting is often a response in children to abuse. The underwear that JonBenét was wearing when her body was found was stained with urine, and pull-up diapers were hanging out of the closet outside JonBenét’s bedroom. A theory circulated that Patsy accidentally killed JonBenét in a fit of rage following a bedwetting accident, causing Patsy to scoff, “Does someone actually think I would kill my child because she wet the bed?”³

One witness who appeared before a grand jury was Linda Hoffmann-Pugh, the Ramseys’ housekeeper at the time of JonBenét’s murder. During the investigation, Linda voiced suspicions that Patsy was guilty of her daughter’s murder, stating that she argued with her often. “I think she had multiple personalities. She’d be in a good mood and then she’d be cranky,” she relayed in her statement.⁴

Over the ensuing years, John and Patsy Ramsey remained under a cloud of suspicion. In 1999, the Boulder grand jury voted to indict both parents on two counts each of child abuse resulting in the death of JonBenét. However, the Ramseys were never indicted because the district attorney, Alex Hunter, refused to sign the documents.

THE BROTHER’S BEHAVIOR

Following questioning by a grand jury, authorities confirmed that Burke Ramsey—who was just 9 years old at the time of the murder—was not a suspect. However, JonBenét’s brother became a favorite culprit among many internet sleuths over the years. His seemingly lighthearted, casual attitude during a taped interview with a child specialist on January 8—just two weeks after the death of his younger sister—caught the attention of several people. There was speculation that Burke had been violent with JonBenét in the past. According to a family photographer, he had hit her in the head with a golf club a year earlier. In December 2016, Burke’s lawyers filed a defamation lawsuit totaling $750 million against CBS for speculating that he was the killer in their television documentary The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey.

In 2008, Boulder County DA Mary Lacy exonerated the entire Ramsey family on the basis that their DNA did not match unidentified male DNA found on two items of JonBenét’s clothing. However, it transpired that the partial DNA profile that was obtained contained a mixture of DNA—belonging to JonBenét; an unknown male and; in one sample, a third unidentified person.

OUTSIDERS AND INTRUDERS

Linda Hoffmann-Pugh and her handyman husband, Mervin, were also not safe from suspicion. Patsy told investigators that Linda had money problems and once asked the Ramseys for a loan. Moreover, Linda had a key to the house and was familiar with its layout. It was speculated that if JonBenét had been killed by an intruder or intruders, they could have had a key, since there was no obvious sign of forced entry. However, Linda and Mervin were never formally accused of the crime.

At the time of JonBenét’s murder, Gary Oliva—a drifter with a history of sexually abusing minors—lived just a few blocks away from the Ramsey home. When he was picked up on an unrelated charge four years later, police found a photograph of JonBenét and a stun gun in his backpack. A search of his apartment revealed an eerie shrine to JonBenét. Police took Oliva to the station to question him about the murder. He was grilled for hours, asked to provide DNA and writing samples, then released without charge. Someone who was convinced of Oliva’s guilt was his own high school friend, Michael Vail, who claimed that just after JonBenét’s murder, Oliva called him in a panic and said that he had “hurt a little girl,” before hanging up.⁵ In 2018, it was reported that Oliva sent a letter to Vail, confessing to the murder of JonBenét.

An early suspect was Bill McReynolds, who played Santa Claus at private parties for the Ramseys. McReynolds and his wife, Janet, had been at the Ramsey home just two nights before JonBenét was murdered. The police were said to have discovered some eerie parallels between the McReynolds’ lives and details in the murder case. On December 26, 1974, the McReynolds’ 9-year-old daughter and another girl were abducted by an unknown assailant, who molested the second girl. Within hours, both girls were set free. Additionally, police found out that Janet had written a play in 1977 that was about the torture and murder of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens, who just so happened to be found dead in a basement, much like JonBenét. McReynolds staunchly denied any involvement, and investigators ruled him out.

An electrician named Michael Helgoth worked near the Ramsey home, and had a history of violence and sexual abuse. In November 1996, Helgoth supposedly told a colleague that he and a friend would soon make a large sum of money—$50,000 to $80,000 each. On February 13th, 1997, DA Alex Hunter announced in a press conference that they were narrowing down the list of suspects, until only one would remain. Two days later, Helgoth was found dead by apparent suicide.

In 2006, ex-schoolteacher John Mark Karr spun investigators a lurid tale of how he had drugged and sexually assaulted JonBenét before accidentally killing her. However, his confession conflicted with the evidence, as the autopsy revealed no drugs. Karr’s DNA did not match any found on the body, and he was dropped as a suspect.

AN ENDURING MYSTERY

The tragic case of JonBenét Ramsey divided the nation, with both the police and the public either believing that an intruder broke into the Ramsey home and killed JonBenét, or that she was murdered by a family member. Thanks to the combination of a contaminated crime scene, a bungled initial police investigation, and the diametrically opposed opinions of numerous experts, a definitive solution to the murder of JonBenét Ramsey seems as elusive as ever.

THE RAMSEY HOME

JonBenét’s body

Broken window and suitcase

Toy train room

Kitchen

Ransom note and writing pads

Balcony

Burke’s bedroom

JonBenét’s bedroom

John and Patsy’s bedroom

CASE NOTES

• In December 1994, 2,000 people visited the Ramsey’s home for a guided tour organized by The Boulder Historical Society.

• John Ramsey had three children from a previous marriage. In 1992, his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, died in a car crash aged 22.

• The length of the ransom note was highly unusual.

• Experts have claimed that the note could have been written after the murder.

• 73 suspects’ handwriting was analyzed to discover who could have written the note.

• No one knows what the initials S.B.T.C. stand for.

• Several people were even reported to have cleaned the house as they attempted to keep themselves busy while waiting for news.

• A suitcase had been placed below a broken basement window.

• Marks on JonBenét’s face could have been made by a stun gun or a piece of electric train track that belonged to Burke.

• A single, unidentified footprint was later found near the body—but none in the snow outside the window.

• Moving the body made it hard for police to determine cause of death.

• Patsy said that JonBenét had not eaten pineapple that day, and that she had gone straight to bed after the Whites’ party.

• Both Patsy and Burke Ramsey’s fingerprints were found on the bowl of pineapple.

• The Ramseys hired their own private investigator, Ellis Amistead.

• The Ramseys offered a $50,000 reward for any information that could lead to the arrest of the killer.

• In March 1997 John Ramsey’s two adult children, John Andrew and Melinda, were cleared as suspects.

• Some analyzed that JonBenét’s incontinence was a protest against the pressure of the beauty pageants.

• Linda maintained that the blanket JonBenét’s body had been wrapped in had most likely come from a clothes dryer near JonBenét’s bedroom.

• Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer on June 24, 2006 aged 49.

• Former friends and neighbors of the Ramseys stated that Burke had a temper and was jealous of the attention that his sister received.

• In a 2016 TV interview, Burke Ramsey said that the murderer was “some pedophile in the pageant audience.”

• A sample of male DNA on JonBenét’s underwear could have potentially been transferred during the manufacturing process.

• It is possible that Linda would have known how much money John had been given as a Christmas bonus.

• Oliva claimed he “never lusted over” his JonBenét shrine, but instead “would look at the pictures and cry.”

• Gary Oliva is currently serving a prison sentence for two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a child and one count of sexual exploitation of a child.

• Michael Helgoth was the favorite suspect of the Ramseys’ private investigator, Ollie Gray.

• Karr’s ex-wife claimed that he had been with her in Alabama at the time of the murder.

• In 2016, it was announced that the DNA portion of the investigation would be reopened.