Christmas 1996 less than 24 hours before she

Christmas 1996 - less than 24 hours before she was brutally murdered

Victim: Jon. Benet Ramsey DOB: August 6 th, 1990 Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia Occupation: Child Pageant Star Awards: • Little Miss Colorado • National Tiny Miss Beauty • Little Miss Christmas

Patsy Ramsey • Jon. Benet's mother. Patsy, is a former Miss West Virginia who competed in the 1977 Miss America pageant. • She was active in volunteer and charity work in Boulder and moved to Vinings, an Atlanta suburb, with her family shortly after the murder. • In June 1999, the Ramsey's reportedly moved out of their Vinings home. Patsy remains a suspect in the case, and has not been ruled out as the author of the ransom note. •

Patsy Ramsey died after a long battle with cancer at her father's Roswell, GA home on Saturday June 24, 2006. She was buried at same cemetery as Jon. Benet PATSY RAMSEY

John Ramsey • Multimillionaire father of Jon. Benet John was CEO of Access Graphics, a billion dollar Boulder computer firm he had helped build. • After the murder of Jon. Benet he moved to Atlanta, where he became CEO of Jaleo North America, a branch of Comunication Integral, an international computer software firm based in Madrid. • He left that position in March of 1999 and Jaleo closed its Atlanta office.

John Ramsey • John, who discovered his daughter's body in the basement, remains a suspect in the case.

Burke Ramsey • Older brother of Jon. Benet, son of John and Patsy. Burke, born 1/27/87, was almost 10 at the time his sister was killed. Burke testified before the Grand Jury on May 19, 1999.

Burke Ramsey • The following day, the Boulder DA officially announced that Burke was "cleared" as a suspect in the murder of his sister. Today he is a computer programmer.

Investigation Team: Detective Arndt Head of Investigation upon arrival to the Ramsey house One of few officers that first arrived at the home Only officer present when the body of Jon. Benet was found Removed from case a year later in May 1997 filed lawsuits against her former police chief for placing undue blame on her for the way the case was handled Forensics Expert Scientist Dr. Henry Lee Head of the Forensics Unit working on the body of Jon. Benet Ph. D: Biochemistry (1975) BS: Forensics Science (1972) Worked on other casing including OJ Simpson Attorney Mike Bynum Former Boulder assistant DA Was attorney for John Ramsey’s Computer Business Close friend to Ramsey’s

The Perfect Murder… • On the morning December 26 th, 1996, in Boulder County, Colorado, Patsy Ramsey was walking downstairs when something caught her eye; a piece of paper. She picked it up and realized that it was a ransom note. • Patsy panicked and quickly ran to Jon. Benet’s room; she wasn’t there. • She phoned the police at 5: 52 AM, and by the time the police had arrived to the home of the Ramsey’s at 6: 10 AM, the family had already called in a few of their friends; there was no way of securing the crime scene.

The Amt. Requested was the exact amt. John just received for his bonus

Handwriting Analyzes • Only one person tested-- Patsy -- could not be ruled out as the author because the way the As in the letter match Patsy's As. • Thomas said that Patsy was known for signing letters with acronyms. • She would almost consistently sign off with the exclamation point and then a double indented closure to the point that you could almost overlay the ransom note and some of Patsy's previous writings.

Cont’d • No proper search was conducted, but 7 hours after the police arrived, John Ramsey and Fleet White, a family friend were told to search for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. • In the basement, John found the body of Jon. Benet covered with a white blanket. • She had a rope tied around her wrist and neck. • He carried her body upstairs.

• Right side of face and bruising on neck.

Neck showed small pin like hemorrhages above and below the ligature furrow

Why was the knot so loosely tied? Or was it just staging?

Reports of the body show that she had an 8 -inch crack in her skull, 2 stun gun marks, vaginal infection.

Police Report • According to the police report, Jon. Benet was last seen alive at approximately 10: 00 p. m. on December 25, 1996. And found dead at 1: 05 p. m. on December 26, 1996. • When police first sighted the body, they observed that the body was affected by advanced rigor mortis • This was the only murder in boulder that year and the police were inexperienced • By the time the body had left the house suspicion about the parents being involved had already been leaked to the press.

Suspect: Family vs Intruder • Many investigators pointed their fingers at the Ramsey’s, believing that it was John or Patsy (or maybe even both) that murdered their own daughter • both of them refused to take a lie detector test after the crime was committee • John and Patsy Ramsey wrote a book about the murder called “Death of an Innocence. ” • In the book, they talk about the murder of their daughter, the emotional disbelief they felt, and how they thought the crime should have been handled. They also mentioned about the intruder theory

The intruder theory • It was said that an outside individual snuck into the house through a window in the basement on Christmas Day when the family was out at a dinner party hosted by one of their good friends. The intruder was to wait until the family returned home and went to asleep. Once it was safe, the intruder used a stun gun to kidnap Jon. Benet quietly from her bedroom, took her to the basement, where she was sexually abused, and then killed her.

The Opinion of the media and the police • Clues were reported that directed blame toward the Ramsey’s and were never retracted once proven wrong – Reported-No footprints in the snow around the house indicating it had to be an inside job – Police were quoted as saying “ Strange no prints” – Pictures showed that on the morning of the crime there was not snow near the front of the house so someone could have easily approached the house without leaving prints

The Opinion of the media and the police • Vanity Fair quoted a police officer saying that on the morning of the crime, Patsy while weeping “ had been peering at him through splayed fingers • Friends and Family members who were also present described Patsy as so overcome with grief that she was unable to talk with out crying

Moving Away from the Ramseys • Homicide investigator Lou Smit left the case in 1998, writing in a resignation letter that "John and Patsy Ramsey didn't kill their daughter. " In 2003, a federal judge dismissing a libel suit against the Ramseys ruled that evidence in the case was more consistent with an intruder

Due to failure of securing the scene upon arrival by the police evidence was compromised. The evidence included: • two unidentified shoeprints • an opened window • fabric from Patsy’s sweater, • unidentified male DNA • a ransom note.

A shoeprint was found near her body. The type of shoe was Hi-Tec, The other shoeprint was found outside of the house near the basement in the snow. It was not a set of prints, but two separate shoeprints. Therefore; it is not known where these shoeprints were headed to or how they got there. John Ramsey reportedly said that the prior Thanksgiving, construction workers were remodeling the kitchen and could have gone to the basement to obtain tools or water. Not actual shoeprint found

• Palm prints were also found on the door leading to the room where the body was found. • A nail had been put as a door latch. • The intruder must have had to open the door, but there were no prints on the doorknob. • There was no other prints found anywhere near the house. • So did the intruder wear gloves for everything, but latching the door?

According to the intruder theory, the murderer climbed through a window in the basement on Christmas night, waiting for the return of the Ramsey family. • The window was said to have been broken previous ; therefore, it could have been easier for the intruder to enter and exit. • John Ramsey was reportedly said to have closed the open window on the day he found the body. • Why? • It is also said that a pile of dust had been formed near the window, which the intruder should have stepped into; however, if the intruder stepped into the dust, then shouldn’t have more prints been found around the house? • A briefcase was also found in front of the window acting a step for the intruder to hoist himself up through the window.

• When John found her body, he is said to have taken duct tape from her mouth before carrying her upstairs. • When he laid her down upstairs, Patsy cried out and hugged her. As she did, fibers from the red sweater Patsy was said to be wearing fell onto Jon. Benet. • But it was said that the tape from Jon. Benet’s lips also contained the red fibers from the sweater; the same tape that John Ramsey left in the basement, a place where Patsy did not go that morning. • Photographs from the Christmas party the night before showed that the red sweater Patsy was wearing that morning was also the same sweater she had worn to the dinner party the night before.

DNA in panties In the autopsy report, DNA was found in the panties Jon. Benet was wearing and under her nails. • The DNA was from a male. • The testing concluded that Jon. Benet was sexually molested before being dying. • DNA sampling from friends and family did not match. • other tests show that Jon. Benet seemed to have a vaginal infection. • Her pediatrician, who Jon. Benet had visited more than 30 times in a few months period, reported that he noticed it, but concluded that it must have come from bubble baths. • Till this day, the DNA is still remains unidentified.

Today. For nearly a decade, the family battled investigators and public perception, insisting that an intruder — not a parent or sibling — beat and strangled the 6 -year -old beauty queen on Dec. 26, 1996. The intruder theory has gathered momentum in recent years, culminating with the arrest of John Mark Karr on Wednesday Aug. 16 th in Thailand. .

Karr • The investigation that led law enforcement to 41 year old, John Mark Karr can be traced to a single e-mail, sent about four years ago. • Karr sent the correspondence to University of Colorado journalism professor Michael Tracey after viewing the first of three Traceyproduced documentaries on the Jon. Benet Ramsey case.

About Karr • Karr taught at a variety of foreign schools and worked as a tutor and "caregiver" for young girls, according to an online resume. • It appears that his foreign employment began after his April 2001 arrest in California for possession of child pornography. Karr, who went on the run while awaiting trial, worked as an English teacher in Asia and Europe during 20012002. • He appears to have bounced between teaching and nanny jobs in the following years before landing at a school in Honduras, where he worked as a 2 nd grade

Quote from Mark Karr: • "I was with Jon. Benet when she died, " Karr told reporters Thursday, visibly nervous and stuttering as he spoke. "Her death was an accident. " Asked if he was innocent of the crime, Karr said: "No. "

Evidence not matching up • Karr is reported to have told Bangkok officials that he drugged her before rapping her – autopsy tox. Tested were negative • His second ex- wife claims to have been with Karr in his fathers house in AL. on the night in question. • He told the media that he had picked Jon. Benet up from school

DNA Evidence • DNA was taken from Karr in Thailand, before leaving, then taken again in Boulder • It did not match • the arrest was based solely on Karr's alleged confession via emails to Michael Tracey and a recent press conference in Thailand where he told the media that he was with Jon. Benet when she died and that it was an accidental death.

False Confessions • More than 200 people falsely confessed to kidnapping Charles Lindbergh's baby in 1932, about 50 falsely claimed to have slain the Black Dahlia (1940 s film star Elizabeth Short) and several falsely confessed to killing O. J. Simpson's estranged wife Nicole Brown Simpson.

Why Falsely Confess? • Some people put themselves in the limelight out of a pathological need for notoriety. Others have an unconscious need to deal with residual guilt for other transgressions. • A third type cannot distinguish facts from fantasy because they are delusional. They have read or heard enough about the case that they've committed the facts to memory. These individuals can sometimes pass polygraph tests because they truly believe they are guilty

Unanswered Questions • Whose DNA? • Who other than John or Patsy would know about the amt. of the bonus • How did they know about Jon. Benet • How did they know the details of the house • Who wrote the ransom note?