Who
killed the little pageant queen, JonBenet Ramsey, on Christmas night of 1996?
“A 6-year-old beauty queen who was found murdered in her Boulder, Colorado,
home on December 26, 1996” (Worthen 1). There are many conspiracy theories that
revolve around the beauty queen’s mysterious death:
1. Did
her older brother, Burke Ramsey, lose his temper and accidently murdered his
sister, resulting in his parents covering up for him?
2. Did
Bill McReynolds impersonate Santa Claus, lured her down to the basement of her
house and murdered her?
3. Was
Michael Helgoth hired by Patsy Ramsey to kill or cover up the tracks for Burke?
As
we go on throughout this essay, we will look at the conspiracy theories of her
death, and perhaps the fact that her older brother, Burke Ramsey, had
accidently killed her out of anger and their parents covered up for him.
A
ransom note laid on the stairs, demanding a large amount of money for the safety
of John and Patricia (Patsy) Ramsey’s 4’7, dainty girl. JonBenét was a six-year
old kindergartener who attended High Peaks Elementary School, a member of St.
John’s Episcopal Church of Boulder. JonBenét was an average six-year old girl,
but on stage she was a star: she had won up to five pageants: “Little Miss
Colorado, Little Miss Charlevoix, Colorado State All-Star Kids Cover Girl,
America's Royale Miss, and National Tiny Miss Beauty” (Worthen 1). She had
stolen the hearts of many with her “sparkling smile” and “glowing blonde hair”
(2).
Thumper
Gosney remembers JonBenét having a “spunk” as she struts across the stage (“20
Years After JonBenét Ramsey’s Death”1). Thumper Gosney and Breanne Griego,
pageant friends of JonBenét, spoke of Ramsey as a “fun-loving girl” (2). While
on break from the pageant life, Gosney and Ramsey would both sneak off for
thirty minutes and play with their Barbie’s. Both women often think about their
childhood friend and how JonBenét would’ve loved the college life, “I thought this
would have been something she would have done. She was a smart fun-loving kid —
she would have had so much fun at college. She would have been the center of
everything at college. She'd be the older version of her 6-year-old self. She'd
be a confident girl. She'd be beautiful and she would enjoy everything that she
chose to do in life” (3). The young girl adored being the center of attention:
“JonBenét had been in the local Christmas parade about a week earlier on a
float with her name on the side…” (Casarez 1).
Despite
the glam and the glitter, off camera JonBenét had a normal kid side to her “I
see her, you know, in shorts and t-shirt and hair kind of scruffy and just kind
of a kid” (Chang 1), “Ramsey remembered his daughter as a bit of a tomboy,
always wanting to hike and play outside with her older brother Burke.” (McGuire
1). Many had seen the young girl as someone who “had a bright light to her”
(Gibson 1). As any child will go through, JonBenét had a problem for wetting
the bed on a “nightly occurrence” (Taylor 1). Rumors had spread that bedwetting
is an indicator for a child to be stressed or depressed, when in fact the
accusation is false; bedwetting is an internal issue. (Bedwetting and Accidents
1). Being a six-year-old, JonBenét didn’t stress about much throughout her
short life, she just did what made her incredibly happy: birthdays, family,
friends, holidays, etc.
JonBenét
was a sweet, caring, and dainty girl, that lived the southern girls dream. John
Ramsey reports how he “regrets” the decision of letting his daughter compete in
pageants (“Tiaras' Is 'Bizarre'.” 1). Not only was she exposed on “public
display” but she never knew the feeling of losing. “We wanted JonBenét to have
that opportunity to experience her bent towards performing and singing. But we
didn't want her to win, necessarily. Because we wanted her to understand life.
You don't always win,” (Casarez 1). John and Patsy Ramsey wanted to teach their
daughter to be humble and not conceited in her winning.
On
Christmas night, JonBenét Ramsey allegedly went missing. She was found the next
morning in the basement; brutally murdered. To this day, no one has been
charged for her murder and justice was not put for the six-year-old beauty
queen “JonBenét Ramsey was born on August 6, 1990, in Atlanta, Georgia.”
(Worthen 1). “The daughter of a socialite and a wealthy businessman, she was a
6-year-old beauty queen who was found murdered in her Boulder, Colorado, home
on December 26, 1996.” (2) “Still unsolved, the murder led to one of the most publicized
police investigations of the 1990s” (3).
After
the murder of six-year-old, JonBenet Ramsey, conspiracy theories surfaced: Her
brother murdered her, and their parents covered up for him, she was murdered by
a Santa Claus impersonator, and she was murdered by a guy who committed suicide
after finding out that he was a suspect for the case. The facts based upon each
one of the conspiracy theories are startling.
The first conspiracy
theory is that Burke Ramsey, brother to JonBenét Ramsey, had murdered his
six-year-old sister out of rage for eating his fruit and his parents had
covered up for him; “Pineapple was found during the autopsy in [Jon Benet’s]
stomach” (“Dr. Phil Talks Interview With JonBenét Ramsey's Brother Burke”1).
The bowl of pineapple placed on the kitchen remained a mystery. Patsy Ramsey
told authorities that she had not given her daughter pineapple, nor did she
give her the bowl. However, fingerprints on the bowl of pineapples matched both
Patsy’s and Burke’s. “This was problematic to investigators, due to the fact
that, upon examining the bowl, they found Patsy's fingerprints. Investigators
also found another set of fingerprints on the bowl of pineapple belonging to
Burke, Jon Benet’s older brother who was 9 years old at the time” (Norsworthy
1). Many believed that Burke had anger issues, or simply was jealous over the
love and attention his youngest sister received “They also revealed that Burke
had struck his little sister with a golf club after 'losing his temper' and
left her with a scar on her face a year before her death” (Rahman 1). After
searching through the room, crime scene technicians had found “feces smeared on
a box of candy she had got for Christmas”, they revealed that Burke had done
it, as well as spreading feces “on the bathroom wall” (Cheer 1). The evidence
found within the house was quite suspicious: There was no sign of an intruder
breaking into their home, samples of Patsy’s clothing was found on the duct
tape over JonBenet’s mouth, the ransom note was made from inside the home, and
“she was strangled with a garrote made from one of Patsy’s paintbrushes”
(Worren 1). After examining the ransom note, many agreed that the note was
“extremely long”, “cryptic”, and “unusually specific” (2). Although, the family
of JonBenét were prime suspects in the case, they were ruled out do to the fact
that the DNA found on her panties did not match either one of the individuals
(Norsworthy 1).
The
second conspiracy theory is that Bill McReynolds, Santa Claus impersonator,
lured JonBenét to the basement and killed her. Bill McReynolds was hired by
Patsy to play as Santa Claus at a Christmas party that JonBenét attended the
night before her death (Flynn 1). Many rumors were spread that McReynolds had
“paid a little too much attention” to JonBenét (Lovitt 1). Although, the theory
was that Bill “lured” JonBenet, no evidence of break in was found nor were
there any footprints found within the property (2). JonBenet gave Bill
McReynolds a vile of glitter at the Christmas party; it was his “good luck
charm” (Flynn 1). The vile was taken with him to his heart surgery and after
the death of Ramsey, Bill McReynolds requested for his body to be cremated and
for the vile of glitter to be mixed in with his ashes (2). A postcard letter
was given to JonBenet, by Bill McReynolds stating that she would receive a
“special gift after Christmas” (3). Coincidently, Janet McReynolds, wife to
Bill, had made a play with a few similarities to the Ramsey case- “the plot
revolved around a girl who was molested and murdered in her basement” (4). However, the Santa Claus impersonator and his
beloved wife, submitted blood, hair, and handwriting samples to the
authorities, none in which matched any evidence, they were cleared from the
case.
The
third conspiracy is that local electrician, Michael Helgoth, had kidnapped and
murdered little JonBenét out of revenge over a property dispute involving the
Ramseys. John Kenady, former coworker of Michael Helgoth, claimed that Helgoth
had made a tape recording stating that he had “killed JonBenet” (Spargo 1). Two
days after announcement of the suspect list beginning to narrow down, Helgoth
had committed suicide in his apartment. Kenady also remembers Helgoth speaking
of a deal him and a “partner” would make bringing around “50,000 or 60,000”
(2). Many believe that Patsy Ramsey had hired Michael Helgoth to murder her
beloved daughter or to help cover up. 911 operator, Kim Archuletta, recalls
hearing two or three voices in the background of the call (Kimble 1).
Archuletta explained how she “had a bad feeling” about the call and almost
sounded like the call was “rehearsed” (2). “After working on the formerly
inaudible segments, Clemente and Richards decided they thought they heard an
adult male say, “We’re not speaking to you”; an adult female ask, “What did you
do?”; and a “smaller voice” ask “what did you find?” (Kimble 1).
The
most likely scenario to solve the conspiracy theory is that JonBenet Ramsey was
murdered by her older brother, Burke Ramsey, and the parents both covered up
the tracks for their son. In a survey conducted at College of the Mainland,
thirteen out of twenty people agreed that Burke Ramsey had lost control of his
anger, and wacked his sister in the head with a flashlight that was found on
the counter top of a table in their kitchen, they concluded it as the murder
weapon, as it matched the incision on her skull. Perhaps, Burke had not meant
to murder his little six-year-old sister, for he has beaten her before with a
golf club, but the killing happened, only resulting in his parents covering up
for their son; scared that he would have been taken away from there. Others
from College of the Mainland believed that the parents played a role in the
case but did not murder their own daughter.
On
December 26, 1996, JonBenet Ramsey was reported “missing”, later that afternoon
her body was found within the Boulder, Colorado home. The conspiracy theories
of who murdered little JonBenet Ramsey surfaced (Worthen 1):
1. Did her older brother, Burke Ramsey,
lose his temper and accidently murdered his sister, resulting in his parents
covering up for him?
2. Did Bill McReynolds impersonate Santa
Claus, lured her down to the basement of her house and murdered her?
3. Was Michael Helgoth hired by Patsy
Ramsey to kill JonBenet?
Almost
twenty-one years ago, the mystery behind the disappearance and murder of
six-year-old JonBenet remains unsolved. Burke Ramsey and his parents remain a
prime suspect behind the case.
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