JonBenet Ramsey Conspiracies
From beauty queen to beaten and battered, JonBenet Ramsey's
murder remains shrouded in mystery. On the night of December 25, 1996, a
peculiar ransom note, that stated that JonBenet was kidnapped,
had been discovered (Conrad). Hours later,
the six-year-old pageant girls' body was found bludgeoned,
sexually abused, and strangled. Why would someone hold a girl for ransom
and then kill her hours later? This is only one of the many
circumstances of the murder that does not make very much sense. The prestige of
the Ramsey family, accompanied by the numerous
evidence-based speculations, raises the question: who
killed JonBenet Ramsey? The three most popular conspiracies are:
- Did Burke Ramsey (brother) kill JonBenet in
a fit of rage?
- Was JonBenet murdered by her
parents and staged as a kidnapping?
- Did an intruder break in and
murder JonBenet in hopes to get a ransom?
While each theory has
substantial evidence to support themselves, the likelihood is that Burke
Ramsey killed his sister and the family attempted to cover it up.
JonBenet Ramsey was a unique six-year-old thrust into the
limelight of pageantry. She was a gorgeous, pageant queen who had a life set
for success ahead of her. The dainty kindergartner was full of nativity and
innocence, but was admired by her fellow competitors and their parents.
JonBenet’s fragile, 4’7” frame that weighed in at a mere forty-five pounds made
her an ideal model amongst the pageant world (JonBenet Ramsey Murder Facts).
Her elegance, however, is reduced to CNN images of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed,
beauty. One can only image the little girl’s excitement with the ensuing
Christmas; a Christmas she would never get to experience.
Everyones eyes were on JonBenet as she was expected to be a put
together, mature young lady. Despite these expectations she was a spunky,
fun-loving young girl. She exuded youth and a free spirit that radiated
throughout the room. In fact, even when she was competing people can “remember
the spunk she had on stage” (JonBenet Ramsey’s Pageant friends…). Despite the
stereotypes of drama perpetually surrounding pageantry, JonBenet was loved by
her competitors. Thumper Gosney, a close friend and adversary to JonBenet, remembers
an encounter between her and JonBenet at a pageant contest where “During breaks
in the competition we would sneak off and play together. My mom didn’t see me
for twenty to thirty minutes and I was just playing with JonBenet” (JonBenet
Ramsey’s Pageant friends…). Likewise, in a Daily Mail interview, Breanne
Criego, a fellow contestant, describes JonBenet as “such a smart, fun-loving
kid” (1) It appears that the judges were not the only ones obsessed with
JonBenet, her friends were as well.
JonBenet may have appeared like a normal little girl who everyone
adored, but did all of her praise and success go to her head? Did she really
enjoy pageantry as much as she appeared to or was it just a façade? JonBenet
had become accustomed to the limelight whether she wanted to be or not.
Many six year olds have a “Me! Me! Me!” complex, but when they are
always the center of attention their egos go through the roof. JonBenet’s
numerous glittery outfits screamed “look at me” and so she became a focal point
(JonBenet Ramsey Biography). From persistent praise to an extravagant
lifestyle, JonBenet’s short life had all the ingredients to make her
egotistical and conceded. If she wanted the pineapple on the night of her
murder, she was going to get it one way or another. JonBenet grew up wealthy in
a privileged home. She was given everything she needed to have a happy life
filled with pleasure and luxury (JonBenet Ramsey Biography). However, her posh
lifestyle did not go unnoticed. John Ramsey, JonBenet’s father, said in a CNN
interview that “she needs to lose some of these pageants because she needs to
understand you don’t always win” (Casarez). JonBenet’s own father understood
that in order to teach his daughter humility, she must experience defeat.
JonBenet Ramsey shocked the world with her murder. It is
inconceivable how any human can possess the hatred and lack of emotion to
obliterate a joyful child’s future. While the nation remembers her for the
grotesque murder, those who knew her personally remember her as gleaming southern
bell. Even at the young age of six, her friends knew that she would have grown
up to be successful in college and in life (JonBenet Ramsey’s pageant
friends…). Her innocence and joy make it hard to believe that anyone could have
the motive to murder her, but her wealth and privilege shift the motive to
jealousy. Regardless of the motive, it is quite shocking that JonBenet Ramsey’s
murder remains a mystery.
In the infamous 1996 unsolved murder case of JonBenet Ramsey,
three rational conspiracy theories arise. The first two suggest an inside job
where the murderer is presumed to be a family member. The third conspiracy
proposes a pedophilic intruder lusted for the young girl and
resulted in her death.
The first theory designates blame to JonBenet’s brother, Burke Ramsey who
presumably killed his sister in a fit of rage. Burke, in a television
interview, was described by Dr. Phil as “socially awkward” (Hautman).
Throughout their banter, Burke maintained a peculiar disposition as he
smiled while recounting his sister (1). He has history of violence and
presumable mental health issues. A year prior to JonBenet’s death, an
infuriated Burke Ramsey struck her in the head with a golf club leaving her
scarred (Rahman). As an easily angered child, a plethora of inconveniences or
grievances could have set him off. His sister was the star of the show and was
perpetually in the limelight. Her constant attention overshadowed Burke and
perhaps led to jealously and an internal feeling of attention deprivation. The
most popular and tangible evidence is presented through a bowl of pineapple and
JonBenet’s stomach content. On the night of JonBenet’s murder, Patsy Ramsey,
mother of JonBenet and Burke, made her son a bowl of pineapple. JonBenet, hungry
for a snack, took some of Burke’s pineapple thereby angering him. Given his
previous history of violence it is quite possible that, in a fit of rage, he
stuck JonBenet in the head with a flashlight accidentally killing her. In fear
of losing both children, Patsy and Jon Ramsey staged the murder to look like a
ransom gone wrong. They then made a very suspicious 911 phone call. During the
call a voice can be heard saying, “What have you done” and despite the family’s
constant insistence that Burke had been asleep at the time, a child can be
heard responding, “What did you find” (Reynolds). Even more chilling however,
is how the operator describe the phone call as seemingly rehearsed (1). Despite
the lack of physical and DNA evidence, the overwhelming amount of
circumstantial evidence makes this theory plausible.
The second theory points the blame at Patsy Ramsey murdered and tried to cover
up her daughter’s death to save her own skin. It was well known that JonBenet
and her mother shared a special bond over their love for pageantry. She was the
golden child and expected to be poised and elegant. At home, however, JonBenet
was just a typical six-year-old girl who had flaws and imperfections. She had a
bed-wetting problem that frustrated her mother. Some experts hypothesized that
her frustration motivated her to lash out and kill her daughter. Former
Colorado detective, Steve Thomas, claimed that he believed that Patsy Ramsey
was the killer (Janofsky). Detectives on the case described Patsy as
uncooperative and unhelpful (Balia). Experts and law enforcement were not the
only ones who believed Patsy as guilty. In 1999 a jury of her peers voted to
indict the parents on charges of child abuse resulting in 1st degree
murder, but the District Attorney would not sign it (Brennan). Offers also
found the ransom note to be suspicious and peculiar. The handwriting was eerily
similar to Patsy’s and asked for the exact amount of money that John Ramsey was
given at work as part of a raise. The 118,000 dollar ransom was a weird sum of
money to ask for and exhibited that whoever wrote the note had some prior
knowledge about the Ramsey family and their finances. Every theory has their
skeptics and in a high profile case like JonBenet’s, it seemed like no one
could agree on anything. Although it was common knowledge that Patsy was upset
about a bed-wetting incident, people could not believe that a mother could so
brutally murder her daughter over something so trivial and minute. In a survey
of 40 people, 70% did not believe that Patsy killed her daughter. The
Ramsey’s Lawyer, L. Lin Wood dispelled accusations against Patsy as “Fiction
and utter nonsense” and stated that the allegations could be refuted by medical
evidence (Janofsky). Even the Boulder District Attorney, though controversial,
vetted the theory and absolved the parents of being suspects (Ingold). Due to
so many opposing views and lack of solid evidence, the controversy of the
theory makes it lack substance.
The final conspiracy theory proposes that an outside intruder murdered JonBenet
due to a pedophilic lust for the child. The stunning six-year-old girl caught
the attention of numerous creeps while she was in the spotlight. Former teacher
John Mark Karr had a history of pornography charges but he fled to Thailand
before he could be sentenced. In 2006 he was arrested in Thailand for in the
connection to the murder of JonBenet and for possessing child pornography
(Anas). According to the Thailand police, Mr. Karr confessed to killing the
beauty queen (1). Despite his confession, however, Karr was absolved from the
connection to her murder due to a lack of DNA evidence and police officials
believe he confessed as some sort of attention or publicity stunt. In fact, it
is believed that Karr was not even in Boulder at the time of the murder. Ollie
Gray, the private investigator, hired by the Ramsey’s believed that Michael
Helgoth was the killer. He had a history of sexual abuse and his coworkers
noticed some suspicious behaviors. A friend of Helgoth reminisces about how
Helgoth mentioned his curiosity as to what it would feel like to crush a skull
(Sylte). According to his coworkers there is a tape in which Helgoth
confessed to murdering JonBenet (1). He also bragged to his coworkers that he
and his friends were about to get 60,000 dollars very soon, which is weirdly
similar to the amount demanded on the ransom note. Two months after the
District Attorney held a press conference to say that they were narrowing in on
the killer, Helgoth committed suicide. Ollie Grey, however, articulated that
the suicide had inconsistencies and that one of Helgoths partners murdered him.
The last of the three intruders, Gary Olivia, was the most obsessed with
JonBenet. Olivia was a registered sex offender that was near the Ramsey’s.
Olivia was arrested in 2000 for child porn charges. When He was arrested he had
photograph of JonBenet and a poem that entitled “Ode to JonBenet” (Sylte). A
CBS documentary says that Olivia called a friend after JonBenet’s murder and
said he “had done something horrible,” but was not specific about what he had
done (Spargo). It was also reported that he attended her vigil (Sylte).
Although there as a broken window, there was no way that a human could have fit
through it. The intruder theory is hard to substantiate because no logical
break in site was found, there were no footprints in the snow around the house,
and DNA found on JonBenet has yet to connect any of the suspects to the murder.
While the identity of JonBenet’s killer remains unknown, experts still look
into what exactly happened on night December 25, 1996. Whether her murder
was an inside job by a family member or a perverted intruder, one things for
sure: JonBenet was filled with innocence and did not deserve to die in such a
brutal and demeaning manner.
What happened to JonBenet on
the night December 25, 1996, remains a mystery that has perplexed experts for
decades. There is a plethora of suspects and conspiracy theories that have
merit, but seem to be missing a key piece of evidence that would solidify who
killed JonBenet. The poor preservation of the crime scene only increased the
difficulty of the high profile case and the movement of the body made it very
hard to gather DNA evidence. Without substantial physical evidence, speculation
about the culprit ran wild thus creating three popular conspiracy theories:
- . Did Burke Ramsey Kill his sister in a fit of rage?
- Was JonBenet murdered by her mother who then staged the crime as a kidnapping?
- . Did an outside intruder kill JonBenet for money or lust?
The most plausible and evidence
backed theory is that Burke Ramsey killed his sister over a pineapple incident
gone wrong.
Works Cited
Anas Staff
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Slaying.” Boulder Daily Camera, 27 Oct. 2016, www.dailycamera.com/news/jonbenet-ramsey/ci_30511360/john-mark-karr-arrested-connection-jonbenet-ramsey-slaying.
Baila,
Morgan, et al. “The 7 JonBenét Ramsey Theories You Need To Know.” Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey - Murder Conspiracy
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www.refinery29.com/2016/09/122787/who-killed-jonbenet-ramsey-theories.
Brennan, Camera Staff Writer, Charlie.
“JonBenet Ramsey Grand Jury Voted to Indict Parents in 1999, but DA Refused to
Prosecute.” Boulder Daily Camera, 27 Jan
Casarez, Jean. “The Death of JonBenet: A Case That's Captivated
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Queen 20 Years on as a
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