Tuesday, November 13, 2018

The Case of JonBenet By: Ashleigh Leaver


        In December of 1996 just a day after Christmas, the young and beautiful Jonbenet Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her home. Jonbenet was a six year old pageant queen living behind her mother's’ legacy of “Miss West Virginia”. During the investigation of Jonbenet’s death the Boulder Police Department made many mistakes that potentially aid in the following theories.  After Jonbenet’s death, there have been many theories as to what has happened to the young pageant queen. The first theory is that her brother Burke, and her parents are helping cover up the murder, the second theory is that her mother Patsy killed her, and lastly another theory is that Jonbenet is not actually dead but is the Katy Perry. Now, let’s analyze these theories and understand the likeliness that her brother, Burke, is the killer.
            Though JonBenet was just six years old, many believed her to be reliable in a time of emotional need, “JonBenet Ramsey holds great compassion and seeks to be of service to others. She is a healer, and capable of giving comfort to those in need” (Shlomo 1). Countless people expressed their memories of JonBenet of always remembering her strong concern for others.
 Many children at school would ask JonBenet to accompany them to the school doctor when they were afraid of going solitarily (Poppen). With JonBenet only being just six years old, everyone was amazed about how much gratitude and compassion such a young child could obtain.
 JonBenet also started to engage in the pageants to follow her mother's history of competing in such a scene, “JonBenét first became excited about participating in pageants after seeing her mother on stage at a pageant reunion” (McGuire 2). JonBenet's father originally thought of the pageants to be outlandish. Ramsey once stated he “remembered his daughter as a bit of a tomboy, always wanting to hike and play outside with her older brother Burke...I see her, you know, in shorts and t-shirt and hair kind of scruffy and just kind of a kid," (1). Growing up with an older brother, JonBenet always steered towards activities typically young boys do, participating in a pageant scene was odd at first but it was a dream she aspired to take part to be just like her mother. As JonBenet began participating in the pageants she became quite successful by winning several titles:
The 6-year-old contestant took home first place for Little Miss Colorado, Little Miss          Charlevoix, Colorado State All-Star Kids Cover Girl, America's Royale Miss, and National Tiny Miss Beauty. PEOPLE also reported in 1997 that Ramsey won the local Little Miss Christmas beauty pageant. For a 6-year-old, that's an impressive list of wins it's no wonder that Ramsey's often remembered as the 6-year old pageant queen. (Lindley)
The young girls who once competed with JonBenet now are grown up and tell those who will listen what they recall of the young crown winning star. Former friend Thumper Gosney recalls the spunk and personality JonBenet took out on the pageant stage (Inside Edition).  “Pageants were a big part of our lives and there was such a stigma. I didn’t want to go there for a while, not because of the pageants, but because of the media and the stigma” stated another close friend of JonBenet (1).
            While, participating in such a scene one typically engulfs an egotistical persona. An ideology that everyone should focus only on them, and JonBenet obtained such an attitude because of her participation in these pageants, and the simple fact that she consistently won. She had won quite a few pageant titles, “thanks to her bouncy blonde hair, poised smile and glittery costumes” (Biography). Winning every time gave Jonbenet the ego that she is better than everyone, her father expressed that he wanted JonBenet to lose some pageants so she could comprehend that you do not win at everything that life brings you (Casarez). Her father, John Ramsey understood that important qualities within parenting is to teach a child how to accept and embrace failure and that is something JonBenet fell short from experiencing as her life was ripped away at such a young age.

            The first most known theory is precisely that JonBenet’s big brother Burke murdered her in a passionate fit of rage. Burke Ramsey was precisely nine years old at the considerable time of his charming sister’s discovered murder; Burke is naturally thought to have promptly thrown a flashlight at JonBenet’s head out of anger. During JonBenet’s autopsy, it was allegedly discovered that she had merely eaten pineapple right before she was brutally killed, many believe that Burke was enraged because she snatched a bite of his midnight snack:
Burke was eating this midnight breakfast when his sister wandered downstairs, snatched a bite, and was subsequently hit in the head with what might have been a flashlight. This is corroborated by the pineapple found in her stomach and the shape of the injury on her head. (Lindsay)
Burke had in the past been known to act out violently towards his younger sister. A more initial incident of brutality that Burke committed toward JonBenet “—including striking her with a golf club a mere week before she was found deceased in the family basement” (Pollack). Burke inevitably tended to act out and be violent towards his deceased sister, JonBenet, whether it was because the maturity levels were different or, just simply Burke being merely a more elderly brother who picks on his sister but has gone a little too far one terrible time. It is overwhelmingly thought  that Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey are covering up for their son in fear they would have lost both of their children. As Patsy Ramsey called 911 the operator was allegedly convinced it was staged or rehearsed as Patsy is heard saying 'OK, we've called the police, now what?’ Causing the operator a chilling feeling of concern (Reynolds). The upset parents have claimed Burke had been asleep the whole night but, according to the operator they believed to hear him in the background asking questions (1). Despite the absence of actual DNA, there is a subsequently copious amount of evidence that makes this theory believable.
The second theory is that the mother Patsy killed the young JonBenet and had
covered up the murder as a kidnapping. The detective, in charge of the case at the time, Steve Thomas, “concluded that Mrs. Ramsey strangled her daughter in a panic on Christmas night 1996 after unwittingly causing a grievous wound to the little girl's head” (Janofsky). Patsy had a notable history of becoming easily enraged when JonBenet frequently “wet the bed” as well as becoming violent and executing spankings (Psychology Today). Perhaps the night of JonBenet's murder she accidentally wet the bed and, Patsy became furious and unintentionally hit JonBenet in the head with a foreign object. With Patsy being previously flustered that night, and accidentally knocking Jonbenet unconscious, Patsy enacted the scene to make it look as though Jonbenet’s kidnapping had gone horribly wrong (1). A ransom note was found written on Ramsey’s notepad they had in their house, and the handwriting looked as if Patsy had merely drafted it with her left hand at the time. Among other reasons, “the note came from her notepad and seemed to be written with the intent of covering up the murder before her body was found” (Al-sibai). Many pieces of the case can clearly point to Patsy as the merciless killer, but not much physical evidence has been found to completely pin it strictly on the mother. Most evidence that blames Patsy as the murderer is physically insubstantial, but more of how Patsy’s previous actions towards Jonbenet depicts her as the killer.

The last theory mentioned today is that JonBenet is undead, but essentially is a celebrity known as Katy Perry. The rumor developed just a few years back with a YouTube video which entailed describing the similarities between the little pageant queen JonBenet and star Katy Perry. But, was shortly questioned after its release because Katy Perry would be considerably older than JonBenet now since Katy Perry was born in 1984 rather than 1990 like JonBenet (Sullivan). Though, the video “posits that Perry's resemblance to the pageant star supports the theory that Ramsey was actually kidnapped” rather than being dead and the whole situation is a kidnap investigation instead of being considered a murder investigation (Zuppello). A conspiracy theorist stated:
 you can tell Perry and Ramsey are the same person because of their eyebrows. “You know, the eyebrows don’t change much on a person,” he says. “You’re born with your eyebrows. They’re very close, very close indeed, aren’t they? As you know, this whole entertainment industry is just a charade — you really don’t know the truth.” (Jancelewicz)
This theory revolves around the simplicity of JonBenet’s parents faking her tragic death, and having her re-establish herself by becoming the infamous Katy Perry.

            These theories that have been depicted above emulate different ideologies of what could have happened the night of December 26th, 1996. Though, the most likely theory would be that JonBenet’s brother, Burke, murdered his young sister out of rage and greediness. But, did Burke kill JonBenet out of spitefulness and rage?  There are immense amounts of theories on how JonBenet was brutally murdered, but the Boulder Police Department has continuously tried to link the Ramsey family as a whole in the murder of the young pageant star. The survey provided by 25 people’s opinions shows that a little more than 50% of the people believe Burke also committed this crime. 
The day after Christmas in 1996 a tragedy took place within the Ramsey household. The young and beautiful JonBenet Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her home. During her short six years, JonBenet followed within her mother’s footsteps of being “Miss West Virginia” and competed tirelessly in pageants. After JonBenet’s death, many theories came up as to what has happened to the young pageant queen:
1.)    Her brother Burke committed this heinous crime
2.)    JonBenet’s mother murdered her and attempted to cover it up
3.)    JonBenet is actually not dead but is the famous Katy Perry
After analyzing each theory the most plausible one would be that Burke Ramsey committed the act of violence and killed JonBenet. Though to this very day, the tragedy committed over twenty years ago has still yet to be solved and no suspects have been charged or brought to justice.   


   



Work cited
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