The Mysterious Death of JonBenet by Alyssa Smith

The Mysterious Death of JonBenet

What exactly happened to JonBenet Ramsey? On Christmas morning 1996, police got a phone call at 5:52 in the morning from the Benet parents reporting their six-year-old daughter missing. The bright, young, beautiful and talented child was found brutally murdered in her home eight hours later by the police. Although the homicide has never been solved, there are many conspiracy theories about her mother doing it out of jealousy and her father doing it out of anger. Now, let’s dive into the case and see what happened to the young pageant queen.

JonBenet Ramsey was an all-around young American pageant Queen who would have taken the beauty world by storm if she were still here today. Ask anyone about her and they would tell you she was a real-life kid Barbie doll. She was a beautiful 4’7”, bright blue eyed, blonde curly haired, wide smiled tiny beauty queen. She had a petite body, bright pink lips with a wide white smile. Many people said she had a “vibrant personality, always a crazy-happy, confident child.”(candyrose, 1) She loved to play jokes and dreamed of being the most famous pageant queen.

JonBenet’s friends through dance and pageants described, her as a confident and beautiful little girl who had a “spunk on the stage” when she went to perform. (Lentang, 1) She always loved to be moving around and never liked to sit and be bored for long periods of time. Another one of her friends said she was a “fun-loving” girl whose personality would have fit right in at college, “She’d be a confident girl and would enjoy everything to do with college. She would be the center of anything she would have done and she would have enjoyed everything she chose to do in life,” (Griego,1 ) Her friends said she was a “happy child groing up.” (Griego, 1) When investigators talked to her pageant coach about it all, her pageant coach even stated that “she was just as vibrant as everyone else around her. The coach said that JonBenet had always been a bright spirit and she wanted to make sure everyone was involved in whatever they were doing that minute.” (Griego, 1) She was a very talented kid and loved to perform. Her friends said that is what she enjoyed doing best was singing and dancing on the stage, They all called her a “like a tiny ball of energy” (Inside Edition, 1) JonBenet had a musical gift with singing and for her first talent competition she sang “I want to be a cowgirl” and had an entire dance that followed with. Because of the songs she would sing and the outfits she wore, many questioned the tiny dancer’s mother and found it was inappropriate for a four-year-old girl to be dancing and singing on stage to a song like that. (Inside edition,1) Through all of the negative remarks, JonBenet always proved to win the tiara and all.

JonBenet’s mother, Patsy Ramsey was a very deceiving woman. She was a beauty queen herself for the longest time of her life and when she had JonBenet, “she wanted to live out her dreams and goals through her”. Freeman 1)(Patsy got involved into the pageant world when she was a preteen and ended up winning Miss Georgia. She loved the pageant world and wanted a daughter to put through it. She pushed “JonBenet to have the cutest dresses or outfits and pushed her to work harder for the competitions”. (Freeman 1) Many noticed this about the mother, and many began to question what the mother had planned for her daughter. (Freeman 1) When Police interviewed the neighbor of the Ramsey family, Stanton, a wife and mother of her own said that patsy was in fact abusive towards JonBenet. ( Diamond,1 ) She said that JonBenet said he mother had hit her leaving a red mark on her Face as she was talking to her neighbor’s. (Nickell,1) Patsy Ramsey was known by many after that to have a short temper and to have her own issues towards her daughter.

In the murder of JonBenet, the case is still cold and has not been solved due to evidence being destroyed forever. Althoug there may not be enough evidence left, many people have developed conspiracy theories such as her mother doing it, a strange man who was obsessed with her and her brother doing it.

The biggest theory of who murdered JonBenet, was her mother Patsy Ramsey. Patsy Ramsey was known to get very upset with Jonbenet anytime that she messed up and would lash out on her. (Beila 1) While investigators were looking into the murder there were not footprints in the snow going in or out of the house, the ransom note and her mother’s handwriting had very similar letters that matched, and lastly the ransom note was very detailed and had a very specific amount of money that was the same amount that the father got is bonus on. Patsy was oddly calm throughout the investigation and after the murder. She was more willing to go publicly about the murder without showing much emotion than going to law enforcement. (Beila 1) One of Patsy’s neighbors, said that patsy had become a little more physical with the kids. (Reynolds, 1) Throughout all this evidence between the writing on the note matching hers, the amount on the ransom note, being physically violent with her daughter, her being more forward with the press rather than police and there not being snow prints going in or out, it looks more like she killed her with the evidence that is coming through.

The second conspiracy theory revolves around the mystery stalker. Jon Mark Karr had a very unhealthy obsession with JonBenet (Beila 1). “Karr admitted to breaking into the house and strangling the child to death” because he could not have her and he had a very deep love for the child. (Anas1). He admitted to committing the murder of JonBenet and a lot of people who knew of the case and followed hoped that it wouldn’t be him. When he commited the crime, Investigators saw that he was being convicted of child pornography and it led them to believe, if he confessed, had a strange obsession with her and was going to be charged for child pornography then e may actually be responsible for the murder of JonBenet (1). After sunning the DNA test, John Mark Karr’s DNA did not match the DNA found on JonBenet and he was released (Anas 1). He is still a person of interest in the investigation but has not been the primary focus because of the DNA results (Anas 1) For the third conspiracy theory, which revolves around her older brother, Burke. Burk was nine years old at the time of his little sister’s death. Everyone knew that Burk was no longer a child with the attention around JonBenet majority of the time and that many people believe that Burk got mad at his sister and “hit her in the head with a hard object leaving her dead”.(Anas 1) After he hit her with the hard object, his parents helped cover up the murder to make it look like it wasn’t them who did it but that it was another murderer who committed the crime (Anas 1) Although the crime has never been solved, many are still interest in proving one of these three popular theories with the little evidence that still exists.

After twenty years, the case is still considered a cold case. There is no lead and investigators are still trying to find out who the murderer is due to the lack of evidence. Through the theories, the evidence they do have points towards Patsy Ramsey convicting the murder.

Citations:

Acandyrose. “JonBenet, Chain of Events.” s-Jonbenet-Pageants.htm, 2007, www.acandyrose.com/s-jonbenet-pageants.htm.

AnasStaff, Brittany. 1 “John Mark Karr Arrested in Connection with JonBenet Ramsey Slaying.” Boulder Daily Camera, 27 Oct. 2016, www.dailycamera.com/news/jonbenet-ramsey/ci_30511360/john-mark-karr-arrested-connection-jonbenet-ramsey-slaying.

Dailymail.com, Marlene Lenthang For. “High-Profile Forensic Psychiatrist Who Aided the JonBenet Ramsey Investigation Shot Dead.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 1 June 2018, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5797009/High-profile-forensic-psychiatrist-aided-JonBenet-Ramsey-investigation-shot-dead.html.

Diaond, Stephan. 3 “Who Killed JonBenet?” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 18 June 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evil-deeds/201701/who-killed-jonben%C3%A9t.

Freeman, Hadley. “JonBenét Ramsey: 1 the Brutal Child Murder That Still Haunts America.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 Dec. 2016, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/11/jonbenet-ramsey-the-brutal-child-that-still-haunts-america.

Inside Edition. “Haunting Christmas Videos of JonBenet Ramsey Unearthed, Including One Filmed Days Before Her Death.” Inside Edition, Inside Edition, 15 Dec. 2016, www.insideedition.com/headlines/20502-haunting-christmas-videos-of-jonbenet-ramsey-unearthed-including-one-filmed-days-before-her-death.

Nickell, Joe. 2 “JonBenet Murder Mystery Solved? (Not by Psychics).” CSI, 2017, www.csicop.org/si/show/jonbenet_murder_mystery_solved_not_by_psychics.

Ramsey, JonBenet, and Morgan Morgan Baila. 1 “The 7 JonBenét Ramsey Theories You Need To Know.” Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey - Murder Conspiracy Theories, 2016, www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/09/122787/who-killed-jonbenet-ramsey-theories#slide-2.