The Best Untainted Evidence-The Ransom Letter

angelwngs

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The Ransom Letter~
Sorry everyone, I can't bring myself any longer to call it a 'note'. IMO, it is a letter.

Since the ransom letter is one of the very few pieces of real evidence which was not 'tainted' by shoddy police work, yesterday, I wanted to take a fresh look at it to tear it apart again, and see if '10+ years later', I could see it any differently than I have during the 1st 10+ years.

I thought maybe some of you might like to re-examine it one more time as well and discuss it.

As you know, it can be found online in about a thousand different places, (here at WS, at acandyrose, and a google image search is one of the easiest to pull up the actual letter in the writer's handwriting if you don't already have it stored in your computer or printed off in hardcopy files).

What are your "Red Flags" in the ransom letter and to whom might those flags point toward as a suspect?

Below are some of the same old things that stood out with me and a few that were actually new red flags for me:

My Own Personal Opinions, Questions, Plus Facts from the Letter:

4 direct references to John Ramsey-
"Mr. Ramsey" is used once, "John" used 3 times.
You or Your used or inferred, over and over throughout the letter.


Evidence the writer has anger toward John or wants others to believe that the killer only holds anger toward John. Shows detachment toward other Ramsey family members only mentioning "Family" once in entire letter w/ no specific members named other than John which is referenced a total of 42 times in the 3 pages of the ransom letter.

These references to "Mr. Ramsey", "John", "you" and "your" either written out by the author of the ransom letter or implied by its writer, { examples of Implied "you":
1-(You), listen carefully! 2- (You)use that good common sense of yours, John. }

The ransom letter contains the following number of references to John Ramsey:

Page 1- 14 references
Page 2- 17 references
Page 3- 12 references

(These numbers may be off. Feel free to correct my mistakes.)

Red Flags:
1-"Mr. Ramsey,":

instead of "Dear John,"-( To Deatch, to be condescending or to show education/knowledge in formal letter writing format-The irony of a "Dear John" letter suggesting the end of a relationship, seemed to sarcastic or added an unintended humor to a very serious situation???)

2-"Listen carefully!":

(Instead of read this and follow the directions carefully... Why the word "listen"?)

3-"We are a group of individuals who represent a small foreign faction." -

(!!! Throw the blame across the Ocean. How much further could PR or whomever have detached for this murder?)

4-"We respect your business but not the country it serves."

(Is this suggesting America or is it really referencing another country which is affiliated and "served" by Access graphics? Is this to show 'kindness' toward the Ramseys and distance them from the reason their daughter has been kidnapped/murdered?)

5- "unharmed" "1997" -

(Pointless Lies, as JBR is already dead at this point, so the letter is to buy time for the killer.)

6- "withdraw $118,000.00 from your account" -

(Why does the kidnapper/murder assume that John Ramsey must "withdraw" the money out of his bank? There is a multitudes of means of obtaining large sums of cash without having to "withdraw" it, safe deposit boxes, home/office safes, friends or business associates, etc. How does the killer know that JR has deposited the money in his account, rather than invested it or not even cashed the check as of yet??? Is it the subconscious/conscious intent of the murderer to make the readers of the ransom note think that the killer knew the Ramsey's well to implicate the ones later "thrown under the bus" by the R's?)

6- $118,000.00 amount-

(Very close to the ammount of JR's bonus- used to imply that the kidnapper/murderer knows Access Graphics and the R's well.)

7- "$100 and $20 bills"-

(justifies the need for the need to include the next instruction to JR to "bring an adequate size attache" and then "when you get home, put the money in a brown paper bag". The detail of the instructions indicates to me that a female wrote ransom letter using extremely detailed and very specific in instrustions to 'tell a male how to properly perform the task at hand'.)

8- "I will call you between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery. The delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested. If we monitor you getting the money early, we might call you earlier to arrange an earlier delivery of the money and hence an earlier (word- "delivery"- is scratched out in original ransom letter and replaced by the word "pick-up") pick-up of your daughter"-

("Tomorrow morning"- My first thought: "Tomorrow never comes" and it didn't ever come in the form of a call to the R's from the 'kidnapper'. 2nd thought was the old, obvious question: When is tomorrow, the day JBR was found or the next day? This depends on the intention and clear mind of the killer/kidnapper and on when the letter was written.
Also, if the kidnapper/killer did everything which was done within the Ramsey home, between the time that they went to sleep and before the time that the R's would awaken around 5 or 5:30, (given he knew everything else about them), and then the killer/kidnapper instructed John to be "rested", when and how was John going to "rest" between the time they awaken to find JBR "kidnapped", locating the attache, driving to the bank and "withdrawing the ransom", returning home, taking the money out of the attache and putting the money in a paperbag? Even if he called the bank and had them open early, what is the minimum amount of time that this could have taken and how could anyone rest in between finding out your daughter is kidnapped at 5 something in the morning and receiving a call with further instructions from the kidnapper between 8 and 10 a m that morning? Word 'hence' sticks out like a sore thumb! Who the 'H' uses the word 'hence' in a letter? I think we know who had before and it was someone deeply under the blanket of suspicion. )

9- "execution"

(flamboyant dramatic word to connect to foreign faction)

10- "law enforcement countermeasures and tactics"

(somebody has been watching too much TV...)

11- "don't try to grow a brain- not the only fat cat around- don't underestimate us- use good southern common sense of yours-"

(Movie quote- Underlying reference that he is an idiot in reality...???...

There are more rich kids/'high profile' to grab to make our point and get our cash- How 'high profile' was JR in reality prior to JBR's murder???

Reality is that writer is simply trying to convince the reader(s) to give him more time by believing every word of the letter.

To Infer:We know John is southern and is a rational man. We KNOW John Ramsey very well.)

12-Victory!
SBTC

(This would take a thread all its own. We've all covered that about a thousand times, just like the actual handwriting comparisons and just like the words within this ransom letter... Grrr.... Is this all hopeless? Are there answers within the evidence, somewhere that everyone had overlooked? Probably not. )

I think we all believe that the ransom letter was written for the sole purpose of 'buying time' for and deflecting blame away from whoever killed JBR, but it simply has to point directly toward its author. To me, it does that. For me, it continues to point tragically toward JBR's own mother.

What are your thoughts about the words within the letter?

Above reflects 'my opinion'
 
Good job.

I just keep getting stuck on the notion that a kidnapping gone wrong would sum how turn into an elaborat scheme to "frame" the Ramseys. A kidnapper would have taken the body dead or alive.
 
Good job.

I just keep getting stuck on the notion that a kidnapping gone wrong would sum how turn into an elaborat scheme to "frame" the Ramseys. A kidnapper would have taken the body dead or alive.

A strong point that has alsways stuck out in my minds as well! I don't think it was "ever" a kidnapping.
 
5- "unharmed" "1997" -

(Pointless Lies, as JBR is already dead at this point, so the letter is to buy time for the killer.)
John's and Patsy's behavior strongly indicates they knew she was dead before John found the body. Obviously, John knew where the body was the whole time. They probably also wanted to delay the finding of the body so the TOD estimation would be wider. Their deception is evident before police even get there, as they obviously sent Burke back to bed after the 911 call and told him to pretend to be sleeping (I doubt that was his idea).
 
the last page of the PHONY RAMSOM LETTER appears much neater and less
scraggly <- is that even a word ? :crazy:
well if it isnt it... is should be :)

myself, i think they both wrote the letter with them both holding hands ( the same hand over one another and then they spoke about which word they were going to write and because you will have two people actually writing the same words with the same pen at the same time and each would be using a different style it would make it difficult to see and it would cover up the regular style each would normally use

and both using their non regular hand

ohh, make no bones about it

neither of them could pull this off by themselves without the other knowing

NOT A CHANCE


BOTH involved up to their lizared licking tongues :furious::furious::furious:
 
7- "$100 and $20 bills"-

(justifies the need for the need to include the next instruction to JR to "bring an adequate size attache" and then "when you get home, put the money in a brown paper bag". The detail of the instructions indicates to me that a female wrote ransom letter using extremely detailed and very specific in instrustions to 'tell a male how to properly perform the task at hand'.)

The small foreign faction obviously didn't want John to have to hand over an expensive attache case & were thoughtful enough to mention they'd accept payment using a cheap paper bag?

Even though, an attache case would make it quicker for them to visually check that the right amount of money stacks are there & to carry away the payoff... they're still a darned thoughtful little group of kidnappers. lol
 
The small foreign faction obviously didn't want John to have to hand over an expensive attache case & were thoughtful enough to mention they'd accept payment using a cheap paper bag?

Even though, an attache case would make it quicker for them to visually check that the right amount of money stacks are there & to carry away the payoff... they're still a darned thoughtful little group of kidnappers. lol

I just spit my lunch all over my PC screen... lol

Thanks for the unexpected "Large Laugh of the Day", LI_Mom!! :clap:
 
To generalize and to be totally, politically incorrect in my own personal impression of who wrote this letter:

IMO,

A male identifies a problem. With the least effort on his part, he solves the problem.

A female, sees a problem, analyzes it, makes a mental or written list of things to do in order to accomplish the list, mentally delegates duties to others in order to accomplish the task, agonizes over relinquishing control to others who will not accomplish the task as well as she, herself will do, and, at last, she FINALLY decides to do it ALL herself.

I think PR is the author of this letter.

(putting on my flame-retardant clothing now...lol)
 
To generalize and to be totally, politically incorrect in my own personal impression of who wrote this letter:

IMO,

A male identifies a problem. With the least effort on his part, he solves the problem.

A female, sees a problem, analyzes it, makes a mental or written list of things to do in order to accomplish the list, mentally delegates duties to others in order to accomplish the task, agonizes over relinquishing control to others who will not accomplish the task as well as she, herself will do, and, at last, she FINALLY decides to do it ALL herself.

I think PR is the author of this letter.

(putting on my flame-retardant clothing now...lol)

Exactly! Very chatty type of conversation going on in this long rant.

Oh and sorry if I made you ruin your PC screen. lol

On a serious note though..... IF I found out that Patsy bought an expensive attache case for John... I'd be even more convinced that she subconsciously didn't want him to part with it & thus mentioned the paper bag.

Oh and we might want to tie the paper bag in the RN to the paper bag w/ clothes in the hallway AND to the paper bag on John Andrew's bed that contained rope.... another "mystery" since Patsy says she never saw it before.
 
What are your "Red Flags" in the ransom letter and to whom might those flags point toward as a suspect?

Robert Ressler explains my red flags very well.
 
A thought just occurred to me....I may be way off base here. But, I have always thought that John was dictating that ransom note to Patsy, because I don't believe that she would have been in the right frame of mind to write all of that by herself. When the note says..."Listen carefully"...could that possibly have been John talking to Patsy....before the start of the RN, and she thought that it was part of the note? IOW...before he started dictating...he could have told her how to address it...MR. RAMSEY...and then said..."Listen carefully"....talking to Patsy, so that she wouldn't screw the note up? She thought that was the start of the note...and began to write? Just a thought...
 
A thought just occurred to me....I may be way off base here. But, I have always thought that John was dictating that ransom note to Patsy, because I don't believe that she would have been in the right frame of mind to write all of that by herself. When the note says..."Listen carefully"...could that possibly have been John talking to Patsy....before the start of the RN, and she thought that it was part of the note? IOW...before he started dictating...he could have told her how to address it...MR. RAMSEY...and then said..."Listen carefully"....talking to Patsy, so that she wouldn't screw the note up? She thought that was the start of the note...and began to write? Just a thought...


yep:)
 
Thanks for revisiting this little slice of comic relief into the otherwise gruesome & horrific. Seriously, that ransom 'letter' is just hysterical...or maybe I'm just finally losing it! Keep your ears peeled while you read with your eyes (listen carefully!) - we're a small foreign faction chillin' in the colorado rockies and, even though we're kidnapping your kid, don't take it personally - I mean, it's not your business practices or anything...! I especially love the however when 'we're monitoring you & if you can get the $$ earlier, etc., etc.' but, only if you're well-rested, mind you & you can keep your expensive attache - we'll take a paper bag, you good 'ole southern fat cat, you...
 
Exactly! Very chatty type of conversation going on in this long rant.

Oh and sorry if I made you ruin your PC screen. lol

On a serious note though..... IF I found out that Patsy bought an expensive attache case for John... I'd be even more convinced that she subconsciously didn't want him to part with it & thus mentioned the paper bag.

Oh and we might want to tie the paper bag in the RN to the paper bag w/ clothes in the hallway AND to the paper bag on John Andrew's bed that contained rope.... another "mystery" since Patsy says she never saw it before.

I think she just watched TV, often people do that on TV, she didn't know much what to say. Anyway no one was ever going to call back so the attaché would never have got lost. She wanted to look like real abuductor if it's her who wrote that. She just didn't think he could just have let it in the attaché and that usually that's drug dealers not abductors who put money in paper bags.
 
Mary Lacy's love letter to JR is exactly 2.5 pages. Not important, just sayin'.:)
 
I think she just watched TV, often people do that on TV, she didn't know much what to say. Anyway no one was ever going to call back so the attaché would never have got lost. She wanted to look like real abuductor if it's her who wrote that. She just didn't think he could just have let it in the attaché and that usually that's drug dealers not abductors who put money in paper bags.

Hmmm.... I betcha it was the same drug dealers who killed Nicole & Ron. ha



Funny observation, Trixie. Are they sending subliminal messages to each other? lol
 
Re: rested.
I think this lends credence to the idea that 'tomorrow' was meant to be taken as the 27th.patsy wrote the note,so she pictured herself walking down the stairs to 'find' it on the morning of the 26th,so when she's reading it,she takes 'tomorrow' to be the 27th.And I think she thought LE would as well.

Re: victory,Patsy's sister pam paugh said,when patsy died,(my caps key isn't working all the time,sry),that patsy 'got her victory'.Interesting she used that word.I take it to mean(of course) 1-she knew patsy wrote the note,and 2-she knew the meaning of the word victory,as put in there by patsy...which was that she 1-pulled the ruse off,and 2- she never went to prison for it.
 
To me, the note seems to want to emphasize "we" instead of the single person who murdered JonBenet. It's full of contradictions. The note is trying to place JonBenet out of the home with at least two men. There was no need to say gentlemen instead of just persons or individuals as previously stated in the note. Also, the note says there is a 99&#37; chance of JonBenet being killed if instructions aren't followed but any deviation of the rules will result in immediate execution. The note seems to be written by someone looney tunes, who fantasizes, and is very sadistic and controlling. The terms watching over and monitored makes it seem that the murderer had been watching the family especially JonBenet.
 

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