Members' Theories

[azwriter]

Here we are years after JonBenet's death still discussing the case and who dun it.
To me, this case has Burke written all over it.
However, JonBenet's death was an accident caused by her brother Burke.
I believe Burke made this so-called "professional" garrot. I say this because it does not look like an intriquit sexual toy.
He had used it on JonBenet before. Not for a sexual reasons but out of the frustration he felt about his pretty, popular sister.
Although I think he had progressed to perhaps playing "doctor" with his sister. That's why there was evidence JoBenet vagina was assulted previously.
I also believe he was once caught by his parents when he put this device on his sister once before. The item was taken away from him. With a harsh scolding from his parents.
However, Burke found the device and hid it in his room.
Christmas night, neither he or his sis could sleep. She joined him in his room and he once again played whatever game he played before involving JonBenet. This time Burke went a little further and continued his "doctor" game. JonBenet screamed.
To quit her he hit her with the flashlight while he twisted the garrot around her neck. It was difficult for him to handle both items. But he was desperate to shut his sister up so he would not be caught again with the garrot.
JonBenet's scream woke their parents. Patsy came running first to JonBenet's room then to Burke's room where she discovered the two children.
I can just hear Patsy calling to John, "John! John! come here. Burke's done it again.
The ransom note was written by Patsy with instructions from John. She added a few of her own words.
The ransom note was done as a cover up for Burke when they realized JonBenet was dead. Patsy and John cleaned up their daughter and placed her in a basement.
The reason I am so sure Patsy wrote the ransom "letter" is because of identifying marks, punctuation, style and even the wide margins which shows this note was written with someone familiar with writing press releases or news stories.
After 22 years as a newspaper reporter, I can see these things clearly in the note.
I think John began dictating the note. That's why it begins. "Listen carefully."
This is how someone might begin if speaking and John was speaking to Patsy as she wrote the note.
I see in the text of the note a proof readers symbol. a karat, for inserting letters or words left out. Also the way the time was written.
Journalists are taught to use wide margins so it clearly indicates when a new paragraph begins. This style because second hand for journalists. I can't write a letter that does not look like a press release.
At the time they were planning the cover-up, John and Patsy did not know the laws of Colorado. They did not know a child Burke's age could not be charged with murder or that anything about the case could be released to the public. That's why the grand jury did not indite anyone.
The Ramseys were an upstanding family in the community. There was not way they were going to allow the public to know what Burke did. They knew this scandel would not only ruin them, but also ruin Burke's life and future.
That's why Patsy and John have been able to deny they were involved with killing their daughter.
JMO of course.

 

[loyalalways]

I don't think that the Ramseys knew anything about this murder. They are genuinely devastated at the loss of their little girl.

I'm wondering about that guy that broke into another girl's room within 9 months of JB's death. She was a 14-year-old girl that went to the same dance studio where JonBenet attended. The reason that this girl didn't get murdered is because her mother heard a noise and went to check on her daughter. When she went to her daughter's room, the perp ran out of the room and out of the house.

I think this person is someone that the Ramsey's and JonBenet know and trust. (I hate to even call him a person. He's a beast!) It is someone that has been to their home many times and knows the layout well. I don't understand why the Boulder police didn't investigate him more. They are so determined to pin it on the Ramsey's that they're turning a blind eye to absolutely everything else that comes their way.

My heart breaks for these people. They've not only lost their beloved little girl, they've lost their home, their business and some friends. On top of all that, the police department and a lot of the public are convinced that they massacred their own little girl. But, worst of all, they have to remember, for the rest of their lives, of how their little baby was murdered so violently.

 

[~wildangel~]

My honest theory, if i'm wrong, well then i would feel horrible, but...i don't put anything past anyone...

i) Who the perp was: I think the dad set it up, the murder. Or did it, but he probably set it up, well planned out...
(ii) What the motive was: I think he was molesting her or raping her and didn't want anyone to find out so he had her murdered.
(iii) How the perp gained entry and how he left: Don't know, with the help of the dad (not having the house secure so they could come in easily:waitasec: bleh i don't know. Could have been a close family member but why would they be able to get in so easily, on my house we have an alarm system, barking dog etc. Seems so simple for the father to do it though...
(iv) What caused the head blow: Don't know, any number of things
(v) How long the perp was in the house: He may have lived there
(vi) Has the perp offended before (or since): Ugh lets pray not
(vii) What pieces of evidence are for real and what are red herrings: don't know, i honestly didn't read enough about this case, i am just going by what i've read from front covers and mine is just a theory:angel:

 

[narlacat]

Very very interesting undertheradar.
Please come back and share with us what you know.
I have often wondered who the person was that was responsible for giving John his bonus
(the $118 000 that was specified in the RN) but have never given any thought to the banker.

 

[jttnewguy]

I haven't followed this case as closely as some of the members here, so there are a lot of details that I don't know. But based on what I do know, here are my thoughts:

The perpetrator was a young, probably teenaged, white male who possibly had been in the house before. He may have committed petty crimes before, but not serious ones, and had very little real experience with the police or the criminal justice system. He entered the house to rape or sexually assault JonBenet, but the assault accidentally killed her possibly when she resisted and he panicked.

Reasons:

(1) He's white because there are very few minorities in the town of Boulder anyway, and if a black man were seen in the Ramsey's wealthy neighborhood late at night I'm sure everyone on the street would have called 911 just on general suspicion alone.

(2) I say the perp was young and relatively inexperienced as a criminal, in the sense that he may or may not have committed relatively minor crimes before (trespass, vandalism, maybe peeping tom stuff), but not serious felonies. Reasons: first, I'm sure the very first thing the police did was track down all of the serious felons in town and question them. But more important, the crime was committed in a very amateurish way. Although the inexperience of the police ruined the crime scene (they didn't seal the premises and allowed too many people to walk around and move/touch/manipulate the body, destroying all kinds of evidence), the killer actually left behind all kinds of evidence.

(3) For example, the handwritten ransom note is a dead giveaway that this was the work of someone who'd never really been a criminal before -- first, it's the kind of thing that movie criminals do, but not real criminals (how dumb are you to leave a ransom note in the very same house only a few feet away from the dead body that you are supposed to be holding for ransom?). Second, it's like voluntarily giving the police free forensic evidence (a handwriting sample) when it was totally unnecessary to do so, which in turn suggests that the killer doesn't know much about what the police can do with handwriting analysis and therefore has not really been through the court system or in prison (a school for criminals) before this crime.

(4) Basically, writing the note suggests three things: first, the killing may have been unintentional (he may only have been there to rape her); I say this because if he were really there to kidnap her for ransom, he would have typed (not handwritten) out a note and brought it with him, so the fact that the note was handwritten identifies it as an afterthought or cover-up. Second, the killer panicked afterwards when she died and tried to cover his tracks, and the only thing he could think of was a ransom note from a Grade-B movie; which in turn suggests, third, youth and inexperience.

(5) Covering the body with a blanket also seems like an amateurish thing to do -- it doesn't really hide the body, but it kind of feels like it does (like how kids think that hiding under a blanket will protect them). It accomplishes nothing, yet is something that the killer took time and effort to do at the risk of creating more forensic evidence (his own hairs and fibers are more likely to stick to a blanket than to an uncovered body), which again suggests ignorance of forensics, inexperience as a serious criminal, as well as that the death was an accident followed by panic and clouded thinking.

(6) The original motive of the crime was neither murder nor kidnapping. If it was planned as a murder, there would be no need to fake a ransom note. If it was an actual kidnapping, it would have been better planned including at a minimum bringing a typed note to the scene with you, plus a way to get out of the house with JonBenet. This crime probably started off as a sexual assault that spiraled out of control when she resisted.

(7) The perp may or may not have known the Ramseys, but he had probably been in the house before. Reasons: he spent a lot of time at the scene both committing the crime and trying to cover it up afterwards, suggesting that he was comfortable there and knew the family's routine. He knew he had some time. And most obvious is that the ransom note included a lot of information about the Ramseys' finances and lives. He didn't necessarily have to be a friend of the family, it's possible that he was a stranger who had burglarized the house before for fun and had seen some of the family's financial documents and photos and momentos while he was there, and that's how he knew so much about them.

(8) Additionally, the fact that he felt that he had to stage a cover-up at all suggests that he may have had some connection to the family or to the house. Whatever his actual connection to them, he felt that he might become a suspect, so he felt the need to cover his tracks and throw the police in another direction. A complete stranger wouldn't feel the compulsion to stage a scene, complete with an elaborate ransom note, to throw the cops off the scent; he'd be like Son of Sam or Henry Lee Lucas and just leave the body where it was and walk away since nothing connected him there anyway.

(9) I don't know how he entered/exited the house, or what actually caused the head blow; several other people have already offered theories that seem to make sense.

 

[beachcares2]

I have to agree with your theory. It makes sense. Nobody came in the house. I don't think the parents did it unless it was an accident. This kid will do something else if he has not already in life and hurt someone. Someone better be watching him.....:behindbar :behindbar :behindbar :behindbar

Here we are years after JonBenet's death still discussing the case and who dun it.
To me, this case has Burke written all over it.
However, JonBenet's death was an accident caused by her brother Burke.
I believe Burke made this so-called "professional" garrot. I say this because it does not look like an intriquit sexual toy.
He had used it on JonBenet before. Not for a sexual reasons but out of the frustration he felt about his pretty, popular sister.
Although I think he had progressed to perhaps playing "doctor" with his sister. That's why there was evidence JoBenet vagina was assulted previously.
I also believe he was once caught by his parents when he put this device on his sister once before. The item was taken away from him. With a harsh scolding from his parents.
However, Burke found the device and hid it in his room.
Christmas night, neither he or his sis could sleep. She joined him in his room and he once again played whatever game he played before involving JonBenet. This time Burke went a little further and continued his "doctor" game. JonBenet screamed.
To quit her he hit her with the flashlight while he twisted the garrot around her neck. It was difficult for him to handle both items. But he was desperate to shut his sister up so he would not be caught again with the garrot.
JonBenet's scream woke their parents. Patsy came running first to JonBenet's room then to Burke's room where she discovered the two children.
I can just hear Patsy calling to John, "John! John! come here. Burke's done it again.
The ransom note was written by Patsy with instructions from John. She added a few of her own words.
The ransom note was done as a cover up for Burke when they realized JonBenet was dead. Patsy and John cleaned up their daughter and placed her in a basement.
The reason I am so sure Patsy wrote the ransom "letter" is because of identifying marks, punctuation, style and even the wide margins which shows this note was written with someone familiar with writing press releases or news stories.
After 22 years as a newspaper reporter, I can see these things clearly in the note.
I think John began dictating the note. That's why it begins. "Listen carefully."
This is how someone might begin if speaking and John was speaking to Patsy as she wrote the note.
I see in the text of the note a proof readers symbol. a karat, for inserting letters or words left out. Also the way the time was written.
Journalists are taught to use wide margins so it clearly indicates when a new paragraph begins. This style because second hand for journalists. I can't write a letter that does not look like a press release.
At the time they were planning the cover-up, John and Patsy did not know the laws of Colorado. They did not know a child Burke's age could not be charged with murder or that anything about the case could be released to the public. That's why the grand jury did not indite anyone.
The Ramseys were an upstanding family in the community. There was not way they were going to allow the public to know what Burke did. They knew this scandel would not only ruin them, but also ruin Burke's life and future.
That's why Patsy and John have been able to deny they were involved with killing their daughter.
JMO of course.

 

[ninaskids]

A few months after it happened someone called into John Gibson's show on Fox and gave a theory that agreed with mine, but one that no one was talking about AT THAT TIME.

I think that Burke DID do it!! but it was not meant to be murder...I believe that John and Patsy were so self-absorbed in their lives and Jon Benet, that they had little time for Burke. Even JB herself, offered to give Burke part of her Christmas gifts that year, because she received so many more than he did! she was the fave of the family.

Burke was very jealous of JB. And being a child he had no way to rationalize it or get away from it. It was always there.
he probably had only a so-so relationship with her. The night she died, the children fell asleep in the car but before JB went to bed she had a snack. Then she went to bed. She either snuck into Burke's room or he came into hers.
He had the big flashlight and for some reason which no one has figured out, she was struck on the head with this flashlight or perhaps a golf club. Burke did not intend to kill her, just being a kid.

JB screams and Patsy--who is not even thru packing or dressed for bed yet, runs to their room and discovers an injured JB and an in-shock Burke. This is why Patsy was in the same clothes the next day as the night before. It all happened right after bed time...patsy puts Burke back to bed, and tries to revive JB. JB is dead or dying.

But instead of calling 911 which would be normal---she covers it all up because it was Burke!!
She stages everything. they say criminals give themselves away. She did that in the ransom note and in using her own paint brush...
John slept thru everything.

There is only one reason a parent would not suspect the other parent, and that is if they think the other child did it.
John would not protect Patsy if she was abusing and killed JB.
Patsy would not protect John if he was doing the same.
They also would have separated by now if they suspected each other. But you see, they have stayed together....

But they would agree to protect Burke because he is all they have left. i think the grand jury suspected the truth but they could not get anyone to admit to it, especially not burke.

At the funeral Burke was smiling and happily holding the hands of his parents that he now had all to himself. Yes, he did it...
It was a horrible accident that they should have reported and let Burke be prosecuted and get the help he needed.

I don't feel there was any abuse at all. This was a loved child, and well-protected. It was an inside job by the older brother.

 

[coralie]

Hi, I am from England, and followed this sad case , from the detective story !Lou Smit?!and read the Ramsey book and the policemans version, who was adamant that it was the the mother that did it . One thing, over all these years has stood in my mind is ...that the ramsey family on the way home on Xmas eve....stopped at a few friends houses, and jon benenet!s brother said that his sister had WALKED from the car to the house ,(he walked behind her) whilst both parents said she was asleep and had to be carried to bed ????????this is a fact that someone is categorricallly lying!!
Am just wondering how old he is now ?

Altho in uk , we did have a tv show saying that there was a man who committed the very same sort of crime, hiding in the house etc.am not sure if they caught him?
Regards
Coralie

 

[sharpar]

Coarlie:

Greetings from across the pond . Burke is 18 now or close to it he entered college this fall as a freshman.

We have no way of knowing who is lying about JonBenet on Christmas eve night
so she could have been awake or asleep pick your preference I guess .

 

[sharkeyes]

It's late and it has been a long day, everyone has to be up early. Everyone is in bed except Mom who stayed up to get last minute details taken care of for the trip in the morning. The little girl wakes up to find she has once again wet the bed...she goes downstairs and tells Mom who becomes INCENSED, drags her upstairs into the bathroom and accidentally slams the little girl's head onto a hard, curved surface while yanking the red sweater off (maybe the edge of a tub or tub surround). The little girl is unconscious, Mom cannot take a chance on trying to explain to EMTs that this was an accident, and now Mom has to cover her tracks...and Dad helps. Little brother may have woken up during this and is told to go back to bed. In any case, Mom never went to bed that night, Dad became involved to help Mom stage "the kidnapping", and there's far too much dirty laundry for either Mom or Dad to turn on each other..... oh, one more thing, the pineapple was eaten some time before she was put to bed, by that I mean - if JB was asleep when they got home the way Mom says, then JB got up shortly after that and came down for a snack, then went back to bed, only to wake up again after having wet the bed and then went downstairs to tell Mom...etc.

I believe the death of this poor little girl is a combination of an accident and fear of "dirty little secrets" being discovered in the event she had been taken to an ER after she hit her head.

My opinion only..

 

[kazzbar]

Hi Welcome to all you new posters. Great to see fresh ideas all ofwhich are extremely possible. Who will ever know? I love to read all the posts everyday but rarely post on this link as I just do not really have any distinct theory but I am glad others do!

 

[Jay78]

i would buy the notion that Burke was responsible. Everyone could have been protecting him so they did not destroy the rest of his life. If this is the case, i dont know how this kid could live with the fact that he murdered his sister. Mabye he can tell himself it was truly an accident. Perhaps one day the truth will come out.

 

[Paradox]

I think Patsy did the whole thing. I think no one else was involved until Patsy handed the note to John. I think Patsy deserves her own catagory in the annals of multiple personality disorder.

IMO

 

[ssiegmund]

This one really stumps me. I know the investigators believed PR was behind it, but I can't think of any credible scenario for her accidentally killing Jon Benet. I can't see her intentionally hitting her with the flash light, and I don't think a fall in the tub or being yanked by the collar would have been enough to kill her.

I have felt the only thing that would unite the two parents is the protection of their son, but I'm not convinced he did it either.

I will only go so far as to say that PR knows who did it, and I do believe she wrote the note.

 

[shiloh]

I feel that the most important evidence in this case is precisely what has been overlooked and entirely ignored by everyone on all sides, and that is the fact that an investigating officer assigned to this case was attacked with machine gun fire, a mutilated cat was left on Steve Thomas's front lawn, there was an attempted break-in at Linda Arndt's residence, and blood had been splashed on her door. According to Steve Thomas, "There was no follow-up by the police department, which apparently regarded bullets, blood and dead cats as minor. No stakeouts, no investigation. It was damned difficult to ignore attacks on three detectives deeply involved in the Ramsey investigation as being coincidental and unrelated." I agree entirely, but our conclusions are very different.

I do not believe that any of the Ramseys, their friends or supporters, their attorneys or investigators had anything at all to do with these attacks, and if they are related to this case, they may be integral to helping us find out who killed her.

The killing was brutal and intentional. The cord was wrapped very tightly around her neck, she was raped with a foreign object, and she was bludgeoned. I believe JonBenet's death was premeditated murder, and was committed by the very same people who were responsible for the attacks on the investigating officers. These attacks could point to organized crime, and the Ramseys could have somehow become entangled with these people, unwillingly, possibly in some way related to his billion-dollar business.

 

[shiloh]

(i) Who the perp was -- Possibly someone connected with the bank around the time JR received his bonus, or someone connected with Access Graphics. Organized crime infiltration??? -- or competition? It was someone who had access to a machine gun. Since it is probable that one person was driving and another person was shooting, it is likely that more than one person was involved -- at least in that incident. It was someone who has a sick enough mind to mutilate a cat and torture and murder a small child. The tightness of the cord around her neck and the skull fracture both show an extreme amount of rage. I believe it was someone who was extremely jealous of John Ramsey, his success, his wealth, and his family. Maybe this person felt he had been snubbed by the Ramseys at some point in time. I believe the perpretrator is male. I believe it is someone who is familiar with the writings of John Douglas or similar writers, and he left the white blanket and the pink nightgown to implicate the Ramseys.
(ii) What the motive was -- Jealousy, revenge, sheer hatred.
(iii) How the perp gained entry and how he left -- I believe this person may have been to the home on many occassions, but not as a guest, as an intruder. Since the information that the house was unoccupied during the summer months was printed in a magazine, this isn't something that was kept a secret by them, and may have been fairly well known. I believe this person had been there during the summer of 1996 and spent a great deal of time in the house, familiarizing himself with the layout of the home, and probably during one of these occasions found a key, so there was no need for a forced entry on Christmas night. A key to my house was stolen by a workman last fall who had been in my home for only about an hour.
(iv) What caused the head blow -- According to Dr. Wecht, the shape of the fracture indicates that it was caused by something with a long handle with a larger section at the end, such as a baseball bat or a flashlight. I believe the log roller which was found in the "wine cellar" or the flashlight may have been what was used. She was bashed on the head to make absolutely certain that she would not survive.
(v) How long the perp was in the house -- I think he practically lived there a good portion of the time, (another theme I've seen in crime movies), especially during the summer of 1996, and was often in the home, in the basement, unknown to the Ramseys. I believe he was there at least for several hours, and perhaps for a few days before Christmas.
(vi) Has the perp offended before (or since) -- Absolutely. I believe he is also responsible for the attacks on the Boulder police officers.
(vii) What pieces of evidence are for real and what are red herrings -- They are all real. I believe that items from the home were used by him to implicate the Ramseys, including the white blanket and the pink nightgown. I believe that the perp is the one who wiped her down in an attempt to destroy evidence. The note is "real" in that it was written by the man who killed her, as part of his fantasy world. It is my further belief that it was the perpertrator who opened the dictionary and folded the page down so that the corner would point directly at the word "incest" as a way of further implicating John Ramsey, so it would seem as if it were a clue left by a family member. I believe it is such a confusing crime scene simply because many different things seem to have been done intentionally to implicate each of the various family members, like the use of the paint brush which appears to have been whittled. If Burke knows he did not whittle that paint brush, I'm certain the perpetrator did.

 

[jnsngrl]

I've read everything published about the JB Ramsey case. Andrew Hodges, a psychiatrist and expert in psycho linguistics has written a book called a Mother Gone Bad. Basically the theory is that our subconsious minds always tell the truth, and the truth in our written and verbal communications are in code. This man has had 25 years of experience in this field and has written a very convincing book. Dr. Hodges "decodes" the ransom note with the conclusion that Patsy Ramsey wrote the note and killed her daughter. John was involved too, because Patsy caught him molesting JB. Dr. Hodges also decodes other written communications of both Patsy and John from 1995 thru 1997. It is a fascinating book and one I recommend to fellow Websleuths. I guess you can tell that Hodges' theory has become my own.

 

[shiloh]

(i) Who the perp was -- I believe there were 2 or 3 intruders, one of them being one of the contractors or subcontractors working on one of their homes, possibly someone who had not been paid for their work.
(ii) What the motive was -- Revenge
(iii) How the perp gained entry and how he left -- I believe they had a key, either given to one of them by the Ramseys, or one that had been stolen.
(iv) What caused the head blow -- Flashlight or baseball bat. I'm leaning toward the baseball bat out in the yard which the Ramseys did not recognize, since it had fibers on it which matched the carpet in the basement.
(v) How long the perp was in the house -- I believe that at least one of them had been to the house on many occasions, working on the renovation project. Unknown length of time prior to the murder, but they were probably there when the Ramseys pulled up into the driveway when they came home from Christmas dinner.
(vi) Has the perp offended before (or since) -- Probably. And I believe they were responsible for the attacks on the investigating officers in this case, and those attacks stopped when they realized that the police were not looking for an intruder.
(vii) What pieces of evidence are for real and what are red herrings -- Several things were done throughout the house by the intruders specifically to cast suspicion on all of the family members in order to throw off the investigation, such as the ransom note, bowl of pineapple on the table, the dog-eared dictionary and the whittled paint brush.

 

[BBB167893]

I wonder where shiloh went. I have some info for him about the vandalism against the cops.

 

[Old Broad]

I go back and forth with different theories. One I have is Patsy having a scorned lover. His hate for her grows while watching her with her perfect family. He sees them socially, he could be involved with Johns business dealings also and knows the amount of his Christmas bonus. He knows JonBenet is the shining star to Patsys life, her hopes and dreams for the future all evolve around her. What better way could there be to revenge himself by taking away the #1 thing that Patsy loves. Christmas is a time for family togetherness, while Patsy is busy all that day he is left alone and plotting. She will pay for the hell she has put him through.
He's been to the house numerous times and knows the layout and lies in wait while the family is out.
He's very familiar with the way Patsy talks and has practiced her style of writing. He's had plenty of time to plan this for it to have maximum affect. He works on the note while he waits for the family to return, there's plenty of time, no need to rush. He wants them all to suffer, John for having what he wants, JonBenet for being Patsys priority, Burke for being in the way and Patsy for turning her back on him. What better way than to make it look as all or any of the 3 abused and killed JonBenet. Patsy may have turned her back on him, choosing instead a life she wanted as Johns wife and mother to JonBenet and Burke, but that will not be the life she will get, not if he has anything to say about it! She will pay and pay dearly. After tonight he will make sure that the rest of her life is living Hell.

OB