NIV Study Bible - listen carefully/SBTC

[UKGuy]

Regardless of whether the bible was open or circled, I find it crazy John would even go along with the idea that the killer left weird clues, like highlighting a passage in a book found in the house.

CircuitGuy,
John allegedlly got down on his knees with Lou Smit and prayed. Then voila, Lou Smit came up with his Intruder Theory demonstrated with a basement entry episode.

So John was really willing to go along with anything that related to an Intruder, as long as it flew John was happy to adopt it, and frame it as smoke and mirrors when it appeared whacky.

.

 

[CircuitGuy]

So John was really willing to go along with anything that related to an Intruder, as long as it flew John was happy to adopt it, and frame it as smoke and mirrors when it appeared whacky.

This explains some other things I wondered about John's comments in the questioning, like the thing with the gown Barbie on it. They asked John what it was doing in the basement, and he said something like I don't know it looks like something perverted. I always wondered what on earth he was thinking of. Someone posted something about child molesters using the Barbie symbol, and maybe he somehow knew about that. But what you said makes me think is more likely he just threw out ideas like that to see what stuck.
In your theory, if a high-ranking investigator believed it might have been a ghost or demon, John would have gone along with it. If an investigator thought maybe someone was highlighting bible passages, his attitude was "look into that closely."

What does "frame it as smoke and mirrors when it appeared whacky" mean?

 

[UKGuy]

This explains some other things I wondered about John's comments in the questioning, like the thing with the gown Barbie on it. They asked John what it was doing in the basement, and he said something like I don't know it looks like something perverted. I always wondered what on earth he was thinking of. Someone posted something about child molesters using the Barbie symbol, and maybe he somehow knew about that. But what you said makes me think is more likely he just threw out ideas like that to see what stuck.
In your theory, if a high-ranking investigator believed it might have been a ghost or demon, John would have gone along with it. If an investigator thought maybe someone was highlighting bible passages, his attitude was "look into that closely."

What does "frame it as smoke and mirrors when it appeared whacky" mean?

CircuitGuy,
Yes, John just highlighted and extrapolated from investigators suggestions anything that reinforced an intruder entry.

Sure, bible annotation, barbie gowns, suitcases, Partially Opened Gifts, even chairs blocking the doorway that, according to John, were an indication how devious and clever the intruder was.

What does "frame it as smoke and mirrors when it appeared whacky" mean?

Poor sentence structure here by me. When John cannot provide a direct inference, alike linking the Barbie Nightgown, which should not be in the basement with the word perverted, he resorts to hand-waiving or smoke and mirror tactics to avoid fully explaining any zany suggestion of his.

By using the word perverted John is framing the context for the use of the Barbie Nightgown, i.e. something nasty took place.

I'm guessing he knows the gown was bloodstained and that JonBenet was sexually assaulted, so it is his shorthand for the latter?

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[proust20]

Christianity serves as a backdrop to much. The crime occurred on a major religious holiday. JB just had been gifted with a gold cross which she wore during the strangling. An open Bible shows that there is interest with its contents. Rev. S was among those present at the R's home on the 26th. PR threw herself on the body, and wailed for Jesus to raise her daughter like Lazarus. The media spectacles of the funeral and memorial evoked mass audience sympathy before the public turned against the family. The parents dropped the ball early, and Team R has been playing catch up ever since.

JR's choice of 'perverted' is telling. The word just came to mind? There is no evidence of any interaction of JB with an unknown to her assailant. Any supposed games just add to the timeline. Attached to JR's musings is the necessary denial of chronic SA. So the autopsy is a fraud?

 

[UKGuy]

Christianity serves as a backdrop to much. The crime occurred on a major religious holiday. JB just had been gifted with a gold cross which she wore during the strangling. An open Bible shows that there is interest with its contents. Rev. S was among those present at the R's home on the 26th. PR threw herself on the body, and wailed for Jesus to raise her daughter like Lazarus. The media spectacles of the funeral and memorial evoked mass audience sympathy before the public turned against the family. The parents dropped the ball early, and Team R has been playing catch up ever since.

proust20,
The Christian backdrop is just window dressing. Machiavelli reccomends the Prince to attend mass in public, regularly.

btw, you left out Lou Smit a prayer devotee, according to John?

.

 

[proust20]

UKGuy,

I omitted LS to indicate that the religious angle did not originate with him, nor did the intruder theory which is implicit in the RN. JR told BPD at once about the broken window.

 

[fr brown]

Judging by the white space, that foreground page is Psalm 36 with its commentary, which takes up the bulk of the page. The opposite page then would be the end of Psalm 35 and the beginning of Psalm 36. Just what I would expect, but I couldn't tell from the other blurry crime scene photo I've seen.

The ballpoint pen is a surprise. It isn't in the other photo.

I'm surprised that shot was in the show because Team Ramsey never mentions that Bible.

Thanks for posting that.

Doing my due diligence this morning I found SBTC in an interesting place, a 1988 NASA document. It's the initialism for "Space-based Titan/Centaur," referred to as SBTC in the rest of the document. This would seem almost as outlandish a notion as a ransom note reference to Santa Barbara Tennis Club except that the Titan/Centaur was made by Martin Marietta which merged with Lockheed to become Lockheed Martin, which had become the owner of John's company, Access Graphics.

The Titan III was the noteworthy launch vehicle for Voyagers 1 and 2 (as well as many other space missions) so it's not inconceivable that there were materials around the Ramsey house referring to it. (The space-based version was probably more obscure. I don't think that ever got produced.) Lockheed Martin went on to make Titan IV.

It's undeniable that SBTC comes from Psalm 35 in the Ramsey third-floor Bible. Psalm 35 is bookmarked by both a ribbon and a ballpoint pen, for pete's sake, and SBTC is striking to the eye. Was it intended to reference a space-based Titan/Centaur or is this a coincidence? One thing for sure, Patsy (or John or an intruder or a space alien) didn't go leafing through the Bible to find it because that would have been impossible.

It's always struck me as odd that the Ramseys haven't said that the Bible was simply left open or bookmarked at Psalm 35 and then found by a bored intruder who, having made a rough calculation of John Ramsey's net bonus, decided to do a little Bible reading. They never mention it at all.

 

[UKGuy]

Doing my due diligence this morning I found SBTC in an interesting place, a 1988 NASA document. It's the initialism for "Space-based Titan/Centaur." This would seem almost as outlandish a notion as a reference to Santa Barbara Tennis Club except that the Titan/Centaur was made by Martin Marietta which merged with Lockheed to become Lockheed Martin, which had become the owner of John's company, Access Graphics.

The Titan III was the noteworthy launch vehicle for Voyagers 1 and 2 (as well as many other space missions) so it's not inconceivable that there were materials around the Ramsey house referring to it. (The space-based version was probably more obscure. I don't think that ever got produced.) Lockheed Martin went on to make Titan IV.

It's undeniable that SBTC comes from Psalm 35 in the Ramsey third-floor Bible. Psalm 35 is bookmarked by both a ribbon and a ballpoint pen, for pete's sake, and SBTC is striking to the eye. Was it intended to reference a space-based Titan/Centaur or is this a coincidence? One thing for sure, Patsy (or John or an intruder or a space alien) didn't go leafing through the Bible to find it because that would have been impossible.

It's always struck me as odd that the Ramseys haven't said that the Bible was simply left open or bookmarked at Psalm 35 and then found by a bored intruder who, having made a rough calculation of John Ramsey's net bonus, decided to do a little Bible reading. They never mention it at all.

fr brown,
You might be right about the source for SBTC. Except why bother to end your Ransom Note with it, when an Intruder is to be the intended suspect.

This is similar to the size-12's, fine on the surface until you dig deeper and read Patsy's explanation.

Also how does a religiously themed SBTC fit in with an assumed terrorist Foreign Faction or even just the latter on its own?

I could accept some ad hoc Patsy additions to the Ransom Note but not if she explicitly knows about the bible entry being bookmarked, etc?

Just wonder if this was the Ramsey's indirectly referring to some suspect who was religiously inclined?

The clue lies in the SBTC trope rather than conjuring up some Christian Fundamentalist Faction?

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[InstantProof]

I suspect Patsy was just compelled to inject herself into the letter or is giving John some kind of message.

 

[Deleted member 296917]

There are very few things not already covered in this case and I fully expect this has been found before, but I searched and couldn't find any posts dealing with it.
I want to see if any of the content of the ransom note can be connected to other texts (inter-textuality).

This approach was suggested by John Ramsey himself in one of the many pieces of misinformation he has promoted. When questioned by detectives (June 1998) about the $118,000 being the same sum as his bonus, he denied it and instead cited a Biblical parallel.

Ramsey: “No, I think that was just
a bit of a coincidence. That was my net bonus after tax. And it wasn't exactly 118; it was 118 and something… I mean, the closest that I've come to have some believability is this theory that Father Rol came up with. There were psalms, which were circled in the Bible, which apparently were fairly vengeful psalms. 118 Psalms was a vengeful psalm in the King James Bible. It talked about victory (INAUDIBLE). I think I've read it a hundred times, I guess, (INAUDIBLE). I guess I would accept that kind of a tie more than I would the bonus amount.”

He is referring to an observation offered to police by the family clergyman Father Rol Hoverstock, namely that he thought the ransom figure might allude to Psalm 118 which, he said, in the King James has the phrase: "bind the sacrifice with cords…"

Team Ramsey seized on this and promoted it as a likely source for the ransom figure. It then grew into a rumor that police found Patsy Ramsey’s Bible open to Psalm 118.

The connection with Psalm 118, though, is spurious on every level. That the ransom sum was $118,000 is not just “a bit of a coincidence” as Ramsey claimed. And Psalm 118 is not especially vengeful or about victory.

Nor did the police find Patsy’s King James open to that passage, as rumored.

Rather, (as photographs attest) the police found John Ramsey’s New International Version Study Bible open to Psalms 35-36. The suggestion of Psalm 118 was offered by Father Hoverstock in response to police questions about those psalms.

So, I have examined those psalms in exactly that edition. (I have a NIV Study edition.) There are several things of interest in Psalm 35.

1. It IS vengeful and about victory. “May those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay…” and similar themes.

2. Thematically and textually it is linked to the Book of Job and specifically to Job 21, which begins with the words (in the NIV): “Listen carefully…” – I note that “Listen carefully” is a NIVism found as the translation in several passages.

3. The first stanza of Psalm 35 (which is set out in verse in the NIV) has the following words capitalized at the beginning of lines: Contend – Take – Brandish – Say. That is, the letters CTBS. Backwards this gives SBTC. Thus SBTC (co-joined with the word “victory” could conceivable signify Psalm 35.

That is the ransom note begins and ends with Biblical allusions from the NIV passages found open on John Ramsey’s desk. “Listen carefully…” from Job 21 and “Victory SBTC” from Psalms 35.

Again, I stress that it was the Ramseys themselves who wanted to connect the ransom note to Psalms. But by a spurious connection from the wrong psalm in the wrong Bible. When we look at the right psalm in the right edition of the Bible we find some interesting connections.

Most posts on forums etc. are under the mistaken view that the police found Patsy's Bible open to Psalm 118, and so there is wild speculation about psalm 118. Wrong. It was JRs Bible, not a King James but an NIV Study, and it was open to psalm 35. (So I'm entitled to some wild speculation about psalm 35!) I was running my eye up the side column and nearly fell off my chair when I read the letters SBTC in the opening stanza. A long shot, I know, but not nearly as long as John Ramsey's nonsense about psalm 118 being the source of the ransom sum!

As I say, I would be surprised if this had not been found before.

Plenum7

Oh wow! This is a murder case not the De Vinci Code. They owed Jeff merrick exactly £118 .000 when John fired him. Its clear they were trying to set him up for this in using that amount in the ransom note!

In my opinion SBTC simply means stand by to communicate! It's a common phrase used with all medical, police and army personal. ( A huge clue)

I've a fair idea what may of happened here but I'm not going to post my theory as there is no point! It won't change a thing!

As a police officer for 22 years may I give you all some advice? Don't look to deeply into this. Murder is mundane and boring most of the time. Not a crime series on TV

The clues are in the indictment if you read them properly and answer the questions in it.

Burke was not of the age of criminal responsibility so they are not talking about covering up this crime for him! So then who? Once you realise who the case is easy to crack.

 

[fr brown]

Oh wow! This is a murder case not the De Vinci Code. They owed Jeff merrick exactly £118 .000 when John fired him. Its clear they were trying to set him up for this in using that amount in the ransom note!

In my opinion SBTC simply means stand by to communicate! It's a common phrase used with all medical, police and army personal. ( A huge clue)

I've a fair idea what may of happened here but I'm not going to post my theory as there is no point! It won't change a thing!

As a police officer for 22 years may I give you all some advice? Don't look to deeply into this. Murder is mundane and boring most of the time. Not a crime series on TV

The clues are in the indictment if you read them properly and answer the questions in it.

Burke was not of the age of criminal responsibility so they are not talking about covering up this crime for him! So then who? Once you realise who the case is easy to crack.

£118,000?

Jeff Merrick told Peter Boyles that he thought Ramsey was framing him, but not because of the ransom amount of $118,000. It was the part about the two gentlemen who don't particularly like John Ramsey. Elsewhere Merrick denied that the 118K had anything to do with him.

In his interview John tells Lou Smit that Merrick asked for $250,000 severance and settled for $100,000. Lou Smit tries his best to torture that amount up to 118,000 in order to implicate Merrick, but not successfully.

 

[fr brown]

Oh wow! This is a murder case not the De Vinci Code. They owed Jeff merrick exactly £118 .000 when John fired him. Its clear they were trying to set him up for this in using that amount in the ransom note!

In my opinion SBTC simply means stand by to communicate! It's a common phrase used with all medical, police and army personal. ( A huge clue)

I've a fair idea what may of happened here but I'm not going to post my theory as there is no point! It won't change a thing!

As a police officer for 22 years may I give you all some advice? Don't look to deeply into this. Murder is mundane and boring most of the time. Not a crime series on TV

The clues are in the indictment if you read them properly and answer the questions in it.

Burke was not of the age of criminal responsibility so they are not talking about covering up this crime for him! So then who? Once you realise who the case is easy to crack.

I addressed the Merrick issue in my previous post so I won't go over that again.

The open Bible off the Ramsey bedroom is discussed in Steve Thomas' book JonBenet, published in 2000. Thomas was a police officer (like yourself). Questioning of the Ramseys about their third-floor Bible and other books in their house was done by Tom Haney, retired DPD homicide captain, and Michael Kane, a prosecutor and assistant DA.

SBTC at the beginning of the first four lines of Psalm 35 has nothing to do with Bible codes. I haven't read or seen The Da Vinci Code so I'm not certain if that's what you're getting at.

 

[UKGuy]

Oh wow! This is a murder case not the De Vinci Code. They owed Jeff merrick exactly £118 .000 when John fired him. Its clear they were trying to set him up for this in using that amount in the ransom note!

In my opinion SBTC simply means stand by to communicate! It's a common phrase used with all medical, police and army personal. ( A huge clue)

I've a fair idea what may of happened here but I'm not going to post my theory as there is no point! It won't change a thing!

As a police officer for 22 years may I give you all some advice? Don't look to deeply into this. Murder is mundane and boring most of the time. Not a crime series on TV

The clues are in the indictment if you read them properly and answer the questions in it.

Burke was not of the age of criminal responsibility so they are not talking about covering up this crime for him! So then who? Once you realise who the case is easy to crack.

Rumbled,
Hello there. Police officer comments and opinions are always appreciated, nothing beats a professional perspective. You should consider posting your theory, it might help some swing your way.

In my opinion SBTC simply means stand by to communicate!

How would the author know that the reader understood what SBTC meant?

In another PDI the same issue arises wrt to JR implicitly knowing PR's mind and it's contents, all allegedly gleaned from the RN. Of course JR and PR never shared telepathic abilities.

The ransom note monetary demand tells us the author was intimate with JR's financial affairs.

That could mean JR and/or PR authored the RN, imo it was PR with JR likely doing a final draft edit, as there were numerous pages torn out of the pad.

There is no evidence of any intruder that links to anyone outside the Ramsey house, the crime-scene forensic links all connect directly with the surviving residents.

Just think about all the police officers from the BPD that crawled over this case, not discounting all the retired LEA personnel statewide that also took an interest, none appear to have solved the case, only James Kolar seems to have a coherent theory albeit controversial as it implicates BR.

fr brown is likely correct as to the meaning of SBTC. Was it an indicator of PR's mind at this point, e.g. religious fervour, or a fake signoff meant to deflect attention away towards some fundamentalist sect?

Burke was not of the age of criminal responsibility so they are not talking about covering up this crime for him! So then who? Once you realise who the case is easy to crack.

Depends if the parents had already been given medical advice regarding BR wrt JonBenet, hence the leveling of neglect in the True Bills issued by the GJ.

This might represent a motive for staging, not discounting the family reputation.

The unforeseen mistake was not to realize the media blitz that would come their way, precisely because of the manner of the staging!

.

 

[proust20]

Assuming that in fact S.B.T.C has a definite meaning, why would the kidnapper(s) resort to using these initials which convey no message to anyone? There is no point for the FF to hide its identity, especially if it wanted to be considered as a serious threat. Terrorists want recognition! It's already been mentioned that the 'C' is not followed by a period, which indicates indecision and haste by the writer. Of course, Patsy, who only briefly glanced at the RN after finding it, felt it was more important to mention this obscurity to the 911 operator than it was to give the name of her missing daughter. A putative Bible reference implies that a child murderer with blood still on their hands is God fearing and is mindful of the Good Book's teachings?

IMO S.B.T.C is yet another melodramatic touch drawn from popular entertainment. I've yet to hear any explanation of this cryptic sign off from Team R, which has so diligently pursued a resolution to this 25 year old mystery. "Full of sound and fury and signifying nothing."

 

[Rain on my Parade]

Of course, Patsy, who only briefly glanced at the RN after finding it, felt it was more important to mention this obscurity to the 911 operator than it was to give the name of her missing daughter.

proust20,
Not once did PR mention JB by name during the call before she hung up to immediately call friends; her words. Also, as you stated she merely glanced at the note and stopped at we have your daughter. How did she know the sign off was SBTC?

IMO S.B.T.C is yet another melodramatic touch drawn from popular entertainment. I've yet to hear any explanation of this cryptic sign off from Team R, which has so diligently pursued a resolution to this 25 year old mystery. "Full of sound and fury and signifying nothing."

IMO, SBTC meant something to the author of the note. Yes, it is melodramatic.

 

[Rain on my Parade]

In my opinion SBTC simply means stand by to communicate! It's a common phrase used with all medical, police and army personal. ( A huge clue)

I've a fair idea what may of happened here but I'm not going to post my theory as there is no point! It won't change a thing!

As a police officer for 22 years may I give you all some advice? Don't look to deeply into this. Murder is mundane and boring most of the time. Not a crime series on TV

The clues are in the indictment if you read them properly and answer the questions in it.

Burke was not of the age of criminal responsibility so they are not talking about covering up this crime for him! So then who? Once you realise who the case is easy to crack.

Rumbled,
Thank you for this post!
My, oh my!
I’m with UKGuy, we’d love for you to share your version. In so saying, I believe you already did.
Again, thank you!

 

[Deleted member 296917]

£118,000?

Jeff Merrick told Peter Boyles that he thought Ramsey was framing him, but not because of the ransom amount of $118,000. It was the part about the two gentlemen who don't particularly like John Ramsey. Elsewhere Merrick denied that the 118K had anything to do with him.

In his interview John tells Lou Smit that Merrick asked for $250,000 severance and settled for $100,000. Lou Smit tries his best to torture that amount up to 118,000 in order to implicate Merrick, but not successfully.

You're very much mistaken!

Regarding the amount it wasn’t exact amount John’s bonus was slightly more than $118,000—it was $118,117.50. “How many people would know what my bonus was?” despite that it was leaked to the media. What wasn’t reported publicly were ties that linked the ransom request amount of $118,000 with two former employees of Access Graphics, where John Ramsey was CEO. The BPD report states that one employee told police that it was an “‘odd coincidence that $118,000 happens to be the amount of the difference between what we ######## a redacted name from the report & Jeff Merrick felt they gave up in the settlement and the promissory note, the unpaid note, the promissory note. And it’s such an obtuse connection, but since you asked, $118,000.’ (Pertaining to a settlement: re: [the ex-employee] who stole money from Access Graphics)” (BPD Report #5-3295).

 

[ispywithmylittleeye]

proust20,
I reckon none of them needed to lookup incest as they all knew what was going on long before Christmas Night and what its name was, particularly Burke, more so if it can be demonstrated he was undergoing therapy?

Burke strikes me as the kind of child who would have had a dictionary in his bedroom, so why would he be opening another one, given the sensitivity of the subject?

Do we know whose dictionary it was that Steve Thomas referenced?

I reckon you have to eliminate all the other words on the two facing pages and the back page of the dog-eared one to be certain which actual word was being marked?

On the other hand assuming they all knew, i.e. I reckon they did, could be they were not certain what category Playing Doctor fell into legally?

So one of the parents checked the dictionary to confirm precisely what kind of case they were involved in?

Hence the staging away of any sexual assault?

.

This!