It's been many years since I've looked at this case. Today i happened to see one of the films made about it. Amazing how all of the details came back to me.
I agree with LE it does seem that PR wrote that note.
The strange behavior of PR and JR after the body was found really wreaked of something being wrong. The film seemed to contain a lot of details as I recall them.
The Lou Smit character portrayed by Kris Kristofferson affirmed that there were puncture marks on her neck and that appeared to be from a stun gun.
Has that ever been emphatically disproven?
Since PR insisted that JBR was asleep and ate nothing after dinner, this would mean that even if PR were the killer or at least involved in the cover up, she did not know that JBR had eaten the pineapple. Clearly JBR was up and awake. If she were being kidnapped, it would seem strange that a kidnapper would take her to the kitchen to eat pineapple. The pineapple is also inconsistent with the Stun Gun - kidnapping idea. It's the one part of the film where I didn't understand why the LE didn't throw that back at Lou Smit so he would back off. Because it basically destroys his theory. He also was certain a kidnapper entered through the basement window even though spider webs were undisturbed. But he had the idea the kidnapper went in that way to avoid the alarm but could not get JBR out that way. That makes no sense. First of all it would be obvious if the alarm was armed. Next, JR said the alarm was not armed so a kidnapper could just walk right out the door. It's also a bad theory that someone would come in to kidnap but then change their mind and instead murder and flee, while still leaving the note.
The SCREAM always bothered me as being so loud a neighbor heard it but not any of the Ramsey's... No way that many people in a house, a girl screams that loud and no one at all hears it, while instead a neighbor hears it.
LE thought it was BR in the background on the 911 call. Has that ever been ruled in or out conclusively? FBI should be able to clearly identify the voice pattern as being someone in the house vs. interference, and probably the age and gender if not exact match of the voiceprint. If BR was definitely awake, when that call was made, clearly the R's were covering up.
It's my understanding that the vaginal bruising was old, not necessarily occurring as part of her death. There was blood found on her leg, but I'm not recalling whose blood? I'm assuming it was her blood or that would have been the most important thing in the case. But what part of her body did the blood come from? Does anyone know?
It's been said that JBR wet the bed frequently. But from the approximate time the R's got home to the time she was up eating Pineapple it was something like only 2 hrs, correct? It seems unlikely that she wet the bed that rapidly and was wide awake.
Kids often fake sleep so they can be carried in. I have a feeling that JBR was not fully asleep as she was put to bed. PR says she changed JBR's clothes into night clothes and put her to bed. She said that children regularly sleep through such things.
Seems very likely to me that JBR was not fully asleep at that point, but may have pretended to be. She obviously was fully awake and eating a short time later.
The question is, who else was with her.
Also, could not imagine searching every inch of your own home in such a scenario.
The weird way that it took so long before JBR's body was discovered is very hard to fathom. Why would anyone accept such a bizarre note at face value. JR was far to intelligent for that. PR should have been too, but then I think she wrote the note.
So...
working with the following:
1) PR wrote the note
2) BR was awake during the 911 call
3) there was no entry through the basement window
4) JBR was awake probably just before midnight eating pineapple
5) There was a scream so loud a neighbor heard it.
6) R's were uncooperative and fled Boulder as soon as possible.
So like LE and most people, it seems that the R's had something to do with this, at least a cover up of some sort. I don't know if the Santa Guy was fully cleared, but don't see why PR would write a note to cover for him.
what about the Garotte being used to cover up other marks on her neck? Like maybe being strangled with hands or something else?
If the blood on JBR's leg came from her head, how did it get on her leg? It was a smear.
that is like someone had touched her head and then moved her.
I don't recall the R's ever explaining why that huge flashlight was sitting there in the kitchen.
So, here's my gut feel, have at it:
JBR was not asleep or was awakened by being changed and put to bed. She sat there awake and may have decided to sneak downstairs. It's possible that BR woke her up and they went together or the other way around. At some point either an accident from horsing around, a push, a fall, JBR Screams and hits her head. This wakes up PR who comes down to find JBR unconscious and not breathing. But BR is there and she makes him go straight to bed. She is having split second thinking here... JBR is dead! BR will be blamed! Our life is down the tubes! OMG! She has to protect BR, and is yet freaked out about JBR. She goes and gets JR. JR confirms that JBR is dead and quickly decide that they must cover this up else they will be blamed for abuse, etc...
The Garotte points more to a male than a female. But the note points to PR. At first I thought PR would have done all of this so that JR would not leave her, but it seems possible that JR was complicit in the cover up and only because BR was present or directly involved. If BR was not involved and JBR fell off of something accidentally, or was in an altercation with PR, then I think PR would have done all of this herself. I think because of the Garotte that it involved JR and PR. Most likely because BR or even someone else in the house was involved. JBR's death may not have been a malicious act, but the cover up may have been made to look that way.
Imagine how the R's life would have gone if instead JBR were just lying there with head trauma and they called 911 at midnight. Accident or not, people and LE would think the worst. I can see a motive for cover up. And no one more than PR knew how to stage things. And I could see (reluctantly) how JR could have been sucked into such a scheme. The fact is, he married such a woman.
