The only theory that makes any real sense.

[Anyhoo]

I used to be a full on "PR did it!" supporter, but when you think long and hard about it, it doesn't really add up. If it's an accident, you call the police. If PR or JR is the intentional culprit, there's just no compelling rationale for why they cover for the other. Again, you call the police.

The only way they work together crafting a ransom note and staging the elaborate kidnapping is if the risk (being caught covering up a murder) is worth the reward. What could that valuable reward be, except for the protection of their other child.

A BDI theory is the only one that really makes sense. He kills JBR and the parents realize that his life is now ruined. This one act has taken both their daughter AND their son away from them.

Panic sets in and suddenly the idea of being able to save their child from prosecution doesn't seem so crazy. If there's an outside chance that the charade will work, the R's decide to risk it so that they won't lose their son and he can have a shot at a 'normal' life.

Suddenly all the evidence makes sense. It is just a smokescreen. If the R's did do it, this is really the only logical explanation for the whole entire ruse.

I have never seriously considered BDI because I found it inconceivable that a child his age would do it but for the first time I am looking at it. What you say makes sense. I disagree that the parents would not cover for one another but the strongest case can be made for them teaming up to protect their only remaining child. Considering it more in depth, if BR had merely inflicted the head bash, I believe the parents could/would have called an ambulance for their daughter and it could have been claimed to be an accident. If, however, BR strangled his sister to death with the garotte, there is no way that can be claimed to be an accident. Anyone seeing that would consider it purposeful murder. In THAT case I can see the parents teaming up and creating the foreign faction ruse to protect their son. That is the only way I can see it.

 

[dodie20]

As you say, this effort, esp the RN, part did not work very well. The elaborate staging and RN are why people are talking about it 15 years later.


Why is this? The RN note was inconsistent with finding the body in the house. Suppose they had just called the police and said they woke up and found her down there? That would make more logical sense than the RN.

Did the RN just threw the police off? Was the whole thing just so illogical that the police were paralyzed and confused?

I understand the RN making them look like victims prior to the body being found. Once the body was found, however, the RN made things look more suspicious. The note said they were going to hold her hostage in exchange for money. They presumably would take her out a door to a vehicle. If they had killed her by accident, it would have been between her room and a door. Why hide her body in the basement?

Was the RN just an ill-conceived artifice that by pure luck managed to throw the police off for a few hours?

IDK, but here are a few ideas. Maybe the killer planned to dump the body somewhere but his or her plan got thwarted when police didn't leave. Also, if police had discovered the body, the Rs would have looked even more suspicious- like they were hiding the body. Them being the ones to discover her and bring her up, put a little power back in their hands, because they were controlling the chain of events. IMO, it's possible that the body was originally left 1 way, in anticipation of being dumped, but when that plan fell through, the staging within staging and some of the undoing were done...in order to present evidence to LE in a certain, manipulated way. IMO, this part of the crime could be all about control and manipulation and self preservation. moo

 

[otg]

As you say, this effort, esp the RN, part did not work very well. The elaborate staging and RN are why people are talking about it 15 years later.

Yes.

Why is this? The RN note was inconsistent with finding the body in the house.

Yes.

Suppose they had just called the police and said they woke up and found her down there? That would make more logical sense than the RN.

Yes, but then a murder investigation would have been started immediately and they wouldn't have the opportunity to get the hell outta Dodge, like they tried to do.

Did the RN just threw the police off? Was the whole thing just so illogical that the police were paralyzed and confused?

Yes, and yes (IMO).

I understand the RN making them look like victims prior to the body being found. Once the body was found, however, the RN made things look more suspicious. The note said they were going to hold her hostage in exchange for money. They presumably would take her out a door to a vehicle. If they had killed her by accident, it would have been between her room and a door. Why hide her body in the basement?

(bbm) Because that's where they put all their discarded possessions and things they had no further use for?

Was the RN just an ill-conceived artifice that by pure luck managed to throw the police off for a few hours?

(b not bm) So it would seem (at least, IMO).

 

[otg]

I don't truly believe the sexual injuries were staging if I was to put a theory on the line.I don't believe as some do that the cellulose found was proof that a paintbrush handle was used to penetrate for example.It could represent contamination from the garrote handle on the perps hands passed on by the manual molestation.

LFB: I don't know why I didn't answer this when you posted it. You have some good questions and some very good points.

Neither do I believe the sexual aspects of this were staged. Rather, an attempt was made to hide the sexual aspects.

You could be right about the cellulose being contamination, but I tend to think the paintbrush was actually used because of the "disappearance" of the end. Wood is porous and would absorb bodily fluids. I believe that is why it went missing and the remainder of the paintbrush was used to make the cord look like it had been pulled by a "handle" of some sort. But what gives away that it wasn't used in this way is that her hair got caught up in the wraps of cord and knot tied to that segment of brush while it was being tied next to her lifeless body.

With regards the first point above: the garrote is a complex issue.And by garrote I'm using it interchangeably to mean EA device which I know is absolutely incorrect but it's a bad habit I've got so apologies .One issue I have is whether it may look corrupt to us (that is why people say it wasn't an EA device) but that the manner in which it was used was misunderstood. Or rather, perhaps the perpetrator was attempting some sort of EA device and precisely because the device was incorrectly structured, this led to a strangulation. What I'm saying is that perhaps there was a conflict between what the perp wanted the device for and what/how it actually existed in reality.

(bbm) Yes, exactly!

And then I suppose this gets back to one of the core issues: what came first, the head blow or the neck trauma?

If people subscribe to the head blow first theory I think they by nature tend to be more sceptical of the device being a sex device of some sort. But I can't think of any reason why JonBenet would be hit of the head first. Even the 'accident' theory is too speculative for me.

Try this: Consider that the cord (sans the "handle") had been used simply as a restraining device tied to some other object while the molestation was happening. What would happen with the cord around her neck if a scream caused the abuser to grab an object and strike her over the head knocking her unconscious?

But my reasoning is this: we know for a fact that the one thing which precedes the death of JonBenet but was also a factor in her death was the sex abuse. Before she died she was being molested. And the night she died, she was being molested. So there is an overwhelming sexual component to her death. I tend to reason that she was being molested and that the neck device strangled her -- the neck 'game' was related to the genital molestation which we know happened.It was kinky and sex related. She was then hit over the head after that which is congruent with the fact barely 7ccs of blood was drawn from the brain showing perhaps the heart had stopped beating already from the strangulation. To me, that just seems the simplest explanation for everything that happened.

So, the events may have went like this:

Molestation> neck game> JonBenet screams> perp panics and pulls cord too tight > cord presses on vagal nerve causing heart to stop beating> then perp hits her over head to make sure she was dead/simulate vicious intruder attack.> Ransom note is written etc.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

...or:

Neck restrained with cord> molestaion > scream >head bash >unconsciousness >futile attempt to lift her body and revive her >COD: "asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma" >RN written, body cleaned up to hide sexual aspects, cord altered, 911 call (from basement phone) with all three living Ramseys present.

 

[x_files]

Yes.

Yes.

Yes, but then a murder investigation would have been started immediately and they wouldn't have the opportunity to get the hell outta Dodge, like they tried to do.

Yes, and yes (IMO).

(bbm) Because that's where they put all their discarded possessions and things they had no further use for?

(b not bm) So it would seem (at least, IMO).

Would the ransom note fool police officers if it happened again in another case? Doubt it. I think the Ramsey's having money, influence. power and connections got them off the hook.

 

[dodie20]

Would the ransom note fool police officers if it happened again in another case? Doubt it. I think the Ramsey's having money, influence. power and connections got them off the hook.

IDK, but that ransom note was pretty successful and it accomplished what it set out to do...brought somebody outside the family into the mix. If there had been no note, and JR had brought his murdered daughter up from the basement, they would have been toast. They could have said the same exact things...that she was alive when they went to bed and it must have been an intruder, but it would have meant nothing. Even though they went from dealing with a kidnapped, live child being held for ransom, to a murdered child in their home, that note 'legitimized' them blaming an intruder. JonBenet's body being brought up from the basement should have wiped out that note and everything that had been said or done up to that point, and a whole new investigation started. The note meant nothing and should have been deemed absolutely worthless, except as evidence against the people in the house. Kidnappers don't write notes demanding money in exchange for a live child, but then leave a raped dead child in the house. They at the least, in an effort to get the money, would take the body and pretend she was still alive. If they decided they didn't want the money, they wouldn't leave a note-especially a hand written note. Sorry to ramble, but how successful that idiotic note has been, still amazes me. moo

 

[bettybaby00]

IDK, but that ransom note was pretty successful and it accomplished what it set out to do...brought somebody outside the family into the mix. If there had been no note, and JR had brought his murdered daughter up from the basement, they would have been toast. They could have said the same exact things...that she was alive when they went to bed and it must have been an intruder, but it would have meant nothing. Even though they went from dealing with a kidnapped, live child being held for ransom, to a murdered child in their home, that note 'legitimized' them blaming an intruder. JonBenet's body being brought up from the basement should have wiped out that note and everything that had been said or done up to that point, and a whole new investigation started. The note meant nothing and should have been deemed absolutely worthless, except as evidence against the people in the house. Kidnappers don't write notes demanding money in exchange for a live child, but then leave a raped dead child in the house. They at the least, in an effort to get the money, would take the body and pretend she was still alive. If they decided they didn't want the money, they wouldn't leave a note-especially a hand written note. Sorry to ramble, but how successful that idiotic note has been, still amazes me. moo

Exactly...a kidnapper doesn't leave a body, even if they accidently kill during the abduction
&&a crazy pedophile intruder doesn't write a long winded ransom note...

&& in both scenarios the perpetrator(s) wouldn't stage/undo the scene!

 

[CircuitGuy]

They Rs were holed up in that house for 6 hours waiting for LE to leave so they could continue to carry out their plan. That's not even considering the time between her death and the 911 call.

They should not have been surprised, given the fact pattern of a RN and a ghastly murder of a little girl, that the police were there for six hours.

 

[CircuitGuy]

Yes, but then a murder investigation would have been started immediately and they wouldn't have the opportunity to get the hell outta Dodge, like they tried to do.

What does getting out of town buy them in this day and age? Don't LE agencies work together close enough that it really doesn't matter where they go unless they get a foreign country without close ties to US LE? If they went to Michigan, couldn't the CO police call the Michigan police and say they need to talk to them regarding a murder?

 

[deca]

What does getting out of town buy them in this day and age? Don't LE agencies work together close enough that it really doesn't matter where they go unless they get a foreign country without close ties to US LE? If they went to Michigan, couldn't the CO police call the Michigan police and say they need to talk to them regarding a murder?

I think the main function of leaving would be that it would buy time. LE would request that they come back, Rs can say talk to our lawyer, lawyer says "oh they need some time to pack and get the plane ready" etc. Imagine this happened every time LE wanted to talk to Ramsey's vs. just showing up at their door.