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    The Bloodstained Tiara
    The Bloodstained Tiara
    The Bloodstained Tiara
    Ebook171 pages2 hours

    The Bloodstained Tiara

    By David Pietras

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    JonBenet was reported missing Dec. 26, 1996, in a frantic 5:52 a.m. 911 call in which Patsy Ramsey told Boulder police she'd found a ransom note demanding the head-scratching figure of $118,000 for her daughter's safe return.

    Instead of paying a ransom and getting their daughter returned, JonBenét’s lifeless body was discovered early that afternoon in a little-used room of the family's cellar by her father and a family friend.

    JonBenet was discovered with tape across her mouth, a ligature buried deep in the skin of her neck through use of a garrote fashioned from cord and a broken paintbrush taken from her mother's art supplies. Some of the same cord was loosely bound around her right wrist. Not noticed until the autopsy was that she'd also suffered a linear fracture to the right side of her skull, likely the result of a single blow from a blunt object. And some believe that she was sexually abused.
    So many interpretations have been advanced over time of the forensic evidence in this case, made only worst by a highly contaminated crime scene. It quickly came to resemble a criminalist's darkest nightmare, each piece of the puzzle easily lending itself to the perspective of the person reviewing it.

    We will look beyond the facts of the crime as they became known in the days immediately following the discovery of her murder, we will also examine the behavior of JonBenét’s parents, viewed as unusual by police and by the public at large.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDavid Pietras
    Release dateJan 25, 2019
    ISBN9780463365472
    The Bloodstained Tiara

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      Book preview

      The Bloodstained Tiara - David Pietras

      The Bloodstained Tiara

      By David Pietras

      Copyright 2015 by David Pietras

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

      America's Most Famous Little Girl

      Prologue

      The Ramsey Family

      December 1996

      The Body is Found

      The Crime scene

      1997

      1998

      1999

      Life after the Grand Jury

      The Handwriting Experts

      The Intruder Theory

      The Smoking Gun

      The New Century

      Other Suspects

      Consider The Following

      Conclusion

      Prologue

      In the early morning hours of December 26, 1996, shortly after 5:00 AM, Patsy Ramsey woke up in her Boulder, Colorado home to find a ransom note on her kitchen staircase. The note, addressed to her husband, stated that their daughter, six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey had been kidnapped. The kidnappers were, according to the note, demanding a ransom of $118,000 for JonBenét’s safe return- almost exactly the bonus that Patsy’s husband, John Ramsey, had recently received.

      When Patsy went to JonBenét’s room and discovered that she was not there, she and John called the police to report JonBenét missing at 5:25 AM, despite the ransom note’s threat that JonBenét would be killed if the police were notified.

      According to the ransom note, the kidnappers would be calling John Ramsey to give him instructions to deliver the ransom money, which he and Patsy were already working on gathering when the police arrived to their home. That call never came. However, police immediately suspected that John and Patsy were somehow involved in their daughter’s disappearance.

      From the moment that police began investigating the case, they made a number of errors that are still suspected to be the causes for the case’s continued cold case status. First, they did not do a full search of the property. In addition, the investigators did not seal off the area, which allowed friends and family of JonBenét to come and go as they pleased, potentially corrupting a crime scene.

      Also, one of the detectives assigned to the case asked John and a family friend, Fleet White, to search the house on their own that afternoon.

      John and Fleet began their search in the basement, and ended there. They had found JonBenét’s body, eight hours after she was reported missing.

      JonBenét’s body was covered in her white blanket. Under the blanket, she had a nylon cord wrapped around her neck, her wrists were tied up above her head, and she had duct tape covering her mouth. An autopsy was performed, which determined that JonBenét had died of strangulation and a fractured skull.

      She was strangled using a garrote made from a tweed cord and a broken paintbrush handle. The garrote showed an advanced knowledge of knots. The autopsy also found that while there was no evidence of rape, there was the possibility of sexual assault. The autopsy also determined that JonBenét had eaten pineapple several hours before she was killed. In addition, JonBenét’s body had entered the stage of advanced rigor mortis.

      This led investigators to the conclusion that the time of death was between 10:00 PM on December 25th and 6:00 AM on December 26th. In addition, JonBenét’s remains had already began to exhibit signs of decomposition by the time they were found at approximately 1:00 PM on December 26th, which gave investigators reason to believe that she died closer to 10:00 PM than 6:00 AM.

      At the crime scene, investigators found several pieces of key evidence. First, the initial police report stated that there were several open windows and at least one open door in the house that night, making it easier for a potential intruder to gain entry. In addition, there was a broken window in the basement that could not be properly closed. This is considered to be one of the most likely entry points to what would become the crime scene.

      However, knowledge of this broken window was not made available until a year after the murder, possibly due to the public consensus that the Ramseys were the perpetrators. In addition, much of the Ramsey house was covered in thick carpeting, which could have allowed an intruder to enter the home, take JonBenét, kill her, write a ransom note, and leave without waking up the rest of the household. Police also found a bowl of cut up pineapple on the kitchen table with JonBenét’s brother Burke’s fingerprints on it.

      Due to the autopsy findings of pineapple in JonBenét’s digestive system and the Ramsey’s claims that they never put that pineapple on the table and that Burke was sleeping during the entire events of the crime, there is a significant break with the story that the Ramseys provide and the physical evidence. Police also found a broken paintbrush in the basement’s boiler room, the other piece of the paintbrush that was used to create the garrote.

      In addition, there were fingerprints, handprints, and a boot print that have still not been identified to the Ramseys or anyone in their circle of over 400 people that have been investigated. There was also a pubic hair on the blanket that JonBenét was wrapped in that has not been identified. Around the broken window in the basement, there were pieces of broken glass and scuff marks, though there were no signs of disturbance on the windowsill.

      Due to the fact that the Ramseys enjoyed entertaining, and the murder occurred during a time with a great deal of holiday parties, the killer could have been just about anybody who associated with the Ramseys during that time. Lead investigators have stated that they believe that JonBenét knew her killer, and therefore trusted him/her enough to leave her bedroom, possibly with the promise of pineapple. However, despite the large pool of potential suspects, the media immediately focused on JonBenét’s parents.

      Both John and Patsy Ramsey spent years under the harsh limelight of the media.

      Despite this, neither of JonBenét’s parents were ever officially named as suspects in the murder. All three members of the immediate family were questioned by investigators, in addition to submitting handwriting samples to try to connect them to the ransom letter. Both John and Burke were cleared of any suspicion of writing the ransom note, but Patsy could not be cleared.

      In the months and years following the murder, the case began to go cold. John and Patsy made numerous media appearances in an effort to clear their names. There were several Grand Jury hearings held, but none led to an indictment. In 2013, court documents were opened which revealed that a 1999 Grand Jury had voted to indict JonBenét’s parents for child abuse resulting in death, but the district attorney refused to sign the indictment, claiming a lack of sufficient evidence.

      As the case grew colder, files were moved into storage, investigators were assigned to new cases, and the District Attorney’s office announced that it had ran out of the $500,000 that they had to solve the case, and did not apply for additional funding.

      In 2003, investigators extracted a DNA sample from blood on JonBenét’s underwear. Tests determined that this DNA belongs to an unknown male. The DNA was submitted to the FBI’s CODIS system, which contains DNA from convicted felons and sex offenders. The sample has yet to be matched. On June 24, 2006, nearly 10 years after JonBenét’s death, Patsy Ramsey died after a long battle with ovarian cancer. She is buried next to JonBenét, in Atlanta, Georgia, where the family lived before moving to Colorado.

      In 2008, the Boulder District Attorney’s office announced that due to recent developments in DNA technology, the Ramsey family is no longer considered to be involved in the murder of JonBenét Ramsey. The District Attorney wrote a letter to John Ramsey, publicly apologizing for the public trial that the Ramsey family had undergone in the aftermath of JonBenét’s death.

      We don't know how this tragic true story ends, because JonBenét’s killer/s has yet to be brought to justice, but people across the nation are still awaiting closure for this little Angel.

      The Ramsey Family

      As families go, it could be argued that the Ramseys, on that night, were first among equals. John Ramsey had founded Access Graphics, a billion-dollar-a-year computer distributor that had been purchased by Lockheed, with him still running it. Police said his financial records showed that as of May 1, 1996, he had a net worth of $6.2 million. He had a jet pilot's license and his own two planes. Patricia Patsy Ramsey is a former Miss West Virginia (as is her sister).

      Burke, who was two weeks shy of 10 years old the night his sister was murdered, is often described as well-mannered and quiet. JonBenét, of course, was a captivating child who would command attention wherever she was – yet, following her death, was widely praised as a down-to-earth and caring girl. The previous month she'd been placed on an honor roll at her school for winning an I Caught You Being Good award.

      At the time of that Christmas dinner, things were beginning to look up for the Ramseys. For all their wealth, they'd had their share of misfortune. Patsy had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1994, and for a time had been bald because of chemotherapy. Some measure of her as a person can be found in the fact that this former beauty queen, while bald, volunteered at Burke's school and was willing to take her wig off. The National Enquirer would later run a photo that showed JonBenét touching her mother's nearly bald head.

      In January of 1992, John Ramsey's daughter, Elizabeth Ramsey (from a previous marriage) was killed in a car wreck.

      So, as the Ramseys sat down to dinner at Fleet White's house on Christmas, they were privileged in many ways, but had also known their share of adversity.

      The Ramseys arrived home about 10 that night and her father put JonBenét to bed. As the rest of the residents in Boulder Colorado slept, a nightmare was unfolding inside of 755 15th street. 2123 children were murdered in 1996, JonBenét Ramsey unfortunately was one of the last.

      December 1996

      On December 23rd the Ramseys host a Christmas party at their home, they had approximately 30 guests attending, and former journalism professor Bill McReynolds played Santa Claus. The atmosphere at the party was joyful and all the guests reported that they had a great time. Then at 6:47 p.m., someone who was attending the party placed a 911 call from the family’s home phone, which was answered by police dispatcher Therese Hilleary. The caller hung up without saying anything. Police called back only to get the Ramsey's answering machine.

      The Boulder police dispatch an officer to check the residence to see if there is a problem. Officer B.O. 266 is dispatched and arrives at the home at 6:54 p.m. He speaks with the Ramseys and the guests then leaves at 7:09 p.m., after being assured that there was no emergency. Some people that are close to the family have commented that the 911 caller could have been the killer of JonBenét with the intentions of determining the time frame that it would take the Boulder police to arrive to the Ramsey’s home.

      Some have also commented that the killer would have to know the layout of the Ramsey home to negotiate the maze of rooms

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