The 1996 JonBenet Ramsey case continues to leave individuals perplexed about her killer and the lessons its left behind
By Sanika Joshi and Addison Brewer-Hay
Recently, Netflix came out with a TV show talking about the unsolved case of the murder of Jonbenet Ramsey, this show was called; “Cold Case: Who Killed Jonbenet Ramsey.” In this episode we will be discussing the case alongside the representation of the case through Netflix.
Jonbenet Ramsey was born on august 6th, 1990, in Atlanta, Georgia. She was born to Patricia Ramsey and John Ramsey. She also had an older brother named Burke ramsey. They were a fairly wealthy family, Patricia having been a pageant queen in the past and John being a successful businessman.
Jonbenet's pageant life was a big lead in her investigation. Patricia was very involved in Jonbenet's pageant life. As a pageant queen herself, Patsy competed in her teenage years and won the title “Little Miss West Virginia” in 1977. Jonbenet followed in her mother's footsteps and won “Little Miss Colorado”, “Colorado All Stars Cover Girl”, “America's Royal Miss”, and “National Tiny Miss Beauty.”
The public expressed that her choreography and pageant outfits could’ve been seen as child abuse - accusing her parents of exploiting their daughter to audience members and a potential killer. However, the recent docu series emphasizes Jonbenet’s love to perform and the role model Patsy was to her when it came to pageants.
On December 26th, 1996, Patsy Ramsey, discovered a ransom note for her daughter. She immediately called the police to report her as missing. Less than 8 hours after Patsy made the call, Jonbenet's body was found inside the Ramsey home. Found by her father, her mouth was covered in duct tape and she had a cord around her neck.
With no clear sign of break in initially, the docuseries follows the media’s assumption of family involvement.
Other details on the ransom note raised questions. The note was written on Patsy’s notepaper with her sharpie and asked for the exact amount of money expected on John Ramsey's next paycheck. The note was also really long and used an unusually calm tone - leading forensic document examiner Brenda Anderson to think it was staged and not genuine.
The documentary also talked about the unprofessionalism of the Boulder, Colorado police department. The case was treated as a kidnapping, and instead of marking the house off as a crime scene, it was mildly searched and open for the family and their friends to come and go. The documentary mentions that people believe this mistake lost valuable evidence and hindered the investigation.
With little leads, detectives asked John Ramsey to look for any clues or evidence in the house. According to those on the scene, John went straight to the basement and found his daughter's body - raising suspicion and ruining the crime scene.
Aside from family members, one of the suspects was Bill McReynolds. He was seen visiting the house two days before Jonbenet's death. He would also sometimes dress up as Santa Claus and he had a daughter who was kidnapped in 1974. The authorities concluded there was not enough evidence to convict him of the crime.
Another suspect was Gary Oliva, he had previously been arrested on charges of possession of child porn, alongside being arrested for drug use. Authorities reported that he was found with a photo of Jonbenet in his backpack. He had also made a disturbing phone call to his friend, claiming he had hurt a little girl, but there was no other evidence connecting him to this case.
One of the most prominent suspects in the “Who Killed Jonbenet” documentary is John Mark Karr. He confessed to the murder 10 years after her death via email to a journalist. Journalism professor Michael Tracy then emailed with him back and forth where investigators noticed similar wording to the ransom note. He even used Patsy's nickname.
In the email, he said he was in love with Jonbenet. He also confessed to hitting Jonbenet in the head with a flashlight.
However, he was unable to correctly share crucial aspects of the crime and therefore was released.
While the DNA found at the scene was tested multiple times against each suspect, it later was concluded that the evidence was unusable. Due to John Ramsey picking up his daughter and altering the crime scene, officials determined years later that the DNA was most likely inaccurate. As a result, every suspect dismissed is now seen as a suspect again.
Due to Jonbenet's age and the complex details of the case, Jonbenet’s murder gained a lot of media coverage and served as a lesson for law enforcement on how to better handle similar cases moving forward.
The “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey” documentary series can be found on Netflix.
