Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?

On the night of December 25th 1996, wealthy businessman John Ramsey carried his sleeping 6-year-old daughter, JonBenet, from her carseat in the back of the family car, up to her bedroom on the top floor of the family’s million dollar mansion in Boulder, CO.

15 hours later, Mr. Ramsey once again carried JonBenet - this time from the cellar in a secluded section of the basement, up to the first floor family room. He laid her gently on the floor, similar in manner as to how he laid her tiny, sleeping body underneath her Beauty and the Beast comforter set just the night before. Except this time, she wasn’t sleeping. She was dead.

What happened within the walls of the Ramsey home during those 15 mysterious hours, beginning on Christmas night 1996 and stretching into the early morning hours of December 26th, still remains a mystery; the tragic slaying of a 6-year-old blue eyed beauty queen is a mystery that has captivated America and beyond for more than 20 years. To this day, the case of JonBenet Ramsey remains unsolved.

Now standing as one of the most publicized true crime cases in American history, there are several aspects of JonBenet’s case that craft a fine-line between intrigue and frustration. Each and every clue seems more confusing than the last; from a perplexing ransom note, questions about the official cause of death, and eerie audio from the 911 call.. there’s one thing we know for sure: the case of JonBenet Ramsey is a tantalizing mix of creepy and complicated.

With all of the conflicting evidence peppered throughout the case, there certainly is no shortage of twists and turns when analyzing the nitty gritty of what, exactly, happened at 755 15th Street on that fateful Christmas night in 1996. Through it all, however, this case boils down to one main question: Who killed JonBenet Ramsey?

Over the years, 2 main theories regarding the details of her murder and the identity of her killer have come to light. Some believe an intruder broke into the Ramsey home that night and murdered JonBenet. Others believe that one of the family members within the home (her brother Burke, her father John, or her mother Patsy) accidentally murdered JonBenet and staged a cover-up. I will dive into each of these theories in detail, but first let’s cover the basics…

In a case of so many uncertainties, what DO we know? Well, we know that on the day of December 25th, 1996, the Ramsey family had a fairly normal Christmas. That evening, they attended a friend’s Christmas party, from which they returned home between 9:00-10:00pm. Witnesses from the Christmas party stated that nothing seemed out of the ordinary with the Ramsey family that night. They had been seen laughing, mingling, and genuinely enjoying the holiday.

John and Patsy stated that both JonBenet and her older brother Burke had fallen asleep during the car ride home from the Christmas party. Upon arriving home, John removed JonBenet from her carseat and carried her up to bed, where she was then tucked in by Patsy. This was the last time JonBenet was seen alive.

John claims that, after putting JonBenet to bed, he and Burke stayed up for approximately another 30 minutes playing games and toying around with the Christmas gifts Burke had received that day. At this time, Patsy supposedly readied herself for bed and was asleep by 10:30pm. John tucked Burke into bed, when he then claims he turned the house security alarms on and joined Patsy in bed.

A neighbor would later recall seeing “strange lights and movement” coming from inside the Ramsey’s kitchen around midnight. At some point between midnight and 2:00am, another neighbor reported hearing a scream, immediately followed by the sound of metal crashing against cement coming from the Ramsey household.

The Ramsey’s claim they awoke at 5:30am to prepare for a family trip to Georgia. John jumped in the shower, while Patsy dressed herself and headed downstairs to make coffee. She never made it to the kitchen.

On her way downstairs, Patsy stated she was stopped in her tracks by 3 pieces of paper placed neatly across a step near the bottom of the staircase. She picked up the papers, and there she found a handwritten ransom note. The note, among many other things, announced the kidnapping of their daughter, demanded that the police not be contacted, and requested that the Ramseys deliver $118,000 for the safe return of JonBenet. Patsy, in a panic, dropped the papers and ran to JonBenet’s bedroom, where she found an empty bed and no sign of her daughter. She then alerted John before dialing 911 at approximately 5:52am to report JonBenet missing.

2 minutes later, another call was made from inside the Ramsey home. This time, it was Patsy calling family friends to alert them that JonBenet was missing. At 5:59am, the first police officer arrived on scene. Over the course of the next hour, various police officers, family members, and close friends streamed in and out of the house offering their condolences and helping search for JonBenet. Many people believe that the police department’s failure to secure the scene at this point caused serious damage to the active crime scene and greatly hindered the ensuing investigation.

The day continued on this way for the next few hours, until lead detective Lisa Arndt suggested one more walkthrough of the house to look for anything that may seem out of place. John Ramsey immediately headed to the basement, a decision he later claimed he made because he believed it to be the most logical point of entry for an intruder. Within 5 minutes of entering the basement, John Ramsey opened the door to the wine cellar and found JonBenet.

Her lifeless body was covered with her favorite white blanket, her hands tied above her head, a strangulation device wrapped around her neck, and a piece of black duct tape smeared across her mouth. Horrified, John peeled the duct tape from her mouth, lifted his daughter from where she was laying on the cold, cellar floor and carried her upstairs. Still unsure if she was dead or alive, he laid her down while a detective checked for a pulse. There wasn’t one. At approximately 1:05pm, just 15 hours since she was last seen alive, JonBenet was pronounced dead on scene.

While JonBenet’s official cause of death is debatable (more on that later), her autopsy revealed that she suffered blunt force trauma to the head, strangulation, and sexual assault. The medical examiner also found odd markings on her skin that resembled wounds resulting from an object such as a stun gun.

The order in which JonBenet sustained these injuries is not extremely clear, and has been debated for years. There are a few different possibilities as to the order in which JonBenet suffered the blow to her head, the suffocation, and the sexual assault. Each possibility holds with it a different implication as to who committed the crime. So, let’s get started…

The Family Theory

JonBenet and her older brother Burke had an odd relationship. About a year before her death, JonBenet was hospitalized after an incident in which Burke hit her in the face with a golf club. Additionally, it was widely known among family and friends that Burke had a consistent past of smearing his feces across JonBenet’s bedroom walls as a means of acting out. Many speculate that 9-year-old Burke was jealous of the attention that JonBenet received not only from the public eye as a beauty queen, but also from their parents. Does a contentious sibling relationship make someone a murderer? Let’s take a look at the evidence that implicates Burke as JonBenet’s killer:

On top of his violent history of hitting JonBenet and smearing his feces throughout her bedroom, a look at JonBenet’s digestive system during her autopsy made many heads turn in Burke’s direction. When analyzing JonBenet’s stomach contents during the routine autopsy, the medical examiner found undigested pieces of pineapple sitting in her stomach. Scientifically, it was determined that JonBenet consumed that pineapple approximately 30 minutes prior to her death. Oddly enough, a bowl of fresh pineapple was found sitting on the kitchen counter when police arrived on-scene the morning JonBenet was reported missing. This is important because it contradicts John and Patsy’s initial statement that JonBenet had gone straight to bed after returning home from the Christmas party that night. Next to the pineapple sat a large, black flashlight that many speculate to be the weapon behind the blunt force trauma JonBenet endured as part of her death.

As pineapple just happens to be one of Burke’s favorite snacks, and his DNA was found on the bowl of pineapple, many theorists believe that Burke was enjoying some pineapple before bed when JonBenet made her way into the kitchen and took some fruit from the bowl. It is believed that Burke, in a fit of rage at his younger sister, grabbed the flashlight from the kitchen counter and hit her in the head, knocking her unconscious. When he alerted his parents to what he had done, they panicked and staged the scene.

Supporters of this theory believe that John and Patsy were horrified at what Burke had done, but also feared that their son would end up in prison. Not wanting to lose both of their children, the Ramsey’s made the impulsive decision to stage JonBenet’s death as a break-in/pedophilic attack.

It is theorized that Patsy wrote the ransom note, as was supported through handwriting analysis that implicated Patsy as the likely author of the note. Additionally, the note was written on Patsy’s own stationery, and suspiciously demanded a ransom in the exact amount that John had received as a holiday bonus that year ($118,000).

In an effort to divert familial suspicion and instead point in the direction of pedophilia, John and Patsy placed the strangulation device, which just happened to be made out of string and broken paintbrushes from Patsy’s own paint kit, around JonBenet’s neck. They also caused vaginal irritation to indicate sexual assault as a false motive and throw investigators off their scent. To create the bruising that resembled injuries from a stun gun, it is theorized that John and Patsy used a piece of Burke’s train set to dig into her skin and create the allusion that she had been subdued with a stun gun. Investigators later measured the length of the toy train track piece and compared it to the length of JonBenet’s odd bruises; it was an exact match.

Additionally, the Ramseys told investigators that Burke had been asleep in his bed all morning during the commotion of JonBenet being reported missing and police arriving on-scene. According to John and Patsy, it wasn’t until they located JonBenet’s body that Burke emerged from his room that day. However, this statement is contradicted by muffled audio that occurred when Patsy failed to correctly hang up the phone after making the 911 call. The audio reveals what sounds like Burke saying something inaudible, to which Patsy responds, “we’re not speaking to you”. This contradicts the Ramseys initial statement and places Burke awake at the time JonBenet was reported missing - what motive would the Ramseys have to lie about this, other than Burke’s guilt?

Burke wasn’t the only family member with the means and possible motive to murder JonBenet that night, however. Some speculate that Patsy, who was extremely hard on her daughter when it came to pageantry, murdered JonBenet in a fit of rage upon realizing that her daughter had wet the bed that night. An analysis of JonBenet’s underwear and pajama pants revealed urine stains, indicating that she had wet herself at some point before or during her murder. It is theorized that Patsy placed JonBenet in the bath to clean her off, and smashed her daughter’s head into the side of the tub in anger. Other possible motives that pin Patsy as the killer include a sick jealousy of her daughter’s beauty pageant success, and intense stress caused by Patsy’s impending 40th birthday. Additionally, fibers from the blazer Patsy was wearing on the morning JonBenet was reported missing were found embedded in the piece of duct tape that covered JonBenet’s mouth.

While many people who support the family theory believe that John was simply complicit in the coverup and had no actual hand in his daughter’s murder, other’s speculate that John had been sexually assaulting his daughter for an undisclosed amount of time and was either caught - or almost caught - in the act by Patsy on the night of JonBenet’s death. It is theorized that John may have murdered JonBenet as a means of keeping her quiet about the sexual abuse she had endured at his hands.

Another compelling piece of evidence in support of the family theory is the fact that there were no footprints or disturbances in the snow found around the Ramsey home that morning. To investigators, it seemed peculiar that an intruder would be able to leave no footprints or trace in such a snowy yard that night. Family and friends who arrived at the Ramsey home that day reported suspicious behavior from both John and Patsy. It was stated that Patsy was seen fake crying throughout the day, even going so far as to cover her face and sob, only to peek out from behind her fingers to see if anyone was watching her facade. It was also reported that John disappeared at several different points throughout the day, for odd amounts of time.

In 1998, a grand jury was presented with the evidence against the Ramseys and voted to indict them for the murder of their daughter. However, the District Attorney failed to move forward with the case due to his own belief that he would not be able to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Patsy passed away from ovarian cancer in 2006, and was laid to rest alongside JonBenet in a Georgia cemetery. Any involvement or information Patsy had been harboring regarding the murder of her daughter, she took with her to the grave. John eventually remarried, and still maintains that he is innocent and actively searching to find the true identity of his daughter’s murderer. Burke, now in his early thirties, lives a normal life working in IT. He has filed several defamation lawsuits against different television programs and news organizations for implicating him in the murder of his younger sister.

The Intruder Theory

Did an intruder break into the Ramsey home on Christmas day/night 1996 and brutally murder JonBenet Ramsey? Well, it’s complicated. There certainly is some compelling evidence to support this theory, but much like every other theory in this case, there is also a lot of evidence to the contrary. And, depending on perspective, some of the evidence could swing either way.

The intruder theory is based on either 1 of 2 situations. Either an intruder broke into the Ramsey home after the Ramsey’s returned from the Christmas party, or an intruder had broken in while they were out and hid somewhere inside the home for several hours.

The major piece of evidence that these two scenarios really come down to is the ransom note. No matter what theory you believe, we can all agree that a 3 page, handwritten ransom note is a bit excessive. Additionally, we also know that the ransom note was penned inside the Ramsey home because it was written on stationary that belonged to the Ramseys. There was also evidence found of ‘practice’ notes written before the final product was ripped from the notepad and left on the stairs.

If we go with the theory that the intruder entered the Ramsey home after they had returned from the party, this means that the ransom note had to have been written after the crime was committed. The big question here is: why would an intruder spend that much time in the home after the killing? And how, after committing such a heinous crime, would they have a calm enough demeanor to sit down and write such an elaborate note?

This question is what has led some intruder theorists to believe that the intruder actually entered the Ramsey’s home before they returned that night, thus giving him enough time to sit around and write the ransom note while he waited. Intruder theorists also believe that the intruder snooped around John Ramsey’s office while he waited for their return, and argue that this is how the intruder knew the exact amount of John’s bonus, which he would then include in the ransom note.

Whichever of these 2 options you buy into, however, the same questions linger within both: who was this intruder, and why did they want to murder JonBenet?

Since the moment JonBenet had learned to walk, her mother Patsy began training her as a beauty queen. She was competing in pageants almost every single weekend. Because of this, JonBenet was no stranger to the public eye. It has often been theorized that JonBenet’s exposure as a pageant girl attracted some very sinister, pedophilic attention. Therefore, it is not completely implausible to believe that a pedophile may have developed a fixation on JonBenet, and broke into her home on that fateful Christmas night to live out his sick fantasy. In the years following JonBenet’s murder, several different pedophiles, including infamous child rapist and killer John Mark Karr, ‘confessed’ to her killing. However, none of these confessions could ever be viabally substantiated.

So, if it wasn’t a random pedophile who broke in and murdered JonBenet, then who was it? One of the eeriest clues in support of the intruder theory stems from a Christmas party that the Ramsey’s themselves had hosted just a few days prior to JonBenet’s death. The Ramsey’s had hired a man named Bill McReynolds to play Santa Claus at their holiday party. It is rumored that McReynolds paid a little too much attention to JonBenet, and had promised to make a ‘very special visit’ to her on Christmas. He maintained his innocence up until his own death several years after JonBenet’s murder. Eerily, his wife later reported that on his deathbed, McReynolds requested that a vial of glitter JonBenet had gifted him at the holiday party be mixed into his ashes after he was cremated.

Could the man her parents hired to act as Santa at their holiday party developed a fixation on JonBenet and followed through on that ‘special’ visit he had promised her? After all, any intruder that broke into the Ramsey home that night would had to have been familiar with the layout of the home prior to committing the crime. How else would he have known where to find JonBenet’s bedroom in such a large mansion? How would he have known where to enter the home undetected? Why would he have felt comfortable enough to look around the house for supplies to make the strangulation device, instead of making one prior to entering the home?

For those who support the intruder theory, one of the most crucial pieces of evidence is the broken window in the basement, just one room over from where JonBenet’s body was found. Just below the broken window sat a suitcase and a scuff-mark on the wall, as if someone had broken the glass, slipped inside, and then placed the suitcase there to hoist themselves back through and make their escape.

In 2008, advanced forensic technology determined that the DNA profile found on the waistline of JonBenet’s pajama pants and inside her underwear belonged to that of an unidentified male, completely unrelated to the Ramsey family. Those who argue against this theory, however, claim that the DNA could have come from anyone who handled JonBenet’s clothes while they were being manufactured, and may have nothing to do with the identity of her killer. Additionally, there were droplets of blood found on the inside of JonBenet’s underwear, as well as along her vaginal walls, which indicated a sexual motive behind her slaying. Moreover, the intruder theory supports the notion that the markings on JonBenet’s body consistent with injuries from a stun gun were the result of her killer trying to subdue her after creeping into her bedroom to assault her.

But what about the undigested pineapple found in JonBenet’s stomach during her autopsy? How does this fit into the intruder theory? Intruder theorists believe that whoever murdered JonBenet that night had lured her out of her bedroom with the promise of a midnight snack, which ended up being the pineapple that Burke had left sitting out before he went to bed that night.

Let’s rewind for a second and focus on my earlier comment about the timeline of JonBenet’s injuries being integral in determining her killer. Here’s where that comes into play: JonBenet’s autopsy revealed moon shaped fingernail impressions along where the strangulation device was placed around her neck. This means that JonBenet was still alive and fighting back when she had been strangled, and thus also means that she suffered the blow to her head after the suffocation. Now, how is this relevant to the identity of her killer? Because the theories that implicate Burke or the parents as her killers hinge on the notion that JonBenet died from a blow to the head, and the strangulation occurred as part of the cover-up. It has long been debated whether or not those markings on JonBenet’s neck are genuinely consistent with fingernail impressions, but if they are, the intruder theory certainly gains an edge over the others.

All things considered, the JonBenet Ramsey case is NOT for people who love some good old fashioned closure. There is no closure in this case, and sadly, there may never be. Each piece of evidence seems to contradict the last, and everything can point to a different suspect depending on how it’s looked at.

Maybe Burke was angry at his little sister that night, and took things too far.. But maybe he didn’t.

Maybe Patsy was frustrated and had a moment of insanity that night.. But maybe she didn’t.

Maybe John had been sexually abusing his daughter.. But maybe he wasn’t.

Maybe an intruder broke into the Ramsey home that night and committed one of the most heinous crimes in American history.. But maybe they didn’t.

No matter which way you see it, there’s one thing about this case that isn’t a ‘maybe’. An innocent 6-year-old girl was brutally murdered on Christmas night in 1996. She never got to compete in another pageant. She never saw her first day of 2nd grade, and never experienced the milestones that every young girl dreams of. She will never fall in love, or hold her very own children in her arms. She may have changed the world - but the world will never know.

Her name is JonBenet Ramsey, and she deserves justice.

Who do you think murdered JonBenet Ramsey? Drop your theories and ideas in the comments.