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On the day after Christmas in 1996, the body of 6-year-old child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was discovered in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado. Over 25 years later, this notorious crime remains unsolved, with investigators continuing to delve deeper into the Ramsey family for potential leads.
The case has captivated the public’s attention, with strange facts and connections making the tragic story of JonBenét all the more mysterious. From the family’s involvement in the child pageant circuit to the bizarre behavior of her brother Burke, there are many unanswered questions surrounding this cold case.
The Ramsey Family Under Suspicion
Apart from some inconclusive trace DNA evidence and a bizarre ransom note, there was very little physical evidence for police to go on in the JonBenét Ramsey murder investigation. As a result, the Ramsey family themselves immediately drew the attention of both investigators and the media.
JonBenét’s immediate family included her father John Ramsey, her mother Patsy Ramsey, and her 9-year-old brother Burke Ramsey. Also involved was her older stepbrother John Andrew Ramsey, who was John’s son from a previous marriage. At one point or another, all of them were under suspicion, with rumors of a family member’s potential involvement still swirling in the court of public opinion to this day.
The Tragic Loss of Elizabeth Ramsey
Four years prior to JonBenét’s murder, her father John Ramsey had already experienced the loss of another young daughter. Elizabeth “Beth” Pasch Ramsey, one of John’s children from his first marriage to Lucinda “Linda” Pasch, died at the age of 22 in a car accident in January 1992.
Investigators pulled Elizabeth’s autopsy report on the off chance there was any link to her death and JonBenét’s, but there was no evidence of foul play. However, the shocking nature of the case and the lack of any official suspects led to some speculation that the two deaths may have been connected.
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Patsy Ramsey’s Beauty Pageant Past
Nearly 20 years before JonBenét’s murder, her mother Patsy Ramsey was crowned Miss West Virginia in a 1977 beauty pageant. Patsy grew up in the pageant circuit, and what was a way of life for her soon became fodder for criticism during the murder investigation of her daughter.
Critics and investigators alike implied that JonBenét never really wanted to do pageants and that Patsy was just trying to live vicariously through her daughter, pressuring JonBenét and fostering a negatively competitive environment. While there has been no evidence of this or of anything that directly links Patsy to the crime, the “pageant mom” characterization cast her in a negative light and led to speculations of abuse.
John Ramsey stated multiple times that the beauty pageants in which JonBenét participated were just a way for her and Patsy to bond, but in retrospect, he admitted he wished they’d never entered their child in them. Allegedly, Patsy Ramsey saw the pageants as the center of JonBenét’s young life.
“The media characterized JonBenét as a toddler beauty queen, and virtually every single public image of JonBenét is a pageant photo. However, she only ever participated in nine pageants.”
Many who knew JonBenét, including her parents, referred to her as a tomboy at heart. Investigators from the Independent later drew attention to how involved the Ramseys were in their daughter’s career and rightfully questioned whether it is appropriate or even safe for young children to participate in beauty pageants.
Burke Ramsey’s Troubling Behavior
JonBenét’s older brother Burke, who was 9 years old at the time of her death, doesn’t seem like an obvious suspect. However, he drew suspicion from investigators after they learned of some of his troubling behavior.
- Burke had a scatological obsession and would smear his feces throughout the house. Crime scene evidence found his feces smeared on a box of candy he gave JonBenét for Christmas.
- The family housekeeper recalled Burke covering a bathroom wall with his excrement and finding fecal matter the size of a grapefruit in JonBenét’s bed, which she believed had been left there by Burke.
- According to a report in Vanity Fair, fingerprints found at the scene indicate that on the night of the murder, Burke made himself a snack of pineapple with milk and tea. Theoretically, JonBenét may have stolen a piece of the fruit because it was her favorite dessert, and that minor offense may have been the catalyst for the grisly events that followed.
However, this is just speculation, and Burke’s incredibly private life after the murder may account for his odd behavior in rare interviews.
The Suspicious Suitcase
JonBenét’s older stepbrother John Andrew Ramsey also played an unexpected role in the murder investigation. Police found John Andrew’s suitcase near the crime scene, which was strange because it was not where the Ramseys typically kept their luggage.
Even more strange was the suitcase’s contents, which included a blanket with John Andrew’s semen on it. Given that JonBenét’s body showed signs of assault, John Andrew was briefly considered a suspect. However, he was ultimately cleared of having any involvement with the murder.
Investigators later theorized that the suspect tried to put JonBenét’s body in the suitcase but, for whatever reason, decided to leave her behind.
Theories and Suspects
Absolutely everyone had a theory about who killed JonBenét, including her aunt Pamela Paugh, who was the younger sister of Patsy Ramsey and a fellow beauty queen. Paugh felt certain the murderer was someone JonBenét knew and trusted, since there was no sign of struggle in her room.
Paugh nonetheless theorized that the murderer must have been a family friend jealous over John Ramsey’s wealth. Some passages from the ransom note seem to indicate that the killer may have been a coworker of John Ramsey’s, although the authenticity of the note has never been established.
In fact, several people involved with the case, including investigators and prosecutors, believe the note was actually written by Patsy in an attempt to cover up the crime. Patsy Ramsey never fully escaped the suspicion that followed her after her daughter’s murder, but she did do her best to start fresh in the subsequent years.
Patsy Ramsey’s Cancer Battle
In 1993, just a few years before JonBenét’s death, Patsy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. After chemotherapy, Patsy’s cancer went into remission, and she lived a healthy life for nearly a decade until it came back in the early 2000s.
When the Ramseys moved to Georgia following the crime, Patsy became deeply involved with the local community and regularly corresponded with cancer patients, even while her own cancer was in remission. And when the cancer returned, Patsy still reportedly tried to lift the spirits of fellow patients.
John Ramsey later told CBS that he felt Patsy wasn’t an overbearing mother and that the media’s poor portrayal of her had been an unfair angle. He said Patsy had just come out of cancer treatments and that “deep down she didn’t know how long she had to live and how much time she had to spend with her child, so she tried to pack a lot into a day.”
Burke Ramsey’s Quiet Life
Unlike his parents, Burke Ramsey managed to stay out of the public eye during much of the murder investigation and its aftermath. In 2016, he made some public appearances where he admitted to purposely trying to stay out of the spotlight.
As of 2018, Burke was a software engineer who reportedly worked from home. While he may have liked to put feces in his sister’s bed, it seems he did love her or at least he says he did. In a 2016 interview commemorating the 20th anniversary of JonBenét’s murder, Burke claimed that he continued to talk to his sister for years after her death and believed Patsy and JonBenét were reunited in heaven, watching over him.
Burke’s incredibly private life may account for his odd behavior in rare interviews. After a 2016 interview with Dr. Phil McGraw, for example, McGraw had to assure the media that Burke was extremely nervous on camera, which is why he kept smiling when talking about his sister’s murder.
In December 2016, Burke Ramsey filed a $750 million lawsuit against CBS over statements made in the documentary “The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey.” Burke felt the documentary falsely led viewers to believe he accidentally killed his sister, and he was so angry about it that he even filed another $150 million suit against one of the pathologists who appeared in the documentary, stating his adamant belief that Burke was JonBenét’s killer.
CBS argued that cold case shows often point the finger at different people, which they maintained is not the same as formally accusing someone of murder. However, the network’s motion to dismiss was denied in 2018, and the suit was later settled to the satisfaction of all parties.
The Ramsey Family’s Connections
In the years following JonBenét’s murder, the Ramsey family’s connections and relationships have continued to captivate the public’s attention.
The Natalie Holloway Connection
In 2005, 18-year-old Natalee Holloway made headlines when she disappeared during a trip to Aruba. A few years after Holloway’s disappearance and shortly after Patsy Ramsey’s death, Natalee’s mother Beth Holloway Twitty met John Ramsey through mutual friends.
Throughout the following year, Twitty and Ramsey were seen multiple times together, and according to a 2007 report in People magazine, the two have been seen holding hands and kissing in her hometown, as well as attending art shows and eating in restaurants together. The relationship was short-lived but made for a sensational “true crime” connection in the tabloids.
In fairness to the couple, they shared a tragedy that can’t be understood by most people. However, unlike John, Beth Holloway Twitty would eventually get some closure in 2023 when Joran van der Sloot confessed to taking her daughter’s life.
John Ramsey’s Third Marriage
After Patsy’s death in 2006, John Ramsey tied the knot for a third time in 2011, marrying Jan Rousseaux, a designer from Las Vegas, in a private ceremony in Charlevoix, Michigan. Charlevoix was the same town where John and Patsy lived in the years preceding Patsy’s death.
When People Magazine asked John what JonBenét would think of this new marriage, he simply replied, “I have no doubt she will be smiling.”
The Ongoing Mystery
Despite the passage of over 25 years, the JonBenét Ramsey case remains one of the most famous and widely speculated-upon crimes of the 20th century. The tragic and premature death of a young girl, the investigative errors associated with the case, the false confession from a would-be killer, the conspiracy theories about who the killer really is, and the odd behavior of her family make it a captivating and enduring mystery.
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