Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey: True Story of JonBenét Ramsey’s Murder That Inspired the Netflix Docuseries
Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey is coming to Netflix on November 25th. It is a new docuseries directed by Joe Berlinger (Conversations with a Killer, Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich) that delves into and promises to shed new light on one of the most enigmatic and talked about news cases of the last 30 years in the United States, the killing of the little beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey. Concerning a little girl of just six years old, the case deeply affected American public opinion and not only, especially regarding the gravity of the fact and the inextricable mystery that followed.
The true crime docuseries “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey” is coming to Netflix, centered on a true story and directed by Oscar-nominated director Joe Berlinger, already known for having directed the documentaries “The Ted Bundy Tapes” and “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hills“. The docuseries consists of 3 episodes and is based on the true story of the murder of JonBenét Ramsey, which took place on December 26, 1996, in Colorado. The project investigates the missteps made by law enforcement and the media in that circumstance. Will the authorities in Colorado take the necessary actions to bring the killer of the little six-year-old girl to justice?
Cold Case: The True Story of JonBenét Ramsey’s Murder
The case that inspired the series dates back to 1996, more precisely to December 26 of that year. That day, John and Patsy Ramsey, a couple who lived in Boulder, Colorado, woke up after a beautiful Christmas day with a terrible discovery: their daughter JonBenét Patricia Ramsey, only 6 years old, was missing. All that remained of her was a ransom note found downstairs in the house. That same day, however, just a few hours later, the father found his daughter’s lifeless body in the basement of the house, discovering that his daughter had not been kidnapped, but sexually assaulted and brutally murdered.
The case attracted national and international media attention. The town’s police, not very experienced in murders of this type, cast suspicion on the girl’s parents, describing them as the most likely suspects and possible culprits. John Bennett Ramsey was a wealthy businessman, while Patricia Ann “Patsy” Paugh had been a beauty queen in her youth, a world she was very attached to and in which she had already involved her daughter JonBenet.
The investigations carried out in the house did not reveal any violations, nor the lack of objects or jewelry belonging to the family. This is a further indication of the possible guilt of the family of the child. The autopsy revealed that JonBenet had died of strangulation and some neighbors will testify to having heard the scream of a child during the night. The same scream that the family of the child would not have noticed.
In August 2006, John Mark Karr, a 40-year-old elementary school teacher, confessed to the rape and murder of JonBenet, but it was later discovered that his DNA did not match that found on the victim’s body and that he was with his family that day. In 2008, the Boulder District Attorney announced that after further investigation, members of the Ramsey family were no longer suspects. Over time, speculation continued, and the case was never solved.
The Whole Story
Christmas, with its magic and enchantment, is undoubtedly the favorite holiday for young and old. The joy, the lights, the sweets, and the gifts brought by Santa Claus are the backdrop to these days of celebration and joy, characterized by family reunions and a general climate of serenity and hope. However, Christmas does not always give moments of happiness and joy because, as often happens, even in the most beautiful fairy tales tragic stories are intertwined that transform the Christmas holidays into terrible moments, to be forgotten. The one we are about to tell you is precisely one of these stories: a beautiful little girl, of an almost painful beauty, is found dead on Christmas day in the cellar of her house. A destroyed family, over which a terrible suspicion hangs. A murder without a culprit, a story whose end has never been written, and a truth that has never been discovered. But let’s go in order, starting from the end, which in reality is the beginning of this terrible story.
JonBenèt Ramsey was born in Atlanta (USA) on August 6, 1990, to a very wealthy family: her father John was a wealthy businessman, and her mother Patricia, a former beauty queen and former Miss Virginia, was a journalist. JonBenèt also had an older brother, Burke. The Ramsey family therefore represented the prototype of the perfect American family: respected, loved by everyone, and well-liked by the community to which they belonged. From the tender age of 6, little JonBenèt, thanks to her mother’s connections but also and above all thanks to her extraordinary and precocious beauty, participated in numerous competitions and shows, soon becoming one of the most famous and beloved American beauty queens. This golden world made of travel, shiny dresses, fashion shows, and beauty contests, however, was destined to tragically collapse on the night of December 25, 1996.
The Murder
On the morning of December 26, 1996, Patricia Ramsey found a long ransom note in her home, on the stairs connecting the upper floors to the kitchen, in which an unspecified foreign faction declared that they had kidnapped little JonBenèt and ordered the Ramsey family to prepare 118,000 thousand dollars as a ransom for the kidnapping of the little girl. The family immediately alerted 911 and the investigation into the alleged kidnapping began; around 1:00 PM that same day, police detective Linda Arndt asked John Ramsey if she could search the house for any clues or traces that could help the investigation. The search began in the basement and continued through the bathroom, a hobby room, and other rooms used for laundry. Finally, the cellar of the Ramsey house was also searched and it is here that the detectives made a terrible and chilling discovery: on the floor, wrapped in a white blanket, lay the lifeless body of little JonBenèt. The child was still wearing her pajamas and was lying on her back, with her arms raised above her head. The child’s mouth was covered with a piece of tape while her neck and wrists were tied with nylon cord, left very loose.
The broken handle of a 10 cm long paintbrush, belonging to Patsy Ramsey, had been used to wrap one end of the nylon cord around it to form a garrote. John Ramsey, in desperation and panic, removed the tape from the child’s mouth and carried her upstairs, in a vain attempt to revive her. Once she was confirmed dead, it was decided to move the body of little JonBenèt once more and she was placed in the living room, next to the now-dead Christmas tree. From the beginning, the investigations into the brutal murder were conducted badly and in a completely crude manner because, from the moment the little girl’s body was discovered, relatives invaded the house, police officers and neighbors and only at 1:50 pm was the house declared a crime scene and placed under seizure. The coming and going of people, the continuous movements of the little victim’s body, and the general confusion that reigned that morning of December 26 irremediably compromised the crime scene and the reconstruction of the murder.
The Autopsy
The autopsy examinations performed on JonBenèt’s body were performed the day after the discovery of the murder and the results were shocking: it was discovered that the child had died from strangulation and that she had a deep skull fracture of about 20 cm, probably caused by a blunt blunt object. It was discovered that the garrote (made by someone who had experience in this type of knot) had been made from a piece of rope wrapped around the broken handle of a paintbrush, belonging to the child’s mother. It was also discovered that the strangulation had occurred from behind. Abrasions were found on the back of the back and on the legs, which were attributed to the probable dragging of the body, a circumstance that suggests that the child had not been killed in the cellar but elsewhere. The adhesive tape with which JonBenèt had been gagged appeared intact, suggesting that it had been applied post-mortem. Although there was no clear evidence of sexual violence, this could not be ruled out since ambiguous signs of probable abuse had emerged during the autopsy, which were never fully clarified. The official cause of death was asphyxia, caused by strangulation and associated with cranial trauma.
The Suspects
What really happened that Christmas of ’96? And, more importantly, who was responsible for that terrible murder? From the beginning of the investigation, suspicions fell on the Ramsey family, in particular on Patricia, the little girl’s mother. In fact, for a long time, the US police supported the hypothesis that Patsy Ramsey, in a fit of rage after the little girl had wet the bed again (JoBenet suffered from bedwetting), had seriously injured her that night and then killed her at a later time, simulating the kidnapping with the complicity of her husband. To support this hypothesis there was an additional element: in November 1997, the graphology experts, following several handwriting tests, affirmed that it was Patsy Ramsey who had written the ransom note. Another possible investigative hypothesis is that John Ramsey had sexually abused his daughter, killing her to cover up the crime.
For a certain period, Burke, JoBennet’s brother (who was 9 years old at the time of the events), was also suspected of the murder, as it was suspected that he had killed his little sister out of jealousy. All these suspicions, which fell on deaf ears due to a lack of concrete evidence, revolved around a series of findings: the murder had taken place in the house, there were no signs of forced entry on any of the doors or windows, and some neighbors declared that they had heard a child’s scream between the night of December 25th and 26th, a circumstance that JonBenèt’s parents have always categorically denied. The only certainty in this terrible story is that the investigations were carried out with almost embarrassing incompetence by the local police, so much so that, due to the contradictory evidence, the Grand Jury never managed to indict the Ramseys or anyone else for JonBenèt’s murder.
The Epilogue
The mystery surrounding the death of the child model remains unsolved and is one of the most famous American “cold cases”. The main suspects were and still are the parents of the child (Patricia Ramsey died of ovarian cancer). In October 2010 the case was reopened following a new investigation and 3 years later it was revealed that in 1999 a Colorado Grand Jury had collected enough evidence to indict John and Patricia Ramsey on charges of child abuse that would have caused the death of the child. However, the then-District Attorney Alex Hunter decided not to sign the indictment, claiming that the evidence was insufficient and sealing the documents relating to the charges. In September 2013, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a lawsuit to force District Attorney Stan Garnett to release the 1999 indictments, and in mid-October of that year, a ruling was issued that the indictments should be made public. So, on October 25, 2013, the 1999 classified documents were made public. Here is an excerpt:
“Between December 25 and December 26, 1996, in Boulder County, Colorado, John Bennett Ramsey and Patricia Paugh Ramsey did unlawfully, knowingly, and recklessly allow a child to be involved in a situation that was life-threatening or health-threatening, resulting in the death of JonBenét Ramsey, a child under the age of sixteen. They aided a person, with the intent to hinder, delay, and prevent the apprehension, detention, prosecution, conviction, and punishment of such a person for the commission of a crime. Knowing that such person had committed the crimes of First-Degree Murder and Child Abuse Resulting in Death.”
The Criminologist’s Opinion
Much has been said, hypothesized, and ventured on the Ramsey case but any criminological and investigative speculation has never found fertile ground. In this regard, we report some considerations made by Dr. Fabio Delicato, psychologist and criminologist.
“A first criminological clue, in this case, is certainly inherent to the crime scene and its alteration; in this case the inexperience of the first responders and the police forces allowed the body to be moved, thus contaminating any very important elements for a technical-scientific investigation (the father’s fingerprints were found on the insulating tape but since he was seen by everyone removing the tape with his own hands it was not possible to establish whether they were also present before that moment and therefore if so, to deduce that he had been the one to apply it to the little girl’s body). Furthermore, the scene was literally inundated with people, including first responders, police, and others, making the search and collection of traces very difficult. Another point to address is the difference between Strangulation and Choking; strangulation is achieved by exercising, with one or two hands, a violent constriction of the neck. It is also associated with a compressive action on the reflex areas of the carotid sinus. Strangulation, on the other hand, involves the use of a noose around the neck or another equivalent means to which a force is applied, acting according to a plane transverse to the major axis of the neck. An “atypical” method of strangulation is to cause the constriction of a noose around the neck mediated by a rod or a stick which, by twisting the noose, determines the progressive closure of the airways: in this case, this is the Garrota used to kill the little girl. This instrument was used to carry out capital punishment in Spain until the 1970s and consists of a pole to which an iron ring is fixed which is tightened using a screw crank around the neck of the condemned person until it causes strangulation”.
Despite the suspicions, the evidence, the Grand Jury documents, and the reopening of the investigation, the truth about the death and murder of little JonBenèt Ramsey has not yet emerged. The life of a beautiful and innocent little girl has been forever shattered by a faceless and nameless monster still at large and who, probably, will never pay for his terrible crime. Of JonBenèt, only the memory remains and some faint hope that one day the truth may finally blossom.
