Updates on The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey
On December 26th, 1996 in Boulder, Colorado, John and Patsy Ramsey woke up to see their six-year-old beauty pageant daughter, JonBenét, missing. In the morning, Patsy found a ransom note asking for $118,000 (the amount John Ramsey was expecting as a Christmas bonus that year) in exchange for their child's return. When they eventually called the police to report her missing, authorities came to the house but did not do a proper search, leading to John Ramsey eventually finding her seven hours later, dead in their basement.
JonBenét died due to strangulation and a blow to the head, leaving her with a broken skull. Her hands were tied together with a cord and there was a garrote found tied around JonBenét’s neck. There were no signs of forced entry into the home.
There are many things in this case that don't have explanations or seem a little suspicious. Going back to the ransom note, the police later found a draft of the note in the house and were also able to conclude that the note was written on paper from inside the house. Why wouldn't the killer have written the note before if it was someone outside of the family or if it was a planned attack?
The ransom note was two-and-a-half pages long and didn't have any fingerprints on it besides Patsy’s and authorities. After handwriting experts studied the ransom note, they found that it was unlikely that Patsy wrote the note. The ransom note was signed; “Victory! S.B.T.C.” The police have yet to figure out what those letters stand for.
In 2003, trace DNA from JonBenéts clothing was able to conclude that it was an unknown male and did not match any of the family member's DNA.
In 2006, a man reporting on this story emailed back and forth with John Mark Karr about the attack, and eventually, Karr confessed to the killing of JonBenét Ramsey. He wasn't the only one who claimed to kill JonBenet, but when he went into horrific details about the crime, the police took the claims seriously. After his arrest and DNA testing, they found that Karr was not a match and ultimately just wanted to get the attention of having his name attached to this case.
JonBenét’s brother, Burke, has been under heavy suspicion from the public ever since the crime happened. Burke was only nine-years-old when his sister was found dead.
When police were investigating, they found a bowl of pineapple on the kitchen counter with Burke’s fingerprints on it. In the autopsy, they found that pineapple had been in JonBénets stomach and she had to have eaten some shortly before her death.
A theory on the murder was that JonBenét had eaten some of Burke's pineapple that night, causing him to lash out and accidentally kill his sister. This led people to believe that even if the parents didn't do it, they might've had some connection to covering for their son.
Almost 26 years later, the case is still highly discussed in the crime world, and investigators are still actively trying to figure out who was responsible for this tragic death. Just three weeks ago, there was a breakthrough theory on the case.
Private investigator Jason Jenson believes that the letters “S.B.T.C” that were signed on the ransom note may have some reference to the University of Colorado Boulder, hinting that the killer could have been a student at the school, less than half a mile from the Ramsey house.
In 1996, two physicists at the school wrote a paper about quantum structures focusing on comparisons between pseudopotential and single-band truncated-crystal (SBTC) calculations. Jenson stated; "The odds of a paper being written in March 1996 referencing SBTC and a ransom note signed SBTC in Dec. 1996 just 1/2 mile apart seems uncanny to me."
With more research theories and clues popping up all the time, we can only hope that this case will be solved in time for justice to be served.
Was it the brother? Was it the parents? Was it an outsider infatuated with the beauty pageant star? There are many theories surrounding the killing of JonBenét; which do you think is true?