JonBenét Ramsey case discussed

Amber Matha, Opinion editor

Twenty years ago, 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey was murdered in the Ramsey family home in Boulder, Colorado.  Her case has never been solved despite high media coverage, even after all of this time.

On Sept. 18, the two-part documentary “The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey” premiered on CBS.  The show brought together forensics experts Henry Lee, Jim Clemente, Laura Richards, Jim Fitzgerald, Stan Burke, James Kolar and Werner Spitz, who investigated the case from scratch to try to shed light on what the original detectives might have missed.

There are a couple of aspects of the case that I found mildly disturbing, if not preposterous.

First of all, the three-page “ransom note” was gone over in excruciating detail by the investigators in the first installment of the documentary.  They determined that it would take the intruder at least 20 minutes to write the note.  This is excluding the time it would take to write the drafts that were found in the trash.  It is highly improbable that it was an intruder who wrote the note just based on this information.

I found it very fishy that the 911 dispatcher who had been on the phone with Patsy Ramsey, JonBenét’s mother, was never asked to appear before the grand jury.  When they played back the tape and enhanced the audio it was clear to everyone that it sounds like Patsy says “What did you do?” after she thinks she has hung up the phone.

What I found most terrifying was the way JonBenét’s older brother Burke acted based on tapes of his interviews with investigators that were shown during the second installment on Monday night.

Just days after the murder, Burke Ramsey seemed completely indifferent to the fact that his sister had been murdered in his house.  He even said that he was just getting on with his life.

Investigators came to the conclusion that it was Burke who killed her.  I believe this assertion.  Upon finding her dead, they hypothesized that John and Patsy Ramsey, the parents, covered up Burke’s crime to prevent him from getting in trouble.

If their speculation is true, even if the murder was accidental, I believe that the family should step forward and own up to their crimes.  JonBenét deserves justice.