# Patsy Ramsey has died **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 24, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980 "2006-06-24T14:13:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/21 "2006-06-25T01:28:09Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] What makes you think that the killer had any idea that the amount was the same as Ramsey’s work bonus? The amount was coincidental, but it’s really not a very _interesting_ coincidence and we have no reason to believe that the killer was actually _aware_ of the coincidence. [/QUOTE] In my humble opinion, if they did ask for that exact amount, $118k, and not, say, $100k, I’d find that a pretty interesting coincidence. It wouldn’t make me more suspicious of the parents, though, I’d look for people who knew about the bonus. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/22 "2006-06-25T02:46:14Z")
[QUOTE=Revtim] In my humble opinion, if they did ask for that exact amount, $118k, and not, say, $100k, I’d find that a pretty interesting coincidence. It wouldn’t make me more suspicious of the parents, though, I’d look for people who knew about the bonus. [/QUOTE] My thoughts exactly. Why would a random stranger pick an unround number like $118,000 to ask for? If the numbers do match up that well, then I strongly doubt it was a coincidence. Someone had their eye on that bonus. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/23 "2006-06-25T02:46:29Z")
Oh good, more JonBenet Ramsey-related news. That means I’ll get to look at her creepy prepubescent Tammy Fae visage in the checkout line at the supermarket for another eighteen months. And here I was starting to think she’d finally dropped off the tabloids’ radar after ten fricking years. Funny to think that if she were still alive today, she’d probably be going through that angsty teenage phase of feeling underappreciated and unnoticed. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/24 "2006-06-25T07:05:33Z")
The dingo did it. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/25 "2006-06-26T12:37:33Z")
So apparently someone broke into their house, sexually molested and accidentally killed their daughter, wrote a ransom note that mentioned the exact amount of John’s bonus, and left their daughter’s body in the house? That’s not at all suspious. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/26 "2006-06-26T13:14:55Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] So apparently someone broke into their house, sexually molested and accidentally killed their daughter, wrote a ransom note that mentioned the exact amount of John’s bonus, and left their daughter’s body in the house? That’s not at all suspious. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] You still think the parents were involved after the DNA of an unrelated (and as-yet unidentified) male was found in blood in JonBenet’s underpants? A judge and a district attorney both say the “weight of evidence supports the belief that an intruder was responsible for JonBenet’s death.” [The Crime Library article](http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/ramsey/18.html) that I lifted that quote from, on a page entitled _Vindications At Last_, mentions the following as evidence supporting the Ramsey’s innocence: > [@Crime Library](#): > > “a mysterious boot print outside the house; DNA of an unknown male on JonBenet and her underpants; marks on her body that could have been made by a stun gun; and signs that someone may have entered the house through a basement window.” It was a bizarre crime and it made sense that the police looked at the family first, but in light of the DNA, the stun gun and the attack on [another student](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/16/48hours/main661569.shtml) (“Amy”) from the same dance school, it seems like the focus should be on other people - for instance, people who were in a position to know what John Ramsey’s bonus was that year. That’s why I think Patsy Ramsey was an innocent victim and not the murderer of her own daughter. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/27 "2006-06-26T13:33:52Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] They’re innocent. I was wrong, when I thought they weren’t. [/QUOTE] Amen. I had initially thought they were guilty, but I went through a similar change of opinion after I read about the case in more detail (and with less yellow-journalism embellishment) than what the mainstream media did. IMO, the police bungled the investigation, and the MSM filled the public’s desire for a suspect by trying and convicting the parents. An utter shame. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/28 "2006-06-26T13:51:53Z")
[QUOTE=Linty Fresh] … I think that the fact that this took place in a small Colorado town with a police department unused to homocide cases… [/QUOTE] Boulder - a small Colorado town? Huh? Look, I’m from a small Wisconsin town of 2,000 people. There’s 93,000 people in the city of Boulder, 300,000 in Boulder County. It’s on the front range, for the love of Mike! I’m just saying that depending on how you look at it, Boulder’s not that small. The police department being inexperienced and probably overwhelmed with the case - that I’ve got no problems with. That part is exactly correct. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/29 "2006-06-26T13:58:32Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] So apparently someone broke into their house, sexually molested and accidentally killed their daughter, wrote a ransom note that mentioned the exact amount of John’s bonus, and left their daughter’s body in the house? [/quote] Yep. That’s exactly what the evidence show. Do you have an explanation for the DNA in the underwear? Or is the stupid amount of the stupid ransom note alone enough to convince you that the parents are guilty? Is that really the best you can do? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/30 "2006-06-26T15:22:38Z")
As **Revtim** maintains, the ransom request/ bonus amount coincidence doesn’t prove the Ramsey’s guilt but it does sugggest the killer had access to some pretty priviledged information and likely narrows the focus away from your random, off the street intruder. Wouldn’t statistics alone suggest the chance of that being a coincidence is somewhat less than 1%? One thing that stuck with me was that the ransom note used several unusual colloqualisms or sayings that Patsy frequently used herself. It was long and rambling, kinda unusual if you’re trying to escape a crime scene. The amount of time it took them to call the police was disturbing. Her clothes, weren’t they unchanged from the day before and inconsistent with her story? Meh, it’s been too long. Gotta go back and read up. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/31 "2006-06-26T15:29:27Z")
And yet, we sill have that foreign DNA… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/32 "2006-06-26T15:33:53Z")
SOUTH PARK said they were guilty. What more evidence do you need? ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980/33 "2006-06-26T21:43:25Z")
Someone got away with murder in 1991, but it wasn’t John or Patsy Ramsey. The Boulder Police Department couldn’t have screwed up that murder investigation more if they had been trying to do so intentionally. Honestly, some of the stuff they did would have been rejected for inclusion in a movie script as too unbelievable. They bugged the child’s headstone in the cemetery hoping for a graveside confession, for god’s sake. The detectives in charge of the investigation should surrender their badges in shame. Of course, as I understand it, at least one wrote a book about the case to capitalize on it and make his buck. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patsy-ramsey-has-died/361980.md?page=1)