The JonBenét Ramsey Crime Scene

You might remember the JonBenet Ramsey story from many Christmases ago. JonBenét Patricia Ramsey (born August 6, 1990) was a six-year-old child beauty pageant queen found brutally murdered at her family’s home address at 749 15th Street in Boulder, Colorado on December 26, 1996. 

It’s a case that has still, over 20 years later, has never been completely solved. The high publicity and confusing evidence around the case made it possible that the Ramsey family had something to do with her death. After all, while murders are uncommon during Christmas, holiday familicide has happened. But declaring that based on lack of evidence is not so simple.

Reader Discretion is Advised: This story contains graphic images.

What Happened to JonBenét Ramsey?

Patsy Ramsey, her mother, discovered a long, handwritten ransom note on the stairs in her house around 5:30am on December 26, 1996, and called the police. John Ramsey, her father, found his daughter’s body in the basement roughly seven hours later.

Foul play was immediately apparent. Coroner reports claim the child sustained a broken skull from a blow to the head and was strangled. The garrote — in this case, a length of white cord used to strangle the victim — was still around her neck. With the garrote was a small wooden stick, with the word “KOREA” embossed in gold. 

The Autopsy Report

The JonBenet Ramsey autospy report (Click to enlarge)

According to the coroner’s autopsy report, JonBenét’s official, final cause of death was “asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral [head / brain] trauma.” In short, she was strangled and struck on the head.

Key Points of the Coroner Report

As with any homicide, the immediate findings of law enforcement are valuable and worth mentioning here. 

• Her body had been moved from the basement to the home’s living room and covered with a blanket and a sweatshirt before the coroner arrived. That’s a huge mistake, by the way. If you ever discover a body, leave it untouched.  
• The child had several minor injuries, including an abrasion on her cheek and tiny hemorrhages around her eyelids. The back of her ankles had minor abrasions, perhaps they were due to ill-fitting shoes, perhaps not.
• No alcohol or medications were discovered in her system. 
• And a white cord was wrapped around her right wrist. 

She was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt with some sequins in the shape of a star. She was also wearing underwear and long underwear bottoms. The first layer of underwear was soiled with urine and blood, while the long underwear showed urine stains. 

Photo of JonBenet Ramsey’s soiled underwear and pants from the crime scene.

Was She Sexually Assaulted?

It doesn’t appear so, at least not in the traditional sense. According to the autopsy report, there were small amounts of blood called hyperemia in and around her private regions, some red blood cells, and a small amount of birefringent foreign material. Birefringence, by the way, is an optical property of certain crystals.

Therefore, some non-penetrative sexual actions occurred. And it might have involved some sparkly crystal object. Perhaps it was experimental behavior by the child. But penetration — the type of extensive bruising, hymen breakage and vaginal damage we would expect to see after rape by an adult male — was not evident. No semen was found.

It’s also equally important to note that neither parents had a history of child abuse or sexual assault, and JonBenet’s siblings testimony are consistent with that fact.

JonBenét was a Healthy Child

You can read the complete coroner report, but there isn’t much to say about her health, otherwise. She is described as a well-fed, healthy Caucasian girl. She had good teeth, good internal organs, and nothing remarkable happening internally.

Which Came First: Head Trauma or Strangulation?

Cropped photo of JonBenet Ramsey’s Body, where she was strangled with a garrote.

Without getting too technical here, likely, a severe blow to the head happened first. But strangulation occurred only moments later.

We can make that assumption because:

• The blood under the scalp was a fresh bleed, not a leak, and there was no inflammation of the surrounding tissue.
• A lack of active bleeding would suggest the blow occurred after the strangulation.
• And inflammation would have happened at the site of the blow if the child had lived a few more hours.

Now that we’ve covered the scientific nuts and bolts let’s look deeper into this bizarre story. 

Unusual Aspects of the JonBenét Ramsey Case

The Ransom Note

In the early morning hours, John and Patsy Ramsey awoke to find their six-year-old daughter missing from her bed. The parents had woken up early to prepare for a trip. Patsy discovered the ransom note, which demanded the unusual amount of $118,000 in exchange for their daughter. 

The ransom note found in the Ramsey house on the morning of December 26, 1996.

This is a bizarre amount, not only because it requests $118k, but also because the Ramsey’s were extremely wealthy. Father John Benet’s net worth at the time was upwards of $6 million. So it seems like an insignificant amount to ask for the safe return of a beloved child. Keep in mind, high net worth families often carry kidnapping / abduction / ransom insurance. The Ramseys could have paid millions!

And oddly, $118,000 happens to be the same amount John received as a bonus at work.

The Hiccups in the Investigation

Even though the note specifically warned the parents not to call the police, Patsy says she called them immediately, as any parent would! She also called friends and family to help search for the child. Law enforcement arrived at 5:55 am. They found no signs of forced entry but did not go into the basement, where her body was finally discovered. That’s unusual.

Also, only JonBenét’s bedroom room was cordoned off. People roamed through the home, potentially destroying evidence.

Boulder PD also shared evidence they found with the Ramseys and delayed conducting their informal interviews with the parents. They included the parents in the act of searching the home. At 1:00 pm, detectives instructed John and another bystander to look around the house. They immediately went to the basement. John Ramsey picked up his daughter’s body and brought her upstairs, which probably destroyed a lot of evidence.

Was the JonBenét Ramsey Case Ever Solved?

No, not really. However, there are two popular theories: the family theory and the intruder theory.

The Family Theory

The initial investigation focused on the Ramsey family for many reasons. Investigators believe the ransom note was staged because it was very long and written using a pen and paper from the home and demanded almost the exact amount of money John had received from his annual Christmas bonus. Father John and brother Burke were cleared of any suspicion of writing the ransom note, but Patsy cannot be conclusively cleared.

The Intruder Theory

The intruder theory seems to have lots of supporting physical evidence. A boot print was found near JonBenét’s body which remains unexplained. There was also a broken window in the basement. The floors were heavily carpeted, so it’s possible that an intruder carried a stunned child down to the basement without waking the family. 

Ultimately, there might be some DNA evidence, but nothing has been proven yet. In 2016, CBS aired a show called The Case of JonBenét Ramsey, which implied the nine-year-old brother Burke could have been the killer. Burke responded with a $750 million-dollar lawsuit for defamation. CBS settled the case in 2019 for an undisclosed sum. 

What We Can Learn From This Case

No one ever wants to imagine a tragedy, especially as brutal as this. We hope you’ll remember the innocent JonBenét this year and look at your own family with extra care and love. 

And remember, if you ever discover a body, don’t touch it. Call law enforcement immediately, but don’t invite anyone else. Once law enforcement has done their duty, you can contact us.

Related Reading & Resources:

Crimemuseum.org: Jonbenet Ramsesy

Hungering for more true crime? Take a look at the famous murders that changed America.