JON BENNET RAMSEY CASE: CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

By Vincent Capano Criminal Evidence and Legal Issues Professor George Ackerman February 23, 2012

Jon Benet Ramsey. Criminal Investigation 2012

Abstract
A viscous act of taking another persons life can only be classified as murder. This viscous act takes place unfortunately all over our nation, especially in the quiet town of Boulder, Colorado, where a little beauty queen named Jon Benet Ramsey was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. Individuals, who commit this crime especially when it is against children, know exactly what they are doing and have all the intent to harm their victims. The so called kidnapping and murder of children are heart touching crimes that touch the lives of every parent here in the United States. This crime challenges all of our law enforcement agencies, and a long investigation takes place. Everyone involved in the case wants answers to the obvious questions of who, what, where, why, and when. However, it is unfortunate that some of these cases do not get solved and their questions do not get answered. Reconstructing the scene of the crime, involves the use of detectives and crime scene technicians. The crime scene itself tells the story of what has happened and it is imperative that it not be disturbed. Only those with the training and experience to determine the events of the crime should be allowed to examine the scene and bring thoughts to the table. The intent of this paper is to show how insignificant little pieces of physical evidence found on the crime scene, can bring important clues to find out who exactly is responsible for this murder when there is no other form of proof available to point out a suspect right away. The author of this research paper reviewed numerous references in order to determine what exactly went wrong during the investigation of the crimes that were committed on Christmas night, 1996.

Jon Benet Ramsey. Criminal Investigation 2012

An analysis on the mistakes that plagued the Ramsey case were evaluated, to include all parties involved such as the police officers, the district attorney, and the law enforcement officers hired by the Ramseys. The most evaluated aspect of this analysis was that of all the parties involved not working together to solve this case that remains unsolved today. .

Jon Benet Ramsey. Criminal Investigation 2012

It was Christmas night and an act of violence was about to begin as a little 6 years old beauty queen slept in her bed. This story was headline news all over the country in 1996. It portrayed the brutal murder of Jon Benet Ramsey who was slain in her home while her family was sleeping. As the case grew, so did the attention as this story developed. In regards to this case, many issues were involved to include inconsistencies, missteps, conflict between parties, and to this day, the Ramsey family as well as the entire country, want to know exactly what happened to this beautiful little girl. There is a lot of speculation to exactly what happened on that Christmas night. A report from 911 shows that Patsy Ramsey (Mother of Jon Benet) made a phone call and reported that her daughter was missing and that she found a ransom note. In regards to the ransom note, it stated not to call or inform anyone of what has happened. Instead, Patsy Ramsey notified police, family, and friends. It was not too long later that a police officer found the body of Jon Benet Ramsey inside of a room within the home of the Ramseys. Pieces of evidence collected The evidence collected at the scene of the crime was a ransom note, DNA found on Jon Benets fingernails and underwear, a cord around the neck of Jon Benet, duct tape used to seal Jon Benets mouth, photographs of the stun gun marks on Jon Benets Body, a palm print found on cellar door, a foot print from a hiking boot, pubic hair from an unknown suspect, and a garrote. In order to determine the exact time of death, a forensic pathologist will look at factors to include Rigor Mortis and body temperature. Jon Benet was last seen alive in the Ramsey home on December 25, 1996 around 10:00p.m., according to the police reports. When Jon Benets
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Jon Benet Ramsey. Criminal Investigation 2012

Body was discovered by the police on scene, it was suffering from advanced Rigor Mortis. A normal living human being will have a body temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The body of Jon Benet was significantly lower. A lifeless body will gradually cool after death and the rate is calculated by the temperature of the room and size of the body. Rigor Mortis starts from the outer extremities and works its way to the larger portions of the body. According to police reports, the body was discovered at 1:05p.m. Which would indicate that Jon Benet had died between 10p.m. and 6a.m. on December 26, 1996? Along with discovering the body, police reports show that there was a strong smell of decomposition from the body as it was setting into Rigor Mortis.

One story mentions that the perpetrator had time to commit the crime, write the ransom note, and leave the scene. That would be the logical story of what happened since the odor of decomposition indicated that Jon Benet did near the beginning of the estimated time period. The other story is that the murder was committed by someone that was in or resided in the Ramsey home.

In regards to entry into the Ramsey home, investigators noted that there was no forced entry, or any footprints that were around the perimeter of the home. In regards to suspects, all eyes from the police were at the Ramsey family. A crime analyst stated that it was not common for a kidnapper to commit the crime, leave a ransom note, and leave the body in the same place that they took it from. That is what pointed the police directly to the Ramsey family.

Jon Benet Ramsey. Criminal Investigation 2012

Little progress was made in the case as time went by. With the Ramseys not offering any cooperation with the police, no statements given, or polygraph tests, the uncooperative Ramsey family continued to slow the process on finding a suspect to link to the crime. The only suspects that the police had included the Ramseys, the employees of John Benet, a man that played Santa clause, and the close friends that were at the home when police arrived. Evidence at the scene was few and far between. The only items found was that of a scuff mark on the window sill of the Ramsey house as well as smudge marks on a window in the basement. Other evidence shows that Jon Benet was removed from her room and the child was given some food. The autopsy of the body showed pineapple in her stomach. So that indicated that she ate before her death. Shortly after eating, Jon Benet was taken to the basement of the Ramsey home, where she was tied and sexually assaulted. Shortly after, Jon Benet was strangled and hit in the head with a blunt object that police believe to be a flashlight. It is then noted that the killer wrote a ransom note stating not to contact anyone and demanded $118,000. Which was that of John Ramseys bonus that he was to receive from work? The note was then left at the bottom of the staircase. After writing the ransom note, the killer fled the scene not to be found or heard from again.

If the theory mentioned above is true, then the killer should be someone that knows the Ramsey house fairly well, someone that knows that John Ramsey would be receiving a check for $118,000. Someone that is of small stature to be able to enter and leave through the small window in the basement. This person would also have to have enough confidence in themselves to write the note knowing that there were others in the house.
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Jon Benet Ramsey. Criminal Investigation 2012

A former FBI agent named Robert Ressler thinks that Jon Benet knew who her killer was, and that the killer would have to have been a close friend to the Ramseys and lived close to the Ramsey home in Boulder, Colorado. Those close friends could possibly be friends, family, neighbors, and even employees working with or under John Ramsey.

One other possibility that was made was that of a suspect with a prior criminal record of child sex offenses and frequently went to beauty pageants. This would show how Jon Benet was targeted. The police working the case checked all child sex offenders that could have committed this crime, but with no promising results.

On a side note, there was one last theory that floated around but was not heavily looked at. This theory looks at a possible child pornography ring that was located and operated near the town of Boulder, Colorado. Jon Benet was likely a target to this ring. In a similar case which made this theory occurred in 1997. An 18 year old named Jeremy Strohmeyer, stalked a seven year old girl in a Las Vegas casino. Strohmeyer raped and murdered her in a bathroom of the casino. If this theory was proven to be true, then there would likely be others involved in this case and would formulate a conspiracy due to the child pornography ring making an attempt to kidnap Jon Benet but, it is likely that the plan backfired since Jon Benet died before she could be taken from her home.

Jon Benet Ramsey. Criminal Investigation 2012 What went wrong?

One of the hardest things to endure for investigators working a crime scene is figuring out a crime after it has been contaminated by everyone at the scene. Contaminated crime scenes make it difficult to solve any case because you cannot be sure of exactly anything at the scene because it may have been touched or perhaps one of the investigators DNA may be present on the scene because they did not take proper precautions before entering the crime scene. The two big items that investigators are looking for at a crime scene are that of who the perpetrator is and what the motive for the crime was. The crime scene itself portrays what exactly had happened and if the scene becomes contaminated, it is hard for investigators to tell what occurred at the time of the incident. In regards to this specific case (Ramsey) her body was contaminated from the moment the police, family, and friends entered the Ramsey home. More contamination occurred when the father John Ramsey moved the body of Jon Benet from the basement to a room upstairs. Any possible evidence that could have been found such as hairs, fibers, and DNA was inadmissible as evidence. Another contributing factor to the contamination of evidence is that the crime itself occurred down in the basement. The basement of a home is not as clean as a living area in a home and makes it difficult to collect any evidence due to the contamination of the room. The room that John Ramsey chose to bring Jon Benets body was also contaminated because it held the hairs and fibers of all the individuals that were on scene. The police in general made numerous mistakes at the Ramsey home. The scene of the crime was not secured, people were able to come in and out as they pleased, the ransom note was touched, footprints were made by
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Jon Benet Ramsey. Criminal Investigation 2012 police entering and leaving the home, as well as the crime scene technicians not processing the scene correctly and opening the house to all traffic when completed. Prosecution side of the case District Attorney Alex Hunter and is team working the Ramsey case met with criminalist Dr. Henry Lee and reviewed all the forensic testing that had been conducted during the case. All the tests were conducted by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. All tests were samples such as fingernail scrapings, blood from her panties, and hair samples. Some of the samples show that there is DNA not only from Jon Benet, but from another source that could be the killer. Dr. Lee who was District Attorney Alex Hunters forensic advisor argued that it was hard to prove the Ramseys killed their daughter because all the samples taken from them were found in the house where they lived. The only piece of evidence that could be linked to the family (Patsy Ramsey) was the ransom note, which closely resembled that of Patsy Ramsey. All other evidence was not relevant.

District Attorney Alex Hunter held a press conference on October 13, 1999, almost three years after the death of Jon Benet Ramsey to announce that there was insufficient evidence to charge any suspect with the murder of Jon Benet. Other than the parents of Jon Benet, the police never publicly mentioned any other suspects in the case. Another reason that showed that the parents of Jon Benet were ruled out as suspects was that of a study of deaths of children and parents. This study showed that 51% of maltreatment fatalities are from abuse, 45% from neglect, and 4% from other form of maltreatment. In regards to the children included in this study, 52% of the deaths or neglect was from that of the parent. The caretaker was factored in at around 48% of the deaths.
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Jon Benet Ramsey. Criminal Investigation 2012 After police took statements from John Ramseys ex wife and brother, their statements showed that the Ramseys never showed any form of abuse to any of their children. These statements cleared the Ramseys on any form of abuse.

Defense attorney side of the case Lin Wood, attorney for the Ramseys, stated that the Ramseys were willing to cooperate with the police throughout their investigation. Wood also stated that the evidence that was found against the Ramseys was not strong enough to keep them under suspicion of the police. Wood stated that the Ramseys were loving parents and had no reason to murder their daughter. Wood also stated that their daughter was a target for a sexual predator that likes children and that their daughter was a pedophiles dream. The fact that the Ramseys were wealth also made them a potential target. Many facts derived from the case show that an intruder entered the home. An unknown vehicle was seen near the Ramsey home during the hours of Jon Benets death. Another fact found was there was leaves from outside found below an unlocked basement window. There was also a suitcase found below the basement window as well which shows that the perpetrator used the suitcase to exit the Ramsey home through the window by stepping on the suitcase. All of these clues point out that the window was the entry/exit of the Ramsey home. Other facts and forms of evidence show that the hairs and fibers do not belong to the Ramseys or other family member. The fresh unidentified footprints in the wine cellar did not match that of the Ramseys as well. Tests show that the scream heard by the neighbor could have came from the basement where Jon Benets body was found.

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Jon Benet Ramsey. Criminal Investigation 2012 The garrote used to kill Jon Benet indicated that a sexual sadist performed the act. All of the facts rule out the Ramseys and point out that an intruder murdered the little girl. The injuries found on Jon Benet occurred before she died and were not an after death staging. The DNA found on Jon Benets body was from of an unknown male. Police today claim that the DNA found under Jon Benets fingernails is now of limited value because it has became contaminated over the years. All other DNA found at the crime scene will be compared from other samples found within a database to see if there are matches from other violent crimes or criminals. With Mary Keenan, the District Attorney now in office, perhaps new information and objectivity will shed some light on the events that took place on that Christmas night.

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Jon Benet Ramsey. Criminal Investigation 2012

Conclusion
Criminal investigations, especially homicides, can be extremely complicated and need to be viewed with the utmost caution. Forensic pathologists and crime scene technicians have a methodology to ensuring the safety of the crime scene and its components. With proper preservation of all evidence, and a thorough investigation, the evidence collected at the crime scene will serve its purpose in a court of law and ensure that justice is served. In regards to the Ramsey case, it took over 7 years to have the DNA sample sent over to the FBI to process the DNA found in Jon Benets underpants. The police said that they did not send it earlier because they felt that it was unreliable due to not having any good samples. In 2003, the FBI found a sample that was sufficient and entered it into the FBI database. To conclude this paper, this senseless act murder had only two witnesses. The witnesses were that of Jon Benet and the killer. No one really knows what took place that Christmas night. However, a lot of speculation and thoughts of what it seems to be the only accounts for what took place. With all the new developments and training in the criminal justice field, perhaps in the future a new light will be shed upon this case and Jon Benet can finally rest in peace knowing that her killer has been brought to justice.

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Jon Benet Ramsey. Criminal Investigation 2012

References
Presumed Guilty - An Investigation into the Jon Benet Ramsey Case, The Media and the Culture of Pornography - Stephen Singular - New Millennium Press, Beverly Hills, California.

Newspaper Articles from The Denver Post - The Daily Camera - Rocky Mountain News

Television Documentary - Who Killed Jon Benet? - Channel Four, London.

Video footage from television news sources including: - CNN, NBC, ABC

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Child Maltreatment 2009: Reports from the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System.

James, S. H. & and Nordby, J. Forensic Science An introduction to Scientific and Investigative techniques

Osterburg, J.W., & Ward, R.H. (2007) Criminal Investigation A method of reconstructing the past

Web sites: www.ramseyfamily.com/ Web site of family statements, press releases and adds. www.RockyMountainNews.com/extra/ramsey.html- Denver Rocky Mountain News online Ramsey story archive.

www.buffzone.com/extra/ramsey/index.html- Boulder Daily Camera archive of Ramsey stories.

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