JonBenet Ramsey's dad John believes sloppy ransom note was an indication of his family being stalked
BOULDER, COLORADO: JonBenet Ramsey’s father, John, thinks that the notorious ransom note that the killer of his daughter left behind shows that his family was "under surveillance" for some time before the beauty queen was killed. The 26th anniversary of his daughter's death approaches but her killer's identity is still a complete mystery.
On December 26, 1996, JonBenet Ramsey, then just six years old, was discovered dead in the basement of her family's house in Boulder, Colorado, after being beaten, bound and strangled. John Ramsey, the father of JonBenet, had made a horrifying discovery, and this would be the first thread in the twisted web of suspicion, conspiracy and sensationalism that would be spun in its wake. The case of JonBenet continues to be one of the most infamous unsolved murders in American history. In his never-ending search for answers, John stated that he thinks his daughter's killing might be related to an assault on another little girl who went to the same dancing school as JonBenet, as per The Sun. Nine months after the murder, in September 1997, the attack took place just a few blocks from the Ramseys. Given a number of striking similarities, John and the family of the second victim, Amy, have come to the conclusion that the same person may have been responsible for both crimes. Amy's father is certain that the 12-year-old was the target of Amy's attacker prior to the incident involving his daughter at the nearby dance studio, Dance West, where JonBenet also received training.
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Then, according to him, his family was stalked over a number of weeks as the attacker waited for the right time to strike—when he was away from home for work. John thinks the murderer of his daughter spent a lot of time watching his family before the killing. His conviction is supported by the sloppy ransom letter that he and his wife, Patsy, discovered on a spiral staircase at the back of the house just before they called the police to report JonBenet missing. "I just know that they had us under surveillance," said John of his daughter's killer. "The one point that really caught my attention was the ransom note that was left on the back stairway on the second floor. We used that stairway 95% of the time, even though there was a main stairway - a more normal stairway. Why wouldn't they have left it there? If you didn't know our patterns, you wouldn't assume that we would come down that spiral staircase. So that was always an issue to be thought about."
The main focus of the JonBenet mystery has always been the ransom note. The letter which was two and a half pages long and full of strange wordplay was addressed to John and claimed to have been written by a "foreign faction" who demanded $118,000 in cash in exchange for JonBenet's safe return. The strangely precise amount was nearly identical to a delayed bonus that John had received while working as an executive for a computer company. The Ramseys' writing pad had been used to write the letter. The pen that was used was likewise a domestic item. Suspicions that Patsy had written the note persisted for many years. Police received voluntary handwriting samples from John and Patsy and neither was a match. According to John, the note's contents are more proof that JonBenét was the object of a targeted attack and may have even been wounded intentionally.
He thought his daughter had died in a botched kidnapping. "We spent quite a lot of time with John Douglas, who set up the FBI profiling program," John told The Sun. "And after he really studied the case, he said, 'This is not about JonBenet, this is someone who is angry at you, very angry at you, John, or very jealous of you.' I said I can't imagine that I could've made anyone that mad or angry at me, and he told me I might not even know them. They might just not like who I am." The Ramseys were informed by both John Douglas and another investigator, Lou Smit, that they think the letter was written prior to JonBenet's death. "Anyone who had committed this could not have then sat down and written a three page ransom note out," John said of the investigators' opinions. "Their emotions would be intense and he said this was written before the murder. Whether or not it was supposed to end in a murder or sexual assault I don't know, but the note was written before the event."