In the most thorough crime scene photoaudit of the case to date, Knewz.com dissects the terrifying facts of the 1996 killings of Jon Bent Ramsey, which inspired new speculations regarding a “mystery glass” and DNA after a stunning new documentary.
Although internet detectives have offered a number of ideas accusing her parents, John and Patsy, as well as her elder brother Burke, who was nine years old when she died, no one has ever been taken into custody for the 6-year-old’s murder.
Patsy reported her daughter missing from the family’s Boulder, Colorado, home on December 26, 1996, by calling 911.
Photos from the crime site were released. Although her bedding had been carelessly pulled away from her bed, where she had been resting after attending a Christmas party with her family, JonBen T’s room seemed to be in a pretty undisturbed state.
Patsy called 911 in distress, claiming that her daughter was gone and that a ransom note had been discovered at the bottom of the stairs.
Patsy’s legal pad and pen, both of which were inside the house, were used to write the three-page note.
Since the ransom note strangely demanded a $118,000 ransom—exactly the same amount of John’s bonus the year Jane was killed—early thoughts claimed the note was a cover-up. The time required to prepare the three-page letter and the reason it wasn’t sent separately, as is typically the case in ransom scenarios, added to the conjecture surrounding the note.
John was exonerated of writing the letter by Colorado Bureau of Investigation officers, but Patsy was not exonerated by handwriting analysis. Inside the house, a practice note was also discovered.
[CAUTION: There are graphic images ahead.]
Police stormed the Ramsey residence while the Ramseys awaited additional instructions from the suspected kidnappers in accordance with the ransom note.
Her father found JonBen’s death in the basement of the expansive Boulder house, just hours after Patsy reported her daughter missing.
She had a garrote tied around her neck and was discovered lying on the floor close to paint materials.
Additionally, a bag was discovered behind a basement window that John said he had broken earlier that year after misplacing his keys.
“The suitcase shouldn’t have been there,” John stated in the Netflix documentary.
“It was set there like it was a step because the window was fairly high … you needed a ladder or a stepstool or something to get up through it.”
Although John expressed worry about the shattered basement window, the authorities rejected the theory because there were no external ground problems.
However, an odd footprint was found in the garden soil by investigators.
Twenty minutes before JonBen T’s body was found in the basement on December 26, at approximately 8 PM, pathologist John E. Meyer, M.D., arrived to the Ramsey residence.
Meyer concluded that “asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma” was the cause of her death after examining her corpse.
“A brief examination of the body revealed a ligature around the neck and a ligature around the right wrist,” his report stated. A tiny patch of abrasion or bruise on the lateral aspect of the right face, beneath the right ear, was also observed. There was a noticeable dry abrasion on the lower left neck.
Unusual markings discovered on her body that suggested a stun gun was used against her were the subject of a well-known theory in the JonBen T case, one that her family has endorsed.
When John found her body, the improvised garrote that had been used to strangle her was still attached around her neck.
Patsy had used a paintbrush from her painting supplies to tighten the garrote. Her body also contained microscopic fibers from the wooden paintbrush, which suggested that the handle had been used to sexually abuse her.
John subsequently stated that authorities never sent the unidentified man DNA discovered on the garrote for testing.
The location where Jon Ben T’s body was found was close to Patsy’s sewing supplies.
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