Dr. Phil Interviews Burke Ramsey (9/12 & 9/13 2016)

Dixie811 said:

I also feel that Burke intentionally played dumb throughout the interview thus far. The ransom note comment is one example. The pineapple is just another example. When asked by Dr Phil if he and JBR ate pineapple together that night he says "maybe" and acts shocked that anyone expects him to remember a snack from twenty years ago.

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Did Dr Phil include the "that night" in his question?

I heard him ask if they ate pineapple that day, but I don't remember him specifically qualifying it to "that night." If it was asked as a general question encompassing time beyond just the evening and including the day or afternoon, then I can see how it might be more of a distant memory.

Then again, maybe Burke knows exactly and is, as you say, playing dumb about it.

DP EP 2
on youtube
[video=youtube;e3C6TH5CkjM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3C6TH5CkjM&list=PLOfqFri-yIJ9fMxWgSxumWI-eHy2UpzQN[/video]

Wyle,

So sorry for the losses you experienced as both a child and an adult.

You have an interesting narrative and viewpoint on loss and grief. Burke is different than you, me, everyone else. His situation is different. We can't take our own feelings about what happened to us and then project it onto Burke and say, "this is what he is feeling, what he is experiencing." That's just not valid.

What you're describing is how you feel, what a murder would feel like to you, with your thoughts and memories and impressions, what loss felt like for you as a child.

But that doesn't have anything to do specifically with Burke, who we don't know. As that forensic psychiatrist who was on one of the other shows said (this is not Dr Phil), we have to remove ourselves from the equation, remove our own feelings. This is very difficult to do, but it's imperative to really look at a case.

I feel like this interview has changed my view on Burke somewhat, but I'm not sure if I now think he did it or I now think he's innocent. I also noticed his odd demeanor, but there are a million other things that could explain it from Aspergers as some have suggested to trauma to anxiety to psychiatric medication.

I suspect he was told a long time ago to lie about certain details by his parents, mainly when JonBenet went to bed and when he woke up. I think over the years he's had suspicions about why he was told to lie, but I don't think they've had more than one or two conversations about it, where his parents put it on protecting him from the police and protecting him from the police and the level of scrutiny his parents have been under. I think, as an adult, he realized he could never be charged for anything related to JonBenet's death and these questions starting nagging him again, but he never asked, perhaps because he was still getting some amount of financial support from his parents, and perhaps because he thinks mental illness or an accident it to blame. He loves his late mother, and he loves his father. Whatever doubts or anger he has, I think he's repressed it. He did eat pineapple with JonBenet the night she died, but he has never admitted that to anyone outside his family and he likely never will.

Madeleine74 said:

Did Dr Phil include the "that night" in his question?

I heard him ask if they ate pineapple that day, but I don't remember him specifically qualifying it to "that night." If it was asked as a general question encompassing time beyond just the evening and including the day or afternoon, then I can see how it might be more of a distant memory.

Then again, maybe Burke knows exactly and is, as you say, playing dumb about it.

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Yeah... I think he did say "that day".
Since JB ate the pineapple soon before dying, it seems he probably should have been more specific and said that night.

I do feel that I would expect Burke to know that the pineapple JBR ate was late at night/close to her death and respond accordingly, but yet... he appears to know as little about the public facts of the case as a random person on the street, so...

I'm an inappropriate smiler. I don't judge Burke for his awkward smiles and fiddling with his fingers.

Who the heck is this quack Dr Lillian Glass? Her page has the narcissistic moniker "First Lady of Communication." Oh bull. Shame on her. She obviously is not versed in childhood trauma or autism/Aspergers. I sure hope she doesn't have children.

I agree that I felt Burke was repeating things exactly as when he was with LE years ago.

As it ever been said before about him using the flashlight to go downstairs and play with new toys after everyone was in bed??? That was first I heard that.

I personally think intruder but had to be someone who knew the house layout well. How would any stranger know lift the grate to get to window etc..

cattlekate said:

Who the heck is this quack Dr Lillian Glass? Her page has the narcissistic moniker "First Lady of Communication." Oh bull. Shame on her. She obviously is not versed in childhood trauma or autism/Aspergers. I sure hope she doesn't have children.

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I have never liked her

Okay, at 32:53 in the video above, the exact question Dr. Phil asked:

"Did you and she eat pineapple together at any time during that day?"

Burke shrugs and says... "maybe?"


BTW, Burke *was* questioned by police...that video Burke is watching of himself... that's with a police officer when he was 11.

I have experienced trauma when I was 8 and 18. I also am a social worker trained in trauma informed therapy. When I describe the events and I hear others stories there's always an "I felt" or "I thought" etc. now dissociation is a symptom of PTSD but Burke seemed off. I think he was highly coached. I could also his immaturity.


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What if the dad is tired of keeping the secret(s) and is throwing Burke to the wolves? Maybe PR did it and they've been covering for her all of these years. Burke obviously has issues and maybe dad is tired of dealing with it. Maybe JR's wife is getting sick of it??

Burke is 29 years old. As a legal adult he was free to make his own choice whether to do an interview or not. His father may have a strong opinion on it, but ultimately it was BR's choice to say yes or no to the interview request.

I'm sure Dr. Phil was very persuasive in pitching this interview to Burke; it's a big 'get.' Plus they have Lin Wood in common who would of course say what a good guy Phil is.

Watched half of the episode from today. I honestly feel like he is simply stating what he has been told. Even in the childhood videos(which is about where I had to stop watching today) he almost seems "programmed" to certain responses, and when he doesn't necessarily have an answer that's been engrained, like when DP asks him if he has seen those videos with the child pyschologist before, you can see changes in him that make me think that is an authentic response. I have a feeling there is a lot of repressed memories that have been rewritten over. Like when DP asked him if he was jealous of the attention JBR got, and he said (not verbatim) "I had time with mom too"...but there are no details, nothing he notes specifically that his mom invested time with him doing. Then, he later says "I was use to it", IMO, that was his authentic response, and fits the narrative of the family dynamics in an accurate way.

Also, let's say, you snuck out of your room and witnessed something awful happening as a child...I imagine one way of coping is completely internalizing it and making it go away, therefore you just repeat what you hear the adults saying happened.

I agree Dogface, I think Burke was coached for many years and probably doesn't have too many authentic thoughts about what happened. I believe he stayed in his room or at least says he stayed in his room because he was told to stay in his room, not because of fear.

Boodles said:

I just watched, fast-forwarding through commercials. I believe Burke. I don't find his affect "creepy" at all. He's shy, he's never been asked about this stuff before, and DP is interrogating him. How the heck would he remember if he ate pineapple on Dec 25 twenty years ago? Seriously?

I was 10 when my grandfather died. I knew something was very wrong and a bad thing had happened, but was given no details. We were sent to stay with someone while my parents went to deal with the very serious bad thing. When they returned, they told us he was dead. I have no idea what the words were. But I laughed and so did my sister. I wasn't happy. It was just uncomfortable. And I have just about zero memory of anything else, except that I played a little prank on my mother that night because the opportunity presented itself. I obviously did not "get" that it was not the time to do that. My sister and I still remember our reaction of laughing when they announced his death. (I still feel kind of bad about it.). But I wasn't the least bit happy, nor did I think it was funny. But what I remember is laughing and playing a prank, not being devastated and sad. I was a kid.

It does sound like the bigger trauma to Burke at the time was his mother's emotional state. He was sent to "go comfort her"? Wow, that's quite a burden to put on a child.

Burke didn't lose a child. He lost a sibling at the age of 9. You can't expect a 9 year old child to respond to a death the way an adult does, especially a parent who loses a child, IMO, the greatest loss a parent can suffer.

I'm just really shocked by the slurs about Burke and lack of empathy toward him.

I believe that he believes the things he's saying. Whether they're true or not is another question. I don't expect very valid recall of his 9 year old memories 20 years later. And who knows whether he has been fed memories by others. I feel sorry for him. I wish he hadn't done this interview. The public can be really mean spirited.

And I give the opinion of Lilian Glass all of :twocents: I don't respect her at all.

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I have seen Lillian Glass be so wrong on many cases so I 100% agree with you. She finds lies and deception on just about everyone she talks/writes about even those who were 100% innocent. Pat Brown is another one who has also bombed on other cases.

I totally agree with you. I felt along it was a very bad idea to give this interview and said so a few days ago. I already felt this would be the end results. No matter what he did or said or how he said it or what he didn't say .......it would never pass muster with the majority who believe either he was JBs murderer or knew his parents were involved.

I didn't expect him to be emotional or breakdown and cry about his sister he lost almost 20 years ago. I believe his smiling is to cover up for being shy and introverted and its a way he copes. I have never believed Burke was involved in JBs death but then I have never been convinced that his parents were involved either. I have felt that way for almost 20 years and nothing has come forth to change that original opinion. All I can hope for is one day the killer will make a mistake, and LE will get a hit that matches the male DNA on file with CODIS. I know that isn't a popular opinion but I feel I must be honest even though being in the minority can be awfully intimidating at times.

I can understand why he hasn't read the ransom note. The note wouldn't tell him anything about who the killer was of his sister nor solve her murder. If the note was really a key evidence a Prosecutor needs to detect the killer's identity then this case would have been solved years ago. Of course to be solved.... solid evidence must be obtained also to support the BARD standard and in 20 years there hasn't been any evidence ending in a verified result which shows the positive ID of the killer. Maybe one day there will be a DNA match...until then it will remain unsolved. IMO, unless the killer is dying and does a deathbed confession with others there to hear it but I am not sure that would even be enough for LE to get a SW to get his DNA profile to see if it matches the unknown male DNA. It isn't Burke's place to investigate looking for her killer. I doubt he could even name many of the people that were around him back then since he was only a 9 year old at the time.

Most of it probably is a blur for him and John has always said they tried very hard to shield Burke from the rampant things being said about him and his family. I think that is the way he continues to deal with it. Imo, He tries his best to go on with his own life hoping one day the murder of his sister will be solved.

IMO

DP EP 3
@ 34
I think your dad had said he used
the flashlight that night to put you to bed
Then you snuck downstairs to play
BR: Ya I had some toy that I wanted to put together
I remember being downstairs after everybody
was kind of in bed and wanting to get this thing out
DP: Did you use the flashlight so you
wouldn't be seen?
BR: I don't remember -
I just remember
being downstairs, I remember this toy
**********************************************
DP: Did you hit your sister over
the head with a baseball bat or flash light?
BR: Absolutely not
DP: If someone in your house did,
do you think you
would have heard it?
BR: probably... ya (bites lip?)


*********************
@ 36
BR: Well, it was pretty much just
'hey, we can't find your sister.
What do you think happens
and I was like, 'well, she's hiding somewhere
Like, you guys look around the house,
Then next time I talked to somebody t was
'She's dead.'
***********************************
DP: I think people are reacting to the fact that you
seem to be unbothered by all this.
BR:
Ya well I can tell you i was very emotional
at the Fernies and I would just randomly
cry out of nowhere
********************
BR: I guess it's a combination
of sitting in [an out ?] with this
wierd guy that I 'd never talked to before
and asking me all these personal questions
and its, a combination of that
and just kind of..
at some point you have to move on
and I'm not saying I moved on then
but it might have been kinda the other end
the other end
cause I didn't really get it but
Like you got to start/stop crying at some point
I guess.

Wyle_E_Coyote said:

It's interesting that you described it in that way, like he was describing a movie. That is exactly what my trauma therapist worked with me on, seeing the events surrounding my son's death as a movie, to get some emotional distance and minimize the PTSD symptoms. No idea what therapy he has or hasn't had, but I thought your observation very interesting and thought I'd throw that out there.

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My childhood bff's boyfriend committed suicide and she was in the house with him when he did it. As she told the story more and more to people, she said it felt like she was describing a movie, not something that happened to her. And she said that she was glad that it felt that way, like you said there was emotional distance from the act.

Madeleine74 said:

Wyle,

So sorry for the losses you experienced as both a child and an adult.

You have an interesting narrative and viewpoint on loss and grief. Burke is different than you, me, everyone else. His situation is different. We can't take our own feelings about what happened to us and then project it onto Burke and say, "this is what he is feeling, what he is experiencing." That's just not valid.

What you're describing is how you feel, what a murder would feel like to you, with your thoughts and memories and impressions, what loss felt like for you as a child.

But that doesn't have anything to do specifically with Burke, who we don't know. As that forensic psychiatrist who was on one of the other shows said (this is not Dr Phil), we have to remove ourselves from the equation, remove our own feelings. This is very difficult to do, but it's imperative to really look at a case.

Click to expand...

I'm afraid I see Wyle's post through a very different lens. What I took away from Wyle's post is that how Burke acted then and in the interview is not necessarily abnormal, based on her own and her children's experiences with the death of siblings. People here were projecting their own feelings onto Burke, without ever having experienced anything close to those losses, and forming opinions about how he should be acting and, yes, forming judgements based on their own feelings. We all do it.

Even though Burke and his situation are different from hers, Wyle certainly makes valid points about how children may react to the loss of a sibling. Her informative post wasn't projecting her feelings onto Burke, but informing the rest of us about an experience we may have no way of understanding. To me it was very insightful and designed to help those of us who have never even lost a sibling to avoid projecting our feelings onto Burke's situation/attitude/words, etc and remove ourselves from the equation as the psychiatrist you mentioned recommends. At least it helped me do that.
JMO