(I'm so reassured we have smart people here at WS.)
For reference, I’ll include at the end of this post the information we have (on record) relating to the light switch. It’s not necessary to read it all, but it’s there in case you want to read it. Here though is what I think happened that explains the confusion about the WC light based on what we now know:
Shortly after he arrived at the Ramsey house, Fleet White started looking through the basement trying to find JonBenet. White is a smart man. When he tried to open the WC door, he saw it was blocked by the piece of wood at the top and he turned it so the door could be opened. Knowing now where it is, I can’t believe that White couldn’t see or find the light switch just inside the door of the WC. I think after he opened the door, he found the switch and flipped it on but it didn’t turn on the light because the outlet switch was turned off. There were screens and boxes all over the room (you’ve seen the pictures) and the outlet was probably partially obscured and not visible in the darkened room. Maybe he flipped the switch on and off again with no result. I don’t know if her body was in the room at that time or if it was in a different location within the room. Maybe it too was obscured by some of the clutter in the room. In any event, seeing no exit from the room other than that door, he dismissed the thought that she might be in there in the dark. (Remember that because of a recent incident with his own daughter, he thought JonBenet might be hiding somewhere as a prank.) When he left, he closed the door and turned the wooden block back to lock the door as it was before he opened it.
Later in the morning, John Ramsey sneaked off from the others and went to this room. He knew that to turn on the light in that room,
both switches had to be turned on. So he turned on the light and maybe moved the body closer to the door. Whatever he did while he was in there, he had to have turned on the light (turning on
both switches). When he left, he turned the light off
only at the light switch at the door. He didn’t know until his first interview with investigators in 1997 that White had been in the basement by himself before he was there. At first he told them he (Ramsey) was there “probably before 10 o’clock.” After he had learned White had been there, he tried to shave that time frame down in his 1998 interview by saying it was much earlier -- before 7:30 at first, and then agreeing to “before eight o’clock” at Lou Smit’s suggestion. (Linda Arndt said he went missing after the 10 o'clock deadline had come and gone.)
So Ramsey was the last person in the WC until Detective Arndt sent him and White to search for anything “out of place.” While White was looking at the broken window in the basement, Ramsey went to the WC, unlatched the door, opened it, and saw JonBenet’s body
before flipping on the switch at the door. To White’s surprise (I imagine), when Ramsey flipped the switch, the fluorescent light lying on the bookshelf brackets came on. He probably didn’t give it that much thought at the time because of the panic in Ramsey’s voice, but later I imagine he couldn’t figure out why that same switch he had found earlier didn’t turn on the light for him but worked for Ramsey.
Most accounts of what White did that morning when he went on his own to the basement say that “
he couldn’t find the light switch.” Knowing now where it was makes that implausible. Instead I think he told investigators that he “
couldn’t find the switch that turned on the light.” When his statement was written by investigators and then passed on to reporters, book writers, or anyone else, I believe his words were shortened to say simply that he couldn’t find the light switch.
:lookingitup:
Bonita Papers (
source used for ACR quotes):Within minutes of arriving at the Ramsey home, Fleet decided to look around the house. His own daughter had been missing a few months ago, and after the police were called they found her hiding under her bed. Fleet was hoping that JonBenet too was just hiding somewhere in the house. Since everyone had been told by the police officers not to go upstairs, Fleet went town to the basement. He noticed that the lights were on. He found a small piece of glass from a broken window in a room used for model trains. In checking the latch for the window he discovered that it was unlocked, but closed. Fleet also noticed a blue suitcase was sitting underneath the window. He continued with his search by opening every cupboard and door. He opened the door to the wine cellar, reached inside, but could not find the light switch and could not see inside the room. The wind cellar is completely formed by cement and has no windows. Finding no evidence of anyone entering or leaving from the basement area and no trace of JonBenet, Fleet went back upstairs.
...and:While Fleet was still checking other closets, John walked to the wine cellar and tried to pull open the door. Because the top latch was secured, the door would not open. John reached up, undid the latch, and opened the door. Fleet, who was about 20 feet away, heard John exclaim, "Oh my God, oh my God," and went running to the room where John was standing. As Fleet approached the door, John flipped on the wine cellar light switch. Fleet saw the body of JonBenet laying on the floor.
John said he saw the white blanket on the floor as soon as he opened the door, and when the lights came on he saw his daughter laying on the blanket.
...and:The team now concentrated on the wine cellar. Two light switches were located for this room one on the inside east wall 5 feet above the floor level, and the other on the west wall 2 feet above the floor level and 2 feet inside the doorway. Polaroid photos were taken before any of the investigators entered the room. Unfortunately, other officers had tromped through the room immediately after discovery of the body in making their own inspection of the crime scene. Even Fleet admitted that he had returned to the room twice. These actions would hamper the gathering of reliable evidence as the investigation progressed.
PMPT:After he left the train room, he turned right, into the boiler room. At the back of the room, he said, he saw a door to what the Ramseys called the wine cellar. He turned the closed wooden latch and opened the door. The room was pitch-black, he said. He didn’t enter, and he saw nothing. When he couldn’t find a light switch, he closed the door and went back upstairs. He did not remember whether or not he relatched the door. Later, when White saw John Fernie, he told him that a window downstairs had been punched open. The police wondered why White had not seen JonBenét’s body and later Ramsey had, since they both stood at the same spot after opening the door to the wine cellar.
...and:After they had washed the windows, Hoffmann-Pugh and her daughter started searching the house for the missing trees. She saw a closed door in the basement just past the boiler room, which she had never noticed before. She tried to open the door, but it was stuck shut, apparently from a recent painting. She pulled at it hard and the door finally opened. Feeling around in the dark, she found a light switch on the wall to her right.
IRMI:Moving deeper into the basement, he found the same white door that had been checked by Sergeant Reichenbach. Fleet White turned the makeshift latch and pulled the door open, toward him. It was totally dark inside, and when he could find neither of two light switches, he closed the door, relatched it, and went back upstairs. He never saw JonBenét.
FF:White then moved from the Train Room to the white door of the Wine Cellar and, unlatching the wood block, partially opened the door to that room. Unable to locate a light switch for the windowless room, White failed to see a blanket on the floor that wrapped the body of JonBenét.
...and:He then moved out of the Train Room, and down a short, dead-end hallway to a storage room that would later be identified as the Wine Cellar. A block of wood rotated on a screw to secure the door to this room, and he reportedly “unlocked” the door and peered inside. It was pitch black inside the windowless room, and unable to find a light switch, he closed the door and secured it with the wood block.
...and:John also provided specific details about immediately observing a white blanket, and his daughter’s body upon opening the cellar room door that afternoon. He reported that he saw the white blanket, in which JonBenét was wrapped, the “instant” he opened the door of the Wine Cellar. This observation purportedly took place before he flipped on the light switch.
This didn’t jive with details provided by Fleet White during his interviews with detectives. White had opened the cellar door earlier that morning and reported that it was too dark to see anything without a light being turned on in the room. He had stepped partially through the door and couldn’t find a light switch, let alone see the blanket and body.
...and:Continuing his exploration of the basement, White unlatched a door and briefly looked in the darkened room identified as the Wine Cellar. Unable to find a light switch and not seeing anything in the dark, he closed the door and returned upstairs.
1997 Interview:ST: And Fleet had talked about earlier being down there, I think alone at one point, and discovering that window. When you say that you found it earlier that day and latched it, at what time of day was that?
JR: I don’t know. I mean it would have been probably, probably before 10 o’clock.
ST: Was that prior to Fleet’s first trip down?
JR: I didn’t know he was in the basement. I didn’t know that. I mean other than that trip with me.
ST: And on the trip that you latched the window, were you alone when you went down and latched the window?
JR: Yep.
ST: And on this, what I’m assuming is only your second trip to the basement on the 26[SUP]th[/SUP] with Fleet, how much time did you spend in the basement before moving to the cellar room door?
JR: Not very much time. A minute maybe, or less, probably less than that.
ST: And when you moved to that cellar room door to open the door, did you move the tag on the top of the door?
JR: Yeah.
ST: And did you open the door?
JR: Yeah.
ST: And did you open the door?
JR: Uh-huh.
ST: And was the light on or off?
ST: I think it was off.
ST: And did you turn the light on?
JR: Probably, I don’t remember specifically turning it on, but probably would have, it’s a dark room.
ST: From the time you opened the door of the cellar room, when did you discovered your daughter, was this a fraction of a second or a matter of seconds, give me an idea.
JR: Instant. I mean, as soon as I opened the door I saw the white blanket. And I knew, I just saw a blanket, and I knew that was our, you know.
ST: and was it then you instantaneously opened the door, saw the blanket, you may or may not have turned the light on?
JR: Uh-huh.
ST: You don’t know? In all fairness.
JR: In fact, I don’t remember.
1998 Interview:8 LOU SMIT: And you don't know if you were
9 the first one down there?
10 JOHN RAMSEY: I thought I -- Well the police,
11 they probably went through the house a bit. I
12 don't know where they went. I heard later that
13 Fleet White claimed he went through the basement
14 alone. I don't know if that was before or after I
15 did alone.
16 LOU SMIT: That's why we're trying to
17 determine your time. If you can get that down.
18 JOHN RAMSEY: Well, I wish I can tell
19 you precisely, but it had to be -- you see I think
20 when the first uniformed officer came, French, he
21 very quickly said, I want all you people in the
22 room, and then people started showing in this
23 room, which was the solarium where he talked, is
24 the solarium.
25 And then some other officers came and I my
0281
1 impression at that time was that they did a
2 cursory check of the house. One of the uniformed
3 house went through the house. That had been fairly
4 early.
5 MIKE KANE: (INAUDIBLE)
6 JOHN RAMSEY: We don't. I think it's between
7 6:00 and 6:30. So that person should have been the
8 first one to go through the house.
9 I went in the basement, certainly before we were
10 getting ready for the call. (INAUDIBLE) until
11 eight, so that would have been eight o'clock. So
12 we were preparing for that. By 7:30, let's say,
13 and Fleet and I were talking about what we were
14 going to say.
15 LOU SMIT: Would that have been before
16 then or after?
17 JOHN RAMSEY: It would have been before
18 then I believe.
19 LOU SMIT: So it was before eight o'clock?
20 JOHN RAMSEY: That's right. (INAUDIBLE) I'm
21 trying to reconstruct in it my mind.
hwow:
