James Kolar's New Book Will Blow the Lid off the JonBenet Ramsey Investigation

[kanzz]

Bingo. I only recently figured out that my theory lines up with Kolar's.. as I was reading that reddit AMA. If BDI-A (all) and PR did all of the cover-up (and of course the RN), then called out to JR and handed him that novel - he would have recognized her handwriting. I've postulated on here before that I think he might have called her out about it, that might be why she called her friends to come to the house, and that is why he distanced himself from her all morning.

James Kolar's AMA on reddit -
Do you think JR discovered the body after the Police arrived but before noon
"Yes, based upon statements of his daughter's fiance, I believe John found JBR's body around 1100 am, when Det. Arndt lost track of his whereabouts for around an hour. He never reported this to the officers on scene..."

kanzz,
BBM: Reality check here. From this it does not follow that JR was not involved.

Note: neither JR or Kolar suggest exactly where JR found JonBenet.

This is why I have suggested JR moved JonBenet to the wine-cellar, with Fleet White to corroborate JonBenet not being located there earlier that morning?

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Not involved? I'm not saying he wasn't involved. I just think he might not have known anything until PR woke him after she wrote the RN. And in the AMA, Kolar goes on to say -
"He became an accessory to crime when he failed to tell Det. Arndt that he had discovered the body. His beeline to the basement later with Fleet was thought to be a ruse."

 

[kanzz]

kanzz - You're a terrific poster and I normally agree with everything you write..... but are you saying that you don't think Patsy would have run up those stairs immediately and told John what had happened?

Her scream at finding her daughter strangled was most likely the one that the neighbour heard (if indeed the neighbour heard a scream at all).

Finding your child dead isn't the kind of thing that Patsy would be able to keep to herself. She doesn't come across as being a self contained type of person, and certainly would not have been in those circumstances.

I believe John knew what had happened, almost as soon as Patsy did. Patsy would have needed help, emotionally and physically to cope with the situation and the cover-up. She would have been hysterical.

As for the ransom note, by the time John read the nonsense Patsy had written it was probably too late to change it.

The reason the couple sat apart upstairs is anyone's guess. My theory is that they blamed eachother for not keeping a closer eye on their children. Even in subsequent interviews the couple looked detached from one another, John never putting as much as a comforting arm around his wife as she pretended to cry.

Thank you. Respect is mutual, and all any of us have is theory.
PR and JR were not well connected, even prior to this incident. I think she handled this on her own. Knowing that JR would have been livid with BR, she went into full maternal protection mode. jmo

 

[kanzz]

He circled the wagons because he knew PR wrote the note, so he went along with whatever happened - ad-libing the whole time. When he found the body, he needed time to think, figured it out and that is why he exclaimed "he didn't mean to kill her, he wrapped her in a blanket" and 'this is an inside job" within seconds of laying her body on the floor at the top of the basement stairs, thirty minutes before he would call for a private jet flight out of Boulder because he had a very important meeting in Atlanta.

Flight is a sign of guilt and he was getting them all out of Boulder before anyone could ask them a single question.

The man is not stupid.

He will lie to protect his family but he is not stupid. Neither was PR and BR is confused. Like he said "what are the chances of that?" when told that JBR was not simply missing but had been kidnapped. As in "someone kidnapped her after I smacked her in the head? Wow. What are the chances of that happening,? I am the luckiest boy in the world. I am no longer the bad guy." Smile.

It is my opinion that JR had nothing to do with anything, except concealing the whereabouts of the body for 2 hours while he tried to figure out what the hell to do. Then he started lying. He was trying to de-code that crazy RN and was seeing 'clues' to use his own word.

He lost everything to protect his family. He didn't need a team of lawyers to defend them because they were innocent. All that was needed are a few polygraphs to be taken - at taxpayer expense no less to take the heat off of them. Submitting to being questioned over and over and over again, if innocent, BPD would have eased up. He chose to pay and pay and pay and not talk, even insisting that friends refuse to cooperate with the investigation.

WTA*?

BBM

:goodpost:

RE: "When he found the body, he needed time to think" - of course he did. After all, JB was the second daughter he had lost tragically. And he would have been at no risk if someone would have found him there with the body, grieving.

 

[InstantProof]

If Patsy finds JB and wants to cover up the incident, what are the chances John will agree with what she wants to do? If they are both aware and involved, what are the chances they both want to handle this the same? Slim to none, I would say. I get the impression Patsy set this up to hand it over to John to take care of once he wakes up and reads the ransom letter. "It's up to you now" etc. She knows he will see through it. "Don't grow a brain". I think John knew she was up to something but wouldn't outright say it, so he told her to call the police, thinking she wouldn't if it was some stunt she was pulling. Patsy panicked and called. John snaps at Burke because he is mad at Patsy.

 

[UKGuy]

Not involved? I'm not saying he wasn't involved. I just think he might not have known anything until PR woke him after she wrote the RN. And in the AMA, Kolar goes on to say -
"He became an accessory to crime when he failed to tell Det. Arndt that he had discovered the body. His beeline to the basement later with Fleet was thought to be a ruse."

kanzz,
Where did JR initially discover JonBenet's body? I doubt it would be the wine-cellar since Fleet White had already looked in and not seen JonBenet?

So did PR tell JR what was going on after she wrote the RN? If not, did PR telepathically communicate with JR when he found JonBenet and she said Be quiet and leave JonBenet as is? if not why would JR ignore his dead childs corpse?

"He became an accessory to crime

The GJ confirmed this, but I doubt it was because he failed to notify anyone he had found his dead daughters corpse and decided just to ignore it!

Assuming Occam's Razor here, more is explained by assuming JR relocated JonBenet's body and misremembered the wine-cellar sequence thereby inadvertently telling the truth?


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[buggiegirl]

Upon recognizing her handwriting, wouldn't he have questioned her on JB's whereabouts?

Maybe that's why she called 911 right away then? Can't answer questions if the police show up immediately.

 

[buggiegirl]

As for the ransom note, by the time John read the nonsense Patsy had written it was probably too late to change it.

If he didn't read the note until she was already on the phone with 911 giving them note details, sure. But really it takes all of 5 seconds to scribble out "we have your daughter, wait for a call" which is what most ransom notes are going to say!

 

[kanzz]

kanzz,
Where did JR initially discover JonBenet's body? I doubt it would be the wine-cellar since Fleet White had already looked in and not seen JonBenet?

So did PR tell JR what was going on after she wrote the RN? If not, did PR telepathically communicate with JR when he found JonBenet and she said Be quiet and leave JonBenet as is? if not why would JR ignore his dead childs corpse?

The GJ confirmed this, but I doubt it was because he failed to notify anyone he had found his dead daughters corpse and decided just to ignore it!

Assuming Occam's Razor here, more is explained by assuming JR relocated JonBenet's body and misremembered the wine-cellar sequence thereby inadvertently telling the truth?
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Is it possible that the body was in the WR and Fleet White just didn't see it, or that it was a bit further back in that WR initially and JR moved it closer to the door?

Did JR ignore JB's corpse? Or did he stay with her for some time, possibly hoping that somebody would discover him there with her? And when nobody ever came, he finally went back upstairs? We'll never know the answers to these questions.

Imo, Occam's Razor seems to point to what I'm saying. JR started piecing things together through the course of the morning after reviewing the RN. He went searching through the house, found JB, stayed with her for a while, maybe moved her a bit, then went back upstairs when nobody came looking for him. Then, when Arndt asked him to search the house - this gave him an out to finally "discover" her.

 

[DrollForeignFaction]

I've always thought the most likely explanation about FW not seeing her was that she was in the wine cellar but not visible in the darkness of the windowless room. As reported, he couldn't find the light switch and didn't see anything. Which is why it was significant that he noticed JR yelled out that he'd found her and then flipped on the switch. He saw her in the dark, but Fleet couldn't - that freaked him out. It would seem to Fleet that JR must have known she was in there without seeing her.

That seems to be the consensus the BPD came to from my recollection of Thomas's book, they even did lighting tests to determine what could be seen without the lights on, how much ambient light would be in the basement in the morning vs the afternoon, if FW's height would block more light than John's etc. I think a scenario where JR moves the body from a second location makes things needlessly complicated.


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[Gigitmdy]

UKGuy,
i don't ever renember reading there was more to the 911 tapes. Would you mind expounding on that? Interesting...

 

[UKGuy]

Is it possible that the body was in the WR and Fleet White just didn't see it, or that it was a bit further back in that WR initially and JR moved it closer to the door?

Did JR ignore JB's corpse? Or did he stay with her for some time, possibly hoping that somebody would discover him there with her? And when nobody ever came, he finally went back upstairs? We'll never know the answers to these questions.

Imo, Occam's Razor seems to point to what I'm saying. JR started piecing things together through the course of the morning after reviewing the RN. He went searching through the house, found JB, stayed with her for a while, maybe moved her a bit, then went back upstairs when nobody came looking for him. Then, when Arndt asked him to search the house - this gave him an out to finally "discover" her.

kanzz,

Is it possible that the body was in the WR and Fleet White just didn't see it, or that it was a bit further back in that WR initially and JR moved it closer to the door?

Anything is possible including the absence of JonBenet's body.

Did JR ignore JB's corpse? Or did he stay with her for some time, possibly hoping that somebody would discover him there with her? And when nobody ever came, he finally went back upstairs? We'll never know the answers to these questions.

We do know the answer, JR told his relatives and the GJ what transpired. What certainly did not happen was JR telling anyone he had found JonBenet, its that simple.

JR ignored JonBenet's corpse, why because he was in on the staging, why else play dumb?

Assuming both JR and Kolar have their facts right, then JR moved JonBenet into the wine-cellar, then later he found her.

Fleet White never saw her first time around, so we have corroboration she was not present in the wine-cellar.

If JR found her earlier on in the wine-cellar why remain silent if he is supposed to be innocent, why pass your own daughters body by, how does that advance you?

JR was involved from the minute JonBenet was found assaulted by the hand of BR. JR likely amended Patsy's plans for some kind of a staging and patently continued to tweak the staging both physically and by comments made to LEA at the the crime scene.

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[kanzz]

kanzz,

Anything is possible including the absence of JonBenet's body.

We do know the answer, JR told his relatives and the GJ what transpired. What certainly did not happen was JR telling anyone he had found JonBenet, its that simple.

JR ignored JonBenet's corpse, why because he was in on the staging, why else play dumb?

Assuming both JR and Kolar have their facts right, then JR moved JonBenet into the wine-cellar, then later he found her.

Fleet White never saw her first time around, so we have corroboration she was not present in the wine-cellar.

If JR found her earlier on in the wine-cellar why remain silent if he is supposed to be innocent, why pass your own daughters body by, how does that advance you?

JR was involved from the minute JonBenet was found assaulted by the hand of BR. JR likely amended Patsy's plans for some kind of a staging and patently continued to tweak the staging both physically and by comments made to LEA at the the crime scene.

.

BBM

UKGuy -
RE: "JR told his relatives and the GJ what transpired" - Maybe I've been missing something, or I've forgotten. It's been a really long last few days for me and I'm in a postdrome migraine fog, so please give me some latitude here, but I don't remember anything about either of these. Neither JR nor PR testified before the GJ.

I'm not sure how you're arriving at "Assuming both JR and Kolar have their facts right, then JR moved JonBenet into the wine-cellar, then later he found her." Again, maybe I'm missing something. But perhaps you could explain this for me.

That Fleet White didn't see JB does not mean she was not there. It just means he didn't see her.

 

[TeaTime]

He didn't see her because she wasn't there. For Pete's sake, she was right there and wrapped up in a white blanket on a dark floor when finally "found", FW isn't an idiot. He knows what he saw and most importantly, what he didn't see.

All that nonsense about lighting and blah, blah, blah is ridiculous and Ramsey spin to try to confuse him on his own memory.

 

[DrollForeignFaction]

How is the information about lighting in Steve Thomas's book "Ramsey Spin"?

He then described going to the little cellar room on the subsequent trip downstairs with Fleet White, unlatching and opening the white door. He snapped his fingers and said, “It was instant, I mean, as soon as I opened the door I saw the white blanket … and I knew what was up.” She was on her back on the floor with the white blanket folded around her, her arms were tied, and there was a piece of black tape over her lips, he said, and her head was cocked to one side. The door opens outward, so he would have had to step back or aside before moving through. He did not say he saw the blanket after turning on the light but “instantly.” Fleet White had stood in that same doorway that morning and could see nothing in the windowless darkness. I had always considered that Ramsey might have known something before he entered, and with this new admission of going to the basement earlier, I was sure of it. By the time he went back downstairs with Fleet White, I thought he knew exactly where the body was.

Clearly, Thomas does not trust JR's story that he knew "immediately" without turning on the light that the white blanket indicated JB was in the wine cellar. Later:

Ramsey stuck to his original story of seeing the girl’s body “clearly and instantly” when he opened the cellar door and for the first time said he did not turn on the light. Our tests and the testimony of Fleet White had convinced us that it was impossible to see anything in the darkness, particularly when the view was blocked by a jutting interior corner.

I'm sure there's more about it in the book but that's what came up in a preliminary search. Thomas seems to think darkness adequately explains why FW didn't see her and points to an obvious lie by John Ramsey. I guess he could have moved her from somewhere else but it doesn't seem to have been necessary.


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[DrollForeignFaction]

And since this is Kolar's thread, I'll try to illustrate his theory of why FW didn't see the body.

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.

Again, the absence of light is given as the reason why FW failed to see the white blanket.
Later:

Preparing to leave the room, they moved a fireplace grate to check another closet, and Ramsey then moved out of the room and down the hallway toward the Wine Cellar. White was replacing the grate when he heard John Ramsey cry out “Oh my God!”
White stated that he rushed down the short hallway and joined Ramsey just as the latter flipped on the lights in the Wine Cellar. He could now see the partially wrapped body of JonBenét.

Again, the time sequence between JR shouting and turning on the lights is emphasized.

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. Investigators pondered the question: How could John Ramsey have immediately recognized the blanket and the body under the same conditions?

Kolar emphasizes Thomas's point: FW and JR saw the room under the same conditions but saw very different things. Like Thomas, it does not appear that Kolar questioned whether or not JB was in the wine cellar the whole time, but instead how on earth JR could have seen her.

Boulder Police investigators returned to the home in July 1997, with another purpose in mind. By that time, they were trying to reconcile Fleet White’s accounting of events with those stated by John Ramsey. White had told investigators that he had not been able to see a thing when he opened the door of the Wine Cellar on the morning of the kidnapping. Ramsey had told them that he had spotted the white blanket on the floor immediately upon opening the door. Investigators wanted to see for themselves what exactly could be seen, or not seen, when the door of the Wine Cellar was opened under similar lighting conditions.

It seems redundant but again, Kolar makes issue of the lighting conditions as he sums up the case:

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.

 

[sedndun]

I think it's been stated that Fleet White was looking for JonBenet under the suspicion that she may have been hiding somewhere and alive. His own daughter had gone missing recently- long enough for the police to be called- and she was eventually found safe and hiding under her bed.

I imagine his search was more poking around looking for any signs of an intruder (which is why he noticed the broken window) while calling out her name. But while he had been to this house before, this wasn't his own home and as we can see from the new videos, that home was a mess. Why would one thing on the floor stand out to him from all the other things on the floor everywhere else down there? If you were more familiar with your own mess than something new would maybe stand out, but I feel bad for any guest trying to find anything out of the ordinary in that disarray. If he just stuck his head in to the dark room, he may have seen hints of things there on the floor (there was more than just JonBenet in the blanket down there,) and mistaken it for more clutter. He may have called out her name, and hearing no reply, no noise of any kind, moved on.

Both an officer and Fleet White had been in the basement that morning, but it's important to remember that they did so with bad information that gave them false expectations of what they were searching for. No ransom note in history had ever corresponded with a dead body in her own home. The officer was more focused on how the supposed intruder came and went and any signs of a struggle (again, that basement looked like some kind of struggle took place there every day.) Fleet was only open to the possibility of JonBenet still being in the home because of his personal experience, but keep in mind that this actually ran counter to the logic presented by the ransom note.

 

[evilgenuis1]

I just finished reading "the" book last night! It took me two days to read it. I was a little disappointed that Kolar did not include his entire theory in a sequence of events. When this murder first took place, I read everything I could find on it. I went from thinking that the Ramsey's did it, to Burke possibly did it, to falling in the same trap that many Americans did and believed the lie that the Ramsey's were selling. Particularly after hearing Alex Hunter, Smit, and Mary Lacy all state that the Ramsey's were innocent. It wasn't until the 20th anniversary of Jon Benet's death that I regained interest - when I began watching documentaries. I believe after reading Foreign Faction that BR did it and JR and PR staged the crime scene. The only thing I have trouble with is the garrote and how that fits in. I just am not sure a 9 year old could have known how to make a garrote. I am puzzled also by Kolar's statement that the garrote is not part of the staging, but motive? I am going to sit down and put my own time line together and see if I can figure this out. Please comment if any of you would like to help me understand what may have happened! I haven't read any of the other crime books regarding this case. Are there any that would be worth my time?

 

[TeaTime]

evilgenius - read Steve Thomas' book, Schiller's book and the one the Ramseys wrote.

 

[evilgenuis1]

Thanks TeaTime for the suggestions on what I might read! I will check these out!

 

[kanzz]

I just finished reading "the" book last night! It took me two days to read it. I was a little disappointed that Kolar did not include his entire theory in a sequence of events. When this murder first took place, I read everything I could find on it. I went from thinking that the Ramsey's did it, to Burke possibly did it, to falling in the same trap that many Americans did and believed the lie that the Ramsey's were selling. Particularly after hearing Alex Hunter, Smit, and Mary Lacy all state that the Ramsey's were innocent. It wasn't until the 20th anniversary of Jon Benet's death that I regained interest - when I began watching documentaries. I believe after reading Foreign Faction that BR did it and JR and PR staged the crime scene. The only thing I have trouble with is the garrote and how that fits in. I just am not sure a 9 year old could have known how to make a garrote. I am puzzled also by Kolar's statement that the garrote is not part of the staging, but motive? I am going to sit down and put my own time line together and see if I can figure this out. Please comment if any of you would like to help me understand what may have happened! I haven't read any of the other crime books regarding this case. Are there any that would be worth my time?

BBM
We've wrestled with this quite a bit. It wouldn't take any real know-how to create this crudely made slip-knot ligature, imo. It wouldn't have even required the paintbrush as a handle, and that part might or might not have been added later.

RE: Kolar's statement - "I don’t believe the strangulation with the cord was a part of staging, and its use constituted an underlying part of the motivation involved in the assault on JBR." Simply put, I think this just means the motive for the strangulation was to kill, not to stage anything.

Staging is defined as ". . . the purposeful alteration of a crime scene." "There are two reasons why someone employs staging: to redirect the investigation away from the most logical suspect or to protect the victim or to protect the victim's family."
source: Crime Scene Staging: The FBI, and the Wrongful Death Expert Witness

For 20 years, some people have been saying the strangulation was part of the staging. Kolar says it was not. Some of us agree with Kolar.