angelwngs
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The Ransom Letter~
Sorry everyone, I can't bring myself any longer to call it a 'note'. IMO, it is a letter.
Since the ransom letter is one of the very few pieces of real evidence which was not 'tainted' by shoddy police work, yesterday, I wanted to take a fresh look at it to tear it apart again, and see if '10+ years later', I could see it any differently than I have during the 1st 10+ years.
I thought maybe some of you might like to re-examine it one more time as well and discuss it.
As you know, it can be found online in about a thousand different places, (here at WS, at acandyrose, and a google image search is one of the easiest to pull up the actual letter in the writer's handwriting if you don't already have it stored in your computer or printed off in hardcopy files).
What are your "Red Flags" in the ransom letter and to whom might those flags point toward as a suspect?
Below are some of the same old things that stood out with me and a few that were actually new red flags for me:
My Own Personal Opinions, Questions, Plus Facts from the Letter:
4 direct references to John Ramsey-
"Mr. Ramsey" is used once, "John" used 3 times.
You or Your used or inferred, over and over throughout the letter.
Evidence the writer has anger toward John or wants others to believe that the killer only holds anger toward John. Shows detachment toward other Ramsey family members only mentioning "Family" once in entire letter w/ no specific members named other than John which is referenced a total of 42 times in the 3 pages of the ransom letter.
These references to "Mr. Ramsey", "John", "you" and "your" either written out by the author of the ransom letter or implied by its writer, { examples of Implied "you":
1-(You), listen carefully! 2- (You)use that good common sense of yours, John. }
The ransom letter contains the following number of references to John Ramsey:
Page 1- 14 references
Page 2- 17 references
Page 3- 12 references
(These numbers may be off. Feel free to correct my mistakes.)
Red Flags:
1-"Mr. Ramsey,":
instead of "Dear John,"-( To Deatch, to be condescending or to show education/knowledge in formal letter writing format-The irony of a "Dear John" letter suggesting the end of a relationship, seemed to sarcastic or added an unintended humor to a very serious situation???)
2-"Listen carefully!":
(Instead of read this and follow the directions carefully... Why the word "listen"?)
3-"We are a group of individuals who represent a small foreign faction." -
(!!! Throw the blame across the Ocean. How much further could PR or whomever have detached for this murder?)
4-"We respect your business but not the country it serves."
(Is this suggesting America or is it really referencing another country which is affiliated and "served" by Access graphics? Is this to show 'kindness' toward the Ramseys and distance them from the reason their daughter has been kidnapped/murdered?)
5- "unharmed" "1997" -
(Pointless Lies, as JBR is already dead at this point, so the letter is to buy time for the killer.)
6- "withdraw $118,000.00 from your account" -
(Why does the kidnapper/murder assume that John Ramsey must "withdraw" the money out of his bank? There is a multitudes of means of obtaining large sums of cash without having to "withdraw" it, safe deposit boxes, home/office safes, friends or business associates, etc. How does the killer know that JR has deposited the money in his account, rather than invested it or not even cashed the check as of yet??? Is it the subconscious/conscious intent of the murderer to make the readers of the ransom note think that the killer knew the Ramsey's well to implicate the ones later "thrown under the bus" by the R's?)
6- $118,000.00 amount-
(Very close to the ammount of JR's bonus- used to imply that the kidnapper/murderer knows Access Graphics and the R's well.)
7- "$100 and $20 bills"-
(justifies the need for the need to include the next instruction to JR to "bring an adequate size attache" and then "when you get home, put the money in a brown paper bag". The detail of the instructions indicates to me that a female wrote ransom letter using extremely detailed and very specific in instrustions to 'tell a male how to properly perform the task at hand'.)
8- "I will call you between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery. The delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested. If we monitor you getting the money early, we might call you earlier to arrange an earlier delivery of the money and hence an earlier (word- "delivery"- is scratched out in original ransom letter and replaced by the word "pick-up") pick-up of your daughter"-
("Tomorrow morning"- My first thought: "Tomorrow never comes" and it didn't ever come in the form of a call to the R's from the 'kidnapper'. 2nd thought was the old, obvious question: When is tomorrow, the day JBR was found or the next day? This depends on the intention and clear mind of the killer/kidnapper and on when the letter was written.
Also, if the kidnapper/killer did everything which was done within the Ramsey home, between the time that they went to sleep and before the time that the R's would awaken around 5 or 5:30, (given he knew everything else about them), and then the killer/kidnapper instructed John to be "rested", when and how was John going to "rest" between the time they awaken to find JBR "kidnapped", locating the attache, driving to the bank and "withdrawing the ransom", returning home, taking the money out of the attache and putting the money in a paperbag? Even if he called the bank and had them open early, what is the minimum amount of time that this could have taken and how could anyone rest in between finding out your daughter is kidnapped at 5 something in the morning and receiving a call with further instructions from the kidnapper between 8 and 10 a m that morning? Word 'hence' sticks out like a sore thumb! Who the 'H' uses the word 'hence' in a letter? I think we know who had before and it was someone deeply under the blanket of suspicion. )
9- "execution"
(flamboyant dramatic word to connect to foreign faction)
10- "law enforcement countermeasures and tactics"
(somebody has been watching too much TV...)
11- "don't try to grow a brain- not the only fat cat around- don't underestimate us- use good southern common sense of yours-"
(Movie quote- Underlying reference that he is an idiot in reality...???...
There are more rich kids/'high profile' to grab to make our point and get our cash- How 'high profile' was JR in reality prior to JBR's murder???
Reality is that writer is simply trying to convince the reader(s) to give him more time by believing every word of the letter.
To Infer:We know John is southern and is a rational man. We KNOW John Ramsey very well.)
12-Victory!
SBTC
(This would take a thread all its own. We've all covered that about a thousand times, just like the actual handwriting comparisons and just like the words within this ransom letter... Grrr.... Is this all hopeless? Are there answers within the evidence, somewhere that everyone had overlooked? Probably not. )
I think we all believe that the ransom letter was written for the sole purpose of 'buying time' for and deflecting blame away from whoever killed JBR, but it simply has to point directly toward its author. To me, it does that. For me, it continues to point tragically toward JBR's own mother.
What are your thoughts about the words within the letter?
Above reflects 'my opinion'
Sorry everyone, I can't bring myself any longer to call it a 'note'. IMO, it is a letter.
Since the ransom letter is one of the very few pieces of real evidence which was not 'tainted' by shoddy police work, yesterday, I wanted to take a fresh look at it to tear it apart again, and see if '10+ years later', I could see it any differently than I have during the 1st 10+ years.
I thought maybe some of you might like to re-examine it one more time as well and discuss it.
As you know, it can be found online in about a thousand different places, (here at WS, at acandyrose, and a google image search is one of the easiest to pull up the actual letter in the writer's handwriting if you don't already have it stored in your computer or printed off in hardcopy files).
What are your "Red Flags" in the ransom letter and to whom might those flags point toward as a suspect?
Below are some of the same old things that stood out with me and a few that were actually new red flags for me:
My Own Personal Opinions, Questions, Plus Facts from the Letter:
4 direct references to John Ramsey-
"Mr. Ramsey" is used once, "John" used 3 times.
You or Your used or inferred, over and over throughout the letter.
Evidence the writer has anger toward John or wants others to believe that the killer only holds anger toward John. Shows detachment toward other Ramsey family members only mentioning "Family" once in entire letter w/ no specific members named other than John which is referenced a total of 42 times in the 3 pages of the ransom letter.
These references to "Mr. Ramsey", "John", "you" and "your" either written out by the author of the ransom letter or implied by its writer, { examples of Implied "you":
1-(You), listen carefully! 2- (You)use that good common sense of yours, John. }
The ransom letter contains the following number of references to John Ramsey:
Page 1- 14 references
Page 2- 17 references
Page 3- 12 references
(These numbers may be off. Feel free to correct my mistakes.)
Red Flags:
1-"Mr. Ramsey,":
instead of "Dear John,"-( To Deatch, to be condescending or to show education/knowledge in formal letter writing format-The irony of a "Dear John" letter suggesting the end of a relationship, seemed to sarcastic or added an unintended humor to a very serious situation???)
2-"Listen carefully!":
(Instead of read this and follow the directions carefully... Why the word "listen"?)
3-"We are a group of individuals who represent a small foreign faction." -
(!!! Throw the blame across the Ocean. How much further could PR or whomever have detached for this murder?)
4-"We respect your business but not the country it serves."
(Is this suggesting America or is it really referencing another country which is affiliated and "served" by Access graphics? Is this to show 'kindness' toward the Ramseys and distance them from the reason their daughter has been kidnapped/murdered?)
5- "unharmed" "1997" -
(Pointless Lies, as JBR is already dead at this point, so the letter is to buy time for the killer.)
6- "withdraw $118,000.00 from your account" -
(Why does the kidnapper/murder assume that John Ramsey must "withdraw" the money out of his bank? There is a multitudes of means of obtaining large sums of cash without having to "withdraw" it, safe deposit boxes, home/office safes, friends or business associates, etc. How does the killer know that JR has deposited the money in his account, rather than invested it or not even cashed the check as of yet??? Is it the subconscious/conscious intent of the murderer to make the readers of the ransom note think that the killer knew the Ramsey's well to implicate the ones later "thrown under the bus" by the R's?)
6- $118,000.00 amount-
(Very close to the ammount of JR's bonus- used to imply that the kidnapper/murderer knows Access Graphics and the R's well.)
7- "$100 and $20 bills"-
(justifies the need for the need to include the next instruction to JR to "bring an adequate size attache" and then "when you get home, put the money in a brown paper bag". The detail of the instructions indicates to me that a female wrote ransom letter using extremely detailed and very specific in instrustions to 'tell a male how to properly perform the task at hand'.)
8- "I will call you between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery. The delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested. If we monitor you getting the money early, we might call you earlier to arrange an earlier delivery of the money and hence an earlier (word- "delivery"- is scratched out in original ransom letter and replaced by the word "pick-up") pick-up of your daughter"-
("Tomorrow morning"- My first thought: "Tomorrow never comes" and it didn't ever come in the form of a call to the R's from the 'kidnapper'. 2nd thought was the old, obvious question: When is tomorrow, the day JBR was found or the next day? This depends on the intention and clear mind of the killer/kidnapper and on when the letter was written.
Also, if the kidnapper/killer did everything which was done within the Ramsey home, between the time that they went to sleep and before the time that the R's would awaken around 5 or 5:30, (given he knew everything else about them), and then the killer/kidnapper instructed John to be "rested", when and how was John going to "rest" between the time they awaken to find JBR "kidnapped", locating the attache, driving to the bank and "withdrawing the ransom", returning home, taking the money out of the attache and putting the money in a paperbag? Even if he called the bank and had them open early, what is the minimum amount of time that this could have taken and how could anyone rest in between finding out your daughter is kidnapped at 5 something in the morning and receiving a call with further instructions from the kidnapper between 8 and 10 a m that morning? Word 'hence' sticks out like a sore thumb! Who the 'H' uses the word 'hence' in a letter? I think we know who had before and it was someone deeply under the blanket of suspicion. )
9- "execution"
(flamboyant dramatic word to connect to foreign faction)
10- "law enforcement countermeasures and tactics"
(somebody has been watching too much TV...)
11- "don't try to grow a brain- not the only fat cat around- don't underestimate us- use good southern common sense of yours-"
(Movie quote- Underlying reference that he is an idiot in reality...???...
There are more rich kids/'high profile' to grab to make our point and get our cash- How 'high profile' was JR in reality prior to JBR's murder???
Reality is that writer is simply trying to convince the reader(s) to give him more time by believing every word of the letter.
To Infer:We know John is southern and is a rational man. We KNOW John Ramsey very well.)
12-Victory!
SBTC
(This would take a thread all its own. We've all covered that about a thousand times, just like the actual handwriting comparisons and just like the words within this ransom letter... Grrr.... Is this all hopeless? Are there answers within the evidence, somewhere that everyone had overlooked? Probably not. )
I think we all believe that the ransom letter was written for the sole purpose of 'buying time' for and deflecting blame away from whoever killed JBR, but it simply has to point directly toward its author. To me, it does that. For me, it continues to point tragically toward JBR's own mother.
What are your thoughts about the words within the letter?
Above reflects 'my opinion'