The Case of JonBenet Ramsey-CBS Sept. 18

[Dynamic88]

Several things here:

1) It would have been a far greater risk to have him stay, and risk getting questioned/observed by police.

2) The prospect of going to jail is utterly terrifying to a 9-year-old. That would be more than ample motivation for him to NEVER admit his wrongdoing to ANYONE, even as a 9-year old child.

3) In fact, new interview footage teased last night shows BR being interviewed by cops. When asked if he had any secrets, he tells the cop "I'm not telling you."

4) If BR ever blabbed at the Whites (not likely, IMO, for the reasons stated above), the Ramseys are still in a win-win situation. Let's say he eventually cracks.... his parents are guilty of a cover-up, they are not likely charged due to the enormous sympathy of parents simply being motivated by "not losing their other child." BR never cracks....they all get away with it and the Ramseys don't lose their son. By adopting a cover-up for their son, it's a low-risk, high-reward strategy. The other option is having BR confess, and the end result is they gain nothing and not only lose their other child (they probably didn't know at the time that BR could not have been tried for murder), but intense media scrutiny focuses on a highly dysfunctional family. Therefore, a cover-up for their son is the most rational course of action.

Well the GJ voted to indict, and we know they couldn't have been voting to indict Burke. So it appears to be a very high risk strategy that might possibly put them in prison. Once they know BR is safe from prosecution their lowest risk strategy is to fess up to staging to "protect" Burke.

 

[Lamima]

The problem with BDI is that there is no reason for them to continue to cover for Burke. Certainly by the next day they've contacted their lawyers and have been informed the Burke is safe from prosecution. One does not continue to risk being charged with murder to avoid being charged with lesser crimes such as evidence tampering or obstruction of justice. If it were BDI then John and Patsy would simply have confessed to staging the scene to protect Burke. Again they aren't going to risk being charged with a murder they did not commit.

Then they'd be charged with something...if on day 2 they came forward and confessed their part. When they could hire the best lawyers and best PR folks and had all kinds of pull, they maybe felt they were better off going forward as they did. It worked. No charges, no jail, remaining kid stayed with them...

 

[Dynamic88]

So they would risk life in prison (possibly execution in CO) to hide dysfunction ? I doubt it. Better dysfunctional than prison for the rest of their lives.

 

[andreww]

That's quite possible and I don't think Henry Lee agreed either, but I found it fascinating that the flashlight was clean of prints, even the batteries. And when questioned, the Ramsey's neither claimed or disclaimed ownership of it from all that I've read. So if BR admitted that he'd hit his sister with it and they were staging a cover up, then it would be logical that it had been wiped clean.

I've kind of always read between the lines with the flashlight. First of all, it is sitting in the kitchen, not where you would expect to find it. We have a neighbour that sees lights, not unlike that of a flashlight. Then we have a lack of fingerprints, even on the batteries. And, lastly, we have the Ramseys not admitting ownership.

So, when we discard the intruder nonsense, and take in to account the fact that Patsy had cleaned the kitchen that day, it can only be concluded that it was used sometime after breakfast. As the Ramseys left the house somewhere around 4:00, long before darkness, we can further conclude that the flashlight wasn't used until after about 10:00 when the Ramseys arrived home. As this is their flashlight and their fingerprints being all over it would be expected, why would it have been wiped clean? The only possible conclusion is that it was wiped, not for fingerprints, but to remove any traces of blood, scalp or hair.

The fact that Burke and John have taken ownership for using the flashlight that night, tells me that Dr Henry Lee may find their DNA on it using his more sensitive modern testing. Or perhaps the Rs are just covering the bases in case Lee does uncover something.

What is important here is that Burke only covered himself and John as handlers of the flashlight (murder weapon) that night. I think he unwittingly eliminated Patsy as a suspect with that statement.

 

[andreww]

Well the GJ voted to indict, and we know they couldn't have been voting to indict Burke. So it appears to be a very high risk strategy that might possibly put them in prison. Once they know BR is safe from prosecution their lowest risk strategy is to fess up to staging to "protect" Burke.

I think it has become clear that the Ramseys are not the type of people that are going to take responsibility for anything they have done. They are glad to ruin other people's lives as has been shown many times, rather than admit to anything. The Ramseys are a perfect family, pillars in the community, and that is what is important.

 

[Mountain_Kat]

Watching this now. Just had to stop to say how shocked I am that Fleet White agreed to speak with these investigators. So far, this is the best piece I have ever seen on the case.

 

[Mountain_Kat]

Watching this now. Just had to stop to say how shocked I am that Fleet White agreed to speak with these investigators. So far, this is the best piece I have ever seen on this case to date.

 

[HarmonyE.]

They said JR disappeared for 1½ hrs while the police were at the house that morning. If PR and JR were covering for Burke, they would have kept him close to home instead of right away sending him to the Whites.

Keeping him home would guarantee police interrogation at the crime scene. Sending him away to play with friends was a much safer option.

 

[cricket49]

It was Fleet White who was with JR when they found JBR's body. Fleet checked out the wine cellar first but could not find the light switch as it was in a real strange place. Only someone familiar with the room would have been able to find the room and to find the light switch. JR opened the door and stated "He found her" without turning on a light. That room was very dark.

 

[johnjay]

Then they'd be charged with something...if on day 2 they came forward and confessed their part. When they could hire the best lawyers and best PR folks and had all kinds of pull, they maybe felt they were better off going forward as they did. It worked. No charges, no jail, remaining kid stayed with them...

Burke would have had a very different life if he went through it with people knowing he brutally murdered his sister.

 

[merribe]

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment...d-fbi-agent-jim-clemente-20160919-grjj11.html

"Hopefully the documentary will build enough groundswell support to get the District Attorney's office to resolve the case. With Serial and Making a Murder, justice had moved forward because of those documentary series."

the point is does he want to?

New witnesses came forward, evidence was re-examined and an exact replica of the wealthy Ramsey family home was built just for the purpose of the docu-series.

"All these things coming together helped us find new evidence and helped us better understand the evidence from before. Our team got together, we argued it out, and we came up with one comprehensive theory."

I guess that is why a longer series might be better because it would have time to build groundswell support, for word of mouth to spread like with Making a Murderer, more and more people watching on Netflix over time because it was available all the time and people were talking about it. This will be hopefully be available online (where I hope to watch it!) and will spread for sure; it is just a different mechanism and focused on a previously well-publicized case with so many misconceptions to begin with.

 

[johnjay]

That must have been a tough show for the IDI people to watch.

 

[Mountain_Kat]

I guess we're not going to find out what Fleet told these investigators after all.

(That's okay. He talked to LE who investigated the case, which is all that really matters.)

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Those of you who have continued to follow the case for 20 years (I gave up after two or three years) were probably familiar with the silence of the "circle of friends". That stood out for me in the program last night. Whose idea was it to make certain that the Ramsey's inner circle of associates did not submit to LE interviews or speak with media about the murder of JonBenet? My guess is that John and Patsy orchestrated this with the help of their closest friends who made the necessary contacts. :moo:

 

[Mountain_Kat]

OT, but whenever I see Werner Spitz, I can't help but see Uncle Ruebin Klopek from the movie The 'Burbs. :giggle:

 

[merribe]

I think it could explain why Patsy's call didn't disconnect when she hung up, JR doesn't know and is still listening on the extension but with a hand covering and muffling the voices.

That is an interesting thought, but then, she still would have hung up the phone she was on, and you would not hear her still talking clearly... ?

 

[merribe]

Just finished watching the special and all I can say is, "Wow"! After listening to Dr. Phil defend BR, I thought it would much the same but those people were awesome! They laid it all out there. I can't wait to watch tomorrow night. I have no doubt they have solved this case. Poor Jon Benet. Her parents were more worried about their image and status than giving their daughter the justice she deserved. 20 years of lies!!

I suspect they (JR and PR) felt they were protecting their son, as has been said before, if that was the scenario, or themselves, and probably did not anticipate that this case would become what it has and linger for this long. They probably knew it was risky, but, assuming they were involved, thought either they would get caught and go to jail or it would go away. It has been left in this in between space for so long. But how they could keep telling people there was an intruder if there wasn't is really questionable, to put it mildly, and of course deflecting suspicion to former friends and allies. Not to mention Patsy putting fear into the minds of people in Boulder with that CNN interview early on (while of course not keeping her own remaining "baby" "close" right after it happened).

Thanks everyone for your recaps and thoughts ... and the link to watch!!

 

[Dogface]

I haven't researched enough on the flashlight yet, however, if you were covering for your son who used the flashlight, and took the time to wipe it clean down to the batteries, why not go the extra little step and put it away in a drawer in the garage or a upstairs somewhere??

 

[Mountain_Kat]

I haven't researched enough on the flashlight yet, however, if you were covering for your son who used the flashlight, and took the time to wipe it clean down to the batteries, why not go the extra little step and put it away in a drawer in the garage or a upstairs somewhere??

I can easily see it being wiped clean and then forgotten on a counter in a chaotic scene. I wouldn't even put it past the Ramsey's to have left it there on the counter in the hope that someone in the house that morning would have picked it up, depositing their prints on the damned thing. Not that I think they really did that, but I sure wouldn't put it past them.

 

[elannia]

Did anyone else notice that when they were talking with Ron Walker he said Officer French was in the house with Linda Ardnt, I am pretty sure this was when JB body was brought up and French said he was standing near the door