Lets think logically about these size 12s. We know Patsy bought them on the mother/daughter trip to New York. We know they were intended as a Christmas Gift for Patsy's Niece. Given that Jonbenet was withe her when they were purchased, it seems that if she had wanted them that badly, Patsy would have bought her a set in her proper size. It seems highly unlikely that Patsy would for some reason decide not to give them as a gift as originally planned. Did she ever explain why? Did she ever say what she got her instead? Was she even asked?? I think that it is realistic to conclude that the size 12s were still earmarked for the niece and probably were wrapped in one of the gift boxes still in the wine cellar that night.
So then we need to ask ourselves who knew they were there? Ramsey statements seem to indicate that Burke had been down there on Christmas day opening presents, so he may have been aware of them. Patsy obviously knew because she wrapped them. I find the story of Burke being the one that opened the boxes to be a little suspect. Lets face it, its Christmas day, he's probably got a stack of new toys (including a new Nintendo) and from all accounts he was playing with friends all day. I honestly don't see him being motivated enough to sneak down there on that day to open more gifts. In my opinion Burke took the wrap (see what I did there
) for this one. I believe Patsy was the one that tore in to those boxes, specifically looking for those size 12s.
So what could the reason be? There are a few possibilities. I think that due to the wiping of JB's groin it is quite evident that somebody was worried about some kind of identifiable forensic evidence that could be found in that area. So it makes sense that whatever panties she was wearing would need to be destroyed as well. Why use the size 12s?
- As discussed, possibly JB was wearing the size 6 Wednesday panties and the size 12s were used in case anybody at the party had noticed them.
- Patsy may have been working alone on this and did not want to go upstairs and risk waking John. She uses the size 12s that she knows are gift wrapped.
- Perhaps Patsy wanted to properly commemorate JBs Christmas death by having her wear Wednesday panties. (Although Patsy would later say JB would just wear whatever panties she grabbed, it seems very coincidental that she happened to be wearing Wednesday panties on Wednesday)
Finally, it is ludicrous to think that JB put those panties on for the simple reason that the rest of them should have been in her drawer. I think we can all agree that an intruder would have no clue that the size 12s were there and probably would have had no interest in redressing her anyway. Likewise, John probably had no clue the size 12s were even there. That leaves two people and I would bet my life that it was Patsy. Yes you could make a case that it was Burke but I think logic likely points to the adult being
worried about forensic evidence over a nine year old boy.
OK, let's try to think logically about the 12s. Here are a few thoughts to get us started, in no particular order of importance.
1. JBR most likely wore size 6 panties to the party. We can assume this because of Patsy's statements to the effect that she (Patsy) didn't notice anything unusual while putting the long johns on JBR. Patsy says JBR's panties did not come down with the velvet pants when they were removed. Patsy makes no attempt to claim that she (Patsy) changed the underwear before putting the ljs on JBR. So, most likely the panties worn to the party were size 6 panties.
2. A pair of size 6 panties are unaccounted for. We think. That may be because they are missing, presumably disposed of due to forensic contamination. But, it may be that the size 12s were substituted for the size 6s for reasons only the killer knows (his/her own bizarre reasons) While disposal of the size 6 panties for forensic reasons makes sense, and is a reasonable inference we should be careful not to treat it as a fact. For all we know, there may have been a pair of size 6 (possibly Wed.) panties in the dirty clothes hamper.
3. Publicly available info does not allow us to say that someone at the party noticed the size/color/date/dotw of JBR's panties at the party. We can speculate that this might be the case but it's merely speculation. It's quite possible for someone to help her with her toileting w/o making note of the particulars of her panties. It's possible no one at the party assisted her with her toileting.
4. The panties worn at bedtime do not need to match the panties worn to the party. However, as MURDERER_SERVANT has pointed out, if the Ramseys claim to have changed the underwear at bedtime, then they ought to be able to produce the pair that was worn to the party. The pair unaccounted for has to be the pair she was wearing when the LJs were put on her. For reasons we've already touched on, that's likely to be the size 6s she wore to the party.
5. Patsy had lots of time to come up with an answer to the question why was JBR found in size 12s. By the time she sits down with the police she knows about the 12s, she knows (or can assume) that the police have searched the house, including the underwear drawer. She knows that if the package of size 12s were never placed in the drawer that the police could not have found any in the drawer. So, she is either lying about putting the package of 12s in the drawer, or someone other than Patsy took the entire package from the drawer (for whatever reason). I would note that if she's lying it's a poorly crafted lie, given that she already knows the police search is at odds with her story. Since the Rs will blame the redressing on the "intruder" does it matter whether the intruder found the 12s in the drawer or in the basement? Does Patsy think it's more plausible that the "intruder found them in the drawer ? There must be some reason for telling a story that is at odds with the physical evidence (no size 12s in the drawer) when she knows ahead of time that the search was done and that the 12s are an issue.
6. A package of size 12s is supposedly found by the Ramseys, some years later. It is claimed that they were packed with other things when the family moved to Atlanta. Of course we cannot verify that these are actually panties from the house, from the night of the murder, but it's at least possible.
7. If the forensic contamination that we think might account for a pair of panties being disposed of was merely JB's blood, then I'm not sure why they'd have to be disposed of. Given that the autopsy will reveal the vaginal trauma there should be nothing odd about JB's blood being on her panties. The blood could have been rinsed out, but then perhaps it would be difficult to explain a pair of soaking wet panties in the hamper. Another possibility for forensic contamination is semen. Though there is no semen on the body this doesn't necessarily mean that there was none on the panties. The killer may not have wished to risk rinsing the semen out, as even a tiny trace of semen in JBR's panties would be difficult to explain.
8. Given that the "story" the Rs wish to push is that JBR was killed during a "kidnapping gone wrong" there was no need to substitute panties at all. Why would the "intruder" bother substituting panties? This indicates that the way the body was initially taken care of (wiped, redressed, wrapped, hidden in the WC) happened before the "kidnapping gone wrong" story was thought of. For some reason the body was not re-staged consistent with a "kidnapping gone wrong". Either that or the killer imagined that wiping, redressing, etc. is what a sex murderer would do. This indicates one Ramsey working alone w/o the knowledge of the other(s) ? (And we don't need to assume the R working alone was Patsy)
This is not an exhaustive list of everything to do with the size 12s, but it will do for a start.
