There is so much misinformation in this case, it is amazing. I'm coming at it completely fresh. Never heard of Jonbenet Ramsey before the Karr furore in the press. I can only give my early impressions. Early impression - it is an absolute swamp of misinformation! I've never seen anything like it!
We don't seem to have an agreed time of death. What time the crime? What clues I have seen seem to suggest the crime was earlier rather than later in the given pertiod 10pm 25th till 5.30-Am 26th. So maybe around midnightish?
A neighbour heard a scream at 2am according to some reports, "just after midnight" according to other reports.
All reports suggest rigor mortis and decay (smell) of the body was quite advanced.
Pineapple was in the small intenstine, i.e. quite digested.
All this says the time of the crime was more like, say, 1AM than, say, 4AM. But, as with all else, there seems no agreement on even these basic questions. Who disagrees with a 1AM approximate crime time?
I want answers to this because the ransom note has one curious feature - it uses the word "tomorrow". The "kidnapper" will ring 8am-10am "tomorrow". And it seems this means 8am-10am of the 26th. The cops and Ramseys took it to mean this anyway - they sat by the phone.
So, if the author thinks 8am-10am of the 26th is "tomorrow" then today must be 25th.
But, of course, in common use "today" and "tomorrow" are words used somewhat loosely. For example, if I go to bed at 1am I might still refer to the next morning as "tomorrow" meaning "after sleeping". There does come a point in an all-night vigil, though, where one begins to say "I will see you tomorrow...I mean today..." because the night is so advanced. Days begin and end at midnight, officially, but sometimes we speak as if the day begins at sunrise.
In any case, for the RN author the 26th was "tomorrow". So it could have been written before midnight 25th, or for a while after midnight 25th, but you wouldn't write "tomorrow" if you were writing at, say, 5am.
The next problem this raises is that "tomorrow" is a time signature meant for Mr Ramsey (the intended reader). Did the author know the Ramseys would be getting up early on morning 26th? If not, then Ramsey's might have got up at 7am or 8am or later - being a holiday that day. Early rising is usual on Christmas morn (presents!) but the 26th is for many a day to sleep in and recover from Christmas day madness and clashes with the in-laws. When did the RN author anticipate that JR would find the note? Presumably before 8am because he/she promises to ring then.
Or does "tomorrow" mean 27th?
The time signatures in this note are very interesting. One of the wierdest things in the note is the idea of an "early pick-up" of the child if they detect JR going to the bank ahead of time. Do they mean on the 26th or 27th? Again: when did they anticipate he would find the note?
We don't seem to have an agreed time of death. What time the crime? What clues I have seen seem to suggest the crime was earlier rather than later in the given pertiod 10pm 25th till 5.30-Am 26th. So maybe around midnightish?
A neighbour heard a scream at 2am according to some reports, "just after midnight" according to other reports.
All reports suggest rigor mortis and decay (smell) of the body was quite advanced.
Pineapple was in the small intenstine, i.e. quite digested.
All this says the time of the crime was more like, say, 1AM than, say, 4AM. But, as with all else, there seems no agreement on even these basic questions. Who disagrees with a 1AM approximate crime time?
I want answers to this because the ransom note has one curious feature - it uses the word "tomorrow". The "kidnapper" will ring 8am-10am "tomorrow". And it seems this means 8am-10am of the 26th. The cops and Ramseys took it to mean this anyway - they sat by the phone.
So, if the author thinks 8am-10am of the 26th is "tomorrow" then today must be 25th.
But, of course, in common use "today" and "tomorrow" are words used somewhat loosely. For example, if I go to bed at 1am I might still refer to the next morning as "tomorrow" meaning "after sleeping". There does come a point in an all-night vigil, though, where one begins to say "I will see you tomorrow...I mean today..." because the night is so advanced. Days begin and end at midnight, officially, but sometimes we speak as if the day begins at sunrise.
In any case, for the RN author the 26th was "tomorrow". So it could have been written before midnight 25th, or for a while after midnight 25th, but you wouldn't write "tomorrow" if you were writing at, say, 5am.
The next problem this raises is that "tomorrow" is a time signature meant for Mr Ramsey (the intended reader). Did the author know the Ramseys would be getting up early on morning 26th? If not, then Ramsey's might have got up at 7am or 8am or later - being a holiday that day. Early rising is usual on Christmas morn (presents!) but the 26th is for many a day to sleep in and recover from Christmas day madness and clashes with the in-laws. When did the RN author anticipate that JR would find the note? Presumably before 8am because he/she promises to ring then.
Or does "tomorrow" mean 27th?
The time signatures in this note are very interesting. One of the wierdest things in the note is the idea of an "early pick-up" of the child if they detect JR going to the bank ahead of time. Do they mean on the 26th or 27th? Again: when did they anticipate he would find the note?