When I first started reading in detail about this case, one of the most chilling things that stays with me was Officer French's words to Officer Reichenbach that, "something didn't seem right." I often wonder what in particular informed his intuition. Most crimes are solved within the first 48 hours; French was the first officer on the scene and his observations are immensely valuable. Has anyone ever interviewed him beyond his statements that already public record?
I'd like to know more about these two as well. Depending on the book, each one of them was the first down into the basement. It cant be both. As you know, I find the entire basement sequence the vital key to unlocking the case. The more info we can find out about this, the better.
IMO here's why "something didn't seem right". You have the highfalutin housewife opening the door and giving you details while Mr. Big CEO Man is in the background in the house not taking charge of the situation even though his daughter has just been kidnapped. This would set off my red flag even before reading the note which would then set off another red flag. Once finding out there is another child in the house that neither parent was concerned enough to wake up is another. "Something" didn't seem right? Nothing seemed right. I don't remember how long FBI was on the scene off the top of my head but it clearly wasn't long enough and/or they sent the wrong agents.
I wish the FBI had taken control of the case from minute one. Technically she was kidnapped even if just moving an unconscious girl down to the basement, Instead they let the Boulder incompetents remove them from the case and ruin it. You're right, many cases are solved in 48 Hours. Allow the FBI's creme de la creme access to the investigation, they might have pulled off a miracle. Its a complex, paradoxical scene no matter who is in charge but the FBI would have attempted to remove several layers of the scene to make sense of what really happened. Corral everyone at the Whites Christmas party and tell em all they've got some splaining to do and stories damn well better match. Do this with the guests at the 23rd party as well. Twenty years later we're still waiting for these things to happen and I predict snow flurries in hell before its ever attempted. Several key figures are dead now anyways.
There is so much corruption in this case that it boggles the mind. Many people not named Ramsey should've rotted in prison right along with them but instead no one has to answer for her murder or the corruption following it,
My past few posts do come across as negative towards Fleet but I'll say something else about him. Out of the people closely involved in the Ramseys lives at that time, he is the only one who truly seemed to care about Jonbenet and wanted justice served in the case. Everyone else sold their souls to the devil. So even if he hasn't given up all the info he knows, he truly seemed to care about her and I also like how he didn't want to make a dime off of her which cant be said for many people in this case. I think all the investigators were either incompetent, over their head, or simply corrupted and on ego trips but I will give Steve Thomas credit where its due. I put him in the category of over his head but he is the Fleet White of the investigative team. He knew only one thing was important in the Jonbenet case and that is Jonbenet herself.
I am not a lawyer but have a few questions for those that know about these things. Is it possible for someone to eventually blow the lid off all this corruption between the BDA, BPD, Ramsey attorneys, and others involved with them or have the statute of limitations run out on most of these things? Many people think the case would never proceed because Burke killed her. I strongly disagree. I think the case wasn't going to move forward due to what my grandma liked to call greenback dollars. Too much money, collusion, and conflicts of interest for this case to EVER go to trial. Assembling a grand jury was nothing but window dressing and a waste of time. Hunter, the Ramsey attorneys, etc. knew the outcome even before a jury was selected. They were hoping the story would just go away after Hunter failed to indict. People have the nerve to blame this inaction on a 9 year old boy. Ugh. They encountered a problem when the case didn't go away. They had to keep spending money throwing it into a black hole to "investigate" a case where they already knew they'd never arrest those involved. They couldn't. They wouldn't. Doing so would risk the whole house of cards being exposed. Now they wish for people to speculate Burke did it, couldn't charge him so they went no further, and this lets them off the hook. Or its a phantom intruder no one can catch and this also lets them off the hook. Both scenarios allow the house of cards to remain intact. They lucked into enough people believing both scenarios. What initially appeared to be the biggest mystery of our time turned into a rigged game of Clue. JOnbenet the loser of this game while many rode off into the sunset making money off of her corpse.
Many people need to read those full transcripts again. A child could have interrogated them better than that. Both Ramseys drop several bombshells(the scream, asking about blood, different stories on the note, JOhn admitting basement items have been moved in the photographs, etc.) and the interrogators all sit there twiddling their thumbs like the Ramseys were talking about the weather. They even interrupt the Ramseys in the middle of what should be important statements! They also finish their sentences for them and its frustrating. If memory serves me correctly(I'll look up that section of the transcript later), The term papoose wasn't first stated by John. He was in the midst of describing how he found Jonbenet and one of the investigators finishes his sentence with papoose, John agrees, and its off to the races with papoose. Maybe she was found like that but I would have preferred John be allowed to finish his thought even though he was stumbling. As an investigator, you don't need to be finishing the sentences of murder suspects when they are describing how they found the murder victim.
Oh and the Smit-John interview is brutal. They are both doing nothing but killing the clock.....like two quarterbacks dropping to their knee because the time is just worthless and need to get it over with. One part of it where Smit should have been pulled out of the room and/or simply fired is when they're talking about the gingerbread houses and Smit starts going on wondering about the sexual proclivities of the guy who made them, John tells him he's gay, and Smit starts going on about wondering if he had a gay friend. Who cares?!? I highly doubt two homosexual gingerbread house makers killed her and even Smit isn't dumb enough to believe such nonsense. Then a bit later Smit starts speculating that maybe a " strange kooky cook" spotted the Ramseys during one of their dinners at Pasta Jay's. John senses what Smit is doing immediately and plays along saying how one of the waitresses adored Jonbenet and had sorta adopted her as a surrogate daughter. THis leads to John reminiscing about some young church couple he spotted In Pasta Jay's and points out how she was attractive. It's like I said, they're just killing the clock. It's all white noise. They could just as easily discuss the possibilities of life on some of Saturn's moons because that conversation would achieve just as much as this one did.
Here's one of the worst exchanges between Lou and John.
LOU SMIT: Anybody that you talked to or anything?
JOHN RAMSEY: I spoke to one of the line guys.
LOU SMIT: You know his name?
JOHN RAMSEY: I don't. He was just one of the guys that was there on Christmas day. But the airplane was in their hangar, in the maintenance hangar. Which is not normally where it's kept. But it was there that day. And I just puttered around for a few hours actually. Probably got home about threeish, probably.
LOU SMIT: Did you have a run-in with somebody at the airport over the parking of the plane, that I remember reading someplace; some guy that you had a run-in with at the airport? Could you just think of that for a little bit?
JOHN RAMSEY: (INAUDIBLE) I don't remember that now.
LOU SMIT: I remember something (INAUDIBLE).
JOHN RAMSEY: I don't specifically remember anything like that.
8 LOU SMIT: So got home at about three?
He makes me sick. He lets John dance around three issues(the different location of his airplane, "puttering around" for hours, a possible "run-in' with somebody) and Lou himself changes the subject! Thanks Lou!
This one gets to me as well...
LOU SMIT: Was the suitcase, when you came back, in the same spot it was when you had been?
JOHN RAMSEY: I think I moved it to see or to look for glass then. But I think it was where I left it, where it was when I was down there before.
LOU SMIT: Did you look inside the suitcase?
JOHN RAMSEY: No.
LOU SMIT: You knew what was inside of the suitcase?
JOHN RAMSEY: I presumed it was empty. It should have been empty. I thought it was empty.
LOU SMIT: Okay.
Perfect moment to bring up the odd contents of the suitcase but doing so might lead us a step closer to solving the crime or at least helping to figure out one of the layers of the staging, so it must be ignored at all costs.
I know many on the forums hate John Douglas and he certainly made some mistakes in his involvement with this case but my dream scenario would have been letting people like Douglas and Ressler have full access to the case files and then let them nail John and Patsy to the wall. Both would walk out of interrogations at that level in handcuffs. I would have also liked John Andrew to be asked about more than movie ticket stubs. While I don't think Santa killed her, I would have asked him about his obvious interest in Jonbenet. All the abuse bases needed to be covered regardless of who the actual abusers were. Every adult/teen male in her life needed to be interrogated hard. Once painting them into a corner, they might reveal things that could help solve the murder even if they themselves had nothing to do with it.
But as we know, that would never be allowed to happen.
OUCH.
Reading that just makes me even sorrier the plan to bug the house was never greenlit.
Places that needed to be bugged:
John and Patsy's house
John Andrew's residence and a few of his friends
Melinda's house
The Stines
The Fernies
The Whites
McReynolds
fabricate some "breaking news" in the case, have a media outlet like CNN broadcast it and listen to every word that is said by these people. You'll find out not just what happened that night, but any incidents leading up to her murder. For example, bugging the Whites house might cause Fleet to say something suspicious he noticed the Ramseys doing, god only knows what the Stines would say, and of course the Ramseys themselves.....and you're on your way to solving the crime.
Which is why it didn't happen.
Thanks Singularity, good post you made. Lots to think about.
If I may, I'd like to ask you and others about their impression of "The Doll In The Wine Cellar" - what do people see? The only photo we have is far too blurry for me, I can barely see any doll at all. It does worry me that it appears to be a doll on a white piece of fabric, creepy as heck considering JBR's body was found wrapped in a white blanket. But I'm not sure that I'm even seeing that correctly.
I recall a lengthy discussion threat about this, but can't find it. Anyone want to weigh in on what they see in the grainy photo?
(p.s. - yes I was glad to read in one of the PR interviews that she agreed to seeing the doll in the crime scene photos, just wish LE had been able to get her to talk more about it, but IIRC, she just blew it off as if she thought it was just an irrelevant curiosity)
Yes she blew it off but what is unforgiveable is the fact THEY blew it off. It is a pattern in all of their interviews.
Yes it is blurry but it's definitely a doll. If you have the time you should read the thread UK posted or bookmark it. I'm surprised this photo does not get discussed more often.
I agree that it is creepy and its a layer of staging. It did not accidentally wind up in that spot. I'd also like to know what the doll is on. Is it a rag, some other fabric, or is it some of the cotton that was found in the cellar? A better question is why was it placed there? When? Was this a last minute decision to pose one of her dolls like that? How close was this doll to her body? If anything, it shows a lot of thought went into how they wanted her to be found.
