911 Call

[CircuitGuy]

Moved from Something that has been bugging me... (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT) thread.

Maybe we should have moved this conversation to the “911 Call” thread, or the “Who Has Heard Burke's Voice on The 911 Tape?” thread, but I suppose it’s too late now. There are numerous other threads also where this is discussed, and wengr has started another one recently on just the “What did you find?” portion. But here we are.

First, for the record, let’s look at what is usually transcribed as the conversation:

PR: (inaudible) police.
911: (inaudible)
PR: 755 Fifteenth Street
911: What is going on there ma’am?
PR: We have a kidnapping...Hurry, please
911: Explain to me what is going on, ok?
PR: We have a ...There’s a note left and our daughter is gone
911: A note was left and your daughter is gone?
PR: Yes.
911: How old is you daughter?
PR: She is six years old she is blond...six years old
911: How long ago was this?
PR: I don’t know. Just found a note a note and my daughter is missing
911: Does it say who took her?
PR: What?
911: Does it say who took her?
PR: No I don’t know it’s there...there is a ransom note here.
911: It’s a ransom note.
PR: It says S.B.T.C. Victory...please
911: Ok, what’s your name? Are you...
PR: Patsy Ramsey...I am the mother. Oh my God. Please.
911: I’m...Ok, I’m sending an officer over, ok?
PR: Please.
911: Do you know how long she’s been gone?
PR: No, I don’t, please, we just got up and she’s not here. Oh my God Please.
911: Ok.
PR: Please send somebody.
911: I am, honey.
PR: Please.
911: Take a deep breath (inaudible).
PR: Hurry, hurry, hurry (inaudible).
911: Patsy? Patsy? Patsy? Patsy?

You can listen to the better of the two originally released recordings here. I clipped the first part of it if you’d rather listen to just it right here.

Since the first part seems to be incomplete or interrupted sentences, I suppose that’s why it is usually just transcribed as “inaudible” -- even the 911 operator’s answering the call with “911 emergency...” is left out, as well as her interrupted “What’s going on there, ma’am?” (which she has to repeat) is transcribed as “inaudible” the first time she tries to say it. So if we fill in the first part with what I believe is said in red (including what the 911 operator clearly says), it should look more like this (I couldn’t remember how to do columns in HTML for comparing side-by-side, so here’s a picture instead):

I hope you have a decent set of headphones, because it would help.

The delay in responding, which you mentioned as a “problem”, I’m certain is not due to an electronic delay. The call was made from a regular landline phone somewhere in the house (I hope you noticed my thought on which one it was here) I think the delay in responding is simply because of her being distracted with the other conversation that was going on before she realized the call had been answered. That’s why (IMO) when she does respond to the 911 operator, it’s almost a shouted “POLICE!” -- as if (I think) to alert John to make anyone else in the room quiet.

Remember that if you believe the parents staged this thing or altered any evidence at all (as I do believe), they were probably up almost all night under devastating circumstances. They were tired, needing sleep, distraught, and pushing themselves to hold it all together before the police arrived. I wouldn’t expect either one of them to be “at the top of their game” at that point, and I think that’s probably why they both made what we think in hindsight were little mistakes.

Try listening again to the beginning of the recorded 911 call with all this in mind while you look at and read the two versions above. See if it doesn’t all make a little more sense. Then maybe we’ll continue this little exercise and go on to the end of the call on the thread titled “911 Call”.

Thanks for the side-by-side transcripts. For the first time I can imagine the call not terminating at the end and the call originating from the phone in the basement.

I'm not sure why they would call from a different phone and place the call so carelessly. It's plausible they were tired. I would place the call upstairs, assuming the police may show up as quickly as two minutes, possibly during the call.

I can't get past how phony the call sounds. It would be more plausible if she had laughed nervously and said "if this is someone's idea of prank..." If she accepted it at face value, she would have been terrified that they were still in the house and a threat to the rest of the family. Instead she sounds like someone who has witnessed a gruesome crime, not someone who has found a weird RN.

I'm reasonably good with audio from my ham radio experience and handsfree conferencing electronics development. I spent time in the South. I speak Spanish proficiently from school. I feel like I know what to look for when it comes to phonemes and electronic artifacts. I'm not hearing those thing, BUT I certainly can't rule it out. The call is hard to understand. I still feel like she says "one" at the beginning, but it could be the "h" was truncated. Also, "h" has a broad frequency spectrum, similar to white noise which is present in all electronics, so it can easily be lost. Detecting an distinguishing s, f, and h is the hardest thing in voice processing. (My master's is in electronic signal processing, but I have no forensic signal processing experience.)

It comes down to that I get nothing from the background words, but the whole theme of the call sounds like a lie.

 

[wonderllama]

I have no idea what I'm listening to in that shortened clip at the start of the call.

It could be "I'm ringing...POLICE".

I really think we're just guessing here.

 

[wonderllama]

I've just listen to that small section for 5 minutes straight and it really does (to me) sound like "I'm ringing" in the same way me or my wife my sing "I'm on the phooooonnne" to the other or our daughter if she starts to talk to us.

 

[CircuitGuy]

I have no idea what I'm listening to in that shortened clip at the start of the call.

It could be "I'm ringing...POLICE".

I really think we're just guessing here.

I still hear: "...one. Hi, we need... POLICE," but agree we're guessing, and most suggestions are plausible.

Someone posted an interview with an expert who said if the caller greets the 911 operator, it's usually fake. The call just sounds fake to me. It's certainly possible for someone to react that way, but it doesn't sound normal to me. She's saying someone crept through the house, spirited her kid away, and left a bizarre note. She's not confused about whether it's a sick prank, about a police response putting her daughter at risk, about whether the perps are near by yet. Instead it's all about "please" and "hurry". She never mentions helping JBR or any things she'd like them to hurry to do. It's about PR. Nothing about it rings true to me.

 

[wonderllama]

Oh, we agree, it is a made up call indeed!

 

[CircuitGuy]

Dodie summarizes the most important thing to be seen in the call:

In a situation like this, you would call 911 wanting help, but at the same time, you'd be in a certain denial, because a kidnapping and ransom would just be too much to absorb in one piece. You might be begging for help in finding your daughter, but 'surely there's a logical explanation because this is crazy...right'? And I think a caller would be looking for a certain reassurance that 'this stuff happens all the time and calm down, I'm sending somebody to help you find your daughter.' And the caller would be like, 'thank you, thank you, thank you'. But in this particular situation, instead of PR jumping around from emotion to emotion and looking for a more every day life explanation, she doesn't show even a hint of denial or shock that her daughter is being held for ransom, just total acceptance. IMO, she's so focused on the emotions of distraught, scared mother of kidnapped daughter, that she failed to realize that this reaction, by itself, wasn't very believable.

 

[dodie20]

Moved from Something that has been bugging me... (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT) thread.



Thanks for the side-by-side transcripts. For the first time I can imagine the call not terminating at the end and the call originating from the phone in the basement.

I'm not sure why they would call from a different phone and place the call so carelessly. It's plausible they were tired. I would place the call upstairs, assuming the police may show up as quickly as two minutes, possibly during the call.

I can't get past how phony the call sounds. It would be more plausible if she had laughed nervously and said "if this is someone's idea of prank..." If she accepted it at face value, she would have been terrified that they were still in the house and a threat to the rest of the family. Instead she sounds like someone who has witnessed a gruesome crime, not someone who has found a weird RN.

I'm reasonably good with audio from my ham radio experience and handsfree conferencing electronics development. I spent time in the South. I speak Spanish proficiently from school. I feel like I know what to look for when it comes to phonemes and electronic artifacts. I'm not hearing those thing, BUT I certainly can't rule it out. The call is hard to understand. I still feel like she says "one" at the beginning, but it could be the "h" was truncated. Also, "h" has a broad frequency spectrum, similar to white noise which is present in all electronics, so it can easily be lost. Detecting an distinguishing s, f, and h is the hardest thing in voice processing. (My master's is in electronic signal processing, but I have no forensic signal processing experience.)

It comes down to that I get nothing from the background words, but the whole theme of the call sounds like a lie.

Thanks for the explanation on the letters, S, F and H. I hear S's even when they're not there and T, K and H, all sound alike. I think the very last thing on the tape is 'let it be' or 'let be', but when I listen close, I hear an S at the end, so I'm wondering if the phrase is actually 'left these'. I guess because our mouths are full of saliva, the recording picks it up as a sound. I'm to the point of thinking that our ear alone, just isn't enough to hear what was found.

 

[txsvicki]

I think Patsy said " Ohhh, we need.....Police!"

 

[otg]

I still hear: "...one. Hi, we need... POLICE," but agree we're guessing, and most suggestions are plausible.

Well, I don’t know what to say at this point. I thought we’d start at the beginning of the 911 recording, where I think it’s easy to understand what was being said, and move on from there. But without anyone expressing any kind of agreement on what was being said there, I don’t expect to find any kind of consensus on the end.

Dodie doesn’t think Patsy would be calling anyone else “Hon’”, and hears “How we knew” in place of “Hon’, we need ‘em”. (We’ll stick to only the beginning of the call for the time being.)

Wonderllama hears, "I'm ringing...POLICE."

CircuitGuy, you think the word at the beginning sounds like “one” instead of “Hon’”. I can understand that because the first part of what was being said is not on the recording, and “one” would fit in with the context of making a 911 call. But the second word spoken sounds nothing to me like “Hi” instead of “Hon’”. The rest, you say, might be “a coincidental product of ambient noise and the enhancement algorithm used”. I’m not qualified to try and debate that with someone who has a Master’s in electronic signal processing, so I’ll take your word for it.

I suppose it’s not the exact words spoken that’s as important as what I wanted everyone to pick up on from the beginning of the call. It’s the change in Patsy’s tone between what she is saying at first to someone in the room and her speaking to the 911 operator. It’s the sudden blurting out of the word “POLICE!” to alert anyone else that she has a connection and should therefore “shut the hell up”.

Okay, I guess for someone who started out this post with saying “I don’t know what to say,” I’ve rambled on long enough. Let’s move on to what Patsy says after she thought she had hung up the receiver.

This is the original recording in its entirety that Tricia obtained from the DA’s office. I took that and used a program called Wavepad (free for anyone to download). Using it, I took a sampling of the ambient recorded sound before the connection was made (the buzzing you hear at the beginning of the original recording) and then let the program wipe that sound out from the entire tape. That made any voices sound "cleaner". Then I lowered the sound level of the individual keyboard clicks after Patsy thought she had hung up so they are not as distracting. The result is here. Without the same technology that professionals have, that’s the best I can do.

After the 911 operator says her last “Patsy”, this is the isolated portion where Patsy’s “Help me Jesus” can be heard. It has been reported that she repeats it three times, but in listening to it again, I think the first time she says something else (not sure yet what), and then says “Help me Jesus” two times. I’m going to separate it from the other two so we can compare it. I’ll post the results later. But if you are able to discern what she is saying immediately after trying to hang up, this is where it’s at.

 

[dodie20]

Well, I don’t know what to say at this point. I thought we’d start at the beginning of the 911 recording, where I think it’s easy to understand what was being said, and move on from there. But without anyone expressing any kind of agreement on what was being said there, I don’t expect to find any kind of consensus on the end.

Dodie doesn’t think Patsy would be calling anyone else “Hon’”, and hears “How we knew” in place of “Hon’, we need ‘em”. (We’ll stick to only the beginning of the call for the time being.)

Wonderllama hears, "I'm ringing...POLICE."

CircuitGuy, you think the word at the beginning sounds like “one” instead of “Hon’”. I can understand that because the first part of what was being said is not on the recording, and “one” would fit in with the context of making a 911 call. But the second word spoken sounds nothing to me like “Hi” instead of “Hon’”. The rest, you say, might be “a coincidental product of ambient noise and the enhancement algorithm used”. I’m not qualified to try and debate that with someone who has a Master’s in electronic signal processing, so I’ll take your word for it.

I suppose it’s not the exact words spoken that’s as important as what I wanted everyone to pick up on from the beginning of the call. It’s the change in Patsy’s tone between what she is saying at first to someone in the room and her speaking to the 911 operator. It’s the sudden blurting out of the word “POLICE!” to alert anyone else that she has a connection and should therefore “shut the hell up”.

Okay, I guess for someone who started out this post with saying “I don’t know what to say,” I’ve rambled on long enough. Let’s move on to what Patsy says after she thought she had hung up the receiver.

This is the original recording in its entirety that Tricia obtained from the DA’s office. I took that and used a program called Wavepad (free for anyone to download). Using it, I took a sampling of the ambient recorded sound before the connection was made (the buzzing you hear at the beginning of the original recording) and then let the program wipe that sound out from the entire tape. That made any voices sound "cleaner". Then I lowered the sound level of the individual keyboard clicks after Patsy thought she had hung up so they are not as distracting. The result is here. Without the same technology that professionals have, that’s the best I can do.

After the 911 operator says her last “Patsy”, this is the isolated portion where Patsy’s “Help me Jesus” can be heard. It has been reported that she repeats it three times, but in listening to it again, I think the first time she says something else (not sure yet what), and then says “Help me Jesus” two times. I’m going to separate it from the other two so we can compare it. I’ll post the results later. But if you are able to discern what she is saying immediately after trying to hang up, this is where it’s at.

ha ha, I almost hate to ask, because this call has given me fits, but when you ask, 'immediately after trying to hang up', do you mean that spiraling down echo sound? because I have never been able to make out words here...but her wailing for Jesus would fit with the 'tone'. It's a pretty scary couple of seconds and IMO, sounds like it might be wailing or a sobbing.

 

[otg]

ha ha, I almost hate to ask, because this call has given me fits, but when you ask, 'immediately after trying to hang up', do you mean that spiraling down echo sound? because I have never been able to make out words here...but her wailing for Jesus would fit with the 'tone'. It's a pretty scary couple of seconds and IMO, sounds like it might be wailing or a sobbing.

I know you asked about a "spiraling down echo sound" before, dodie, but I wasn't sure what you meant, and at the time, I was trying to concentrate on the beginning of the call. It could be that not hearing those exact words was because (I'm thinking now) that's not the phrase she uses the first time. I've now separated the two sections. See if you can listen to this and hear her say, "Help me Jesus, help me Jesus." Also, let me know if that is the spiraling down sound you were referring to. Keep in mind that even though I lowered the volume of the keyboard clicking, you can still hear it going on while Patsy is wailing.

 

[questfortrue]

I know you asked about a "spiraling down echo sound" before, dodie, but I wasn't sure what you meant, and at the time, I was trying to concentrate on the beginning of the call. It could be that not hearing those exact words was because (I'm thinking now) that's not the phrase she uses the first time. I've now separated the two sections. See if you can listen to this and hear her say, "Help me Jesus, help me Jesus." Also, let me know if that is the spiraling down sound you were referring to. Keep in mind that even though I lowered the volume of the keyboard clicking, you can still hear it going on while Patsy is wailing.

That "Help Me Jesus, help me Jesus" came through very clear on my small laptop speakers.

 

[otg]

That "Help Me Jesus, help me Jesus" came through very clear on my small laptop speakers.

:great::skip::loveyou:

Thank goodness someone hears it, QFT. Maybe we're making progress!

Dodie??? :dunno:

 

[wengr]

I have always been able to make out "help me jesus, help me jesus". What immediately precedes it I can't say.
What is the reason for the blanked out section which is approximately from 1:24 until 1:28?

 

[BOESP]

otg

What I hear at the beginning is "Hurry. Hon we need" and at the end I hear "See" and "what did you do" followed by one or two "Help me Jesus" at the end. I may have heard "Let me see" rather than just "See."

 

[otg]

I have always been able to make out "help me jesus, help me jesus". What immediately precedes it I can't say.
What is the reason for the blanked out section which is approximately from 1:24 until 1:28?

That's the part that I believe was deliberately erased. It's also where the reported exchange between BR and JR occurs:

BR: What did you find?
JR: We're not speaking to you.
BR: But what DID you find?
​

But whoever did the erasure didn't get all of it. It's cut off right after, "What did you..."

I've also got that separated, and we'll get to that after we get past Patsy's plea for divine help.

 

[dodie20]

I know you asked about a "spiraling down echo sound" before, dodie, but I wasn't sure what you meant, and at the time, I was trying to concentrate on the beginning of the call. It could be that not hearing those exact words was because (I'm thinking now) that's not the phrase she uses the first time. I've now separated the two sections. See if you can listen to this and hear her say, "Help me Jesus, help me Jesus." Also, let me know if that is the spiraling down sound you were referring to. Keep in mind that even though I lowered the volume of the keyboard clicking, you can still hear it going on while Patsy is wailing.

Oh brother lol, this clip is what I thought was JR, argh...I'm hearing question mark sounds. And to tell the truth, I always thought the 2nd part was supposed to be JR saying 'we're not talking to you'. http://www.mediafire.com/listen/fu3erup3bheq73c/Version-2.mp3 where I'm hearing the spiraling sound is at the end of 1:15 and the beginning of 1:16. It may be 911 equipment interference, I just don't know, but it's an unsettling sound. moo

 

[otg]

Oh brother lol, this clip is what I thought was JR, argh...I'm hearing question mark sounds. And to tell the truth, I always thought the 2nd part was supposed to be JR saying 'we're not talking to you'. http://www.mediafire.com/listen/fu3erup3bheq73c/Version-2.mp3 where I'm hearing the spiraling sound is at the end of 1:15 and the beginning of 1:16. It may be 911 equipment interference, I just don't know, but it's an unsettling sound. moo

I don't think JR is heard on it, because his reported "We're not speaking to you," is part of what was erased. Forget about that for now. Try to see if you can hear Patsy's "Help me Jesus, Help me Jesus," on this short clip. Then if you do, go to this entire version and go toward the end (shortly after the 911 operator has said "Patsy" for the fourth time, at 1:18) to see if you can hear it once you know what to listen for.

 

[CherCher]

I listened to the various versions posted by otg and gramcracker, and I hear "We need em hon" at the beginning of each call. Patsy is speaking so fast that I may be hearing it wrong.

I was an audio as well as video witness to the actual enhanced audio (from Geraldo) on which you could plainly hear BR's voice, and JR's response.

One thing I have learned from watching television shows where actual 911 calls are recorded and introduced as evidence....the "ou of breath" calls were almost all bogus. True victims or innocent callers might be overcome with emotion, but were not out of breath.

 

[ATasteOfHoney]

...and PR shows no hesitation or concern for the context of the ransom note which clearly states not to alert the police.

Why wouldn't she have mentioned that the perps don't want police involvement so the police will have to arrive in unmarked cars from the street behind them?

I would've devised a plan to avoid alerting the perps that I'm getting the police involved.

Afterall, there were clear instructions to use that good ole' southern common sense, right? :facepalm: