John Ramsey and ransom note...

[AuDHD]

Though Steve Thomas doesn't speculate in his book that Patsy wrote the note to fool John, Thomas does say that John must have recognized his wife's writing mannerisms all over it. There are elements of the note that relate to John and which he acknowledged: a reference to his Atlanta Fat Cats club, his net 1996 bonus. There are things he was probably not aware of for some time, to wit, the S.B.T.C. sign-off from the open Bible on the desk in his third-floor study.

There are words taken from the Tom Clancy books John liked to read. In '98 the police asked Patsy if she read Tom Clancy. (The transcript spells it "Clancey.")

So my conclusion is that Patsy didn't write the note to fool John--or even the police in the long term. She wrote the note to implicate John.

i think it was intentionally lengthy and pointing at multiple family members in order to confuse investigators and make it hard to pin on any one Ramsey.

 

[proust20]

While Patsy likely penned the RN, John could have been assisting her. "Listen carefully!" could have been his instruction. He'd be used to dictating at the office.

The 118k may be a way of pointing to someone with whom JR worked? Professional jealousy and animosity was high on the Rs list of motives.

The FF is aware of the American South as a distinct region, and thus that John has relocated to CO.

 

[InstantProof]

If PR wrote the RN, how or why did JR consent or allow it to ever be seen?
He seems too intelligent to allow such an obviously fake note to be the foundation of the kidnap staging.

I think arrogance played part in the cover-up and they weren't too worried beyond setting up that someone else did it. I also suspect Patsy continued with the note after John thought it was done (maybe while he was in the shower).

 

[ispywithmylittleeye]

i think it was intentionally lengthy and pointing at multiple family members in order to confuse investigators and make it hard to pin on any one Ramsey.

This!⬆I think this is were legal advice began. Who could better help build a beyond a reasonable doubt scenario?

 

[proust20]

The RN was necessary to have something to say during the 911. Both are parts of the same scenario.

The Rs could not show up at the airport for the scheduled out of state flight without JonBenet. This flight imposed a deadline for the last reasonable time at which JB could be reported 'missing'. ("We have a kidnapping.")

 

[Cranberry]

The RN was necessary to have something to say during the 911. Both are parts of the same scenario.

The Rs could not show up at the airport for the scheduled out of state flight without JonBenet. This flight imposed a deadline for the last reasonable time at which JB could be reported 'missing'. ("We have a kidnapping.")

Exactly also IMO JR's family enroute to 15th St imposed a deadline for JBR to be 'found'.

 

[Meara]

This is really interesting. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. When do coincidences become not so coincidental?

Drawing in what you said, do you think there could be a scenario of premeditation to Jonbenet's murder? Or would you suggest that these memories came back to aid the set up when parents were in chaos after an accident?

Thanks for your comment and my apologies for this very late reply. I was away from the board till now. To your question, I don't think we can know for sure whether the murder was/wasn't premeditated. It's a very perceptive question. You're asking whether the observable parallels to the L&L case also point to premeditation in JBR's murder. The fact that it happened Christmas night despite severe weather that might well have discouraged/pointed away from an intruder could support a theory of premeditation; i.e., for some reason in PR's mind, it had to happen that night no matter what. Just for myself, though, I think it's more likely that memories both conscious and unconscious informed Patsy's internal process and actions. "When do coincidences become not so coincidental?" Indeed. I am biased, of course. If physical and circumstantial evidence could solve this case, it would be solved by now. For a long time I was in the BDI camp but now believe understanding PR's psyche is the key. And she does unconsciously leak a lot of information.

 

[tricia]

Tonight at 10:30 PM EASTERN We will go over our JonBenet Ramsey Dec 26th case evidence.
CLICK HERE AT 10:30 PM EASTERN TONIGHT ON WEBSLEUTHS YOUTUBE LIVE

 

[ispywithmylittleeye]

While the note was a big risk, time pressure left few options. But you've got me questioning.....

I think Patsy wrote the note and have accepted the view that it was her exaggerated idea of what a ransom note should be. Instead of three sentences it was three pages. It was needlessly dramatic and descriptive, verging on personal bullying towards the end. JonBenet was dead, and they were going to have to call the police. And then what? Maybe the long descriptions of what John was supposed to do and not do was a way of filling in the blank on the other side of that phone call, of gaining some sense of control.

But was it really just typical OTT Patsy? I’m now rethinking that view. Patsy and John liked movies, had a collection of DVDs and posters, and a retractable movie screen installed in their bedroom The RN incorporated lines from various films. Patsy was a writer. She had worked in public relations and was alert to language and presentation. She knew perfectly well what a real ransom note was like! So why have we accepted this idea that Patsy didn't realize she'd penned a highly questionable fake? And once we remove the idea we have to ask why, in the midst of her awful situation, did she spend considerable time and effort to write the “War and Peace” version when a terse one would have been more realistic and far less taxing?

If Patsy had written a typical ransom note, what would have been different? No memorable story of the three pages spread across the stair step. Minimal deflection of suspicion and no suggestions of possible suspects. When the call didn’t happen, all suspicion would have fallen directly on John and Patsy. More police officers would have been sent in, the house would have been thoroughly searched and JBR’s body found. The discovery scene would have been preserved. Concealed evidence might have been found. John and Patsy would have been questioned right away, separately, or taken into custody if they refused to talk before hiring a lawyer. In short, the whole course of things would have been different. I believe Patsy wrote the long RN not just to invent a kidnapper but, in a sense, to conjure him up; to give him a voice, a motive, feelings, actions, variations, a presence that made him seem real - real enough, at any rate, to skew the investigation.

I don’t think the shifts in the RN from "we" to "I", from "Mr. Ramsey" to "John", and from formality to mocking familiarity were either planned or done by mistake. Patsy was an actor and she was improvising a monologue on paper just as she had once done aloud; and I do think there was unconscious purpose at work in it, as there is in all creativity. Did it create scattershot clues meant to point in contradictory directions? That was certainly the effect. Police couldn't zero in on or rule out any one person or group. Was the kidnapper/then killer someone who matched the aloofness of the opening sentences or the taunting vibe of the closing ones? Someone who wanted to strike at John's company or at John personally? Someone educated enough to write "attache'" with the accent or someone who couldn't spell "business" and "possession"? Someone blunt enough to threaten beheading or sneaky enough to misspell words on purpose? Someone bold enough to fake a kidnapping and murder JBR while the family slept or someone too indifferent to demand more than $118,000 from a multimillionaire (money that would have to be divided among the perps, don’t forget. If there were three of them, they wouldn’t even get $40,000 apiece.)? In addition to conjuring a kidnapper with the ransom note, Patsy at some level also meant to hand police a puzzle that couldn’t be solved.

Thanks for getting me thinking about this. I’m also rethinking whether the RN was written to fool John, but that’s for a separate post. God knows this one's long enough.

My gut says they both participated in the note. There was too much that needed to be accomplished that night for one person. I also think they had help due to the missing phone records. If I had to guess, my guess would be attornies, Beuff, and Lockheed Martin were called. I put these calls in JRs arena.. Just some thoughts ....