JonBenét Ramsey Case: My Theory & Key Questions

[Meara]

right. ... now that snow is patchy, but the picture is obviously later in the day. you'd expect the areas that are exposed grass in the image there to have had the light dusting at 6 AM. on top of near-continuous old snow coverage over big swaths of the yard. probably enough to expect to see tracks. at least for the parts of the front yard visible in that picture.

i do also wonder how much the old snow coverage and/or new dusting varied around the house at 6 AM... if i'm not mistaken, that picture you just posted is looking due west. so the far side of the house (from this perspective) doesn't get sun until after noon. the old snow cover on brick/stone surfaces might conceivably have melted on previous afternoons, but the fresh dusting from the night before should still have been there at 6 am.

this is not a complete accounting of all approaches to the house, but i'm getting more convinced the snow cover was such that you'd expect an intruder to leave footprints.

There's another photo of the front yard taken earlier in the day, one with a police cruiser in it - showing more snow - just couldn't locate it right away. You're correct about the orientation of the house

The police were particularly interested in the grassy area around the grate. Even if the snow had already disappeared from the brick/stone surfaces at 6:00 AM, it would still have been on the grass, and that space was big enough to have retained footprints.

 

[Meara]

sorry if these questions are too obscure, but...

do we know if there were fences between them and the neighbors on both sides, in 1996?

was the alleyway behind them there in 1996? if so, i assume they at least had a gate to the alley, if not wide-open access between the alley and their backyard.

does anyone know anything about snow coverage in the alley, on the patio, or in the backyard generally? ... my guess would be that grassy areas in the back would look similar to the front yard in that picture, and at 6 AM the bare areas would have at least had the fresh dusting.

i'm trying to constrain the possible pathways an intruder could have taken and without leaving tracks noticeable to first responding officers. not sure it's impossible, but it's looking hard.

Here you go - Purportedly, the first photo of the house exterior on the 26th, before the crime scene tape went up.

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=ht...3ad8a6814a7dabd33dd0a984b109b0f9060&rdt=42715

 

[Meara]

right. ... now that snow is patchy, but the picture is obviously later in the day. you'd expect the areas that are exposed grass in the image there to have had the light dusting at 6 AM. on top of near-continuous old snow coverage over big swaths of the yard. probably enough to expect to see tracks. at least for the parts of the front yard visible in that picture.

i do also wonder how much the old snow coverage and/or new dusting varied around the house at 6 AM... if i'm not mistaken, that picture you just posted is looking due west. so the far side of the house (from this perspective) doesn't get sun until after noon. the old snow cover on brick/stone surfaces might conceivably have melted on previous afternoons, but the fresh dusting from the night before should still have been there at 6 am.

this is not a complete accounting of all approaches to the house, but i'm getting more convinced the snow cover was such that you'd expect an intruder to leave footprints.

Two more - the last. These were not taken on the 26th but may give you a better idea of the dimensions of the grate area with snow. I'm not trying to convince you of anything; just responding to your questions. HTH.

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=ht...bp&s=ed3f4f8a88061e565afcae9a67c80b0fef91b666

https://crimerocket2.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/fullscreen-capture-20210223-142412-001.jpg

 

[Meara]

sorry if these questions are too obscure, but...

do we know if there were fences between them and the neighbors on both sides, in 1996?

was the alleyway behind them there in 1996? if so, i assume they at least had a gate to the alley, if not wide-open access between the alley and their backyard.

does anyone know anything about snow coverage in the alley, on the patio, or in the backyard generally? ... my guess would be that grassy areas in the back would look similar to the front yard in that picture, and at 6 AM the bare areas would have at least had the fresh dusting.

i'm trying to constrain the possible pathways an intruder could have taken and without leaving tracks noticeable to first responding officers. not sure it's impossible, but it's looking hard.

There was a fence between the Ramsey property and the neighbor's to the south. To the north - not that I recall. The properties were separated by large trees. The alley was there in 1996 and a gate separating the alley from the property. The alley probably was plowed and didn't have much snow. It's where people put their bins out and it provided access to their driveways. The patio and back yard, I don't know. The police thought along the same lines as you and did look around the property for fresh footprints in the snow (and checked JB's balcony, as well).

However, snow is not the whole story. Sly access to the property from the alley would have been virtually impossible because the neighbors across the alley, who knew the Ramseys, had a dog that barked when anyone unfamiliar came near, regardless of the hour. The fact that the dog, in the best Holmsian manner, didn't bark the night of the murder is important circumstantial evidence that weighs against the Ramseys.

 

[Lebowski]

excellent. i appreciate all this.

 

[Lebowski]

this is probably asking way too much, but does anyone know whether the snow the night before was light and powdery? because if it was that kind of snow and got blown around, that's the only way i can picture it not still being in front of the grating and basement window at 6 AM.

i have a less clear sense of what the north side of the yard might have looked like, snow-wise. looks (at least today) like it was grassy and wooded, so probably you'd have snow-free spots under the trees, but relatively little melting. ... anyway, it doesn't seem like any reasonable entry and exit points are on that side of the house, so maybe it doesn't matter.