I started this thinking about posts in the Henry Lee thread but I branched out too much, so I'm posting it here
psyops (psychological operations): planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.
Act I stage/fix
Act II make the call
Act III full house
Act IV react to discovery
Act V leave town
the CEO who presided over the merger of three companies into one which had recently announced one billion dollars in sales did not call 911. he deferred that to his histrionic wife. that 911 tape was enhanced at the urging of dispatcher Kimberly Archuleta who ended her shift that morning with PR's call. her professional experience left her with an uneasy feeling about the call and she spoke to her family about it that day. she didn't know the outcome until her next scheduled shift and she freaked when she heard about JB's murder. she immediately told her supervisor that someone needed to listen to the end of the call after PR stopped talking (to the dispatcher). Archuleta said the tone of PR's voice changed, the hysteria disappeared, and she (Archuleta) heard PR and two other voices before the call disconnected. we know the outcome of examining the tape
the Rs defied the threats in the RN because their psyops required many participants, consisting of Officers French and Veitch, Sergeant Reichenbach, the Fernies, the Whites, Reverend Haverstock, CSIs Weiss and Barcklow, Victim Advocates Morlock and Jedamus (civilians), Sergeant Whitson (who initiated contact with the FBI), Detectives Kithcart, Arndt, and Patterson
there were no fingerprints from the scribe on the RN/pen (gloves). there were no R fingerprints on the RN although they both claimed to have handled it (we have only their word for that). claiming that PR did not read the entire RN "told" their need to totally distance her from it
Arndt headquartered in the den where the ransom call would be answered. JR left the den three times during the two-hour window when the ransom call was expected. he was so far away that he had to run for the phone when someone else happened to call during that window. neither parent commented/reacted when the deadline passed without a ransom call, nor did their friends
despite being told to remain in the sunroom the nine civilians moved about at will and had to be frequently reminded to stay in one room. besides the contamination caused by merely being in the house, the Whites, Fernies and Haverstock used the kitchen to make snacks and meals and they used the bathroom. Arndt was the only LE in the house for a period of two and a half hours
LE observed PR vomiting, hyperventilating, incoherent, confused, wailing, crying, and being consoled by her friends rather than her husband. there was only minimal interaction observed between the parents. during the darkest moments of their lives, it's telling that they sought and received consolation from their friends rather than each other. the seven non-family civilians also contaminated the atmosphere in the house. it would have been instructive for LE to observe the behavior/interaction of the parents without the distraction provided by their friends. (which is why they were invited)
JB's body was staged for an anticipated and desired discovery (cocooning her in a blanket was a loving and personal instinct they could not overcome). I think JR was shocked when he realized that he would have to produce the body himself. leaving town hinged on wrapping things up, which could happen only after she was found. leaving town was crucial to setting a defense team stonewall in motion. his conversation with his pilot 20 minutes after the discovery reinforces that his plan was to leave ASAP. he asked how long it would take to get airborne and the pilot said two hours. only the intervention of BPD stopped the family from leaving that afternoon/evening (without their daughter's body which was awaiting autopsy and evidence gathering. how sad is that?)
JR's perception was skewed because he knew where JB was. LE's perception was to look for entry/exit points and other indicators coinciding with a kidnapping. his expectation was logical to him, given his knowledge. he'd been between a rock and a hard place before calling 911: leave her somewhere visible (then why didn't he find her) or leave her somewhere hidden (then they will find her). he was also between a rock and a hard place after LE arrived: they weren't finding her (because they weren't looking for her) so was it up to him to "find" her? (looking for a kidnap victim at the scene has likely been added to protocols nationwide, although I'm not aware of a case where the victim has been recovered/discovered that way)
reasons why she wasn't taken elsewhere: exposure to the elements/predators, being seen leaving/coming back, being seen at the dump site, leaving tire tracks there, not enough time to take her far enough away. I think the scenario would have been entirely different if they weren't expected in MI. without a travel deadline there would have been plenty of time and opportunity to effect a complete disappearance. maybe an abduction without a RN, because a RN with a disappearance would require their presence/availability in town for an ongoing period of time. finding JB that day wrapped things up: we're devastated, but she's not missing, we know where she is, and now we're leaving town
French was responsible for protecting the Rs from the dreaded foreign faction yet PR requested that he remove his uniform shirt and gunbelt. he is the one who observed PR peeking at him through her fingers while she was crying
French and Reichenbach toured all four stories of the home and they (and FW) are often faulted for not discovering JB's body during their walk-throughs of the basement. French and Reichenbach weren't looking for a missing child who had wandered from her bed, they were looking for points of entry/exit used by a kidnapper. the swivel latch on the WC door indicated that entering through the door from the exterior would damage it, and if exiting through the door from the interior the latch would not be in place. so I've never understood that criticism or argument
Commander Eller headed the detectives and he was at home on the 26th and officially on vacation. Detective Sergeant Mason was on-call at home to serve as acting commander. Eller issued some orders and instructions by phone when he was told about the kidnapping, and then Mason was notified and he drove from his home to BPD headquarters (where the four members of the FBI team who would soon arrive from Denver would, after reading the RN, advise BPD to "look to the parents")
PMPT:
At first Mason couldn't understand why the officers on the scene hadn't secured the house earlier, and questioned them individually. Then he learned that Commander Eller had ordered that the Ramseys be treated as victims, not suspects.
The Ramseys were an "influential family," Eller told Mason, who realized that this message must have affected the behavior of all the officers at the scene.
Judging by what Eller heard from officers at the scene, the Ramseys appeared to be part of Boulder's elite. "Credible millionaires" was a phrase one officer used. Obviously, Eller felt, these were people you had to treat with respect, not people you wanted to offend.
many of us have decided that finding JB in the home indicated that there was no kidnapping. the Rs denied and defied that indication with brazen lies, and without a shred of conscience they accused nearly everyone who spent time in their home. I think that, rather than fearing the discovery, they needed it to move forward with their (obviously successful) plan
around noon, which type of K9 to use was being debated by Eller and Mason. the Boulder dogs used ground scent and the Aurora dog used air scent. a better result is expected from an air scent dog when tracking someone taken in a vehicle, which seemed most likely. which dog(s) to use was still being decided/arranged when JB was found
