The ransom note & Patsy Ramsey, letter by letter.

[azwriter]

Just finished reading Between Good and Evil by Roger Depue, former chief of Behavioral Science Unit in the FBI. He does not mention PR by name but makes it clear she fits the profile of the author of the ransom note. I have always felt she wrote that note.

First post. Hello to all.

:welcome4:

Keep posting SoBeCzar.

 

[azwriter]

ooooops!!!!! I didn't think my first post went through so I had a redo then saw that it did go through...mybad!

Forget about it mom. We're all "bad" like that.

 

[BBB167893]

A belated welcome to the boards from me.

The reason for the typical instructions not to call anyone is precisely because they KNEW they were going to call people. When the ransom note was written, JB was already dead. By putting in a warning that JB would be killed if the parents called anyone, it was a ready-made explanation for why she was dead: i.e. the "kidnappers" killed her because the parents called police. They had to make that 911 call - so they could say she had been killed because they did! What they didn't think about was this:
That 911 call was made around 6 am, BUT the condition of the body (rigor, livor mortis and pineapple identified in the small intestine) puts a time of death at around midnight - 1 AM - 6 hours before that call was made.

Yeah, that's the way I look at it, too, shotgun. That, and because you'd EXPECT a ransom note writer to say that.

You're right, DeeDee, and thanks. I hadn't thought about that. Clever.

Or just lucky, shotgun. I used to have a thread on that subject...

I guess they didn't think about the part where JB was already dead in the wine cellar, therefore, the killer(s) had already killed her and left before the Ramsey's deviated from the RN.

Kind of makes me dislike the R's a little more.

It gets worse, shotgun. There's a thread around here titled "A Masterpiece of Misdirection" that seeks to explore these issues. Might be worth your time.

 

[BBB167893]

Welcome...I'm fairly new too! Patsy's journalism background and having won the "talent" portion of a pageant makes her the likely RN author! Quite the actress!

Quite so, momof4ws. But try telling certain people that!

 

[Stef88]

Hello all! Newbie here, VERY interested in this, reading Perfect Murder, Perfect Town atm and am currently a bit obsessed! One thing I find weird is you would think Patsy would cover her writing if she authored the note, ie write in print letters or something, but I do agree her writing is nearly identical - I also remember reading a quote from Linda Hoffman Pugh that when she saw a copy of the note her heart sank because she was certain she knew who wrote it - Patsy Ramsey.

 

[DeeDee249]

Hello all! Newbie here, VERY interested in this, reading Perfect Murder, Perfect Town atm and am currently a bit obsessed! One thing I find weird is you would think Patsy would cover her writing if she authored the note, ie write in print letters or something, but I do agree her writing is nearly identical - I also remember reading a quote from Linda Hoffman Pugh that when she saw a copy of the note her heart sank because she was certain she knew who wrote it - Patsy Ramsey.

Welcome to the forum!

There is some opinion that Patsy wrote the note with her left hand. She was said to be ambidextrous, though usually right-handed. I imagine she felt writing with the opposite hand (if that was the case) was disguise enough. But handwriting experts don't only go by the actual writing, but by things like punctuation, phrasing, spacing, and linguistics.
If you ever read any of Patsy's Christmas newsletters, posted online, you would see that they "read" just like the note. Even uses the words "and hence". That is an uncommon word to use, especially in casual writing like a holiday card.
There is NO doubt in my mind that Pasty wrote the note. I am not sure whether she was the killer, and if she was I believe it was unintentional (which is not the same as accidental). The note proves to ME that she WAS involved with the coverup, whether or not she committed the crime. Of course, covering up a murder is a crime in and of itself.

 

[Whaleshark]

oh come now DeeDee, do you not see how a young teenage male extortion movie buff would use 'and hence', 'two gentlemen', 'fat cats', and 'good ole southern common sense'?

what's wrong with you already?

 

[Stef88]

I do wonder why Patsy (or anyone really!) would write such a WEIRD and elaborate ransom note and not just the simple 'I've got your kid, give me money'. What do you guys think of SBTC? Subic Bay Training Centre? Interesting that Patsy mentioned that partciular detail on the 911 call, not sure why you'd point that part out to the operator?

Thanks for the welcome
Looking forward to discussing this interesting crime!

 

[DeeDee249]

I do wonder why Patsy (or anyone really!) would write such a WEIRD and elaborate ransom note and not just the simple 'I've got your kid, give me money'. What do you guys think of SBTC? Subic Bay Training Centre? Interesting that Patsy mentioned that partciular detail on the 911 call, not sure why you'd point that part out to the operator?

Thanks for the welcome
Looking forward to discussing this interesting crime!

I don't recall seeing that Patsy mentioned the "Subic Bay Training Center" in that 911 call, but I'll go back and read the transcript.
JR did spend time in Subic Bay, Philippines, when he was in the Military. But I have also read that there is no official "Subic Bay Training Center".
You are right that a REAL ransom note would be brief and probably typed and readied in advanced. Certainly NOT written right there in the home after the victim had been killed (and screamed first) with the family home, and possibly awoken by that scream. IF you left a note at all, it would be just as you said- Got your kid, we'll call you".
There is some discussion about what SBTC stands for in the mind of the author (aka Patsy) It has been suggested that it stood for "Saved by the cross" (Patsy was very into her Christianity and felt that she had been miraculously cured of her ovarian cancer). We just don't know, but we DO know that the custom of putting periods in between initials is no longer done from a grammar aspect, but Patsy held on to this habit and was proven to have made great use of initials in her letters where these periods were noted They also appeared on the ransom note as S.B.T.C..
Handwriting experts do not only use the actual writing, but things like punctuation, linguistics and phrasing, all of which put Patsy as the author of the note. The likelihood of an intruder kidnapper killer pedophile also having this same habit as well as vocabulary ("and HENCE" is used in Patsy's letters as well as the ransom note) AND knowledge of JR's Christmas bonus that year of $118,000. is so remote as to be impossible.

 

[Stef88]

I don't recall seeing that Patsy mentioned the "Subic Bay Training Center" in that 911 call, but I'll go back and read the transcript.
JR did spend time in Subic Bay, Philippines, when he was in the Military. But I have also read that there is no official "Subic Bay Training Center".

No sorry I meant Patsy mentioned the S.B.T.C in particular in the 911 call, not actually Subic Bay Training Centre. She said 'It says SBTC Victory' or something like that I recall? Weird that she picks that bit out of the whole thing to mention. I definitely agree what kind of intruder would write a note in the house! I did read in PMPT that someone (can't remember who sorry) saw a picture either at the Ramsey house or John's office that was of Subic Bay and it said Subic Bay Training Centre down the bottom.

 

[sandover]

No sorry I meant Patsy mentioned the S.B.T.C in particular in the 911 call, not actually Subic Bay Training Centre. She said 'It says SBTC Victory' or something like that I recall? Weird that she picks that bit out of the whole thing to mention.

She is asked explicitly if it says who took her daughter by the 911 operator, which is why she mentions it.

 

[UKGuy]

She is asked explicitly if it says who took her daughter by the 911 operator, which is why she mentions it.

sandover,
And after all the questions and many years later we are none the wiser. I wonder what Patsy was thinking when she wrote that SBTC, she can hardly be trying to suggest a christian entity had JonBenet?


John must have read it over and endorsed it, so he saw no problem with SBTC linking to him any way.

It might be the letters stand for nothing in particular, they are just placeholders for some plural entity that has kidnapped JonBenet?



.

 

[BBB167893]

oh come now DeeDee, do you not see how a young teenage male extortion movie buff would use 'and hence', 'two gentlemen', 'fat cats', and 'good ole southern common sense'?

what's wrong with you already?

Yeah, no kidding!

 

[UKGuy]

oh come now DeeDee, do you not see how a young teenage male extortion movie buff would use 'and hence', 'two gentlemen', 'fat cats', and 'good ole southern common sense'?

what's wrong with you already?

Whaleshark,
You are so right. Hence is olde-english or germanic for from here there is also hither, wither, tither, and others.

Also what kidnapper requires an attache case, that is straight out of a Graham Greene novel, LOL.



.

 

[Whaleshark]

Whaleshark,
You are so right. Hence is olde-english or germanic for from here there is also hither, wither, tither, and others.

Also what kidnapper requires an attache case, that is straight out of a Graham Greene novel, LOL.

Yes, I did forget to add 'attache' in there, didn't I? let's not forget 'Victory!', shall we?

And I do believe hither is in her vocab. too, is it not?

"John is always on the go travelling hither and yon..."

Right along with a caret symbol to add in a missing word, an accent mark over attache, and the formal letter style with a salutation, indented paragraphs, and a closing.

 

[BOESP]

Don't forget the advice to be rested.

I don't recall, ever, in my many decades, any young man or teenager ever wondering about anyone needing rest. Nope. Ain't gonna happen.

 

[KoldKase]

Don't forget the advice to be rested.

I don't recall, ever, in my many decades, any young man or teenager ever wondering about anyone needing rest. Nope. Ain't gonna happen.

:floorlaugh: How true, how true.

In fact, John's older son, John Andrew, told Thomas in his interview that the family in the kidnap drama Ransom was identical to his family. That movie was released earlier in 1996 and had played in Boulder in Dec., if memory serves.

This particular part of the ransom note--about being well rested--has always made me wonder if Patsy and/or John saw that movie, because the kidnappers put the father through a lot of hoops to deliver the ransom money. Also the mention about how the Ramseys were going to be monitored and scanned for tracking techniques, etc., was way over the top--and similar to the kidnappers' twisted plan in the movie.

 

[Whaleshark]

DIRTY HARRY
"If I even think you're being followed, the girl dies."
"If you talk to anyone, I don't care if it's a Pekinese pissing against a lamppost,
the girl dies."
"... that's the end of the game. The girl dies."
"Now listen to me carefully."
"Now listen. Listen very carefully."
"It sounds like you had a good rest. You'll need it."

RANSOM
"Do not involve the police or the FBI. If you do, I will kill him."
"Do not inform the media or I will kill him."
"No tracking devices in the money or the cases or I will kill him."

SPEED
"You know that I'm on top of you. Do not attempt to grow a brain."

 

[sandover]

I noticed this oddity from PR's 1998 interview. She is describing her first encounter (in her version of events) with the ransom note the morning of the 26th:

17 PATSY RAMSEY: I read -- I read
18 down to about, it says, "at this time we have
19 your daughter in our possession."
20 For some reason, I don't -- don't
21 ask me why but, I start --
22 TRIP DeMUTH: Don't count on him
23 not asking you why.
24 PATSY RAMSEY: I, my first flash
25 that was in my head was I thought it was Beth,
0034
1 our daughter, I don't know why I thought --
2 (INAUDIBLE), and then "daughter in our
3 possession, she is safe from harm, your daughter
4 in 1997," then when I realized this was now,
5 this was new material, this was not something --
6 you know, papers from that had to do with Beth.
7 And just I stopped and just went up the stairs.

Two things. First, a Freudian slip of sorts -- "new material." Why would this be "new material" -- a stand-up talks about having "new material," for example when trying out a joke for the first time. If this ransom note was PR "trying out" something untested, something designed to provoke a particular response, we see why she'd refer to it as "new material."

Second, why in God's name would she think these were papers to do with Beth? Beth was killed in a car accident years before. Why would she imagine a "small foreign faction" would tell her to "listen carefully!" about her late step daughter? Did she really think that someone had dug up Beth's remains and left a note on her back stairs?

But people say things for a reason. There has to be some reason she chooses to introduce Beth here. My theory: this is a sensitive area for Patsy (because she knows she's lying) and in a subtle way she is reminding the police that "We had already lost a daughter -- we have suffered enough -- please don't question me too intensely, I'm a fragile woman."

And tragically, when I read that transcript I see time and time the interrogators letting her off the hook. I think a great psychologically-minded interrogator could have trapped her and gotten her to crack.

 

[sandover]

One more thought about the above. This story doesn't actually make sense in rigorous logical terms. Imagine you walked down the steps one morning, thinking your daughter is tucked away in bed sleeping.

You see three pages spread out at the bottom of the stairs. You immediately notice that this is a long letter, and spread out, not stacked as if to be taken up. Strange...

You start to read it. It becomes even more strange. It has an air of ridiculousness about it -- a foreign faction? They don't respect America? What is this... a foreign terrorist group in Boulder? Hunh? They have my daughter?

All this would be happening in a space of seconds. Wouldn't you be INCREDULOUS -- like, "Hunh? What? Is this a joke??" Perhaps if you'd begun to be scared you might go into denial a little -- "This is definitely a joke, right??"

But you'd KEEP READING! The crucial fact here is that you've only read the FIRST PARAGRAPH OF A THREE PAGE NOTE! Sure, perhaps you wouldn't read the ENTIRE THING -- but it's hard for me to think you'd STOP THERE and bound up the stairs!! Why?

YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR DAUGHTER. And the "small foreign faction" -- at the end of the paragraph PR claims she read to before bounding up the stairs -- has just said that if you want to see your daughter alive, "follow these instructions."

Wouldn't your love for and care for your daughter -- if you were no longer feeling the denial or disbelief most people would be feeling -- lead you to at least read a LITTLE more to see what you had to do to save your daughter?

PR's "hysterical" routine is not very good writing or acting. (We knew she's over the top from the ransom note itself, of course.) She played the hysteric that entire morning and for a decade afterwards... and because most people don't really think how they'd react in these situations, she was believed by many.

But just ask yourself that simple question and you know all there is to know: if you woke up thinking everything was fine and saw a three page note whose first paragraph said in a bizarre way that your child had been kidnapped and to follow these instructions -- wouldn't you keep reading, if just to let your brain catch up with this bizarre new reality? And even if you were able to catch up with this new reality instantly (unlikely) wouldn't your care for your child compel you to see what the kidnappers had instructed?