The ransom note

[Cryptic]

I think it is pretty clear that the writer of the note is educated (knows how to spell difficult words, uses punctuation correctly, uses grammar correctly, uses somewhat outdated terms such as "attache case" correctly, and even uses archaic grammar correctly "and hence") and is simply making deliberate spelling errors etc.

In addition, the note seems stilted and overly formal in some areas. This style could indicate that the writer is foreign as language instructors and textbooks often use slightly archaic and overly formal teaching material.

Or, the style could indicate a native speaker who has received formal training or instruction in writing etiquette. Such training would probably also use formal teaching material and develop slightly archaic language usage. Patsy was arguably southern and may have received writing etiquette classes in the course of pageant competitions.

 

[archieil]

These errors are somewhat typical for a person using different languages for a long time.

I have noticed drastic reduce of my native writing ability for past few years.
I am using mostly English, watching TV and reading mostly online press news.

I would not be surprised if the killer was not trying to do any mistakes and was an American citizen from his birth.
It is very hard to be sure if he knew few different languages in basic-advanced level and was using them frequently.

 

[Cryptic]

I would not be surprised if the killer was not trying to do any mistakes and was an American citizen from his birth.
It is very hard to be sure if he knew few different languages in basic-advanced level and was using them frequently.

Yes, that is a possibility as well. The combination of advanced level English mixed with spelling errors could be:

A. A non native speaker who learned English mixing advanced English and formal terms with basic spelling errors.
B. An educated native speaker deliberately making basic errors.
C. An educated native speaker who has forgotten parts of his / her written native language.

I think possibility 'C' would be less likely. Statistically, a significant majority of native English speakers in the USA do not quit using English for various reasons.

 

[fr brown]

Speaking as a standard American, the note reads like standard American English. The writer claims to be foreign so he/she would, one assumes, actually sound foreign or at least make a real attempt to sound foreign. What's odd is that the writer doesn't do much in that regard.

 

[SecretaryGal]

Why is it so hard for people to believe that PR wrote this ransom letter?

I’m no expert, but to me, it is blatantly obvious that there are many alphabetic similarities in the ransom letter to samples of PR’s writing.

Also, If you read/listen to JR’s interviews; you will find common words and phrases that are used in the ransom letter. It is not uncommon for spouses to pick up speech patterns from each other.

It has been observed that PR was trying to change, and even limit, her handwriting after the murder.

What are the odds that an “intruder” is going to fit this profile?

IDI would have you believe either
- (Some) experts say PR didn’t write the ransom letter. Response: (Some) experts cannot definitely say PR did not write the ransom letter, while others claim she did write it) ; and/or
- There is no way PR would/could have been in a frame of mind to write the ransom letter. Response: There is no way anyone other than PR herself knows what she would/could have been capable of in any given situation.

IMO, it is far more plausible that PR wrote the ransom letter than the IDI scenario, i.e.:
- Intruder sat in the house and wrote the ransom letter, coincidentally using PR-speak and JR-speak;
- Intruder set the ransom letter aside in pristine condition, not folding it or mussing it;
- Intruder hid and waited until the Ramsey’s fell asleep;
- Intruder set the ransom letter out on the steps of spiral staircase;
- Intruder kidnapped and assaulted (x3) JBR over the course of multiple hours in multiple locations throughout the house;
- Intruder proceeded to cover up the assaults, even taking care to swaddle JBR in a blanket;
- Intruder dismissed the kidnapping for ransom attempt and left the residence without JBR.

Can someone IDI please answer me this– why did the intruder enter in basement, proceed to kidnap JBR from either the first or second floor (take your pick); then go back down into the basement planning to leave out the basement window by climbing onto a suitcase when he could simply walk out one of the first floor exits with JBR?

 

[Userid]

^ To be fair, that is the major consensus (that PR wrote the note). There are very few IDI here.

 

[archieil]

Can someone IDI please answer me this– why did the intruder enter in basement, proceed to kidnap JBR from either the first or second floor (take your pick); then go back down into the basement planning to leave out the basement window by climbing onto a suitcase when he could simply walk out one of the first floor exits with JBR?

Check my theory.

I have now more details on hand but current version explains everything without any need for staging.

The only thing I am not sure is "molestation".

I have 2 versions:
* rage because of the pretendeing to be dead of the girl.
* staging in an attempt to blame the abuse on her family. This one is a weak version using a syringe in JAR room, JonB (John pee) by Burke and pageantry.

Regarding "simple walk with JBR".

I wonder how RDIs were not able to notice she was in her pajamas.

Are you so sure family or some neighbor by the side of the house?

 

[fr brown]

Why is it so hard for people to believe that PR wrote this ransom letter?

I’m no expert, but to me, it is blatantly obvious that there are many alphabetic similarities in the ransom letter to samples of PR’s writing.

Also, If you read/listen to JR’s interviews; you will find common words and phrases that are used in the ransom letter. It is not uncommon for spouses to pick up speech patterns from each other.

It has been observed that PR was trying to change, and even limit, her handwriting after the murder.

What are the odds that an “intruder” is going to fit this profile?

IDI would have you believe either
- (Some) experts say PR didn’t write the ransom letter. Response: (Some) experts cannot definitely say PR did not write the ransom letter, while others claim she did write it) ; and/or
- There is no way PR would/could have been in a frame of mind to write the ransom letter. Response: There is no way anyone other than PR herself knows what she would/could have been capable of in any given situation.

IMO, it is far more plausible that PR wrote the ransom letter....

I agree.

McMenamin's book is useful (even though it's biased and absurd) because he provides a chart comparing Party's five exemplars with the ransom note. (The chart isn't always accurate: I've found some errors where I've been able to compare.) And he provides some images of individual words from the five exemplars juxtaposed with the same from the RN.

From these I was able to see that Patsy shares the RN writer's penchant for occasional random capitalization. I listed these on FFJ.

To your other improbabilities I would add that the RN writer at some time was consulting the NIV study Bible in the room adjacent to the Ramsey bedroom. On "The Other Side of Suffering" thread on FFJ I provided a photo of the beginning of Psalm 35 containing an eye-catching "SBTC." On the facing page is an annotation about Psalm 34 being an acrostic psalm. Psalm 35 is a twin to Party's lifesaving psalm, Psalm 57, which contains a cross-reference to it. How would a random intruder know of the special significance of Psalm 57 to Patsy?

An intruder could have used a Bible already opened to Psalm 35, but we know that didn't happen. Patsy disavowed any connection to that Bible. And though either Ramsey could have said the Bible was open to Psalm 35, neither ever has. There's been a silence from the Ramsey side about Psalm 35 and "SBTC" that speaks volumes.

In his book John says that he read Psalm 34 to Patsy on her deathbe (!) It's not a warm and fuzzy psalm. It promises an eternal -kicking to those who have injured innocents. Patsy, he tells us, was crying at the end.

 

[archieil]

^ To be fair, that is the major consensus (that PR wrote the note). There are very few IDI here.

With little bird in the text, some not so typical US letters, few mistakes more or less pointing to a person which is using English natively in coexistence with some other language and pointing her personal relationships in the text, really?

RN can point to PDI with some limitations or my 3rd version and rewrite of the real RN.

How do you want to join RDI or BDI with Patsy wanting money from John in the letter? Is it some type of devil's pact?

[edit] That is why I am talking about RDI club c&p their ideas back and forth, Patsy writing RN in PDI is not the same Patsy writing it in BDI or RDI or JDI.

 

[Userid]

The amount of JR's bonus was used to imply this was an inside job. An angry co-worker. A disgruntled maid. I imagine it's the same reason that duct tape and bindings similar to what was found on the body were found at LHP's residence.

 

[fr brown]

I agree.


McMenamin's book is useful (even though it's biased and absurd) because he provides a chart comparing Party's five exemplars with the ransom note. (The chart isn't always accurate: I've found some errors where I've been able to compare.) And he provides some images of individual words from the five exemplars juxtaposed with the same from the RN.

From these I was able to see that Patsy shares the RN writer's penchant for occasional random capitalization. I listed these on FFJ.

To your other improbabilities I would add that the RN writer at some time was consulting the NIV study Bible in the room adjacent to the Ramsey bedroom. On "The Other Side of Suffering" thread on FFJ I provided a photo of the beginning of Psalm 35 containing an eye-catching "SBTC." On the facing page is an annotation about Psalm 34 being an acrostic psalm. Psalm 35 is a twin to Party's lifesaving psalm, Psalm 57, which contains a cross-reference to it. How would a random intruder know of the special significance of Psalm 57 to Patsy?

An intruder could have used a Bible already opened to Psalm 35, but we know that didn't happen. Patsy disavowed any connection to that Bible. And though either Ramsey could have said the Bible was open to Psalm 35, neither ever has. There's been a silence from the Ramsey side about Psalm 35 and "SBTC" that speaks volumes.

In his book John says that he read Psalm 34 to Patsy on her deathbe (!) It's not a warm and fuzzy psalm. It promises an eternal -kicking to those who have injured innocents. Patsy, he tells us, was crying at the end.

I apologize for the typos. "Party's lifesaving psalm" should be "Patsy's." Before her first cancer treatment, she opened a Bible at random and jabbed her finger into a verse from Psalm 57 which she took to be a promise from God to deliver her from her illness. In the Ramsey NIV study Bible, near to her special Psalm 57 verse, there's a cross-reference to a verse from Psalm 35. The Bible was found opened to the page containing that verse.

"Deathbe" should be "deathbed."

 

[fr brown]

Thinking about foreigners and the ransom note brought to mind John McWhorter's "meaningless do." In English we say "Do you have a dog?" In other languages they say "Have you a dog?" Only English, Cornish and Welsh (I think) have a "meaningless do." It occurred to me that the ransom note contains a few "meaningless don'ts." Just throwing it out there.

Only "as well as the authorities" and "deviation of my instructions" sound foreign to my ear. "[A]nd hence" still occurs in books, magazines and on the radio. I checked.

So with nine pages missing, a practice note, and evidence of a practice note before that, why wasn't Patsy working on making the note sound foreign instead of filling it with Ramsey inside baseball? She wouldn't know about meaningless do's, but we all have some sense of sounding foreign. And why not throw in more political stuff?

I do think that the intent of $118,000 was to throw suspicion on someone, but I think it was to throw suspicion on John sleeping upstairs. Not too obviously because he was going to suspect her sooner or later and she might need him. The possibility of a cage match was on the horizon. She would want to load her gloves.

When she was asked about the Bible on the table in the room next to her bedroom, the room with a view of the Flatirons, she acted like she didn't know what they were talking about. What Bible? Oh, yeah, John's Bible. That was his Bible. She wouldn't think of touching it.

As I understand it, Colorado isn't a community property state. If John divorced her while she was in prison, she would get whatever a judge deemed proper. Bad behavior isn't supposed to influence the judge's decision, but killing your kid?

 

[fr brown]

The story about Patsy jabbing her finger into the hotel Bible before her cancer treatment and lighting on a particular verse of Psalm 57, a verse which she took to be a promise from God, is told in both DOI and TOSOS. In DOI, Patsy is alone while John is off making business calls. In TOSOS, they're sharing a soggy hug.

 

[fr brown]

....So with nine pages missing, a practice note, and evidence of a practice note before that, why wasn't Patsy working on making the note sound foreign instead of filling it with Ramsey inside baseball? She wouldn't know about meaningless do's, but we all have some sense of sounding foreign. And why not throw in more political stuff?

I do think that the intent of $118,000 was to throw suspicion on someone, but I think it was to throw suspicion on John sleeping upstairs. Not too obviously because he was going to suspect her sooner or later and she might need him. The possibility of a cage match was on the horizon. She would want to load her gloves.....

I reread the Vanity Fair article. It says that according to police reports, John's affair with a co-worker was the "last straw" for his then-wife Lucinda. Jim Marino said that he and John subsequently caroused and "whored around."

Given that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, it's likely that Patsy was madder than a hornet a lot of the time.

 

[Userid]

^ Are you implying that PR killed JBR on Christmas Eve night to get back at JR for having an affair? Trying to follow your logic here. If so, you think it was premeditated then?

 

[fr brown]

I reread the Vanity Fair article. It says that according to police reports, John's affair with a co-worker was the "last straw" for his then-wife Lucinda. Jim Marino said that he and John subsequently caroused and "whored around."

Given that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, it's likely that Patsy was madder than a hornet a lot of the time.

According to Steve Thomas, Lucinda refused at some point to answer any questions about John Ramsey.

Recently I've wondered why Patsy didn't go to bed that night. Did she really have that much packing still to do? The kids' winter clothes for Michigan were in bags downstairs and most people pack lightly for a cruise. Was she just angry?

We know that John and Patsy had one post-party fight. Ostensibly it was over whether or not to spend a few minutes dropping off the last gift.

 

[UKGuy]

It's not a coincidence, and it wasn't written by the Ramseys. There were multiple movie references in the note, here are just a few:
- Ransom
- Silence of the lambs
- Speed
- Dirty Harry
- Diehard

All of the movies I listed also have a running theme in them. No one noticed it, almost as if the killer is asking the reader "can you see me? No? Good"

The note is a multilayered cryptogram. That simple theme is not even hidden but is almost a basic comprehension test. The movies all have in common the theme of a mastermind that in several instances fools the public, and manipulates law enforcement for his own ends. He's never caught alive. These themes are the most pronounced in my opinion in "Diehard" and "Ransom"

Diehard - a small foreign faction commits a crime that appears initially as one type of crime but turns out to be another type entirely. A mastermind, multiple-language speaking, arch nemesis of the hero, ends up manipulating the FBI to power his major theft. He perishes in death and is never caught. All of this takes place on Christmas Day.

mickeydchicken,
A crptogram, are you pulling the chicken? The RN was authored by someone familiar with movie narratives, particularly those relating to abductions, i.e. its not rocket science.

A real kidnapping would spawn its own set of specific circumstances, since this one was fake the RN author only had movie references to play on, so thats why the RN reads like some movie script copy.

There is nothing cryptic about it, there are movie posters down in the basement, there are books turned into movies upstairs and JR has crime detection books for bed time reading.

Patsy having a literature degree had no problem wring the RN, she did a few drafts, decided on a format, added a script then wrote it to make JR and his company the focus.

If the case is PDI then Patsy fooled lots of folks and got away with murder.

.

 

[CorallaroC]

Hi UKGuy,
I agree with you about the family clearly having a "thing" for films and movies. They had a giant drop down screen in their master bedroom, and as you pointed out several movie posters in the basement. Interviews regarding CS photos, lots of discussion about various VCR tapes noted in each of the bedrooms etc. One small item that is often overlooked is when JR in one of his interviews with LE tells about the extramarital affair he had during his first marriage - comparing it to the move Fatal Attraction and going so far as to boast that he "could have written the screen play for that film. Plus many other examples of a family that loves films.

Not that loving films is anything nefarious by any means, but many seem to agree that the ransom note clearly contains almost verbatim quotes from well known films.

I do believe that PR authored the note and perhaps with JR input. So my next question is: why would either or both of them be so stupid to toss in those types of old tired quotes? Was it because in their own mind(s) the drama unfolding in their own home was far bigger and greater than any blockbuster film they had ever seen? it sure makes me wonder what they were thinking.

 

[Laughing]

The note is a multilayered cryptogram. That simple theme is not even hidden but is almost a basic comprehension test. The movies all have in common the theme of a mastermind that in several instances fools the public, and manipulates law enforcement for his own ends. He's never caught alive. These themes are the most pronounced in my opinion in "Diehard" and "Ransom"

Diehard - a small foreign faction commits a crime that appears initially as one type of crime but turns out to be another type entirely. A mastermind, multiple-language speaking, arch nemesis of the hero, ends up manipulating the FBI to power his major theft. He perishes in death and is never caught. All of this takes place on Christmas Day.

Go ahead, mickeydchicken, and type out a layer of the cryptogram for us. You know we've waited years for any more information!

 

[icedtea4me]

No. Do you have proof that she was familiar with military grade cryptographic techniques and leaving other peoples names hidden in ciphered communications?

Thank you for providing all those examples. That was so incredibly kind of you.