Why Christmas?

[Voice of Reason]

Has anyone ever considered why this crime occurred on Christmas night? It must have some significance. Here's what I thought of to start...

1 - It is a stressful time of year. Sometimes people have a short fuse around Christmas.

2 - For those who do not have stable relationships with their family (or none at all), it can be a very sad and/or difficult time of year. I'm thinking about this line of reasoning as suggesting a loner/outsider/intruder.

3 - There is, of course, the obvious religious significance.

4 - People's movements, if you will, around Christmas, are well-known by others. In other words, friends and family usually know where you are going when, etc...

5 - Parents stay up late (wrapping gifts/playing Santa) and children wake up early to open their gifts (making this date a somewhat odd time to choose to break into someone's home)

6 - Thinking from the intruder perspective, if this was a crime of revenge, this crime becomes especially powerful/emotional by occurring on Christmas.

Any one else have any thoughts on this? I guess it really bends either way, but it does seem to be significant one way or the other. However, I do think it points away from the complete stranger intruder theory, which I have never bought. Intruder, maybe, but not a stranger. Had there not been a 3-page ransom note, I would think that this could be a break-in gone terribly wrong, i.e., the intruder thought the Ramseys were gone for the holidays, but it turned out they were not.

 

[Thinkoflaura]

The date of the murder is the ONLY reason the case received national publicity to begin with, IMO.
I agree with you on all your points especially the lack of intruder presence in a very publicly busy household during this time of year.

I think the murder was pre-meditated to occur on a holiday which was celebrated in publicly extravagant fashion every year by the murderer. It's the same reason why JonBenet's date of death is engraved on her tombstone as December 25, 1996, and not the more likely correct date of December 26. ( after midnight and well before dawn).
JMO, but with 9 years of theory behind the reasoning.

 

[BlueCrab]

The date of the murder is the ONLY reason the case received national publicity to begin with, IMO.
I agree with you on all your points especially the lack of intruder presence in a very publicly busy household during this time of year.

I think the murder was pre-meditated to occur on a holiday which was celebrated in publicly extravagant fashion every year by the murderer. It's the same reason why JonBenet's date of death is engraved on her tombstone as December 25, 1996, and not the more likely correct date of December 26. ( after midnight and well before dawn).
JMO, but with 9 years of theory behind the reasoning.

Thinkofllaura,

I think the TV videos of JonBenet suggestively dancing and singing in full makeup and elaborate costumes was the main ingredient that got the public's attention in this case.

However, I agree that it's not likely that JonBenet died on December 25. It appears the Ramseys may have engaged is some puffery to help make the crime sound more sensational and thus gain additional sympathy by having December 25 put on the tombstone instead of the obvious December 26.

But I also have an optional theory about why the date of December 25 was engraved on the tombstone. IMO there was a fifth person in the house that night -- a person who was let in by Burke but who was well known by the rest of the family. If the crime was committed by children, Colorado law states that if the child is under 10 years of age then he is legally not culpable and cannot be prosecuted. What if the fifth person in the house that night turned 10 years old on December 26?

By engraving December 25 on the tombstone, it would create reasonable doubt that the perp was not yet 10 years old and thus not legally culpable of a crime.

If Burke was involved in the crime he is not culpable because he didn't turn 10 years old until four weeks after the crime, but maybe his friend wasn't as lucky. So the Ramseys covered him by changing the date on the tombstone to create doubt with respect to the date of death.

BlueCrab

 

[rashomon]

Has anyone ever considered why this crime occurred on Christmas night? It must have some significance. Here's what I thought of to start...

1 - It is a stressful time of year. Sometimes people have a short fuse around Christmas.

Which is probably why JonBenet was hit by a member of her own family who flew off the handle for some reason.

There exist several message boards about the Ramsey case, and the Ramseys do seem to have some fervent advocates there.
Tomorrow it will be nine years since JonBenet's dead body was put down beside a gaily decorated Christmas tree by her father John who had carried her up from the basement.

And I'd like to ask every single one of those Ramsey supporters: Soon after that, the parents John and Patsy Ramsey simply walked away, letting their dead little girl lie there. Do you have any plausible explanation for that??? Would YOU have done the same thing, you Ramsey supporters??? Normally parents who have lost their child to such a tragic death resist leaving the body, but the Ramseys' intention obviously was (excuse the sarcasm): "Let's get outa here as fast as we can before the investigators begin to smell a rat!"

 

[why_nutt]

And I'd like to ask every single one of those Ramsey supporters: Soon after that, the parents John and Patsy Ramsey simply walked away, letting their dead little girl lie there. Do you have any plausible explanation for that??? Would YOU have done the same thing, you Ramsey supporters??? Normally parents who have lost their child to such a tragic death resist leaving the body, but the Ramseys' intention obviously was (excuse the sarcasm): "Let's get outa here as fast as we can before the investigators begin to smell a rat!"

You will get the standard answer, "They had to leave the house." Yes, but they only had to leave as far as the outside of the crime scene tape. Nothing stopped the Ramsey family from setting up camp across the street at the Barnhills. Surely the Barnhills would not have refused them.

 

[Zman]

You will get the standard answer, "They had to leave the house." Yes, but they only had to leave as far as the outside of the crime scene tape. Nothing stopped the Ramsey family from setting up camp across the street at the Barnhills. Surely the Barnhills would not have refused them.

How the RDI love to have it both ways.

First you bash the R's for not acting like they were afraid of any "faction" who may harm them by acting to casual.
Then bash them for not wanting to stay around the same place where that faction may be.
They can't win either way.

Once JBR was found dead I would imagine the R's no longer knew who they could trust in this neigborhood of "friends".

 

[IrishMist]

I've thought about this as well, VOR. And, as usual, I see it going both ways! But there is one more thought I'd like to add-

7. If it was an intruder, it would have to be someone that could spend the majority of the day and/or night away without friends/family noticing...

 

[txsvicki]

How the RDI love to have it both ways.

First you bash the R's for not acting like they were afraid of any "faction" who may harm them by acting to casual.
Then bash them for not wanting to stay around the same place where that faction may be.
They can't win either way.

Once JBR was found dead I would imagine the R's no longer knew who they could trust in this neigborhood of "friends".

But the Ramsey's did sort of contradict themselves. They say they were afraid of a faction even though John had already mentioned an 'inside job' They went to a friend's home but why not rent a suite and wait for their family to come and care for them? I can't imagine endangering the lives of friends or calling any attention to the children of others. I don't believe I've read of any extreme fear or terror for the remaining children in the Ramsey's or any of their friends.

 

[rashomon]

Once JBR was found dead I would imagine the R's no longer knew who they could trust in this neigborhood of "friends".

So their daughter was found murdered. The crime scene had changed abruptly from kidnapping to murder.
So far the Ramseys had been treated with respect by the police. And as soon as it becomes clear that the child was murdered, the Ramseys suddenly try to get away from the police as fast as possible? Instead of imploring them to do anything in their power to find the killer at once?
And it is an incredible scandal of course that nobody stopped them and took them to the police headquarters to be questioned.
When a dead child is found in her parents' home you must look at the parents. For statistics are grim: a large number of children killed are killed by family members, and the percentage is even higher if the child was killed in its own home.

 

[Zman]

So their daughter was found murdered. The crime scene had changed abruptly from kidnapping to murder.
So far the Ramseys had been treated with respect by the police. And as soon as it becomes clear that the child was murdered, the Ramseys suddenly try to get away from the police as fast as possible? Instead of imploring them to do anything in their power to find the killer at once?
And it is an incredible scandal of course that nobody stopped them and took them to the police headquarters to be questioned.
When a dead child is found in her parents' home you must look at the parents. For statistics are grim: a large number of children killed are killed by family members, and the percentage is even higher if the child was killed in its own home.

I agree, however it's a percentage, not 100%. And I'll bet the percentage of crimes as strange as the JBR murder are pretty low.

 

[Becba]

Someone was giving themselves an Xmas gift. And John says Burke was asleep and Patsy was asleep but no one is vouching that John was asleep. Except John.

 

[simplesimon]

My thoughts are that it could be someone who knows the R's are going to be traveling to Charlevois and then on to Disney.It might be this is the last night to have fun with JBR . Maybe they tried at the White's but something happened. That could be the reason it had to be that night,not because it was Christmas.
Remember school and colleges were on break.
I think the person was waiting for the right time to get her alone but as we know the R.s were busy with lots of people around. It might have just come down to the fact that this was last time for awhile to have JBR (and other kids?)
alone

 

[aussiesheila]

Why Christmas? Because it's Party Time. And pedophiles are more active at Party Time. It's a great cover for their illicit activities.

 

[Holdontoyourhat]

Why Christmas? Because it's Party Time. And pedophiles are more active at Party Time. It's a great cover for their illicit activities.

Christmas is also travel time. A great cover for foreign factions travelling internationally on a mission.

 

[Shanny]

That's NOT true!
The ONLY reason why JonBenet's case went world wide is because of her Beauty Pageants,
she would have just been another ordinary child who got murdered, until the Press got a hold of her pageant photos and that's when the case blew up and went world wide.

The date of the murder is the ONLY reason the case received national publicity to begin with, IMO.
I agree with you on all your points especially the lack of intruder presence in a very publicly busy household during this time of year.

I think the murder was pre-meditated to occur on a holiday which was celebrated in publicly extravagant fashion every year by the murderer. It's the same reason why JonBenet's date of death is engraved on her tombstone as December 25, 1996, and not the more likely correct date of December 26. ( after midnight and well before dawn).
JMO, but with 9 years of theory behind the reasoning.

 

[BrendaStar]

The ONLY reason why JonBenet's case went world wide is because of her Beauty Pageants,
she would have just been another ordinary child who got murdered, until the Press got a hold of her pageant photos and that's when the case blew up and went world wide.

Well, I believe it was a lot of factors that made the case go world wide. Beauty pageants for little girls was just one of them and those suggestive movies of little JBR dancing certainly were titilating. Her rich father and her ex-beauty queen mother also added in. The fact that a child was found murdered in her own home on Christmas with no signs of an intruder and the Ramseys very, very strange behavior all added to the impact of the case.

 

[Thinkoflaura]

Let me see if I can be as obnoxious as you were. NO- YOU ARE WRONG. The FIRST PHOTOS of JONBENET RAMSEY'S CRIMESCENE was of the snow- covered house in BOULDER CO, with CANDY CANES out in the f4ront yard, and a TINY BLACK BODY BAD BEING TAKEN OUT OF THE HOUSE ON A STRETCHER. THERE WERE NO BEAUTY PAGEANT VIDEOS. The news was SLOW that year, and the video AIRED ON NATIONAL CABLE TV SANS BEAUTY PAGEANT PHOTOS.

And another thing, NO ONE had time to get the beauty pageant angle going at the time I was aware of a little girl laying dead in her home, with a wealthy daddy. Nope, nope, nope.



\

That's NOT true!
The ONLY reason why JonBenet's case went world wide is because of her Beauty Pageants,
she would have just been another ordinary child who got murdered, until the Press got a hold of her pageant photos and that's when the case blew up and went world wide.

 

[ellen13]

Has anyone ever considered why this crime occurred on Christmas night? It must have some significance. Here's what I thought of to start...

1 - It is a stressful time of year. Sometimes people have a short fuse around Christmas.

2 - For those who do not have stable relationships with their family (or none at all), it can be a very sad and/or difficult time of year. I'm thinking about this line of reasoning as suggesting a loner/outsider/intruder.

3 - There is, of course, the obvious religious significance.

4 - People's movements, if you will, around Christmas, are well-known by others. In other words, friends and family usually know where you are going when, etc...

5 - Parents stay up late (wrapping gifts/playing Santa) and children wake up early to open their gifts (making this date a somewhat odd time to choose to break into someone's home)

6 - Thinking from the intruder perspective, if this was a crime of revenge, this crime becomes especially powerful/emotional by occurring on Christmas.

Any one else have any thoughts on this? I guess it really bends either way, but it does seem to be significant one way or the other. However, I do think it points away from the complete stranger intruder theory, which I have never bought. Intruder, maybe, but not a stranger. Had there not been a 3-page ransom note, I would think that this could be a break-in gone terribly wrong, i.e., the intruder thought the Ramseys were gone for the holidays, but it turned out they were not.

Okay, so why Christmas for SP?? (For any of you who followed SP)

 

[Nuisanceposter]

I didn't follow SP as closely as JBR (I've never follwed any news story ever as closely as JBR), but I think he killed Laci at Christmastime because he didn't want the family thing anymore and Christmas is a big family holiday. He also had to get rid of the wife and baby before the baby got here, and time was running out. Plus she was a big damper on his extramarital sex life.

 

[Jayelles]

Okay, so why Christmas for SP?? (For any of you who followed SP)

Some murders capture public interest more than others. In the UK, in the 1970s, there was a string a murders of prostitutes in Yorkshire and they barely made the newspapers. Then a non-prostitute was murdered and the media went wild. There was an outcry with the implication being that people didn't care about the prostitutes but what was actually happening was that people felt that these prostitutes invited danger by getting into cars with strangers and allowing themseves to be driven to lonely places. Most people do not put themselves in this kind of danger and therefore, they felt safe from this serial killer. When the non-prostitute was killed this was no longer the case. This woman was going about her daily business when she met her death - the public felt that if it could happen to her, it could happen to anyone.

In the case of Laci Peterson, here was a beautiful young girl, not a prostitute or someone who fraternised with low-life, criminal types. She was basically the girl next door with her broad smile and decent lifestyle. Plus it was a mystery - it wasn't known how or when she vanished. Add to that the fact that she was 8 months pregnant - it is comparatively rare for pregnant to be victims of violent crime.

Jonbenet Ramsey too - she came from a wealthy family who did not mix with violent, criminal types. They lived in a large house with a powerful intruder system which was located in a good residential area - generally speaking, she was at a low risk of being murdered in her own home.

We tend to be less shocked (though no less saddened) when the victim comes from a background where they are at a higher risk of exposure to violence. IOn the same way as we would be more shocked by a pedestrian who gets killed by a piece of falling masonry than by a mountaineer who falls to his death during a climb.