We Have Your Daughter Page 13

  The fact is that by December 1996, JonBenét was no longer a chronic bed wetter, according to her mother and her father, though Patsy kept a plastic sheet over JonBenét’s mattress and kept overnight diapers handy. A housekeeper in Charlevoix, Michigan, where the family had their summer home, said in a police interview that JonBenét only had “occasional accidents.” Still, some officers used the occasional bedwetting problem to advance their theory that JonBenét was deeply troubled and sexually abused.

  According to a website article on Children’s Hospital Colorado, “Doctors don’t know for sure what causes bedwetting or why it stops. But it is often a natural part of development, and kids usually grow out of it. Most of the time, bedwetting is not a sign of any deeper medical or emotional issues.”4

  FOUR: Whether material in JonBenét’s stomach indicated a timeline of when she was killed and who killed her. According to the coroner’s observation written into his autopsy report, JonBenét’s stomach contained “fragmented pieces of yellow to light green-tan vegetable or fruit material which may represent fragments of pineapple.” Actual laboratory testing had not been completed at the time the coroner’s report was written.

  This statement, however, was enough to add to the speculation that Patsy Ramsey was guilty of murdering her daughter. The morning of JonBenét’s disappearance, a bowl that included chunks of pineapple was photographed by Boulder Police Department investigators on the kitchen table in the Ramsey home. Later tests would reveal both Burke’s and Patsy’s fingerprints on the outside of the bowl.

  For more than ten months following the murder, it was assumed and accepted by law enforcement officers and members of the public that, prior to her murder, JonBenét had eaten pineapple that came from inside the home from the bowl in the kitchen. This theory was first floated to the media as a leak, and it became a huge topic of discussion and publicity when the presence of pineapple fragments in JonBenét’s stomach was assumed to be confirmed from the published autopsy report observation. Somehow public opinion tied these “facts” to the belief that Patsy and John Ramsey had killed their daughter.

  Bowl of pineapple on kitchen table in Ramsey home. Courtesy Boulder Police and Boulder County District Attorney

  The exact material in JonBenét’s stomach and intestines was first discussed with experts at the University of Colorado on October 15, 1997 (BPD Report # 1-1156), more than ten months after JonBenét was killed. Their reports about the contents of her stomach/proximal area were given to the Boulder Police Department more than a year later in January of 1998, (BPD Report #1-1349) one year after JonBenét’s death. And that’s when the mystery deepened and the misconception about what JonBenét actually ate was discovered.

  According to previously unreleased BPD reports, laboratory testing revealed that JonBenét also ate cherries and grapes as well as pineapple. Remnants of cherries were found in the stomach/proximal area of her small intestine. “Another item besides pineapple was cherries.” (BPD Report #1-1348.) In that same report: “Another item besides pineapple was grapes.” (BPD Report #1-1348.) Another report expands on the grapes, saying “grapes including skin and pulp.” (BPD Report #1-349.) The food described resembles what is included in most cans of fruit cocktail.

  The new information wasn’t released publicly, and the pineapple-only myth with its handy bowl of fruit on the kitchen table of the Ramsey home continued to be circulated. Why does this matter?

  • The Boulder Police Department and the Boulder District Attorney’s Office had been operating on an assumption for a year. Who knows where the correct information could have led?

  • Among the reasons for checking food content in the body as soon as possible are the possible suggestions related to a timeline of death or perhaps poisoning that it could provide.

  Related to establishing a timeline of death, consulted experts disagreed about when JonBenét could have eaten the fruit and how long it would have taken to digest. Her parents said JonBenét was already asleep in the car when they arrived home the evening before she died, and they took her in the house and put her to bed without her waking up. The friends who hosted the dinner party the Ramseys had attended that evening said JonBenét ate no fruit at their home. So, when and where did JonBenét eat it?

  Some forensic experts state that digestion time can vary highly from 30 minutes to a few hours to several hours. If JonBenét had eaten some of the food in the afternoon of Christmas Day, which she might well have done without her parents being aware, the longer transit time for digestion would support John and Patsy’s statement that they put their daughter right to bed after arriving home that night. But if forensic experts who contend there is a much shorter digestion period are correct, then it would seem JonBenét’s parents were lying about her being asleep when she arrived home.

  Other theories suggested by those familiar with the case state that JonBenét could have been fed later that night by her “Secret Santa” (a person she told a friend’s mother was going to make a secret visit to her after Christmas) or forced to swallow the fruit by a stranger.

  According to Dr. Michael Dobersen, the forensic coroner from Arapahoe County south of Denver, assumptions should be avoided and only the facts from an autopsy and summarized police reports considered. “She ate part of the fruit about an hour before she was assaulted and killed,” he has stated. “There are no existing facts on who gave it to her. The assault on her would have stopped her stomach digestion. The digestion also would have stopped when she died.”

  JonBenét’s autopsy took six hours. It was finished in the early afternoon, when her body was prepared for shipment to Atlanta for her funeral.

  Early that evening, Coroner Meyer stated that he had sought an outside, second opinion on the nature of his vaginal findings. Dr. Andrew Sirotnak, then an assistant professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital, who also worked at Denver’s Kempe Center, consulted with Meyer at the morgue. (BPD Report #7-15 Source.) He agreed with Dr. Meyer that there had been a recent genital injury.

  Since the coroner formally released JonBenét’s body to her family in late December 1996, he has rarely spoken publicly about his personal perspective on her autopsy.

  “There are so many aspects of it,” Dr. Meyer said. “The things I look at now that bother me the most are [that] this was a tragic death of a beautiful little girl, and my concern is that we’ll never know what happened. That’s the bottom line. My biggest concern is that we won’t find out who killed her.”

  The autopsy provided another insight into the killer. Law enforcement officials had learned from it that they were dealing with a person who was either enraged, brutal and cruel or ruthlessly detached and heartless. How else could they explain this murder of a child, especially with the overbearing and torturous violence involved?

  “If it doesn’t strike you personally in some way, then it’s time to get out of the business,” Dr. Meyer said. “That having been said, you can’t let that interfere. You do what your job requires and focus on that exclusively. That’s your responsibility to the deceased. Philosophical thoughts are for another time.”

  The Boulder Coroner’s Report concluded, “Cause of death of this six-year-old female is asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma.” Dr. Meyer did not indicate in what order the injuries happened, and another forensic coroner consulted said it would be difficult to determine injury order in this case.5

  JonBenét Ramsey was sexually abused, strangled, suffered a horrific blow to the head … and fought back.

  CHAPTER 11

  THE DAYS AFTER— DECEMBER 26 TO 31, 1996

  JonBenét’s casket.

  JonBenét’s body being carried in a casket out of the church in Atlanta. December 31, 1996.

  CHRONOLOGY

  Thursday, December 26, 1996—After JonBenét’s body is found, the Ramseys go to a friend’s home to stay. Boulder Police Department officers accompany them to observe, write reports and protect.

  Friday, Decem
ber 27, 1996—The Ramseys stay with their friends. BPD officers are still with them day and night, observing and writing reports.

  John asks a BPD sergeant to come to the friend’s home to interview him.

  Saturday, December 28, 1996—John, Patsy, Burke, John Andrew and Melinda give DNA samples and are interviewed and monitored by police, who take notes at the Boulder Sheriff’s Department. John, Patsy and Burke give handwriting samples at the home where they are staying.

  Attorney Mike Bynum says there will be no more interviews without an attorney for the Ramseys present.

  The commander of the investigation, John Eller, attempts to stop the release of JonBenét’s body to her family unless the Ramseys come to the Boulder Police Department to be interviewed. He has no legal authority to do this and is rebuked by the coroner and the Boulder District Attorney’s Office.

  Sunday, December 29, 1996—A memorial service for JonBenét is held in Boulder. The Ramsey family then flies to Atlanta for her funeral. It is Patsy Ramsey’s fortieth birthday.

  Monday, December 30, 1996—Visitation is held for JonBenét in Atlanta.

  A Boulder police spokeswoman erroneously says Patsy Ramsey has not had her DNA taken. The information is published in the media.

  Tuesday, December 31, 1996—JonBenét’s funeral is held in Atlanta.

  John’s friend causes a disturbance in Atlanta at a private residence. (BPD Report #5-4583.)

  THE RAMSEYS WOULD NEVER GO HOME AGAIN.

  They had spent hundreds of hours making their home a happy retreat. It was a pretty place filled with family photographs, colorful wallpaper, paintings and relaxed furniture. Patsy later would say, “Yet there was so much tragedy. John’s daughter Beth was killed in a car accident when we lived there, I was diagnosed with cancer and then JonBenét was killed inside. The house seemed to have turned against us, and we wouldn’t ever go back.” She shivered as she said this.

  Within an hour of JonBenét’s body being discovered, Patsy and John Ramsey were told by police that they had to leave their home because it had become a crime scene. They left a house, though, a place that was no longer their home. Instead, it was now a series of still and lifeless rooms, stripped empty of the people who had made them a comfort. They retreated to the home of close friends who had been with them, caring and supporting them, all morning. The police went with the family for both protection and to gather more information. Soon their son, Burke, joined them, as well as John Andrew, Melinda and her boyfriend.

  One Boulder Police Department officer who remained with the Ramseys observed John and Patsy the night of December 26 and into the morning of December 27. He wrote in his police reports observations about Patsy and John’s behaviors that provided a professional insider’s look of their states of mind. The officer also talked with the Ramseys’ friends about them. The information from his report shows how closely the family was being monitored and reveals their emotional conditions; information that hasn’t been released until now. Information leaked after the first week following JonBenét’s death showed a stark difference between what was noted in the confidential police reports and what was published and broadcast by the media and online. Publicly, the couple was variously described as “cold,” “seemingly uncaring,” and “not acting right.” John was even described as “ice man” by Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter months after JonBenét’s murder.

  But in unreleased police reports, details regarding John and Patsy’s behaviors seemed to contradict what was publicly disclosed about them that first night after their daughter’s murder:

  12:05 a.m. 12-27-96: “Both John and Patsy get Valium.” (BPD Report # 1-112, Source.)

  12:20 a.m. 12-27-96: “John and Patsy Ramsey fall asleep on the living room floor.” (BPD Report #1-112, Source.)

  01:50 a.m. 12-27-96: “Patsy gets up and asks if someone is with her son, Burke. She also asks for more pills and says ‘I just want to stay asleep.’ She also asks if all the doors and windows are locked. She is drowsy and drugged.” (BPD Report #1-112, Source.)

  The police reports continue:

  02:00 a.m. 12-27-96: “Patsy gets up to go to the bathroom. She is drowsy and dazed. Sobs every once in a while. At times needs to be supported.” (BPD Report #1-112, Source.)

  02:35 a.m. 12-27-96: “Patsy Ramsey goes back to bed.” (BPD Report #1-112, Source.)

  02:40 a.m. 12-27-96: “John Ramsey gets up and asks for two pills and walks around crying.” (BPD Report #1-112, Source.)

  02:45 a.m. 12-27-96: “John Ramsey goes back to bed.” (BPD Report #1-113, Source.)

  02:50 a.m. 12-27-96: “John Ramsey is back up crying and sobbing at times.” (BPD Report #1-113, Source.)

  03:50 a.m. 12-27-96: The police officer’s report ends when he is relieved by another officer. (BPD Report #1-85.)

  Another police report written from an interview with a family friend said: “Per [Patsy’s friend] … Patsy looked dead herself … was up every 30 minutes throughout the night. John was pacing when I got there … was pacing and crying throughout the night … Patsy would ask … me to check on Burke every 10 minutes.” (BPD Report #1-1881.)

  John’s Journal:

  We spend the next 24 hours in a numbed, body-shocked daze. I sleep a little bit on the floor, totally in agony.

  FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1996

  On that Friday morning, John began trying to find a child counselor for Burke. The Ramseys had taken nothing from their home when they left, so friends organized to get some basic clothing for them and began preparing for a memorial in Boulder and a funeral service in Atlanta.

  That afternoon, the police knocked on a few doors in the Ramseys’ neighborhood to find possible witnesses. According to an attorney in the DA’s Office and Detective Lou Smit, however, the Boulder Police Department never completed a thorough canvass of the neighborhood. Ever.

  Some of the police reports from a brief canvass that was done would list an address and then, “Nothing of significance reported.” Smit responded to this finding by saying, “A short while into a homicide investigation and snap judgments were being made about what was and was not important. Everything was important at that point in the investigation.”

  The Stine family, friends of the Ramseys, went to visit the couple where they were staying on Friday, December 27. “Patsy looked like she had aged a thousand years. She was so distraught,” Susan Stine said. “We said what little we could say and hugged her and John and then just did what little we could to help. We’d brought our son with us to be with Burke. We thought it was important that Burke have a friend with him to distract him from the grieving adults.”

  John’s business attorney and friend also saw them the day after the murder was discovered. Mike Bynum viewed the developments in the immediate days that followed as the lawyer he was. In spite of consistent rumors floated in the media that the Ramseys were not cooperating, Bynum knew both Patsy and John had been interviewed or observed every day since that first morning and would be until they left Sunday afternoon for JonBenét’s funeral in Atlanta.

  “After that first day, I could tell they were being targeted by police,” said Bynum. “That was why it was so important to get attorneys for them immediately.”

  The lead police commander on the case began insisting the Ramseys come to the Boulder Police Department to be interviewed. John replied, “Come and interview us as much as you want where we are staying, but Patsy can physically barely get out of bed.” That’s when the legal side of Bynum kicked in fully. “These were people who literally couldn’t tie their shoelaces,” he said. “The trauma of seeing their dead daughter’s body strangled with a rope embedded in her neck when they had never seen a victim of a violent crime left them incapable of making decisions. The Ramseys didn’t hire an attorney. I did. I asked John if he would trust me to make a decision for him that I felt was critically important. He didn’t ask me what it was and just said ‘go ahead.’ Neither one of them knew my decision was to hire attorneys to repre
sent them.”

  Friday afternoon, a family friend “put Patsy Ramsey to bed and Patsy made some comments that concerned the friend such as ‘can’t you just fix this’ and ‘why did they kill my baby’ as well as other comments [the friend] was not ready to share.” (BPD Report #1-1186.)

  On that same Friday, John got a call from a close friend at Access Graphics, the company where he was CEO. The man voiced concerns similar to those Bynum was thinking and told John, “I need to convey a message to you. It’s from someone in the DA’s Office on the inside of the investigation. I can’t tell you who it is, but the person said I’m supposed to get this message to John Ramsey.” The message was a warning. “You need to get the best defense attorney you can. They think you killed your daughter, and they’re out to get you.” John, who was still paralyzed with grief, was simply incapable of acting on any information. He told no one about the call, and its message didn’t penetrate until weeks later.

  The last time John Ramsey had seen his daughter was after she’d been tortured and killed. He couldn’t get that image out of his mind. Nothing else mattered.

  Bynum thought the BPD insisting the family go to the police department for more interviews and the commander in charge of the case, John Eller, refusing to go to the home where the Ramseys were staying to interview them was “counter-productive and unreasonable.” He called the person he thought was one of the best defense attorneys in Colorado, Hal Haddon of Haddon, Morgan and Foreman in Denver. Haddon remembers the phone call from Mike Bynum. Bynum told him, “The most terrible thing has happened. This little girl was kidnapped and murdered. These are family friends of mine, and even though they are cooperating, the police are trying to frame them.”