We Have Your Daughter Read online

  The “small piece of evidence” that Beckner referred to in his Reddit answer was actually five different DNA samples taken from JonBenét’s clothing and body, and three were substantial enough to be included in the FBI CODIS DNA databank. Those samples were also substantial enough to determine that they were all from the same unknown male, and not from any member of the Ramsey family.

  In 1997, two different organizations (the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Cellmark Diagnostics in Maryland) tested DNA that was found in three places on JonBenét: mixed with blood in her panties, under fingernails on her left hand, and under fingernails on her right hand. The three samples tested had indicators that they matched one another, and all the samples were from the same unknown male.

  In 2008, a new and advanced DNA test (touch DNA) was used on JonBenét’s clothing and two new areas of DNA were found, one on each side of the waistband of her long johns. The waistband was a previously untested area. Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy hired the Bode Technology Group in Virginia, which used the new, advanced DNA technique. Bode concluded that the newly discovered 2008 DNA matched the 1997 DNA profile from JonBenét’s panties and fingernails. This DNA matched no one in the Ramsey family; not John, not Patsy, not their children nor immediate relatives.

  In June 2008, Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy wrote a public letter of apology to John Ramsey and his family, clearing them of any involvement in JonBenét’s murder because of the newly uncovered DNA evidence. Although she had already died of brain cancer in 2006, Patsy was included in the exoneration.

  WHO DID IT

  Reddit Participant: If this case could be solved with your gut instinct as evidence, how would it be solved?

  Beckner: Through a confession.

  Author Comments: Beckner told the Daily Camera three days after his original Reddit interview, as part of his retraction of the DNA portion of that interview, the suspect would be found through a DNA match, not a confession.

  NEW INFORMATION

  Reddit Participant: Is there any information not publicly available that, in your estimation, would be considered “huge” to followers of the case?

  Beckner: There is some information that is not yet public, but nothing that would be considered huge or definitive.

  Author Comments: For the first time ever, the reports of the Boulder Police Department officers and detectives who arrived on the scene first that day are released in this book. Whether the information in these reports is “huge” is up to the reader.

  Information is also provided in this book related to the personal perspectives of the Ramsey attorneys from an interview with the author, and to the fact that those attorneys did not charge John Ramsey any fees after the autumn of 1997 because they felt the Ramseys were innocent and being railroaded.

  This book also contains excerpts from John Ramsey’s personal journal that were written over a period of eleven months beginning in January 1997, as well as excerpts from personal and sometimes emotional interviews conducted through the years with both John and Patsy Ramsey.

  Finally, Burke Ramsey is interviewed for the first time publically.

  While the author of this book considers all of the information included within its pages to be critical to a complete understanding of the very complex and often misguided investigation of the murder of JonBenét Ramsey, it is up to the reader to determine what, and whom, to believe.

  EPILOGUE II

  TO THE PERSON WHO KNOWS, IF YOU ARE STILL ALIVE: Isn’t it time to tell someone what happened and why? What about the souvenir you took? You seem clever enough to divulge your story without being caught. So why don’t you?

  JonBenét’s cursive signature. © John Ramsey.

  JonBenét at Statue of Liberty. © John Ramsey.

  NOTES

  CHAPTER ONE

  1The FBI, CBI, BPD and other law enforcement agencies contributed or wrote reports referenced in the Murder Book Index. They are listed as Boulder Police Department (BPD) Reports as there is no consistent delineation in the material obtained as to the originating agency. Only report numbers are provided.

  CHAPTER TWO

  1The time listed in the WHYD Archive from police records is 5:45, which is probably not accurate. Patsy reportedly did not call friends until after her 911 call was officially recorded as coming in to police dispatch at 5:52 a.m.

  2 WHYD Investigative Archive.

  3 Whitson’s comments were made exclusively to this author for this book.

  4 National Forensic Science Technology Center, “Preliminary Documentation and Evaluation of the Scene,” Crime Scene Investigation—A Guide for Law Enforcement, Revised September 2011.

  5 Ibid., “Turn Over Control of the Scene and Brief Investigator(s) in Charge.”

  6 Ibid., “Conduct Scene ‘Walk-Through’ and Initial Documentation.”

  7 JonBenét Ramsey Murder Book Index.

  8 Ibid.

  CHAPTER THREE

  1The entire ransom note with the original handwriting is reprinted in Chapter 4.

  2Whitson wrote a book about the Ramsey murder case that he published in 2012. In his book, Injustice, he stated his belief that JonBenét was killed by a psychopath and not by her parents.

  3National Forensic Science Technology Center, “Secured and Control Persons at the Scene,” Crime Scene Investigation—A Guide for Law Enforcement (Revised September 2011).

  CHAPTER FIVE

  1The Ramsey wedding photos were not included in this book because we were unable to locate the photographer for permission to use them.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  1Chris Dunker, “The anatomy of a drug investigation,” Beatrice Daily Sun (February 1, 2013).

  2National Institute of Justice, A Guide to Death Investigation (June 2011).

  3Ibid., “Arriving at the Death Scene.”

  4Ibid., “Evaluating the Scene.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  1Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, “10 Things Law Enforcement Executives Can Do To Positively Impact Homicide Investigation Outcomes,” (2013).

  2A Guide to Death Scene Investigation (June 2011).

  CHAPTER NINE

  1Mike Byrd, “Written Documentation at a Crime Scene,” Miami-Dade Police Department Crime Scene Investigation.

  2 In some places in the JonBenét Ramsey Murder Book Index, police report numbers were followed by the word “Source.” These references are duplicated throughout this book.

  3Department of Justice, “Evaluating the Scene,” A Guide to Death Scene Investigation (June 2011).

  4Ibid., “Collect, Inventory and Safeguard Property and Evidence.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  1In his autopsy report, Boulder County Coroner Dr. John Meyer would not give a time of death for JonBenét Ramsey. Later, he wrote about speculation in media reports regarding the time of death in this case: “The time of an ‘unwitnessed’ death is very difficult to determine with any precision and, at best, is an estimate based on autopsy findings but also on investigative information.” (Date of Report 8-13-1997.)

  2http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3448300444.html.

  3Visits numbered more than thirty, according to medical records listed by the Boulder Police Department and the Boulder District Attorney’s Office.

  4Children’s Hospital Colorado Website, Bedwetting, Reviewed by Marcella A. Escoto, DO (August 2015) https://childrenscolorado.org/nighttime-wetting. https://childrenscolorado.org/department of urology/bedwetting.

  5The complete autopsy report is on the website for the book: www.wehaveyourdaughter.net.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  1Three metro Denver newspapers were studied from NewsLibrary.com and LexisNexis as part of research for this book: the Daily Camera (aka the Boulder Daily Camera), the Denver Post, and the Rocky Mountain News. All major national broadcast news archives at that time, which consisted of ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC, recorded at the Vanderbilt University Broadcast News Archives in Nashville, Tennessee, were als
o examined. Newspaper as well as television broadcasts dating from December 26, 1996, to January 1998, were analyzed as well. More recently, Denver’s Fox 31 and national broadcasts were examined with regard to the 2011 coverage of Burke Ramsey. No complete and centrally located archive of all local television and local radio broadcasts from the 1996–1997 time period exists. For this reason, less extensive comparisons were made using these sources.

  2Charlie Brennan, “Police Puzzle Over Girl’s Slaying,” Rocky Mountain News (December 28, 1996).

  3NewsLibrary.com.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  1“Interviewing vs Interrogation,” Policetraining.net (April 2012)

  2“Developing an Interview Strategy,” PoliceLink, No date.

  3“Interviewing vs. Interrogation,” Policetraining.net (April 2012).

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  1Vanderbilt Broadcast Archives.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  1Steve Thomas wrote a book about the Ramsey case that was published two years after he resigned from the BPD and while the investigation was still active and open. Thomas stated in his book that he believed Patsy Ramsey had killed her daughter, and John and Patsy Ramsey sued Thomas and his publisher for libel. Thomas’s publishers were ordered to pay John and Patsy Ramsey damages. The case referred to here is not that case.

  2WHYD Investigative Archive.

  3In the mid-1990s, the name of this agency was the Colorado Department of Social Services, but that name would soon change to the Colorado Department of Human Services. Both names used in this book refer to the same state agency. While the state agency oversaw county agencies, counties in Colorado managed local cases with considerable independence. The Ramsey case was handled by Boulder County Human Services.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  1Pageant information was primarily obtained from Patsy and John Ramsey’s first book, The Death of Innocence. Police documents, personal interviews and the Internet were also used as sources.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  1The Stines have given permission for their names to be included in this book. This is why their names are not redacted throughout, as others are for privacy.

  2WHYD Investigative Archive.

  3WHYD Investigative Archive.

  4The weather reporting stations for Boulder at that time were located at the Jefferson County Airport and in West Broomfield, a suburb in west Denver. Individual citizens fed into those weather reporting systems.

  5WHYD Investigative Archive.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  1Vanity Fair, a monthly magazine about celebrities and newsmakers, had 1.228 million readers a year in 2015 (Source: Alliance for Audited Media, Snapshot Report – 12-31-2015). Wikipedia describes it as a “magazine of popular culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Conde Nast.”

  2Ann Louise Bardach worked as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and has written for publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, New Republic and The Daily Beast. According to her biography, she has appeared on several highly rated television news programs and has written several books.

  3NewsLibrary.com.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  1The entire Foster letter is on the website for this book: www.wehaveyourdaughter.net.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  1Several Internet searches show the “papoose” style of wrapping a child in some cases covers the child’s feet, but in other cases does not cover the child’s feet. Also, some “papoose” photographs show the papoose does not cross over itself, but is lined up straight. Proponents of the theory that the manner in which JonBenét’s body was wrapped indicates guilt on the part of the Ramseys should remember that John Ramsey found his daughter and at the suggestion of attorneys interrogating him, he used the word “papoose.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  1Vanderbilt University Broadcast News Archives.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  1Ken Salazar, a US senator from Colorado in 2005, was interior secretary for the Obama Administration from 2009 until he resigned in April 2013.

  2Troy Eid was US attorney for the District of Colorado from 2006 to 2009.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  1There were no figures for the actual number of people who voted in the Los Angeles Times poll.

  2The entire Garnett letter is on the website: www.wehaveyourdaughter.net.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  1The entire report of Judge Carnes is on the website for the book: www.wehaveyourdaughter.net.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  1There are several precedents for bodies being carried in suitcases that can be found on the Internet. One example: In Geneva, Wisconsin, on June 5, 2014, two women’s bodies were found in two different suitcases by highway workers. A security officer who was arrested for their deaths said he had met both women online.

  2“He” is used in referencing a possible suspect based on DNA findings.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  1Portions of the www.Reddit.com interview with former Chief Beckner are in Epilogue I of this book. Included is additional information from police documentation obtained by this author that in some cases contradicts what the former chief wrote in that interview.

  2CODIS—NDIS Statistics. Source: FBI, March 2015.

  3Steve Reilly, “Tens of Thousands of Rape Kits Go Untested in USA,” USA TODAY (July 16, 2015).

  4Congressional Research Service, “DNA Testing in Criminal Justice: Background, Current Law, Grants, and Issues” (December 2012).

  5WHYD Investigative Archive.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  1WHYD Investigative Archive.

  2Related travel records and expense reports for the three officers involved were provided via e-mail by the Boulder Police Department in response to a Colorado Open Records Act request.

  3Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler, “When Corrections Fail: The Persistence of Political Misperceptions,” Political Behavior 32(2) (2010): 303–330. Brendan Nyhan was then a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation scholar at University of Michigan. Jason Reifler was then Assistant Professor, Department of Government, Georgia State University.

  EPILOGUE

  1Vernon Geberth, Henden Media Group: Law Enforcement Publications and Conferences. “Homicide Unit … and its Commander,” Law and Order, (November 2011).

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  DETECTIVE LOU SMIT’S BATTLE with colon cancer was brief; eight weeks between diagnosis and his death in August of 2010. He remained committed to the Ramsey’s innocence believing that an intruder, “a sexual predator,” killed JonBenét.

  During a visit with him shortly before he died, he clasped my hand from his hospice bed and looked at me with exhausted eyes. “You know, I’ll know before you will who the killer is.”

  Lou was a man of strong religious convictions and his conclusion was that of the two alternatives, he would be going to heaven to spend his after-life there.

  I smiled and replied, “Is there some way you’ll be able to send a signal or sign of who the killer is?”

  In his sincerest, but weakened voice, “I would, but I don’t know what the rules are there yet.”

  There is a binder with Angels and Hearts on the cover. Inside are letters and pictures to JonBenét’s parents from her school classmates. A friend had kept it for the family all these years and John had just found it and was looking at it for the first time.

  The children who painted the pictures and wrote the notes to the family and JonBenét are now in their twenties, like JonBenét would be. They didn’t understand what death or murder meant when they wrote their notes and drew their pictures. But their innocence adds depth to the portrait of the little girl they knew. Teacher and student names have been changed for privacy.

  The bookbinder is covered with smiling gingham angels with wings and hearts. The book clasp is a heart. Inside, the colors red, yellow, green, turquoise, orange and blue burst out of the pages. They are happy colors, just like those JonBenét used
in her own drawings. There are rainbows and flowers and pictures of JonBenét.

  Binder with angels and hearts prepared for the Ramsey family by JonBenét’s kindergarten class in 1997. It included drawings from her classmates. © John Ramsey

  “This is JonBenét holding a flower,” writes a classmate, in a childish scrawl with a drawing of a red flower held by a girl in a turquoise shirt with blonde hair and a smile on her face.

  Another drawing has a pink heart with JonBenét’s name in purple and the words “JonBenét was my best friend. I rele mis her.”

  There are suns and houses and trees, and in every one of the pictures of JonBenét, she wears a smile. That’s what her friends and teachers conveyed. She always smiled.

  “JonBenét, JonBenét. I liked her a lot. She’s an angel now up in the sky,” from a friend who painted flowers and a happy JonBenét.

  One of her teachers tells how JonBenét helped clean up a closet and shared a cupcake when they were short one at a birthday party. The teacher recalled sending JonBenét to the school nurse with a sick student. She was used to being around sickness because of her mother’s cancer. To her, it was simply part of her life. She was kind, the teacher wrote, and always asked her classmate how she felt. JonBenét also assured the sick child that the nurse or their mom or dad would make them feel better.

  Drawings from JonBenét’s classmates for the Ramsey family after her murder. © John Ramsey

  Kindergarten teacher’s letter to Ramsey family about JonBenét.

  Another teacher said once when she saw JonBenét walking down the hall “she gave me a wide smile, a bear hug and she stuck like glue and we walked down the hall together, her feet on my feet and arms around my middle, muddling along.”