Confession another discomforting twist to JonBenet story
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It was 5:22 a.m., the morning after Christmas, 1996 ? the moment the story of JonBenet Ramsey simultaneously ended and began.
In the 15-room Tudor home at 755 15th St., Patsy Ramsey picked up the phone and dialed 911. Please help, she implored the Boulder, Colo., police dispatcher; someone had stolen her little girl.
When police officers arrived at the home in the upscale Chautauqua neighborhood, not far from the University of Colorado campus, they were told they were looking for a 6-year-old with shining eyes and flowing blonde hair, a diminutive beauty queen. They studied a ransom note found inside.
“Mr. Ramsey: Listen Carefully!” it began. “At this time we have your daughter in our possession. She is safe and unharmed, and if you want to see her in 1997, you must follow our instructions …”
In that moment, the case, horrific as it was, was at least fairly straightforward. By afternoon, even that dubious bit of reassurance would be lost.
Nearly a decade has passed since then. But the uproar unleashed this past week by the arrest in Thailand of John Mark Karr, a 41-year-old itinerant teacher who says he killed JonBenet, makes it clear that fascination with the case, while it may have ebbed over time, has never really diminished.
And it provides just one more discomforting twist to a story that continues to both repulse and intrigue in a way that few other notorious cases have ever done.
“We move on from other cases because they get replaced. They’re almost generics. But how many involve victims of this degree of wealth? How many involve … parents of victims who call press conferences to keep it alive?” says Andrew Vachss, a best-selling author of crime novels that are an outgrowth of a career spent defending the rights of children.
It is not at all clear Karr is guilty. His confession appears pockmarked by inconsistencies. Doubts and questions have been raised about whether Karr, who has not lived in Colorado, was ever in the state, let alone at the time of the murder. Authorities, urging patience and caution, will not say whether DNA tests have revealed any connection.
It is all very strange. But looking back on the JonBenet case, is it also all too typical?
The doubt that now twists around the case took root hours after police reached the Ramsey’s home. As police searched the scene that Thursday afternoon, detectives allowed Patsy’s husband, John, to re-enter the house alone.
He emerged a few minutes later, JonBenet’s body limp in his arms.
That was the first of what would be criticized as a series of inept mistakes by investigators. It set the scene for the Ramseys to launch their own parallel campaign for clues, even as they straight-armed Boulder Police Chief Tom Koby’s department.
By New Year’s Eve, the Ramseys had hired an attorney, their own publicist and their own investigators. Soon, they drew into seclusion, shifting between friends’ homes week to week, their movements and possible motivations the subject of cover headlines in the tabloids.