POPULAR MYTHS THAT PLAGUED THE INVESTIGATION
Stories about Patsy Ramsey’s handwriting and suspects who were ruled out continue to abound.
Over the past 20 years several popular myths have plagued the investigation of the murder of child pageant queen JonBenét Ramsey, including the following:
Myth: An absence of footprints in snow on the Ramseys’ driveway outside a basement window at their home contradicts the intruder killer theory.
Photographs taken the day JonBenét’s body was found show someone could have easily walked on dry concrete to basement windows without stepping in snow, former Ramsey case consultant Lou Smit said.
Myth: John and Patsy Ramsey refused to be interviewed by Boulder police detectives about their daughter’s murder. Boulder police repeatedly claimed the Ramseys refused to cooperate with the investigation.
Boulder detectives interviewed both John and Patsy Ramsey on Dec. 26, Dec. 27 and Dec. 28, 1996, and thereafter, according to U.S. District Court judge Julie Carnes, who dismissed two federal defamation cases against the Ramseys. Carnes noted that within days after the murder and in the months that followed, the Ramseys also provided police with handwriting samples and supervised written exemplars. Defendants also gave hair, including pubic hair, and DNA samples to police.
Myth: Several men are continuously identified in news stories as suspects in the case — including Bill McReynolds, a former University of Colorado professor who played Santa Claus and had contact with JonBenét just days before her death; Michael Helgoth, an electrician who killed himself shortly after JonBenét’s murder; and Gary Oliva, a homeless sex offender with a bizarre fixation on JonBenét.
Authorities close to the investigation say McReynolds, Helgoth and Oliva have all been carefully investigated and for many years have not been considered suspects.
Myth: Handwriting experts confirm that Patsy Ramsey was the author of the ransom note demanding $118,000 for her missing daughter’s return.
Boulder police hired four handwriting experts and the Ramseys hired two who made comparisons between the ransom note and writing exemplars by Patsy Ramsey. None of the six experts identified Patsy Ramsey as the author. Although they also did not eliminate her as the possible author, the consensus was that she “probably did not” write the letter. On a scale of one to five, with the high score of five being elimination, they scored her between a 4 and 4.5.
Myth: A severe blow to JonBenét’s head killed her immediately or within moments, and the garrote was tied around her neck solely for staging.
An autopsy performed Dec. 27, 1996, by coroner Dr. John Meyer concluded JonBenét was alive before she was asphyxiated by ligature strangulation. Former Boulder police Chief Mark Beckner has been quoted as saying that brain swelling indicated JonBenét lived between 45 minutes to two hours after the fracture.