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The Media, Not Charged, But Guilty In Ramsey Case ...

 

 

 Patsy Ramsey is looking down from the heavens she always prayed to with her trademark beauty pageant smile.  Standing next to her is her beautiful daughter, Jon Benet Ramsey.  They are benevolent but still wagging a finger of “I-told-you-so” at all of us.

 

The letter of exoneration was stunning in what it revealed – a new form of forensic testing found two distinct spots of male DNA on the clothing Jon Benet was wearing when she was killed. And that DNA matches the sample taken from her underwear back in 1997. In other words, the killer left three separate spots of evidence to help track him down.  None of the DNA matches any member of the Ramsey family. 

 

The current District Attorney of Boulder, Colorado, Mary Lacy, says she wishes she could have delivered the news before Patsy died in 2006.  DA Lacy’s declaration that her office will now “treat you as the victims of this crime, with the sympathy due you ….” may have come as a relief to patriarch John Ramsey but I doubt it.

 

“We became entertainment for the country,” John Ramsey once said long after he’d lost both his daughter and his wife.  His implication was that the media made sure everyone thought they were guilty of murdering their child.

 

I agree. I was part of the media pact that descended on Boulder right after Christmas 1996.  For months I and my colleagues tramped around town trying to find the truth.  Tabloid headlines screamed, “Did Daddy Do It?” and “Cops: Mom Confesses!”

 

There was a frenzy of media to get something – anything – and for months the story was top of the news.  My boss at the now defunct TV program HARD COPY sent me on an open ended ticket to Boulder and when I couldn’t develop any new angle she  ordered me to follow Jon Benet’s brother Burke to and from his elementary school.  I refused to shadow a little kid, especially one who just lost his little sister, and I left the program about a month later.

           

The media was brutal.  Extensive handwriting tests concluded Patsy did not pen the ransom note left at the scene but there were leaks from investigators that she might have used her left hand to write it.  John Ramsey’s computers were seized and another police leak revealed they had reason to look for child porn.  Ed Gelb, a highly regarded polygraph expert conducted five different tests with John and Patsy and concluded they “passed with flying colors – no deception.”

 

And the most remarkable under-reported news to my mind was the revelation that at the time of Jon Benet’s death there were 38 of her neighbors listed as registered sex offenders and there had been over 100 burglaries in the immediate area. To my knowledge the police did not pursue those leads even though the victim had been paraded around as a mini beauty queen.  Further, nine months after the 6 year olds murder there was a very similar intruder/sex attack in the neighborhood. While the family was out a man broke in and hid in the house until they were asleep.  He then attacked their 12 year old daughter but got away when the parents responded to her screams. 

 

Yet still so many Americans, the media and the public, continued to point at the parents.  Shame on us.

 

The Ramsey family survived the death of a child, public humiliation while “under an umbrella of suspicion”, repeated handwriting and lie detector tests, false leads and hopes, several recurrences of Patsy’s cancer and the maniacal rantings of a sexually confused kook.

             

In the spring of 2006 Patsy Ramsey was fighting what would be her last bout with ovarian cancer. And suddenly from out of the woodwork they began to get e-mail messages from half a world away.   A slight, fragile looking man named John Mark Karr was taken into custody in the Philippines and paraded in front of the predictable gaggle of media where he confessed.

 

“I was with Jon Benet when she died,” he said and demurely batted his eyelashes.  Asked, then to explain the details Karr simply said, “Her death was an accident.”   Brought back to Colorado to face charges the authorities, instead, determined he was one of those inexplicable characters who confess to crimes they did not commit.

 

By this time Patsy had died and was spared the spectacle.

 

In 2000 I was assigned to cover a lecture given by the Ramseys in Washington to a group of young journalists.  I’d never known Patsy had studied journalism and was passionate about its ethics.  Their message to the students that day was simple.  Don’t print it or say it unless you can prove it.  And in a twist on the Golden Rule Patsy said, “Don’t go forward and do to others what has been done to us.”

 

Good advice for all of us.                               -30-

 

Post your comment here ...

       (And read other comments on this column at the Huffington Post here)

 

 

Don D. from New Mexico writes ...

      I'm afraid I am one of those guilty parties who was led by the media to suspect parental involvement in the death of the child.  I don't feel very good about my attitude.
      Pretty sad that the wife died knowing she was innocent of wrongdoing and yet probably quite aware that the general public was suspicious of her.  Hopefully in Judaeo Christian belief, she will get her reward in the afterlife.   
      The DA's letter, while much needed, didn't in my opinion, show as much humility as was appropriate in that instance.  Wish I knew how to avoid such situations in the future but it's beyond me. 

 DD note: The next comment is from highly respected defense attorney and well known victim rights advocate, Wendy Murphy for whom I have enormous respect.  She is the author of a must-read book entitled, "And Justice For Some" which she details her thoughts on the Ramsey case and many others.  As an experienced attorney who deals constantly with issues of child sexual abuse Murphy's thoughts expressed below carry weight.  I count her as a friend but we disagree on the Ramsey's involvement in Jon Benet's sex abuse and murder.

 

Wendy Murphy from Boston, Mass writes ...

Much of the evidence in the case has not been revealed to the public.

(Boulder District Attorney) Mary Lacy is a lame duck politician who is about to lose her job to term limits.  Who knows why she would declare the Ramseys "innocent".  Shame on her for assuming the public would be dumb enough to believe her - especially after she caused such a spectacle, accusing John Mark Karr even though there was no evidence the guy had EVER even BEEN TO Boulder, Colorado.  With a record like that -- her opinion in general deserves no respect.

And why not declare other suspects "innocent" (e.g., McReynolds -- the "Santa Claus" guy.  There was no evidence he killed Jonbenet -- why not clear him?)  She cleared people for whom there is much reason to be suspicious - but none of the innocent people who were convenient red herrings over the past decade.  Suffice it to say - a lot of people think there's meaningful “touch" DNA in the case - but its Mary Lacy's -- and it's on John Ramsey’s rear end.

Here's some evidence folks need to keep in mind before making any conclusions about the case (this is all in my book).

1. When police interviewed John Ramsey - they told him they found black wool sweater fibers inside the underpants Jonbenet was wearing -- fibers that matched the sweater he was wearing on the night in question.  Ramsey and his attorney had no explanation for how the fibers could have gotten there -- so they just yelled and swore and filibustered -- a common technique in interrogations when the suspect doesn't want to or can't answer a question.  If there IS an innocent explanation -- I'd like to hear it.  Ramsey acknowledged his sweater was wool -- not the type of clothing that would be sent through the laundry in the home.  And the underpants were brand new -- had never been worn by the child AND were three sizes too big for her.

2.  The fragmented partial piece of DNA everyone's talking about (collected in 1997 from Jonbenet’s underwear) was likely from the manufacturing process, which is why it was fragmented and there was only a single super small bit of material.  If, as has been reported, the fragment had only 10 markers, it couldn't ever be a "match" -- it could only "rule out" an individual.  There have to be many more markers present to say it is the SAME DNA as a particular person.  And any responsible prosecutor knows that while DNA can establish that a person was at a particular place -- it cannot tell us when, how or why the contact was made.  In short - it could have occurred weeks or months earlier.  We also know that Patsy told police SHE put the long johns on the child -- so why is nobody saying whether they found HER DNA?

3.  The autopsy says the child's vaginal mucosa showed "chronic inflammation"; "epithelial erosion" and that the hymen had been "eroded".  These are terms of art that mean she had suffered PAST penetration.  There were also "acute" injuries - meaning that there was penetration on the night in question.  If the same person who killed her is the one who caused the prior injuries -- it had to have been someone with ongoing intimate access.

4.  Patsy's red sweater fibers were found ENTANGLED in the rope around Jonbenet's neck - intermingled with colored garland matching that which had been strung around the banister on the Ramsey's staircase.  Her sweater fibers were also found underneath the duct tape that covered the child's mouth.

5. The Ramseys hired CRIMINAL defense attorneys on the day the child's body was found -- and refused to submit to separate interviews at the police station.  They didn't agree to be interviewed about the crime until many months later.

6.  Three search warrants were executed for the Ramsey homes and computers.  They cited a need to look for child pornography.  Some items were seized.  What were they?  Why not reveal the results to the public?

7.  The child had undigested pineapple in her belly at the time of autopsy - which means she ate it within two hours of death.  She died after midnight.  The Ramsey’s told police they brought her home at about 9:30 pm and that she was sound asleep.  They said she stayed asleep and they put her to bed.  A bowl of pineapple was found on the kitchen table.  Patsy's fingerprints were found on the bowl.  Both parents adamantly denied giving the child pineapple.  Why?  The bowl was taken by police, and presumably tested.  What were they looking for?  Did they perform drug tests?  Why? What were the results?  Why were the Ramseys asked about the presence of a variety of sedatives in the home, such as Klonopin?

8.  Within minutes of finding the child's body, John Ramsey was on the telephone with his private pilot making arrangements to leave for Atlanta.  He told police he had business he needed to tend to.


All these facts - and so many more - may not prove the Ramseys guilt - but they are relevant to a fair consideration of the case.

When a child dies and the parents are under the umbrella of suspicion, it is the DA's duty to speak for the child.  When the DA can't get the job done - the public should speak for the child.  For starters, we must demand full disclosure of the evidence to provide oversight and figure out whether the government has done its job properly.

It's likely that Mary Lacy will refuse to release the files, claiming she can't reveal the case file because it's an "ongoing investigation".  She'll claim she needs to keep the file a secret to make sure the real killer doesn't learn too many details -- which would allow him to make up a story to defend himself in a way that takes advantage of the investigative information.

But if there were truly a concern about shielding the evidence from the real killer- Lacy would never have revealed the details of the DNA tests.  So if she NOW refuses to reveal the evidence that once had the Ramseys under an umbrella of suspicion, (which clearly won't hurt the case now that she's cleared the Ramseys) the public should call her bluff and relentlessly demand full disclosure until the truth is told.

Jonbenet deserves it because truth matters!

 

Mike C. from Washington, DC writes ... 

How many others do TV reporters convict all over the country?  And as an ex-Prosecutor and a former reporter, don't let the cops and the DAs and the AUSAs off the hook, either. They're trying cases in the press with frightening regularity.  Nancy Grace, there's a warm place in Hell for you!


Lewis B from Atlanta, Ga. writes ....
I am still doing this Ramsey story. Just did it for CBS and NBC. In your ABQ Journal story you mentioned things I have never heard about,such as the neighbor sex offenders etc. BTW, the ABQ story is an excellent piece!  Why did the main stream media not run with some of your accusations?
 
Also like you, I bird dogged the Ramsey's when they moved back to Atlanta.I don't think they ever knew I was as close as I was. They did not help their case any from some of the activities I saw. ( I know you are going to hit me with the "How are they supposed to act after they lost their daughter line") But I have years and miles of experience at Bird Dogging. They got some bad advice from somebody.
 
DD note: The writer above is a network video journalist who has covered all the major stories of our time.  He can be reached at: www.SharpshooterTV.com


Joseph S. from Albuquerque, NM writes ...

As always, I read your column in the ABQ Journal this morning. I'm proud of you just as I am proud of Richard Clark.  He was the guy who apologized to the survivors and the relatives of the 9/11 victims during the hearings.  You travel in good company when you have the courage to apologize for the media's mistakes.  We would be a better nation if we all demonstrated remorse for the mistakes we all make. Keep up the good work.

 

Harry H. from "The Banana Republic of New Mexico" writes ...

I congratulate you on a very fine piece of reporting to set this sorry record straight; That being said, I might add that Medical Doctors are not "perfect" which is why they "practice" medicine and lawyers can only argue the laws that have been "written by man!"  Needless to say there has been much bad legislation passed over the years just as there has been 'bad science' passing itself off as SCIENTIFIC FACT...!  Anyway you did good Counsel, keep up the good fight...!
 
     DD note: I'm not a lawyer - but I've played one on TV. Kidding!  No law degree here.