Originally Published September 2016

A federal judge ruled that evidence in the JonBenét Ramsey case suggests that an intruder, rather than Patsy Ramsey, killed JonBenét.

By Travis Henry
RealNewJournalism.com

Interest in JonBenét Ramsey’s 1996 unsolved murder is having a bit of resurgence as the 20th anniversary grows near. CBS is promising a “docu-series” like we have never seen. Dr. Phil is capitalizing on her death with an interview with her brother Burke. And, of course, Lifetime will have their version of the case as well.

Expect the frenzy, information and misinformation to fly once again. But it is important to note that a federal judge issued a 93-page ruling based on real evidence in the case in 2003.

Judge Julie Carnes

The ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes Carnes was the first real judicial analysis of evidence in the JonBenét Ramsey case made available to the public.

Although Carnes’ ruling was based on a civil suit, it painstakingly examined evidence gathered by police and pointed out numerous shortcomings in the investigation.

The case landed in Carnes’ lap in Atlanta in March 2001, when Boulder freelance journalist Chris Wolf sued John and Patsy Ramsey after Wolf was mentioned as a possible suspect in the Ramseys’ book, “The Death of Innocence,” during media interviews promoting the book and in profiles prepared by the Ramseys’ private investigators.

Represented by attorney Darnay Hoffman, Wolf claimed that Patsy Ramsey killed her 6-year-old daughter on Dec. 25, 1996, and was naming other suspects to shift attention away from her.
That claim became paramount in the case, because it meant to win the lawsuit, Wolf would have to prove that Patsy Ramsey was involved in her daughter’s death.

John and Patsy Ramsey

The Evidence
• Unknown pubic hair
• Bondage devices
• Duct tape
• Animal hair
• Boot print
• Stun gun mark
• Unknown Male DNA

Carnes began her ruling outlining the timeline of the crime, which had been reported repeatedly in the media, sometimes accurately and sometimes not.
On Dec. 25, 1996, John and Pasty Ramsey attended, with their children JonBenét and Burke, a Christmas party at the home of family friends Fleet and Priscilla White. The children fell asleep in the car on the way home and were taken to bed. The family planned to wake up early the next day because they were going to fly to Michigan for a family vacation.
According to John and Patsy Ramsey, they were never awakened in the night, although a neighbor told police she heard a scream in the early morning of Dec. 26.
Carnes ruled that it was very plausible the neighbor could have heard the scream without it being heard in the house.

“Experiments have demonstrated that the vent from the basement may have amplified the scream so that it could have been heard outside the house, but not three stories up, in the defendant’s bedroom,” Carnes wrote in her ruling.

In his lawsuit, Wolf contends that Patsy Ramsey never went to sleep on the night of Dec. 25, based on the fact she was wearing the same clothing the next day.

Relying on theories introduced by former Boulder police Detective Steve Thomas, Wolf contends Patsy Ramsey became upset that her daughter wet the bed and in a fit of rage slammed her head against a hard surface.
The autopsy report states that JonBenét suffered a severe blow to her head shortly before or around the time of her murder.
Wolf surmises that Patsy Ramsey then staged a crime scene to make it look like an intruder killed JonBenét.
“Plaintiff has provided no evidence for this theory,” Carnes wrote.
JonBenét was found in the wine-cellar in the basement of the family’s home with duct tape covering her mouth. A cord was around her neck, attached to a wooden garrote, and her hands were bound over her head. She was covered by a light blanket.
According to Carnes, the slipknots and garrote were both sophisticated bondage devices designed to give control to the user.

“Evidence from these devices suggests they were made by someone with expertise using rope and cords, which … could not be found or ‘sourced’ within defendants’ home,” Carnes wrote.

Carnes said the black duct tape also was not “sourced” to the defendants.
Animal hair, alleged to be from a beaver, was found on the duct tape. Carnes wrote that nothing in the Ramsey home was found matching the hair.
Other dark animal hairs were found on JonBenét’s hands that matched nothing in the Ramsey home, Carnes wrote.
Other evidence pointing to an intruder includes a shoeprint of a “HI-TEC” boot imprinted in mold on the basement floor and a palm print in the wine cellar.
Police also found a baseball bat not owned by the Ramseys on the north side of the house with fiber on it consistent with fibers found in the carpet in the basement where JonBenét’s body was found.
Carnes wrote that other evidence included a rope found in a brown paper sack in the guest bedroom of the Ramsey home.
A forensic pathologist hired by the Ramseys concluded that the injuries to the right side of JonBenét Ramsey’s face were consistent with injuries sustained from a stun gun.
Carnes also noted that an autopsy report revealed injury to JonBenét’s genitalia suggesting she was sexually assaulted shortly before her death. Unknown male DNA was found under JonBenét’s fingernails and in her underwear.
“Finally, a Caucasian ‘pubic or auxiliary’ hair was found on the blanket covering JonBenét’s body,” the judge wrote. “The hair does not match that of any Ramsey and has not been sourced.”

Lou Smit

The judge wrote that Detective Lou Smit said JonBenét was a “pedophile’s dream come true.”

She wrote that JonBenét received considerable attention as “Little Miss Colorado” and several beauty pageants she participated in.
On Dec. 6, 1996, she was in the Parade of Lights, where thousands of people attended, the judge noted.
“In addition, on Dec. 25, 1996, while playing at the home of a neighborhood friend, JonBenét told her friend’s mother that ‘Santa Claus’ was going to pay her a ‘special’ visit after Christmas and that it was a secret,” the judge wrote. “The person who may have said this to JonBenét has never been identified.”
Carnes also wrote at length criticizing media reports that reported on a lack of snowy footprints and that the window well into the basement wasn’t accessible.
“Moreover, contrary to media reports that had discredited an intruder theory, based on the lack of ‘footprints in the snow,’ there was no snow covering the sidewalks and walkways to the defendants’ home on the morning of December 26, 1996,” Carnes wrote.

“Hence, a person walking along these paths would have left no footprints.”
She also said experiments done by investigators proved an adult could enter the basement through the window well.

Mark Beckner

The Investigation
In her ruling, Carnes was critical of the Boulder Police Department, saying that officers who responded to the kidnapping call seriously compromised the crime scene.
“Contrary to normal protocol, the police did not seal off the defendants’ home, with the sole exception being the interior of JonBenét’s bedroom,” Carnes wrote. “In other words, any person in the Ramsey home could, and often did, move freely throughout the home.”
She noted that at the time of JonBenét’s murder, Boulder police had limited experience in conducting murder investigations. She wrote that the man in charge, Cmdr. Jon Eller, had never conducted a murder investigation before.
“One lead detective assigned to the case, Steven Thomas, had no prior experience with a murder investigation and had previously served as an undercover narcotics officer,”

Carnes wrote. “Finally the officer who took charge of the investigation in October 1997, Mark Beckner, also had limited homicide experience.”
The next year, Beckner became chief of police.
Carnes wrote that police made many mistakes during the course of the investigation, including the department’s failure to interview Patsy and John Ramsey separately on the day JonBenét’s body was found.
She said police did interview the Ramseys together several times in the ensuing days and began to focus their investigation on the parents as the main suspects.

Carnes said it was also clear that investigators were focusing only on the Ramseys, and no other suspects, from the beginning.

“Pursuant to the FBI’s suggestion that the Boulder Police publicly name defendants as subjects and apply intense media pressure to them so that they would confess to the crime, the police released many statements that implied defendants were guilty and were not cooperating with police,” Carnes wrote.

The judge said that despite widespread criticism that the Ramseys failed to cooperate with police, John and Patsy Ramsey were actually very cooperative.
“During the course of the investigation, defendants signed over one hundred releases for information requested by the police and provided all evidence and information requested by the police,” Carnes wrote.
According to Carnes, the Ramseys gave hair, including pubic hair and DNA samples to the police and agreed to be interviewed separately three different times.
Carnes also wrote that Smit, a retired detective hired on by District Attorney Alex Hunter to help with the case, became frustrated with Boulder police.
“He resigned from the investigation at some point in September 1998, however, because he felt that the Boulder Police Department refused to investigate leads that pointed to an intruder as the murderer of JonBenét, and instead insisted on focusing only on defendants as the culprits,” Carnes wrote.
She said two other men, sheriff’s Detective Steve Ainsworth and Assistant District Attorney Trip DeMuth, who also believed evidence pointed toward an intruder as the killer, were also soon removed from the case.
In the summer of 1998, Hunter convened a grand jury to investigate the murder. On Oct. 13, 1999, the grand jury was discharged and no indictment was issued despite later revelations about the grand jury’s desire to indict the parents.

Mary Keenan

The Aftermath

Carnes ruling was seen as a boon for the Ramseys, but it was nothing compared to the reaction to a statement Boulder County District Attorney Mary Keenan released shortly after saying she agreed with Carnes’ statement.

Keenan said Carnes dropped a bombshell when she ruled that evidence in the JonBenét Ramsey case suggests that an intruder, rather than Patsy Ramsey, killed JonBenét.
Ramsey attorney Lin Wood called it a day of vindication for his clients and said that the days of people accusing them of murder should end.
Beckner said he believed Keenan’s statements may be viewed as criticism against his department.
He also said he was surprised that Keenan would make her personal beliefs about the case public.
Several prosecutors in the district attorney’s office said they wondered after Keenan’s statement and the judge’s ruling if the Ramseys could ever be prosecuted, even if there was evidence pointing to their guilt.