Jonbenet Ramsey Research Paper

Participating in pageants, JonBenet Ramsey was a six-year-old girl from Boulder, Colorado. During her pageant career, she “was elected America’s Royal Miss, Little Miss Charlevoix, and National Tiny Miss Beauty” (Eaton 1). As seen in Picture 1, she always had her crown, sash, and scepter. She was the youngest of five siblings, but only lived with Burke Ramsey, her nine-year-old brother. Tragedy struck on December 26, 1996, when Patsy and John Ramsey found their bed empty with a ransom note on the home’s stairs. During the investigation of the home, JonBenet was found in the basement by her father and one of his friends. When the case came to light, people started making their own theories, the intruder and family theories. From the outside

During the investigation of the home, Boulder detectives only blocked off JonBenet’s room, allowing “friends and family [to roam] the rest of the house” (“JonBenet Ramsey”). Detectives also asked John and a family friend to help look around the home to make sure nothing was missing; they went straight to the basement where JonBenet’s body was and John instantly picked her up and brought her back upstairs. When she was found, she had duck tape on her mouth, white cord tied to her wrists and neck, and covered with a white blanket. Her autopsy report discovered that JonBenet died of asphyxiation, suffocation, and she also had a skull

As time progressed, the crime rate in 1994 to 1997 increased to low two hundred then decreased to high one hundred, as seen in Table 1. In 1996, the year JonBenet was murdered, the number of murders was 180 and when “Colorado’s Population and Crime Rate per 1,000 People” is compared, in 1996 the murder rate was 4.7, as seen in Table 2 (Christopher 2-3). Both of these numbers are relatively low compared to the years prior and upcoming. This shows that JonBenet was sadly one of the many who lost their lives that year. In addition to the intruder theory, there is a family theory that points fingers at the people in the home during the murder. Once the investigation started, there were theories for every member of the family, but due to the lack of evidence, no one was ever prosecuted. Many people believe that John Ramsey, JonBenet’s father, was sexually assaulting her– a possible motive for him wanting to kill his own daughter. There were many claims that supported this, but there was no concrete evidence. John was accused of frequently going to an adult only book shop in Downtown