JonBenet Ramsey

[SunnyinTX]

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-police-ramsey-brother-txt,0,6492962.story?track=rss

Boulder Police meet with JonBenet Ramsey's now adult brother

DENVER - FOX31 News has learned that Boulder Police detectives recently met with Burke Ramsey, the brother of six year old JonBenet Ramsey, to talk with him about his sister's murder.

JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered in her family's Boulder home in December of 1996. Burke was 9 years old at the time.

He is now 23 and recently graduated from college. Sources tell Fox31 News that detectives traveled out of state in the past few weeks to re-interview Burke about the case.

Burke has never been considered a serious suspect, but he was in the house the night of the murder.

His parents claimed he was asleep. But at least some investigators are skeptical.

Some believe you can hear Burke's voice in the background of a 9-1-1 call Patsy Ramsey made to report her daughter had been kidnapped.

Shortly after that, Burke was sent to stay with a family friend. And hours later, his father found JonBenet's body in a basement room in the house.

Boulder Police are not commenting, except to say it is an open and active investigation.

[SunnyinTX]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/28/earlyshow/main6907384.shtml

Sept. 28, 2010
Break Emerging in JonBenet Ramsey Case?

(CBS)   An expert on the JonBenet murder case says his sources confirm reports that investigators in Boulder, Colo. would like to speak again to her older brother, Burke Ramsey, in case he saw something at the time that could help them connect some newly-surfaced dots now.

Burke was nine when his little sister, a 6-year-old beauty pageant contestant, was slain in December 1996, in what went on to become one of the most famous unsolved killings in recent times.

He's now 23.

Lawrence Schiller, a contributor to The Daily Beast, founder of the Norman Mailer Writers Colony and author of one of the definitive books on the Ramsey case, "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town," told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez Tuesday he called some sources in Boulder on Monday.

"They said the police had sent on their business cards and asked Burke, if his time permitted, if he could get in touch with them," Schiller said.

Rodriguez noted that the Ramsey family attorney tells "The Early Show" Burke hasn't been questioned yet.

Burke "was questioned and exonerated" in the aftermath of his sister's death, Rodriguez pointed out. Why would they be trying to question him again 14 years later?

"You have to remember," Schiller explained, "number one, he was 9 years old, a frail kid. Not very large in size. His sister was younger. There's a lot of evidence that has still been unexplained over the years. Footprints have been identified, but some have not. Handprints and palm prints have been identified in the room where her body was found. Some still not. In essence, the body was placed there. It wasn't dragged in. And then it was wrapped in a blanket.

"Now, if he was a witness to some event that night, something that may, in essence, now connect with something else, you have to remember, this murder took place in a community that was embarrassed by it. Wasn't prepared for it. Did not have a history of violence. The police are never going to give up on this case. There's no statute of limitation on murder."

"In other words," Rodriguez asked, "(probers) may have discovered some new evidence that wouldn't necessarily make (Burke) a suspect, but to which he could possibly speak?"

"That's correct," Schiller responded. "He was exonerated by DNA, by many, many methods that the police used at that point. But the question is, in his own mind now, this many years away, has he locked away the facts of this murder? Has he, in essence, put it in a room, closed the door, and doesn't want to think about it? So how helpful can he be? You know, just because questions are unanswered doesn't mean somebody is withholding the answer."

Schiller says it's not surprising that Boulder police are staying mum on the new reports and that the Ramsey family lawyer says Burke hasn't met with them again yet.

"If there is a real lead, nobody's gonna tell you about it!" Schiller exclaimed.

[SunnyinTX]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/02/police-plan-new-interviews-jonbenet-ramsey-case/

Police Plan New Interviews in JonBenet Ramsey Case
 October 03, 2010

BOULDER, Colo. –  Police investigating the death of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey are conducting a new round of interviews, based on recommendations from an advisory committee.

The committee, which included investigators from several state and federal agencies, met in 2009 after police took the lead in the case back from Boulder County prosecutors.

Members reviewed evidence in the death of 6-year-old JonBenet, whose body was found bludgeoned and strangled in her family's home in Boulder on Dec. 26, 1996. Former District Attorney Mary Lacy said in 2008 that evidence suggests the killer was an unknown stranger, not a family member.

Police Chief Mark Beckner wouldn't reveal details about the continuing investigation or who police want to interview now.

"We continue to work the Ramsey case and have tailored our investigation based on recommendations from our 2009 advisory committee," Beckner told the Camera newspaper. "This has included additional contacts and interviews with those who may have information pertinent to the case."

JonBenet's older brother Burke, who was 9 when JonBenet died, was contacted by police but hasn't been interviewed yet, Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood said.

"I understand that they met with Burke and gave him a card and said, 'If you want to talk to us, here's how you would contact me,'" Wood said. "But the police have not interviewed Burke."

JonBenet Ramsey's mother, Patsy, died of cancer in 2006. Her father, John, made a public plea last December for people to share any suspicions they had around the time JonBenet died.

"Whatever the reason for any type of approach with Burke, it would have nothing to do with the case other than with the reality that John and Burke could help the Boulder police as witnesses in the investigation," Wood said. "For all I know, they have gotten some tip and think Burke could give them some information."

Denver defense attorney and legal analyst Scott Robinson said it would be premature to assume that police have new information.

"But it would be absolutely accurate to say they're not letting this case lie," he said.

[SunnyinTX]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/jonbenet-ramsey-death-fresh-round-interviews/story?id=11792001


JonBenet Ramsey Death Gets Fresh Look With New Round of Interviews
Investigators Hoping to Re-interview Burke Ramsey, Now 23, as a Potential Witness
By CLAYTON SANDELL and SARAH NETTER
Oct. 4, 2010

Investigators hoping to solve the 1996 killing of 6-year-old pageant queen JonBenet Ramsey have launched a fresh round of interviews with witnesses that could provide the clue they've been missing all these years.

Among the potential witnesses police have contacted is the little girl's brother, Burke Ramsey. Now 23, he was 9 when his sister's body was found in the family's Colorado basement, beaten and strangled.

Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood recently told the Boulder Daily Camera newspaper that a police detective "met with Burke and gave him a card and said, 'If you want to talk to us, here's how you would contact me.'"

Larry Schiller, author of a book on the case, "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town," and a contributor to the Daily Beast news website, said the new investigation comes likely as part of a police mandate to reopen cold cases every few years.

"This is a case that embarrassed an entire community," he said, pointing to the inexperience of the Boulder Police Department in 1996. "They live under the shadow of this case."

At one point or another, every member of the Ramsey family, including Burke Ramsey and their parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, has lived under a cloud of suspicion. The family was officially cleared as suspects in 2008, two years after Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer.

"I think there's always a chance with technology and confession," Schiller said of finding the killer. "I think there's a very, very big chance that the killer has passed on and no longer exists."

Schiller theorized that police are interested in speaking to Burke Ramsey not as a suspect but as someone who may have a childhood memory from that day that could be triggered by a new investigation.

"I think it's a matter of can they corroborate something they know about or that they suspect may lead them to a solution," Schiller said of the potential witnesses.

Investigators, he said, will also likely go back to the physical evidence in the case.

"Modern technology, what was missed, is there a witness that may have said something down the road that now has more meaning," he said. "It's a step-by-step process."

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-jonbenet-leads-txt,0,3943738.story
Boulder investigators still receive tips in Ramsey case, 14 years later
Julie Hayden  KDVR Denver
October 11, 2010
BOULDER - Boulder DA Stan Garnett says he personally gets five or more tips each month on the JonBenet Ramsey murder mystery.

In the past 14 years, investigators have received thousands of tips.

Many of them have potential and are passed on to the Boulder Police Department's Major Case Unit.

But Garnett says others are ridiculous. He cites one inmate who writes him from prison on a regular basis, claiming he's solved the murder and if Garnett will just send $1,000 to the inmate's prison account, he'll reveal the killer.

"It's an enduring, epic mystery. Everybody would like to know who killed little JonBenet," said legal analyst Craig Silverman, who has covered the Ramsey case from the beginning.

But in spite of the tips and leads and theories that regularly pour into investigation, Garnett says there is really nothing new.

Silverman says lack of evidence was never the problem in the Ramsey case.

"There were never no clues. There were too many clues. It's a matter of putting them all together, putting the pieces into a puzzle that tells the truth about what happened Christmas, 1996," he said.
Some of the evidence points in different directions. For instance, in the ransom note, some experts believe Patsy Ramsey could have written it.

But other experts conclude it is not her handwriting. Some feel evidence inside the home points to an intruder, but others believe it leads to an insider.

"The Ramsey case is like a Rubic's Cube, said Garnett. "To file charges so you could prove it, you would need to line up every part of the case from the ransom note to the DNA to all the other pieces of the case."

Even DNA evidence usually a slam dunk kind of evidence, is viewed differently by different experts.

"And just when you feel you have one side lined up and it makes sense, you turn it around and then you say well the rest of this isn't explained now," said Garnett.

Silverman believes it would take one of two things to convict someone in the murder.

A DNA match to someone who has committed similar crimes or a confession backed by the rest of the evidence.

[BooMonkey]

Well, let me get this straight.... their "new" break in the case is that they left a calling card for Burke Ramsey to call them? That's all I've seen. Come on, isn't there more to this??

[Sister]

Well, let me get this straight.... their "new" break in the case is that they left a calling card for Burke Ramsey to call them? That's all I've seen. Come on, isn't there more to this??

BooMonkey, as best I can tell, Burke Ramsey may have been re-interviewed.  that's it.  I think the author/writer Schiller may be going on some kind of media campaign.  Not sure.

[Sister]

I will state that I do believe that John Ramsey did not take part in any of it. He is innocent, imo.

I agree

[cookie]

talking about this now on Anderson Cooper show, 360  ...after the commercial...

[Blink34]

Well, let me get this straight.... their "new" break in the case is that they left a calling card for Burke Ramsey to call them? That's all I've seen. Come on, isn't there more to this??

BooMonkey, as best I can tell, Burke Ramsey may have been re-interviewed.  that's it.  I think the author/writer Schiller may be going on some kind of media campaign.  Not sure.

This drives me batty. To say that Burke was never interviewed is outright BS, Schiller has it in his own book.
Imo, this is nothing more than free press for the DA campaign to run for the AG office, shocker.

[klaasend]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/15/jonbenet.ramsey.investigation/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

Questions for JonBenet's brother -- again?
See show times »
AC360
By Tom Foreman, "AC360°" Correspondent
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

    * Police say they want to talk again with JonBenet Ramsey's older brother, Burke
    * Burke Ramsey has nothing to tell them, says family lawyer Lin Wood
    * JonBenet Ramsey was killed in her family's home on Christmas night 1996
    * Police have cleared family members, but no one has been arrested in the case

(CNN) -- Police in Boulder, Colorado, want to talk to the older brother of JonBenet Ramsey, the 6-year-old girl slain at home on Christmas night 14 years ago, the Ramsey family's attorney said.

Supporters of the family call it harassment. The brother, Burke Ramsey, has no interest in once again answering questions he has answered for many investigators many times, said the attorney, Lin Wood, of Atlanta, Georgia.

And yet the mere hint of activity in one of the nation's most famous cold cases has headlines swirling.

So, what's the story this time? Burke Ramsey was the 9-year-old brother of JonBenet who, by all accounts, slept soundly in his room that Christmas in 1996 while his sister's skull was fractured and she was strangled elsewhere in the house.

Now, he's 23, and although police investigators aren't talking, the family's lawyer is. Wood said police investigators approached Burke Ramsey on his college campus in the spring, gave him a business card and said that if he wanted to talk about the case, they'd like to hear from him.

Investigators, no doubt, are hoping that locked in Burke's memory is some clue that could crack the case; maybe it's a detail that he was afraid to mention as a child or as a teenager but that he now wants to discuss.

But police will have to keep waiting. Wood says his client has declined their latest request to talk.

Good for him, say some journalists and legal analysts in the Colorado foothills who have long followed the story.

"Burke Ramsey has been completely cleared," said Denver attorney Larry Pozner, who has no direct involvement with the case but has been sharply critical of how authorities have handled it.

"The Boulder police engaged in a crime scene search and preservation that was worse than amateurish. It borders on criminal," Pozner said.

The police have always defended their work on the case, but despite all the scrutiny, all the hours of investigation, nothing came of their efforts.

It's hard to remember now, but the death of JonBenet was little more than a tragic local news story that holiday season until her parents appeared on CNN.

John and Patsy Ramsey turned the story into a sensation when Patsy, crying and shaking, told the nation: "There's a killer on the loose. I don't know who it is. I don't know if it's a she or a he, but if I were a resident of Boulder, I would tell my friends to keep your babies close to you. There's someone out there."

The interview unleashed the now famous pageant video, the disquieting cheesecake photos of JonBenet and a national debate: How could a 6-year-old girl be killed in a quiet neighborhood, and no one see or hear a thing?

The early evidence seemed to point toward the parents. There was no sign of forced entry into the Ramsey home, no footprints in the snow surrounding it. The rope used to choke JonBenet was tightened with a paintbrush from her mother's hobby kit.

An alleged ransom note (remember, this was first thought to be a kidnapping) was written on a pad of paper from inside the house, and some investigators thought the handwriting looked like Patsy's. It contained details about the family's past and finances that few outside their close circle could have known. And the body was found in a little-used basement room that police didn't even notice at first.

Investigative reporter Julie Hayden, who tracked the case all those years ago, said people were asking how a stranger could have pulled it off.

"It's sort of like a puzzle," she said. "How do you put all of those pieces together? Was it an intruder? If it wasn't an intruder, how on Earth did this happen? But on the other hand, how could somebody do that to their own child? It's got to be one or the other, you know? Somebody killed JonBenet."

The Ramseys ramped up public suspicion, whether they meant to or not, when they hired lawyers and a publicist. Their relationship with investigators grew noticeably strained.

Each possible break in the case, each supposed suspect over the years, proved worthless or a fraud. Two years ago, the district attorney said that new DNA testing methods had cleared all family members of suspicion.

John Ramsey appeared relieved. "We're certainly grateful for an acknowledgement that we are innocent, this was an intruder, which of course we've always maintained."

Yet here investigators are, once again, knocking on Burke Ramsey's door. Attorney Scott Robinson, who has closely watched the case, said that even if JonBenet's brother knows something, so what?

"Even if Burke were to have some miraculous memory that could lead to the arrest of a suspect, that information would be so dated and so questionable that most criminal defense attorneys would have a heyday with it at trial," Robinson said. "It's very problematic to be using information that would be so stale from an individual who did not remember it before."

The main adult figures in the Ramsey case are almost all gone -- to other jobs; other cities. Some, including Patsy Ramsey, have died.

They leave behind unanswered questions and one terrible fact: A 6-year-old girl was killed, and 14 years later, no one has spent even a day in jail for her murder.

Like many who have followed the Ramsey case from the start, Robinson doubts the killing will ever be solved.

"The colder the case gets, the colder the trail gets."

[cookie]

I will state that I do believe that John Ramsey did not take part in any of it. He is innocent, imo.

I agree

I agree as well...

[Babybear]

Someone told me that one of the scandal sheets, don't know which one, has a story that a poster on Forums for Justice noticed a doll in a photo of JB's body in the basement had a doll near it which no one ever noticed before and that this is the key to who killed her.  I don't get it.  The poster's name is KoldKase.  I'll try to find the tab when I can.

Of the millions of people who have seen those photos, it is really hard to believe that a doll was missed.  Sorry I don't know more about it.

[Babybear]

That was confusing.  I mistakenly indicated that a doll had a doll near it.  what I understood was that the photo of the body showed a doll near the body that no one else had ever noticed!

[Monkey King]

This investigation was truly a screw up! People who clearly were not experienced in homicide handled this investigation. IIRC, the lead officer was fresh from a drug unit and immediately pointed the finger at the family. Lou Smit was pulled out of retirement to investigate this case. He did his investigation and determined it was an intruder. He was then mocked and ridiculed because his findings were not supporting Boulder PD's.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/home-279262-million-estate.html
Really? Schuller kin revamped JonBenet basement
December 7, 2010

Real estate news and views from around the globe that make you go, "Really?"
(snip)
    * REMODEL: The Rev. Robert Schulller's daughter and son-in-law, Carol and Tim Milner, have converted the basement where JonBenet Ramsey's body was found into a recreation room with a wet bar and a wine cellar. The Milners, who paid a little over $1 million for the Ramsey estate in 2004, gave up trying to sell the 7,000-square-foot for $1.8 million home in January. (OCRegister.com) (snip)

http://www.ocregister.com/news/-279175--.html
(snip)
THE JONBENET RAMSEY HOUSE

In 2007, the Milners renovated the Boulder, Colo., house, according to an article in the Boulder Daily Camera. The newspaper stated that the basement where JonBenet's strangled, beaten body was found was being finished into a recreation room with a wet bar and a wine cellar by the Milners. According to the plans, the utility room where JonBenet was eventually found dead was left unaltered.

The 7,000-square-foot home, now valued at more than $1.8 million, was on the market from May 2009 to January 2010, said Boulder Realtor Beth Mason. It is no longer for sale, she said.

Tim Milner was quoted in the local newspaper in 2004 saying that the house was "perfect" for his family. But a year and a half later, a "for sale" sign went up on the property and Milner complained to reporters about a continuous stream of onlookers and sightseers who would stop and sometimes take pictures in front of the house's gated exterior.(snip)

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41708229/ns/business-real_estate/
JonBenet Ramsey's Colo. home listed for $2.3M
Parents previously sold property to investors who said resale profits would go to charity
updated 2/21/2011 5:29:48 PM ET

[cookie]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41708229/ns/business-real_estate/
JonBenet Ramsey's Colo. home listed for $2.3M
Parents previously sold property to investors who said resale profits would go to charity
updated 2/21/2011 5:29:48 PM ET

I couldn't live there even if it was free....
I would be haunted by her death, imagining her playing here and there in the home..eating her cereal in the kitchen..it would be too heartbreaking for me...just sayin'

[MuffyBee]

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/125569/20110322/ramsey-house-for-sale-jonbenet-ransey-childrens-foundation.htm
Overcoming Stigma: 'Ramsey Home' for Sale Again
March 22, 2011

The “Ramsey house” in Boulder, Colo., is back on the market, again trying to overcome its dismal past and find a new buyer.
 ::snipping2::
The 7,000-square-foot house has been sold a few times since, but is back on the market for $2.3 million.

Real estate pro Neil Kearney is trying to sell the home, after the sellers’ previous attempts with another practitioner in 2009 and 2010 were unsuccessful. The house has been off the market for a year.
 ::snipping2::

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Video-AMC-Profiles-Zodiac-Killer-Murder-JonBenet-Ramsey-31005.html
Video: AMC Profiles The Zodiac Killer And The Murder Of JonBenet Ramsey
March 29, 2011