Newcomers to this blog are advised to begin with the first two posts, Just the Facts, Ma'am and Case Solved, which explain in very general terms why I believe I've solved this case. Some important questions are answered in the following post, Misunderstandings, Misconceptions, Misdirections. After that feel free to browse whatever topics might interest you (see blog archive).

NB: If anyone has trouble posting a comment, email it to doktorgosh (at) live.com, and I'll post it for you.

Notice to readers of my Kindle book: I recently noticed that, on certain devices (though not all), the Table of Contents begins with Chapter One and omits the Introduction and Preface. Since the Introduction is especially important, I urge everyone to make sure to begin reading at the very beginning of the book, not the first chapter in the Table of Contents. Thank you.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

The Basement Window -- Part 3

The Gospel According to Patsy -- 1997

Continuing with my 2005 review.

From Patsy's 1997 police interview: 
ST: Tom has some questions for you about when John had to break in that basement window . . .

PR: Right.

ST: . . .but was there any reason you couldn’t or John could not have retrieve the key from the Barnhills at that time to get in rather than breaking the window?

PR: He, he may not have know they had a key.

TT: When did John break that window in the basement?

PR: He, I don’t know exactly when he did it, but I think it was last suimmer sometime when we, the kids and I were at the lake. 
Another Ramsey who doesn't "know exactly" when or what or how or who. She THINKS it was last summer. Funny, I think John thinks he thinks the same thing.


TT: In Charlevoix.

PR: In Charlevoix and he told me to come back from out of town or whatever and he didn’t have a key and the only way he could get in was to break the window. 
Now THAT's an interesting statement! He wanted her to come back from out of town because he didn't have his key? But he wasn't able to phone the Barnhills ahead of time, so the key could be waiting for him under the mat or wherever?
TT: Okay. Yeah, right.
 "Okay."  Why bother to ask tough questions, it's just another murder case (yawn).
 PR: The little um, like door, little window to the basement there.

TT: He had to life the grate out of the way to, to get in there.

PR: Yeah, that’s the one, um hum.

TT: Okay. Any reason why that one wasn’t replaced or the pane wasn’t fixed or anything?

PR: No, I don’t know whether I fixed it or didn’t fix it. I can’t remember even trying to remember that, um, I remember when I got back, uh, in the fall, you know . . . 
Well now that's interesting, Patsy doesn't know whether the window was fixed either. She "can't remember even trying to remember that."
TT: Um hum.

PR: . . .uh, went down there and cleaned up all the glass.

 TT: Okay.

PR: I mean I cleaned that thoroughly and I asked Linda to go behind me and vacuum. I mean I picked up every chunk, I mean, because the kids played down there in that back area back there. 
[The reference is to Linda Hoffmann Pugh, her housekeeper.] Sorry, Patsy, but Linda doesn't remember that incident. She knows nothing about any broken window. [See Footnote, below.] Hoffmann Pugh's insistence from the start that she knew nothing about the broken window and certainly did not help Patsy clean up any glass, completely destroys their whole testimony regarding the window and the meaning of the broken pane.]
 TT: Um hum.

PR: And I mean I scoured that place when, cause they were always down there. Burke particularly and the boys would go down there and play with cars and things and uh, there was just a ton of glass everywhere.

TT: Okay.

PR: And I cleaned all that up and then she, she vacuumed a couple of times down there.

TT: To get all the glass.

PR: In the fall yeah cause it was just little, you know, pieces, big pieces, everything.

TT: Do you ever recall getting that window replaced?

PR: Yeah, uh, I can’t remember. I just can’t remember whether I got it replaced or not. 
Nopey nope nope. Can't remember, "just can't remember" whether it was replaced. Well then Patsy suppose it HAD been replaced, wouldn't that piece of information be saving you, John and the police an AWFUL lot of time here? Because in that case the whole nutty and embarrassing (and unbelievable) story about losing a key and climbing down the rabbit hole (er, excuse me, window well) would be beside the point, wouldn't it? And maybe you and John would have to answer other types of questions instead, such as: "did the two of you break that window yourselves to stage a phoney breakin?"

The Gospel According to Patsy -- 1998

There's more! Here's Patsy from her 1998 police interview:
PATSY RAMSEY: There were some shelves back in behind the train area. If you come down the steps and there is like a landing space here, and go through a door, there is the train room setup there, come back around there, back by the window that broke.
"The window that broke." NOT the window JOHN broke, just the window that broke. Maybe it broke itself?
TOM HANEY: What was your usual method though for coming in?

PATSY RAMSEY: Garage door opener, go in, and then the inside garage door was unlocked. I had never used the house key ever. 
 Patsy never used the house key. But John needed to crawl in the window because he forgot his key.
TRIP DEMUTH: What observations did you make about the window when you cleaned up the glass or about that whole area?

PATSY RAMSEY: Well, there was one of the panes was broken. I don't remember what it was, but I had asked -- that was another one of the odd jobs to have Linda Huffman (phonetic) and her husband do. He was going to do the odd jobs. I think I asked him to repair that, too, but I don't remember. I don't know whether they did that or not. 
Patsy THINKS she asked him to repair the window. She doesn't know whether or not it was repaired. Still. Around a year after the first interview when she was asked similar questions. Never bothered to find out for sure in all that time.
TRIP DEMUTH: Do you know why the window wasn't fixed?

PATSY RAMSEY: No, I don't. Was it not fixed?
"Was it not fixed?" Interesting question. I'll ask one back: "Did you not ASK? Did you not CARE?"



The Gospel According to DocG

It ought to be patently clear by now. John Ramsey's story about breaking into the basement window "one summer" or "last summer," one time or two or maybe even three times, having driven himself home in his own car or having been driven home in a cab, having forgotten his key or having given his key to his son, not remembering the neighbors had a key or not wanting to disturb them so late at night, or even by calling them ahead of time, kicking a hole in the window with his foot or not with his foot, with shirt on or possibly off, but in any case kicking it so accurately, despite not being able to see what he was doing, that he was able to bend down into that very very narrow space and reach through the baseball size hole with his arm to unlatch the window latch and let himself in, with his wife some time later cleaning up all the glass with the aid of her housekeeper, who denies knowing anything about it, and John and Patsy not being able to recall whether or not that window had ever been repaired, though John in fact DID know AT THE TIME that it hadn't been repaired, and it didn't surprise him, though later he wasn't sure if it had been repaired after all -- that story is most certainly a LIE.

A very big, blatant, lie, which should have been picked up instantly by Smit, Thomas, et al., but wasn't, because this has to have been the most ineptly investigated crime in history.

If the story about breaking the window previously is a lie, then when WAS it broken? The answer should be clear by now: it was broken the night of the murder, as part of an attempt to stage a phoney breakin to go along with the phoney kidnapping staged in the phoney ransom note. (He'd have opened the window, reached behind it with a flashlight or bat, and smashed it from the outside so the glass would fall inside.)

 That ought to be no surprise to anyone thinking rationally about the case, because it explains what otherwise would be a huge anomaly: WHY would debris be strewn over the floor AND a suitcase propped against the wall if in fact both the grate and the window sill/frame were totally undisturbed? Clearly no one went through that window. So the debris and the suitcase had to have been planted. (John would have scooped the debris from the window well, thus producing the disturbance noted by Smit.) And if they were planted then it stands to reason the person who planted them broke the window as well, to make his staging as convincing as possible. This would explain, by the way, how that shard of glass got onto the suitcase.

But why would John want to lie about having broken the window earlier? If he was staging a phoney breakin why UNstage the previous staging by claiming the window had been broken earlier? Again the answer should be clear. We can read it in the note. The call was to come "tomorrow." It was going to be up to him to collect the ransom and deal with the kidnappers. If the plan outlined so clearly in the note had been carried out "to the letter," instead of foiled by Patsy's 911 call, he'd have had an entire day and night home alone to stage everywhere to his heart's content. Obviously his window staging of the previous night was incomplete, probably because he ran out of time. Good enough to fool Patsy, if she started looking for an intruder's entry point -- but not yet good enough to fool the police. To complete it, he would have had to climb down into that well and crawl through that tight space, probably under cover of darkness the following night. But he never had the chance to do that.

Once Patsy called 911, his jig was very close to being up. Once the police discovered the basement window, with its broken pane, yet no evidence of actual forced entry, the staging would have been obvious and John and Patsy would probably have been arrested on the spot.

Which would explain why he 1. went down to the basement and closed the window, probably immediately after Patsy's call, while she was distracted calling her friends -- he'd also have cleaned up as much of the glass as he could find, stashing it most likely in a bag for disposal later when detective Arndt was distracted; 2. told no one for months about having seen the window open; 3. made up the story about breaking the window himself, months earlier. If he hadn't made up that story, the police would most certainly have suspected him of breaking the window THAT night as part of an attempt to stage a phoney breakin. John's window staging was hopelessly amateurish and could easily have resulted in his immediate arrest. His story about breaking it earlier undoubtedly saved him. Instead of saying, "Wow, this looks like obvious staging," they were scratching their heads and wondering: "If he staged the window breakin, why would he spoil his own staging by claiming he broke it last summer?" It's called "misdirection," a staple of illusionists for centuries.

So why would John later confess to having seen the window open? Why would he later admit to having closed it? Why would he finally mention the Samsonite suitcase after remaining silent on that topic for so long? Well, by that time Lou Smit was developing his intruder theory, insisting the intruder had entered via that window after all. There was only one problem. Fleet White had entered the room that morning and testified that it was shut. The only way to make Smit's theory fly was for John to testify that it wasn't shut, that he'd found it open, and then shut it himself. He must have entered that room prior to White, shutting the window and cleaning up the glass to unstage his previous staging. And then months later, after staging was no longer an issue, it would have been safe for him to admit to having seen it open after all.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Footnote: Here's what the housekeeper, Linda Hoffmann Pugh had to say about the basement window in an interview with the Star, June 20, 2000:
Another thing that made me think Patsy had staged the whole crime was the broken window in the basement. I used to clean their house three times a week. If something was broken, Patsy had me clean it up. On the morning of the murder, police found a broken window in the basement, just a few feet from the room where JonBenet's body was found. John Ramsey told the police that he had broken the window to get into the house months before when he was accidentally locked out. But I think that is a lie. If there had been broken glass in the basement, Patsy would have told me to clean it up. Another thing didn't make sense. John claimed he was locked out on that day when he supposedly broke the window. But he never used a key to come in the front or side door of the house. He always opened the garage door from his car with his remote and came in through the garage entrance. I think Patsy broke that window herself on the night she killed JonBenet to make the police think there had been an intruder, and John concocted the story about breaking the window.

41 comments:

  1. So why didn't PR hear the glass breaking?

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    1. Short answer: if she heard it, she too would have been murdered that night.

      Somewhat longer answer: It's a big house. It was in a remote part of the basement. John could have taken precautions to minimize the sound, e.g. by placing a blanket under the window. It's also possible to break a window by placing pressure on it rather than striking it.

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    2. Actually the quietest way of breaking it would be to place a blanket flat against the inner surface while putting pressure on it from the other side.

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    3. ...but it wouldn't have the same 'breaking glass' pattern:)...nope, this window is too much important to Ramseys for some reason. And you're probably very much correct: this window has some kind of association with the murder itself. I'm interested to know how many pieces of glass have been found IN ADDITION to the LARGE piece founded (conviniently!) by White.

      OpenMind

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  2. Dear DocG,

    Very-very good analysis which convinced me one more time that BOTH Ramseys were involved in staging. And how different these two personalities are: John, with his humble, short-sentence responses; Patsy, with her overboard details, non-stop 'story creation'...You see, IMO, with your analytical mind and writing talent - you'll be absolutely essential in helping to solve JBR murder IF YOU'LL STEP ASIDE from JDI (even if you 100% sure it's true!)...clean your mind completely...start fresh and approach this murder from another angle. Tell yourself: now, let's see how the pieces would fit if BOTH Ramseys (John and Petsy) are involved or place BR in the mix. I know it would be hard for you at the beginning. But you can do it!!!

    I'm following this case from day one. I did read probably every book and every article available; on my bookshelf you would find many books about JBR with yellow marks all over inside. I'm reading every blog available on JBR subject. Why? Because after almost 16 years I still cannot FIT ALL PIECES into one clear picture. Every 'scenario' has holes. JDI has as many holes as BDI and PDI. And every time, when I get frustrated - I mentally stepping aside and start analyzing again and again, taking different angle/approach based on the new and/or updated evidences. Did you ever got mad at Agatha Cristie? I did, many times!!!...because she is the master of 'hiding' the CRITICAL evidences up to the conclusion, and after - WOW, she reveals that he/she was the former husband/wife...or he/she knows each other 20 years ago and so on...This how I feel about this case. We still don't know the critical elements yet! They're NOT available to the public. Therefore, I do appreciate any new information, especially written by someone who has the privilege to know more than I do (like ST and now Mr. Kolar). And I'm flexible, I can readjust...why wouldn't you try to do the same? We ALL WILL BENEFIT from it. JMO....have a great day writing....:)

    OpenMind

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    1. Sorry, OpenMind, but I don't see any holes. I admit that Patsy's complicity in John's window story makes her look very suspicious. And if she were still alive, and the statute of limitations hadn't run out, then I'd think she'd be indictable as an accessory.

      But imo that would have been a tragic injustice, because I'm convinced Patsy was also a victim. It's not difficult to see why a perfectly innocent Patsy would have lied to support John's story. I'll be posting on that topic soon, so stay tuned.

      I'll add that it's an unfortunate myth that so many people see this case as deeply mysterious, with some pieces we'll never be able to put together. I totally disagree. I think it's a simple, straightforward case that could have been solved fairly quickly. A great deal hinges on our perception of Patsy, because many people have already made up their minds about her, and will find it very difficult to alter their view.

      The bottom line is that Patsy and John collaborating on the coverup simply makes no sense. Once we accept that, then the door opens and the sun shines through. (Just like the end of an Agatha Christie mystery, trust me.)

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  3. Hmmm, I'm going to have to strongly agree with OpenMind in that you have this great talent for breaking down the elements of what happened but seem stuck on JDI. Now you may very well be right but if JR can murder his daughter, surely he can stop Patsy from making the 911 call. It appears that he is next to her when she calls as she is talking to someone else when the operator answers the call. It was his show to run. I think the staging was as good as it was going to get and the 911 call had to be made before they left for the airport. With their plane leaving at 7am and with the airport being 30 minutes away, the very latest the 911 call could have been made was around 6am.

    As for the broken window, as bizarre as JRs story is I don't think he is that clever to misdirect. I do believe that if you get locked out and have to strip down to your underwear to get in, that is a great story you would tell your friends/co-workers. So I guess someone would have to ask if anyone can corroborate his story. Fleet, being such a close friend, should have known IMO.

    RW7

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  4. Well, RW7, the real problems begin when you start trying to add everything up. If you focus only on certain segments of the story, then all sorts of things might seem possible. So, yes, John and Patsy might have felt they needed to call 911 early in the AM because they were due soon at the airport. But in that case, they wouldn't have said anything about a ransom note, because with the call coming so early, with the body still in the house, then clearly there was no kidnapping and thus no need for a ransom note.

    As far as the timing is concerned, they could easily have canceled the flight, due to illness -- no big deal. I'm wondering why you feel so sure John could have prevented Patsy from calling 911. By HER account, which is the one I think most likely, she ran downstairs and, then, all out of breath, as we can hear, made the call. Could she have outrun John? We don't know, but that's what she seems to have done. We have no way of knowing what might have gone on between them that morning. But we DO know Patsy called 911 very early on. And it's not much of a logical leap to realize that once this call is made the note becomes a liability, since clearly there had been no kidnapping.

    You need to pull back to see the whole thing in perspective. Otherwise, you are just thinking bit by bit and when you try to add it all up, nothing will fit.

    As far as the window story is concerned, the ONLY ones who ever claimed the window had been broken earlier were John and Patsy. None of their friends ever mentioned John telling a story anything like that. There are so many reasons for concluding this was a lie, it's hard to see it as anything else. The bottom line is that their own housekeeper, who would certainly have known, said she knew nothing and in fact wound up accusing Patsy of breaking the window herself, the night of the crime.

    Again it's only when you pull back to see the whole picture does it all come clear.

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  5. The avg temp in Boulder in December is enough, by itself, to know that millionaires did not live with a broken window from summer through Christmas.

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    1. My thought exactly about the broken window that one wouldn't leave it as is, in a mansion, in the CO winter. And didn't JR say the kids play in the basement? There is an alleyway behind the house, and even if the window is not in clear view from the alleyway, the homeowner would be more cautious about security. Lastly, why have security alarm in the house and not bother to replace a broken window?

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  6. I agree about security but to me the cold is the bigger factor. The basement would be quite cold with the window broken for months.

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    1. Yes, and with insects getting in during the summer months. Also rain and snow blowing in.

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  7. I'm not clear on something. Did JR tell the police the morning of the 26th that he'd broken the window months earlier? Or did he first mention his own break in in the 4/97 interview?

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    1. He said he mentioned this to Fleet White early in the afternoon on the 26th, when they went down to search the house, so this was part of his story from the beginning. Whether he reported that right away to the police I'm not sure, but I have a feeling he did, since they already seemed aware of it when they questioned him.

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    2. I love your blog DocG, keep up the great work! :) I check it daily.
      I am fascinated by the Ramsey case, and I have read everything known to man on this case. YOUR theory seems the most plausible to me, by far.
      I do have some questions, and I was wondering if you could share your thoughts on them. Regarding a jonbenet documentary that aired in the bbc, via the help of Michael Tracey:
      1.) Do you think micheal helgoth seems like a probable suspect??? (When Wolf dog hairs, high tech boots, and a stun gun were ALL found in his house. (All these elements were proven to be at the Crime scene of JB)
      2.) helgoths suicide was very suspicious and police expect fowl play. He was Killed right after DA stated the list of suspects narrows. Do you think all these elements could be merely coincidental???
      3.) I tend to agree with your theory 99%.... But 1 % of me thinks there are too many factors pointing to helgoth and another suspect involved.
      Would love to hear your thoughts, thank you!!

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    3. Helgoth was only one of several "promising" suspects, every one of which looked almost too good to be true. All were investigated, and all were exonerated. As I understand it, Helgoth's boots were examined and did not match the print found in the basement. And an ex-con, a certain Gigax, was named by Tracey as Helgoth's partner in crime -- only Tracey claimed he was unable to locate this person. Well, an Internet forum sleuth managed to locate him in about 10 minutes, using Google. He cooperated with the police and it turns out he had an ironclad alibi.

      But that's not what really matters. The fact is that this was simply NOT the sort of crime where some anonymous intruder would waltz into the house, attack his victim and split. There were simply too many other aspects of the crime that could not be so easily explained, such as 1. a lengthy, carefully written note (all i's dotted, all "t"s crossed, left margin carefully adhered to, consistent spacing between words, almost perfect spelling and grammar, etc.), WRITTEN ON A PAD FROM THE HOUSE; 2. the body of the victim hidden away in the most remote room in the house (why?); 3. the body redressed in panties much too large, panties that could only have been retrieved from drawer in an upstairs bedroom; 4. the "kidnap" victim not kidnapped; 5. a broken window under which packing peanuts from the window well were strewn, yet which no one could have passed through.

      I don't care whom you suspect, NO intruder would have had reason to do any of the above, let alone all of the above. Sure someone like Helgoth might look good on paper, at first, but when you take ALL the evidence into account, NO intruder fits.

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  8. It's also interesting to note that, as per Kolar, of all the people who searched for JB that morning, Fleet White was the only one who called out her name. The fact that JR says he looked for her that morning, but never called her name is telling, IMO.

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  9. Good point, Piper! I never heard that before about the name calling.
    Also, this was a very interesting and thorough thread about the broken window. What a lot of prevaricating. I do think John planted a false memory in Patsy through gaslighting, which helps to explain Patsy's vagueness about the details.

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  10. I know this is a LONG time after this was written, but something just occurred to me: WAS THERE NOT A KEYPAD FOR THE GARAGE DOOR??? When we are locked out of our house, we use the KEYPAD mounted on the garage door frame!

    Now, we lived in Boulder for a time but I can't remember if any of those fancy houses had keypads/were allowed to have keypads. But I think they must've.

    I know someone who used to work at Access Graphics and they swear up and down JR is innocent. It's so hard to reconcile because I trust this person's judgment, but I think they are wrong in this case. I lean toward BR until the garrote. Then I can't see anyone but JR being the culprit. And this broken window story, even WITHOUT the keypad addition, is just too silly.

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    1. That's a very interesting thought. I don't have an automatic garage door so never thought about a keypad. I wonder if anyone who knew the Ramseys might be reading here and might know whether their garage door had a keypad.

      And of course there are many people who are convinced of JR's innocence -- and for good reasons. He was "ruled out" by those forensic document "experts" -- and later "exonerated" by DA Mary Lacy.

      Of course they were all mistaken, but for those who haven't been following the case all that carefully the intruder theory makes sense.

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    2. What about Det. Thomas claim that PR answered the the door to Det French wearing the same clothes from the previous night?

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    3. If she'd been up all night murdering her daughter, penetrating her vagina and strangling her in the filthiest part of the basement, her clothes would have been a royal mess and she'd certainly have showered and changed.

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  11. I still can't understand why you would break a window and clean up the glass, isn't leaving the glass there more believable?? I always thought JR made up his break in story in case they found his finger prints on or near the window.

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    1. Breaking the window and leaving the glass on the floor was part of John's initial plan. However, that plan was destroyed when Patsy called 911. Since he was unable to complete his window staging, John was forced to change his plan and claim he had broken in earlier that year. Which is why it was necessary for him to clean up that glass. For details you need to read more carefully in this blog.

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    2. I agree that breaking the window and leaving the glass on the floor was probably part of JR's initial plan. However, I think there may have been another reason for then cleaning it up. Obviously, JR was an intelligent man (as many seem to point out in claiming he would never have been so dumb), but it stands to reason that JR would have been working fast that night to cover his butt and, under the stress of having just killed his daughter and the fear of being caught, would not be thinking as clearly as usual. I believe he had finished his staging of the window, until early that morning after others had arrived. If I remember correctly, I read that someone (I believe one of this friends) made the observation that there were no tracks in the snow (correct me if I'm wrong). If someone had told John that, he should have instantly realized that his window staging could become a huge problem. Now he has no choice but to UNstage the window breaking. After all, had they found a freshly broken window - as an obvious point of entry - but no tracks outside to or from the window, they would have immediately realized the scene was staged. There are arguments about whether or not there was enough snow to leave tracks, but it doesn't matter at that moment. All that would matter was that someone may have mentioned this to JR and had he believed that to be true, he would have realized that this was a detail he forgot. He would have to then clean up the mess and claim he had broken the window earlier.

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    3. Yes, that's very similar to my take as well. It was a policeman who very early noticed no footprints anywhere. There was not only snow but also a layer of frost that pervaded the entire lawn. So if someone had entered via that window well, the signs of disturbance would have been clear. Also, an intact spider web was noticed, connecting the grate to the lawn. The police who noticed these details may well have mentioned something and been overheard by John.

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    4. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I couldn't remember exactly who talked about the lack of footprints, but then I've read so much in such a short time that sometimes it gets a little confusing. Also, I found the suggestion (by Lou Smit maybe?) that the suitcase was placed in front of the window as a way to climb out pretty ridiculous. Instead of positioning an unsteady suitcase in front of the window and attempting to climb up and out, I would suggest one simply walk out a door. Just my two cents.

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  12. I also think if JR was ever really locked out of the house, it was because Patsy locked him out during a fight that they didn't want to admit. I wonder why they didn't finish passing out gifts on their drive home, sometimes I wonder if JB ever made it home alive at all that night. It was "getting late" they say but it seems to me they took a detour from their plans for other reasons. They claim she was sound asleep and JR read to her. He sat up and read to a sleeping child?? PR claims she said prayers with her. Again, with a sleeping child?? They lied about so many things. Why?? 1. She was asleep 2.She had no pineapple that was on the table 3. The window and the list goes on..

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    1. John never claimed he read to JonBenet. He said he did some reading of his own before going to sleep. And I don't recall any statement by Patsy alleging that she said prayers with JonBenet. According to her testimony, JBR was "zonked."

      If you read more in this blog (and other writings on this case) you'll learn more about the details that bother you.

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  13. Yes, at one point, John DID say he had read to JB.

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  14. Was Burke ever questioned about whether that window was broken, and when? Didn't he and sometimes his friends play down there a lot? Surely he would have noticed, especially once the temperature dropped after the end of summer.

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  15. Another thought: Did investigators ask JR via which door he exited when he *departed* for his business trip? If he didn't take his car, he didn't exit via the garage. Did he leave out the front door, side door, what?

    If he were truly locked out upon his return -- and I think any reasonable being would check all doors and windows first, before going so far as to BREAK a window to get in -- then upon his departure he would have had to deliberately lock the door by hand and pull it closed behind him on his way out.

    How could he not notice and/or remember such an unusual, non-habitual action -- since he went in and out via garage "98%" of the time? Even if he realized it a few seconds too late (as one does when locking keys in the car by accident), he could have then contacted neighbors to leave a key for him upon his return.

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    1. Sorry, Violet, but I missed your comment when it was first posted. And yes, you make an excellent point. Actually, since this house was a mansion of sorts, the locks were probably not of the kind that lock automatically when you close the door, since that sort of lock is not very secure. I'd imagine they'd have needed to lock the door behind them every time they went out -- which makes it unlikely John could have left without his key. I wonder if it's still possible to check on the type of locks they had.

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  16. I only discovered your blog 3 days ago & find it fascinating reading. I apologise if this has been discussed, but one of the many things that really puzzles me is what happened to the "evidence". The undies JB was wearing when going to bed, the pieces of glass from the broken window, the missing pages from the notepad? Was any of that ever found, and if not, how did the perp manage to get rid of it?

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  17. No intruder fits, exactly, but a guest in the house fits.

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  18. http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/grate-covers-a-basement-window-at-the-home-of-john-and-patsy-ramsey-picture-id805877

    This is a picture of the exterior basement window w/grate.

    If someone removed the grate and jumped down the well,would they be able to move the grate back in place while sandwiched in that area?

    Was the metal grate in place when the police arrived?

    Is this believed to be the major part of staging that JR didn't have time to finish (i.e., moving the grate so it was not in place or askew when the police arrived)?
    Kat

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    1. The grate was in place when the police arrived, yes. And yes, I believe John would have displaced that grate on the following day (or night) if all had gone according to plan.

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  19. There is a problem with your theory. When I viewed the crime scene video there appeared to be cobwebs on the broken window which appears to support the claim that the window was broken months prior.

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    1. If you continue to read you'll see that I do take that into account. In brief: spiders don't weave broken cobwebs. What you see in the video is not an intact web, but remnants of a web that was probably sitting on that window when it was broken. There is nothing about those remnants that can tell us when it was broken. Those fragments might well have been produced on the night of the murder.

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    2. I like your thinking about the web not being intact. If the web was intact, the theory is a grown adult could not climb out the window without disturbing the web. Assuming, the web is intact, could a child ingress or egress from the window without disturbing the web? Could Jonbenet herself have exited the window using the suitcase below?

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