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John Ramsey's Lingering Suspicions
John Ramsey, who was recently exonerated in the murder of his 6-year-old daughter, JonBenet, by a new, more sensitive type of DNA testing, hopes this technological advance can eventually ease his mind as well as clear his name.
After the child beauty queen was found strangled in the basement of her Boulder, Colorado home in 1996, Ramsey watched the grief, and the stress of being falsely accused, slowly kill his wife, Patsy, who died of cancer in 2006. A grand jury that sat for 13 months refused to indict the Ramseys, yet the Boulder District Attorney announced they were “still under an umbrella of suspicion,” and they spent the next decade shunned by friends and hounded by the press.
Then, in July, a new Boulder DA, citing fresh DNA samples, officially cleared the Ramseys and apologized, in a letter, for the “ongoing, living hell” of their ordeal. In his first in-depth interview since receiving that letter, John Ramsey describes those painful years to The Daily Beast.
After the murder, Ramsey, who had built a billion-dollar computer company up from nothing, fell precipitously from the peak of wealth and prominence, losing not only his daughter, but also his career and his home. "The fact I'm no longer under suspicion will never bring back my life,” he says. “Once your reputation is tarnished, it stays tarnished."
But Ramsey hopes that the new "touch" DNA evidence can eventually release him from the mental torment of not knowing who murdered his child, and from a haunting suspicion that it was someone in the family’s inner circle. He and a few allies from Boulder suspect one particular friend who was familiar with the Ramseys’ home and details of their life. However, District Attorney Mary Lacy, who took over the case in 2005, says that this individual "has been thoroughly vetted and cleared through the new DNA."
The discovery of DNA from an "unidentified male" in three places on JonBenet's long johns allowed investigators to rule out the possibility that a single sample of this DNA found earlier belonged to a worker at a clothing factory (this was the original police theory). They also concluded that this stranger—not any of the people in the Ramseys’ circle, who were previously tested—was the murderer.
Yet Ramsey’s suspicions persist. Asked directly if he thinks this acquaintance killed JonBenet, Ramsey says, "Oh, I don't think so, But then he proceeds to poke holes in the man’s alibi and describe how the Boulder police botched the investigation from the beginning. Moreover, Pam and Michael Archuleta, who remained close to the Ramseys and are also speaking publicly for the first time, tick off circumstantial evidence that they believe points to this man. Asked about the new samples of “stranger” DNA, Michael, who was the pilot of John Ramsey’s King Air jet, adds, “perhaps this person's DNA was not found because he hired someone to do it for him."
As both a public service and a personal crusade, Ramsey now spends much of his time promoting state laws that mandate the lifting of a DNA sample from anyone accused of a felony, which would substantially expand the national DNA registry. (His website is DNAFINGERPRINTLAW.COM.)
At age 64, Ramsey still has the gloss of wealth about him. He greets me in a wine-colored cashmere sweater and yellow-checked shirt, his wavy hair the color of cornstalks in winter; he is smooth and genial, even debonair.
Ramsey now lives in remote Charlevoix, Michigan, cloistered in a modest mustard-colored house in the shadow of the mansion where he once spent summers. Driving by that grand Victorian house, he proudly shows me how he stripped off the original façade to put in a huge picture window so that his wife could sit in the parlor and gaze down at Lake Michigan. Now he is slowly repainting his small dwelling to prepare it for sale. Passing an old station wagon pulling a motor home, he says ruefully, "That's where I'll be living soon." It is not entirely a joke.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Lucinda Franks is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author who was on the staff of the New York Times and has written for the New Yorker and the New York Times Book Review and Magazine. Her latest book is My Father's Secret War, about her father, who was a spy for the OSS during World War II.
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Lucinda Franks is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author who was on the staff of the New York Times and has written for the New Yorker and the New York Times Book Review and Magazine. Her latest book is My Father's Secret War, about her father, who was a spy for the OSS during World War II.
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Allan Dodds Frank is a business investigative correspondent who specializes in white collar crime. He also is President of the Overseas Press Club of America, one of the many journalism organizations that protests the arrests of journalists abroad and repression of freedom of speech.
Lucinda Franks is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author who was on the staff of the New York Times and has written for the New Yorker and the New York Times Book Review and Magazine. Her latest book is My Father's Secret War, about her father, who was a spy for the OSS during World War II.
Heartbreak and lives lost due to the ghosts of evil still lurking in this world.
The media, the police, and undue judgement has not only murdered jonbenet, but her father and mother.
It's so sad. It makes my heart cry and want to reach out for John Ramsey.
What true vindication will he ever have?
Great story! John Ramsey is so different than he's been depicted over these long years. I'm so glad he chose to speak and share some of his pain. He is an example of dignity...showing class and grace while so broken hearted and traumatized from the loss of two children and a his beloved wife.
To investigate what happened to JonBenet you need to look at her aunt removing dolls from the crime scene. How ridiculous is at that anything was allowed to be removed. It's absurd the DA has never looked into the matter. The DA investiagated a pair of frozen underpants sent in by somebody living in a trailer yet this clue from a doll expert remains uninvestigated.
Fiber evidence doesn't lie. People do, and lawyers do.
The Daily Beast sends a reporter from New York to Michigan and Colorado, and this is all you get? What a sham.
Clearly your reporter does not know the facts of this case or its evidence, or else she wouldn't have swallowed the pap John Ramsey and his pal shoveled her way. And, by the way, this is hardly the first time the Archuletas have spoken; there's plenty of video of them protecting their friends in self-serving documentaries the Ramseys participated in.
If this is the sloppy way The Daily Beast will cover high-profile crime stories, I'll stop reading right now. You need coverage by professionals who know the territory and know when they're being lied to and why. You need reporters to ask the right questions and know the difference when they are given inadequate or absurd answers. The victims, including young JonBenet Ramsey, deserve better treatment that you have given here.
As for Lucinda Franks, why not go to California and interview Charlie Manson? He'll tell you he's falsely imprisoned. You can sell your big exclusive to some other uncritical editor!
The statement is made in this article that "As both a public service and a personal crusade, Ramsey now spends much of his time promoting state laws that mandate the lifting of a DNA sample from anyone accused of a felony, which would substantially expand the national DNA registry. (His website is DNAFINGERPRINTLAW.COM.)"
In fact, the site mentioned is registered to John and Bobbie Rathsgen, not John Ramsey. In addition, it directs people to a unspecified address for a non-existent company in Washington, DC, in the name of a foundation which does not exist. In most contexts, this information would be indicative of a scam of some sort.
This article states, "Since the murder, Ramsey has sold three big homes, in Atlanta, Boulder, and Charlevoix. He has shed his plane, his boats and his cars, stopped golfing, stopped sailing."
In fact, John Ramsey still owns his plane. He did sell one, but the author neglects to note that John then subsequently purchased a replacement plane, which he continues to fly even as recently as yesterday, October 13th. So he apparently is not as financially bad off as the author tries to convey.
The article states, "A famous restaurant owner went to jail for wielding a pipe at a reporter." In fact, the man involved wielded a baseball bat, but he was actually arrested for unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon when it was found that he had a loaded gun in his car nearby.
I have to whole heartedly agree with ellbee and jahazafat. This story reeks of an amateur salesman trying desperately to sell John Ramsey to the public at large and not a prize winning author who should check the facts BEFORE printing a story.
As of October 14, TODAY, John Ramsey continues to OWN AND FLY his own private plane.
The website that the author attributes to John Ramsey as his personal crusade for justice, dnafingerprintlaw.com has nothing at all to do with John Ramsey. It is owned and registered to people who are NOT Ramsey and have nothing to do with Ramsey. In fact, it is NOT his project at all and is a glorified search engine for OTHER websites dealing with this issue. So, like his campaign and other promises, John Ramsey speaks of his crusades, but actually has none. Why didn't the author ask about the foundations and charities that he and his wife set up, only to be outed as projects never started and funds that went to nobody other than the Ramseys themselves. Now THAT would have been an appropriate question.
Those who have never followed this case will swallow this up hook, line and sinker; Ramsey as a victim of the cruel world
How about getting a job John instead of complaining that you haven't worked in 12 years. With all your history, surely you could have opened your own business to make a living; still can. You were able to fund your campaign in Michigan when you ran for office, but can't afford to find a way to make a living without selling your plane, which you didn't have to do, either it seems
How about you stop pointing the finger at those you know damn well had nothing to do with this crime and start looking inward instead. It is there you will find the criminal/s you are looking for.
As for this author, her remarks leave me with the impression that she is courting him (although I understand she is married)
What's with the "hair the color of cornstalks in winter" remarks? Get a room! This is as biased an article as it gets, which by itself is acceptable, EXCEPT when the subject is a murdered six year old child who has never received justice and with Mary Lacy exonerating the prime suspects without legal nor scientific cause is just disgraceful!
Shame on you
But don't take my word for it anyone; check all the facts yourselves.
The article states, "After Geraldo Rivera broadcast a mock trial of the Ramseys, Patsy went to bed for two days. They took all of the TV sets out of the house and cancelled the newspapers."
In fact, the statement about the "TV sets" is not necessarily true, as video of John and Patsy (shot for the first Michael Tracey documentary) taken in the same house claimed as having had its TV sets removed shows them relaxing calmly in their living room, watching their TV set. This footage was filmed just shortly after the "mock trial."
The article states, " 'A Japanese camera crew even broke into Burke's school,' John says."
In fact, the camera crew did not break into the school. They were caught filming on the playground outside of the school, which is an act of trespass but far from "breaking in."
Oh brother. What a mess this article is. You didn't think you could fool us with a Ramsey press release, did you? Lucinda Franks is married to a prosecutor too, the top dog in Manhattan. You'd think she'd know something about crime, but nope. She didn't display one ounce of research or critical thinking here. She should know that John's "wheat colored" locks are as phony as the story he told her.
Come on, Daily Beast. Leave the crime stories alone if you don't know what you're doing. You wouldn't give science stories to a cartoonist, would you? We crime fans are a huge audience, don't insult us with garbage.
Why did the Ramsey's obtain services of separate lawyers immediately post murder? What explains the handwriting in the ransom note that was virtually identical to Patsy Ramsey's? Why invite friends over to your home that was assumed at the time to be a virgin crime scene of their daughter's kidnapping? Answer these hard questions first, Mr. Ramsey, before boring us with bemoaning the loss of multiple houses and rich man's play things.
This would be a good time for Ms. Franks to sit down with her husband, actually review this case with a prosecutor who would only be ashamed of his counterparts in Boulder.
I would ask that you do your homework Ms. Franks and read up on this case, consult your husband, and then come back and write an article about this case if you dare and if you aren't afraid of Lin Wood's threats.
I think those who follow crime and follow this case particularly would have a great deal more respect for you if you checked your facts first and then wrote a proper story based on the realities, not John Ramsey's fantasies about himself
I have alway believed that John and Patsy are innocent. Police were totally inept. Somebody killed their beautiful little girl and it is a sin that this case has never been solved.
How could unidentified DNA eliminate the Ramseys (or anyone) as suspects?
Why would JR not be able to bear hearing a child cry?
Why does he keep lying all the time?
Stay out of Vegas John
I only read the piece because Lucinda Franks wrote it. I had no interest in J Ramsey, but now I feel that Franks is on to one of the great American tragedies of the last century. As far as I can see, there's no proof, no motive, and nothing to gain for Ramsey. You can believe what you want, but what Franks does superbly is to present the man as he is now, after an endless investigation that has set him wandering from place to place, left him friendless, jobless, and nearly destroyed.
People are so judgmental until the tragedy becomes theirs. Then they want the sympathy and understanding of the world. Until then then are cruel and heartless. John Ramsey has been through his hell here on earth and I pray for him. Those that think otherwise I'm sure don't have true facts or knowledge on which to base their opinion. People gather their prejudices along with their ignorance. Dasl929
To all the New Yorkers who don't know anything about the Ramsey case. Here it is, in a nutshell, the special treatment afforded ONLY to the Ramseys by the Boulder DA's office, from a police detective who resigned over the DA's office being "hopelessly compromised", and sold out to the Ramseys:
crimeADM: How different would this case have been handled if this had been a normal, middle-class family?
stevethomas: imho, drastically and completely different. the Ramseys were afforded opportunities, concessions, and privileges that i had never seen any other suspect afforded in any criminal investigation, ever. we could go on for hours on this topic alone.
http://jfjbr.tripod.com/truth/stchat.html
One of the new DA's top advisors just happens to be a former prosecutor under Robert Morganthau. The kid gloves treatment and one sided piece by Morganthau's wife stinks. It is offensive to everyone who knows ALL the facts about the Ramsey case, and John Ramsey, that she deliberately avoids.
For all of you know-it-alls out there, did you know that there was an exact duplicate crime of this nature in the Boulder area approximately one year after the Ramsey case. A person broke into and hid in a house and when the mother and 12 year old daughter returned home (the father was out of town) and went to bed, the stranger crept into the daughter's room and tried to quiet her and carry her out of the room and down the stairs. The girl did not stay quiet but she let out a tremendous scream that brought her mother running. The creep then ran down the hall and actually crashed through a second story window out of the house and escaped. I suppose that was Burke or John Ramsey too? Who cares about his plane and/or boat.. the real truth is that this family had a terrible crime happen to them and then was crucufued by an inept government entity (is that redundant?)
Mr. Ramsey,
I am so sorry for the hell that you and your family has gone through. It is indeed a haunting life story. I find it hard to believe that your daughter's killer will not be found out eventually...forensics should find the answer. Have you ever considered contacting Dr Henry Lee the forensic expert? He's quite amazing forensically.
May you find some peace in your life for the rest of your life. My heartfelt condolences.
Quote: Have you ever considered contacting Dr Henry Lee the forensic expert? He's quite amazing forensically.
Yes indeed. He worked on the case, and he's in the Ramsey did it camp. Keep dreaming. World class experts are on our side, Dr. Henry Lee, Dr. Cyril Wecht, Dr. Werner Spitz.
That other case referred to by this poster: UbetterUbett
Sorry, this press conference by Pete Peterson makes it VERY clear who that "intruder" was:
RPTR: Who was that person? Can you name him, the psychiatrist?
Peterson: Dr. Steve Dubovsky of Boulder.
RPTR: How do you spell that?
Peterson: D-u-b-o-v-s-k-y, probably...s-k-i, possibly.
RPTR: You'd think he'd know.
Peterson: (OFF MICROPHONE) ...home, yes. He was out of town. The wife was there and the wife kept on bringing the guy into the house. He went out, went off the balcony. There were a lotta similarities there. This was about three months after the Ramsey murder.
http://thewebsafe.tripod.com/09241999petersonconference.htm
As I noted previously, the Ramseys, and ONLY the Ramseys, have been receiving preferential treatment by the Boulder DA's office since the beginning of this case, culminating in ONLY THEM receiving a cleared letter from the Boulder DA, in spite of over 160 suspects in this case. Fleet and Priscilla White had to complain to the Governor of Colorado to get the same type of letter, with no "terribly sorry" or any of that, just grudging acknowledgment. And it was John Ramsey and the people around him who gave the Whites names to the police without one shred of evidence.
One of the many ex-collegues and ex-friends of Ramsey's, thrown under the bus by John Ramsey, who also, didn't receive any "cleared" letter:
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_4893483
Named in Ramseys' book
Some suspects were publicly named by the Ramsey family or legal experts they hired. One was Jeff Merrick, who was described as a suspect in a book by John and Patsy Ramsey.
"I was flabbergasted I had been named. I was fingered for a horrendous crime," said Merrick, a former employee of John Ramsey's at Access Graphics. "It had a tremendous impact on my life."
Merrick said John Ramsey three times asked authorities to investigate him, apparently on a theory that Merrick was a disgruntled former employee seeking revenge.
But Merrick said that he was laid off by Access Graphics, which has since changed its name, only because he was a whistle-blower and he received a settlement from Ramsey's company. By the time of JonBenét's murder, he had a higher-paying job at another company, he said.
"There was no reason at all that I would be motivated to kill his daughter," Merrick said. "I was a very, very unlikely suspect. Maybe (John Ramsey) wanted to take revenge."
With all the press hounding them and just loosing their child, I always felt sorry for the family. I kept wanting to believe they did not do it but the press was so relentless.I finally bought the book they wrote. Yes, it was self serving. Yes, it was to help defray the costs of the attorneys.
In the final analysis, I don't have privy to all the information. I don't know all the forensic issues. I don't know every detail. For me, the bottom line IS that people like this do not suddenly become murders.
I don't mean their wealth, I mean their lives, as caring parents, principled people and just plain mom and dad and children. Not only do they not suddenly become murderers, they cannot just turn around the next day and still be caring parents, principled people and just plain mom and dad and son.
No one has had to tell me they were innocent, I knew so in my heart.
I hope Burke can make his way in life without too much pain. He is the one who needs your prayers.
Pat
Thanks so much for this insightful report. It was a public service to give John Ramsey a chance to reclaim his good name and generous of a writer of Franks' caliber to do it.
It takes my breath away to imagine how much this man has lost, his child, his wife, his livelihood and his reputation. It is all of it tragic and the last is unspeakably so because they got it wrong. The improved DNA testing can give John Ramsey his name back, but so late it can't entirely repair the enormous harm. Kudos to The Beast.
The Boulder DA did the right thing by sending an apology to the Ramseys while publicly clearing them. As for the other prominent folks in Boulder who didn't get the same special apology letters they should take solace in the fact that they are not a household name in America synonymous with child killer, like the Ramseys are.As for who killed JonBenet, I doubt we'll ever find out. The Boulder police department screwed this case up royally and they threw the Ramseys under the bus to cover up their mess. And the media and the general public were more than happy to have the parents be the killers, because otherwise it means that no matter how rich you are, someone can come into your home in the middle of the night and murder your child while you sleep. On Christmas night, no less. The Boulder police's refusal to admit that this was the case is why whoever did it got away with it.Heck, the Boulder police searched the house from top to bottom but never found JonBenet. It was her own dad seven hours later doing his own search with the police still in the house that found her. Stop criticizing the Ramseys and look at the Boulder cops for an explanation as to why we don't know who the killer is.
Thank you.
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