The Ransom Note: Original Plan Abandoned

1.  John would have gotten “a large attaché’”. He would have put JB body inside of it and loaded it in his car. 

2.  He would then have taken the body somewhere to dispose of it.

3.  John then drives to his bank and withdraws $118,000 and returns home, never alerting authorities or the bank because he was following notes directions.

4.  Upon returning home he puts the money in a brown paper bag just like the note said and waits for their call.

5.  After 10:00am and no call coming, armed with a ransom note, a bag of money and no JB in sight, they call the cops and report a kidnapping. 

1.  By the time they wrote the note and finished staging rigor mortis had already set in and the suitcase was not large enough. John, especially seeing how he carried her up the stairs, likely did not want to have to break her arms or legs to make her fit. (Macabre I know)

2.  The closer they got to it the more they realized how risky it would be and introducing outside factors would increase the chances of getting caught. What is John was spotted on security camera being somewhere? What if for some reason the $118,000 did draw suspicion? What to do with the suitcase after? Will they have time? This plan would have required months of staging and then having to fake looking for her and talking with police. Anything like that could have spooked them.

3.  Thinking back to the note and how it was emphasized they wouldn’t receive her “remains for a proper burial.” That was obviously a big point of emphasis for the author and when it came down to it Patsy couldn’t live with dumping her little girls body somewhere and never getting to bury her.

“Why take all that time to write a long 2 and a half page note that went into so much detail?”

“The suitcase shouldn’t have been in that room by the window so what was it doing there?”

“Why did the kidnappers only ask for $118,000?”

“If the kidnappers said to bring a large attaché with him, why did they want him to then put it in a paper bag?”

“If the note said not to contact authorities or they would kill her why did they call them and all their friends over?”

“Why did Patsy call the cops and say we have a kidnapping if she knew they were going to find out she was never kidnapped?”

Analyzing the note under a different lens reveals the answers to many questions I see asked here daily. This breakdown also reveals the true purpose of the meticulously detailed 2 and a half page note and why so much time and thought was put into it. Whether you’re BDI, PDI, JDI doesn’t matter, the conclusion still fits all theories as long as you believe there was a staging and coverup involved.

I won’t entertain any IDI theorists rebuttals .

—————————————————-

I am not going to get in to who, what or why JB was killed but we are going to be working with the premise that both John and Patsy were involved in the staging and coverup with Patsy being the actual author of the note.

First, the note in it’s entirety: ( * indicate points of significance that I will expound on later)

“Mr. Ramsey,

Listen Carefully! We are a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction*. We (“do” is crossed out) respect your bussines, but not the country that it serves. At this time, we have your daughter in our possession. She is safe and unharmed and if you want her to see 1997, you must follow our instructions to the letter.

You will withdraw $118,000* from your account. $100,000 will be in $100 bills and the remaining $18,000 in $20 bills. Make sure that you bring an adequate size attaché* to the bank. When you get home you will put the money in a brown paper bag. I will call you between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery. The delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested. If we monitor you getting the money early we might call you early to arrange an earlier delivery of the money and hence an earlier (“delivery” crossed out) pickup of your daughter.

Any deviation of my instructions will result in the immediate execution of your daughter. You will also be denied her remains for a proper burial*. The two gentlemen watching over your daughter do not particularly like you so I advise you not to provoke them.

Speaking to anyone about your situation, such as Police, F.B.I., etc., will result in your daughter being beheaded.* If we catch you talking to a stray dog, she dies. If you alert bank authorities, she dies. If the money is in way marked or tampered with, she dies. You will be scanned for electronic devices and if any are found, she dies. You can try to deceive us, but be warned we are familiar with law enforcement countermeasures and tactics. You stand a 99% chance of killing your daughter if you try to outsmart us. Follow our instructions and you stand a 100% chance of getting her back. You and your family are under constant scrutiny, as well as the authorities. Don't try to grow a brain John*. You are not the only fat cat around so don't think that killing will be difficult. Don't underestimate us, John. Use that good, Southern common sense of yours. It's up to you now John!

Victory! S.B.T.C”

The length and detail of the note really stands out. One could have conveyed the exact same message in many less words. Example:

“Mr. Ramsey,

We have your daughter. She is unharmed and if you follow our instructions you will get her back. You will go to your bank as soon as they open and withdraw $118,000 in unmarked bills. You will return home and wait for us to call you between 8-10am where we will instruct you on the delivery and exchange. We are monitoring you and your house and if you your wife notify police or alert Bank authorities we will kill your daughter. Don’t fuck with us John.

Victory! SBTC”

So the question is: What was their reasoning for going into so much unnecessary detail when all they needed to show was a note saying she was kidnapped? Even the summarized version of their note gives too much detail considering the reality of where she was. The details seem unnecessary now since we know how things played out but in the moment they were writing it every little detail had purpose.

What seems unnecessary to your or I , the authors found it very necessary for:

•John to bring an “adequate sized attaché to the bank but then exchange using a brown paper bag. The jump from large attaché to a paper bag is quite interesting. Why not just bring the paper bag to the bank? Why get rid of the attaché?

•$100,000 in 100’s, $18,000 in 20’s (just so happened to be close to John’s bonus and a low enough amount that withdrawing it would not raise amy suspicions)

•The kidnapper will call between 8am-10am “tomorrow” indicates either 1. The note was originally written prior to midnight the night before. or 2. The “call”would not be coming until the following day, giving them 24 hours to conduct their plan (this is backed up by the note telling John to make sure he was well rested). I believe #2 was the original plan before being aborted. The “kidnapper” also said they might call earlier if they see that John had gotten the money earlier giving themselves options if times were off.

•”Any deviation of my instructions will result in the immediate execution of your daughter. You will also be denied her remains for proper burial.” I wouldn’t think a kidnapper who is willing to execute a child had any thought of giving the parents her body. But this part of note is very telling because it was a point of emphasis weighing on the authors mind. Never getting her body back.

•The author then uses an entire paragraph to reiterate over and over again the consequences of alerting police, FBI, bank authorities and even a stray dog. All these actions would result in her death.

—————————————————————

Had they followed their original plan:

1.  John would have gotten “a large attaché’”. He would have put JB body inside of it and loaded it in his car. 

(The “Attaché” they had in mind was the suitcase in the basement conveniently next to where JB body was. Refer to picture attachment)

2.  He would then have taken the body somewhere to dispose of it.

3.  John then drives to his bank and withdraws $118,000 and returns home, never alerting authorities or the bank because he was following notes directions.

4.  Upon returning home he puts the money in a brown paper bag just like the note said and waits for their call.

5.  After 10:00am and no call coming, armed with a ransom note, a bag of money and no JB in sight, they call the cops and report a kidnapping. 

Cops: “why didn’t you call us sooner?” J&P: “They said they will kill her if we did” Cops: “Why didn’t you alert bank authorities?” J&P: “They said they will kill her if we did” Witness: “I saw John leaving early this morning with a large suitcase” J&P: “The note said to bring one”

Ramsey Lawyers:

“The Ramsey’s are heartbroken over their kidnapped and missing daughter JonBenet. They did everything the kidnappers asked and still were unable to get her back. The Ramsey’s are working diligently with Boulder Police in finding their daughter unharmed and if anyone in the public knows anything please come forward.”

“Missing Boulder child, JonBonet Ramsey found dead. She was strangled and sexually assaulted. No suspects at this time but police believe it could be someone with knowledge of and a vendetta against John Ramsey and Access Graphics.”

————————————————————-

For reasons we don’t know they decided to abandon the original plan of removing the body from the house. If I had to speculate there are several reasons I believe they chose to do otherwise:

1.  By the time they wrote the note and finished staging rigor mortis had already set in and the suitcase was not large enough. John, especially seeing how he carried her up the stairs, likely did not want to have to break her arms or legs to make her fit. (Macabre I know)

2.  The closer they got to it the more they realized how risky it would be and introducing outside factors would increase the chances of getting caught. What is John was spotted on security camera being somewhere? What if for some reason the $118,000 did draw suspicion? What to do with the suitcase after? Will they have time? This plan would have required months of staging and then having to fake looking for her and talking with police. Anything like that could have spooked them.

3.  Thinking back to the note and how it was emphasized they wouldn’t receive her “remains for a proper burial.” That was obviously a big point of emphasis for the author and when it came down to it Patsy couldn’t live with dumping her little girls body somewhere and never getting to bury her.

I think time was running out, Burke was about to wake up and they were both frantic. They decided that, look we wrote a note so it makes it look like a sicko killer. Let’s just call the cops and get this over with and hang on for dear life. Get lawyers on stand by and I’ll call our friends over. They were hoping the cops or their friends found the body first. When detective Ardnt told them to search the house John figured that was the perfect time to discover it since it was only 1 cops and all their friends.

Then it was damage control.

Thanks for reading.