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JonBenét Patricia Ramsey (August 6, 1990 - December 25 or 26, 1996) was an American beauty pageant queen who was murdered in her affluent family's Boulder, Colorado home at the age of six. The crime, which remains unsolved, attracted intense nationwide media interest. The tantalizing clues of the case have inspired numerous books and articles that attempt to solve the mystery.
JonBenét was born at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. The unique name is an amalgam of her father's first and middle names, John Bennett. The family moved to Colorado when she was one year old.
JonBenét held a number of titles, including (in no specific order): Little Miss Charlevoix Michigan, Colorado State All-Star Kids Cover Girl, America's Royal Miss, National Tiny Miss Beauty, Little Miss Merry Christmas, and Little Miss Colorado.
JonBenét's grave lies in Saint James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia, next to the grave of Elizabeth Ramsey (d. 1992), a child from John's first marriage who died in an automobile accident. Also buried nearby is JonBenét's grandmother. A total of 12 Ramsey headstones lie in the cemetery.
In fictional portrayals of her life, JonBenét has been played by Dyanne Iandoli, Mackenzie Rosman, and Julia Granstrom.
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The murder case
At 5:52AM on December 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey (JonBenét's mother) telephoned 9-1-1. She told the operator, "we have a kidnapping", and explained that "there's a note left and our daughter is gone". She said she had just got up and found the ransom note.
An initial police search of the Ramsey home found nothing. JonBenét's body was found later that day by John Ramsey (JonBenét's father) in a basement room of the home. A garrote made from a length of nylon cord and the handle of a paintbrush was used to strangle her; her skull had suffered severe blunt trauma; and she may have been sexually assaulted. The "official" cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma.
The police did not find any signs of forced entry into the home.
The note
Investigators determined that the lengthy ransom note was written on a pad of paper that belonged to the Ramsey family. The Sharpie felt-tip pen used to write the note was found in a container on the Ramseys' kitchen counter, along with other pens of the same type.
There were no fingerprints found on the note.
The text of the note has many odd features, among them the $118,000 demanded. Coincidentally, John Ramsey earned a bonus that year of $118,117.50.
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Recent developments
In December 2003, forensic investigators extracted enough material from a mixed blood sample found on the deceased's underwear to establish a DNA profile. The DNA belongs to an unknown male. The DNA was submitted to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a database containing over 1.6 million DNA profiles, mainly from convicted felons. The sample has yet to find a match in the database, though it continues to be checked for partial matches on a weekly basis.
External links
- Remembering JonBenet Ramsey (http://www.jonbenet-ramsey.com)
- True Crime: JonBenét Ramsey (http://www.karisable.com/jbr.htm)
- Crime Magazine: The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey (http://crimemagazine.com/jonbenet.htm)
- The Smoking Gun (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/jonbenet/jonbenet_casefile.html)