JonBenet Ramsey, once reigning Little Miss Colorado, was discovered to be murdered in her Boulder, Colorado home on Thursday, December 26, 1996. Ramsey, the daughter of a wealthy businessman, was born on August 6, 1990, in Atlanta, Georgia. An active participant in childhood beauty pageants, JonBenet grew up in Boulder, Colorado, where her family moved approximately one year after her birth.
On Christmas day in 1996, Patsy Ramsey, reportedly put her six-year-old kindergartner, JonBenet, to bed sometime between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. Early the following morning, Patsy Ramsey discovered a hand-written note addressed to John Ramsey, JonBenet's father, then age 53 and the millionaire president and CEO of Access Graphics, located in Boulder. The note purported to be from individuals representing a small foreign faction. It instructed John Ramsey to withdraw $118,000 in ransom money from his bank account and stated that someone would call him between 8 and 10 a.m. to arrange for the delivery of the funds. John and Patsy Ramsey called the Boulder Police Department which began a kidnapping investigation with a cursory examination of the large family residence. Later than afternoon, John Ramsey and a friend began their own search of the house. Ramsey discovered JonBenet's body in a rarely-used room in the basement.
The following day, the Boulder County Coroner stated the cause of death was asphyxia, or suffocation, caused by strangulation. The Boulder County Coroner officially classified JonBenet's death a homicide. Three days later, the Ramsey family returned to Atlanta, Georgia, where they buried their daughter.
Subsequently Boulder Police discovered physical evidence which it delivered to forensics experts, and investigators analyzed the ransom note and a purported practice ransom note found in the home. Investigators believed that the author of the notes was surprisingly familiar with private aspects of John Ramsey's life. In particular, the ransom amount was equal to John Ramsey's work bonus in 1995. In addition, the investigators believed that the initials S.B.T.C., which seemed to be a signature, indicated the location in the Philippines where John Ramsey was stationed while in the U.S. Navy.
Increasingly suspected in their daughter's death, both John and Patsy Ramsey retained criminal defense lawyers. In April of 1997 and again in June of 1998, amid wide media coverage Boulder Police Department faced allegations of a botched investigation, while John and Patsy Ramsey remained under an "umbrella of suspicion" as prime suspects. In October 1999, officials announced that the grand jury would, after more than a year of investigation, adjourn without returning any indictments, due to an apparent lack of evidence. The Ramseys released a book, The Death of Innocence, in March 2000 which outlines their theory that a pedophile killed their daughter. The JonBenet Ramsey murder remained unsolved by authorities after nearly four years.
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