JonBenet Ramsey - Profile
I'm doing a profiling course at the moment, and you may remember that I have had a passing interest in the case for many years. And now I got to profile it!
My profile inside the cut.
Homicide of JonBenet Ramsey 6 Aug 1990 - 26 Dec 1996
Offender Profile
Prepared by:
Samantha van der Wijngaart, BFET, BSc (Psych), PGCert Ed, USQ.
Griffith University
30 May 2008
Clarification
The author of this report is willing to clarify any points raised in the report, and recommends a verbal briefing to those interested in using it. All clarifications and verbal discussions will be added as an addendum to the original report.
Instructions
A very broad brief was given - to produce a written profile of JonBenet Ramsey’s killer/s, including justification for inferences and a recommended investigative strategy.
Caveats & Sources of Information
This report can be used to guide an investigation, however, it should not be used be used alone to convict an offender or conduct an investigation.
This report is an attempt to take available scientific information and apply it to given facts about a case to determine an offender profile, and to make investigative recommendations. It is not based on experiential knowledge, excepting knowledge of knotting technique.
The statistics used in the commission of this document are indicative only, and in one case (1) are sourced from an overseas sample. Statistics and peer-reviewed journals detailing specific areas of concern are difficult to locate for specific populations, so those used are considered the best available, but not infallible.
As this report is commissioned as a course requirement, access to original documents was not available. The internet has been used widely to locate source data, such as autopsy photographs, depositions, court determinations, etc. References are provided at the end of the document. Also, a true profile will make as much use as possible of first hand interviews, and discussions with those involved in the case. This profile has not benefitted from this exposure.
Competence
Mrs van der Wijngaart is an honours psychology student at the University of Southern Queensland, and is also studying a Graduate Certificate in Crime Analysis at Griffith University. Mrs van der Wijngaart has recently completed a literature review of Female Serial Killers. Mrs van der Wijngaart has completed a course in offender profiling, and other than that really has no qualifications to complete a profile at all, but is required to do so as an assessment item. Mrs van der Wijngaart is a Scout Leader of ten years, and as such has familiarity with knotting practices.
Victimology
JonBenet Ramsey was a six year old female child, living with her affluent family in an elite suburb of Boulder, Colorado. She and her brother attended a local Presbyterian church school. Her family consisted of her parents, John (b. 7 Dec 1943) and Patricia “Patsy” Ramsey (b. 29 Dec 1956), married 5 Nov 1980, and had two children, Burke (b. 27 Jan 1987) and JonBenet (b. 6 Aug 1990). John had three children to a previous marriage - Elizabeth (b. 1969, d. 1992), Melinda (b. 1972) and John Andrew (b. 1976). John’s marriage to Lucinda Ramsey ended in approximately 1977/78. Neither of Johns surviving adult children, nor his ex-wife were living or present in Colorado at the time of the murder. John, Patsy and the two children had moved to Colorado in 1991. Patsy had recently survived ovarian cancer. They had employed a non-resident housekeeper, Linda Hoffman-Pugh, for three days a week, since October 1995.
JonBenet Ramsey had a bed wetting problem that necessitated clean sheets most days (2). No detailed medical history is available for this profile, but her pediatrician of three years, and a reported 30 visits, Dr. Francesco Beuf, saw no evidence of abuse (3). Her development was normal, achieving developmental milestones appropriately. No evidence has been sighted which suggests any criminal or serious behavioral issues.
JonBenet was a regular, and successful, competitor in child beauty pageants, and had been crowned “1996 Little Miss Colorado”. Patsy Ramsey had also been a beauty queen in her youth, winning the “Miss West Virginia” title in 1977. She is known to have funded many of the competitions JonBenet entered, across several states (4). JonBenet liked art and craft, and Shirley Temple movies.
The family is described as being well off, known in the community, and as entertainers, hosting a party for 100 people in the days before the murder occurred. John Ramsey was a successful businessman, running his own business “Access Graphics”. They are active members of St. John's Episcopal Church, in Boulder .
JonBenet slept in second floor twin bedroom, with ensuite bathroom, in a three story house with a multi-room basement. The house was of a complex design, and would not have been easily maneuvered by someone unfamiliar with its layout, see Annex A. This suggests that the offender was familiar with the house, and where the children’s bedrooms were. It also suggests that neither the parents, on the third floor, or her brother, at the far end of the same floor, would have been likely to have heard an intruder, had there been one. Other elements suggesting a familiarity with the layout of the house were the ability to locate pens, paper and to know which stairs were likely to be used in the morning to leave the ransom note upon.
JonBenet Ramsey was a low to medium risk victim. Her age, apparently close family and family oriented lifestyle were protective factors. Her risk was only increased by her involvement in beauty pageants, which put her in the public eye.
Case Summary and Analysis
The details of this case, as understood, are as follows:
1. JonBenet Ramsey, the victim, was a six year old girl.
2. The offence occurred in the home of John & Patsy Ramsey, 755 15th St., Boulder, CO (5).
3. According to police reports, the victim was last seen alive at approximately 10pm, on December 25, 1996, when she was put to bed by her parents (5)
4. John & Patsy Ramsey went to bed soon after (5).
5. Patsy Ramsey arose at around 5.30am, and soon afterwards headed downstairs via the spiral staircase (see Annex A) (6).
6. Patsy Ramsey discovered a 2.5 page ransom note on the spiral staircase (5) (7).
7. The note demanded a $118,000 ransom, and a demand not to contact police (7).
8. Patsy Ramsey checked JonBenet’s room and found her missing (5).
9. At 5.52am, Patsy Ramsey called 911. An audio enhanced version of the tape includes the voices of Patsy, husband John, and son Burke (8).
10. At 5.59am, Police begin to arrive (5).
11. A police officer searches the basement for possible intruder exits, but does not enter the room where the body is later found (9).
12. Fleet & Priscilla White arrive (5).
13. White searches basement, finds nothing (6). Further searches basement train room and notes broken window, shard of glass and suitcase (6). White does not search wine room as cannot locate light switch (6).
14. The house is not sealed as a crimescene, excepting JonBenet’s bedroom, which is sealed at about 10.30 (6).
15. At the suggestion of a police officer, Ramsey & White search house and discover body in basement wine room (5).
16. Body is carried upstairs by John Ramsey (5).
17. At approximately 8.30pm, pathologist Dr. John Meyer examined the corpse
18. The body is removed from the house at 10.45pm and the last detective left at 11.44pm.
Characteristics of the Offence
The following section attempts to describe the figures on prevalence of this type of offence, possible characteristics of the offender(s) and a probable sequence of events. The family have not been excluded as suspects.
• US kidnapping statistics have not been routinely kept, and is not one of the crimes included in the FBI’s national Uniform Crime Reporting database. (10)
• There is approximately one child abduction murder for every 10,000 missing child reports (11).
• It is possible that the crime was committed by a family member. Finkelhor & Ormrod (10) state that family kidnapping is committed primarily by parents, and has a 43% likelihood of being the female partner, much higher than in other kidnapping types.
• Family kidnapping happens equally to children of both sexes (10).
• 49% of juvenile kidnapping offences are family kidnappings, 27% acquaintance kidnappings and only 24% are stranger kidnappings (10).
• Acquaintance kidnapping involves a “comparatively high percentage of juvenile perpetrators, has the largest percentage of female and teenage victim, is more often associated with other crimes (especially sexual and physical assault), occurs at homes and residences and has the highest percentage of injured victims” (10 p. 2).
• Stranger kidnapping “victimizes more females than males, occurs primarily at outdoor locations, victimizes both teenagers and school-age children, is associated with sexual assaults in the case of girl victims and robberies in the case of boy victims, and is the type of kidnapping most likely to involve the use of a firearm” (10 p. 2).
• Of particular note, “only one death and a few major injuries were associated with juvenile kidnapping” (10 p. 2).
• Turvey reports that staging is most often used to conceal domestic homicide (12).
• Ligature strangulation was much more likely to occur when the victim as acquainted with their killer (1).
• Strangulation victims were found at the scene of the crime 86% of the time (1).
• Sadistic features are rare, with none of the Finnish cases involving taking victim as hostage, tying up, penetration with an object (1).
• Only 11% of the Finnish female homicidal strangulation cases were sexually related, corresponding to similar findings across Scandinavian countries (1).
• In 63% of the Finnish cases, strangulation was accompanied by other forms of violence, including being hit by a blunt instrument (1).
• In 61% of Finnish strangulation homicides, the perpetrator had a personality disorder (1).
• Bivariate analysis suggested that “the use of a ligature in homicidal strangulation may be associated with the offender being a female, drug user, the offender and victim being acquaintances rather than family members or intimate partners, and the motive being a drunken quarrel (1 p. 81).
• Hakkanen (1) suggests that the use of a ligature in a homicidal strangulation may be due to “the perceived physical disadvantage of the offender”. (p.82 - emphasis original)
Thus, it can be expected that this type of kidnap/homicide would have been committed by a perpetrator known to the victim, either a family member or acquaintance. Elements of staging associated (described in section xx) with the crime scene suggest that the crime scene was presented to represent a sexually sadistic homicide scene, but was done to cover a domestic homicide.
The age of an offender has been notoriously hard to profile. No subject should be eliminated purely on the basis of age. However, I speculate that creation of a sexually sadistic scene suggests that the perpetrator cannot have been a child or young teenager, as they would not know of, or be able to attempt to stage, a sexually sadistic crime scene.
FBI data suggests that when a child under the age of 12 is murdered, a family member is the likely culprit (13). The use of ligature strangulation suggests the crime was committed by an adult female known to the victim. An intricate knowledge of the movements of members of the household, and the layout of the house, suggests that the perpetrator was not only known to the victim, but to her family also.
There is no particular reason to suggest that the offender has a criminal history, in the Hakkanen (1) article, homicidal stranglers had a criminal history only 58% of the time. Although Hanfland et al. (11) suggest that it is very likely that child abductor murders will be prior criminals, I suggest that the murder was staged to appear as a child abduction homicide, but was in truth a domestic homicide. The almost token amount of sexual activity and penetration suggest again that the homicide was staged to appear as a sexually oriented, but lacked the depth of effort and reward that would be expected of a sexual predator.
Thus, the offender can be expected to be:
• Adult Female
• Personality disordered
• Known to victim and family
• Familiar with the Ramsey house
The unusually long ransom note has been subjected to forensic analysis by many experts in the field, and I
shall not attempt to replicate their work here, as I do not have experience in the field. There has been general agreement that the handwriting was disguised (Iannetta, Widmer , Epstein), and that it was unusual for a “foreign faction” to describe itself as “small”. The supposed kidnappers did not call at the given ransom time. It is my belief that the ransom note was part of the overall staging of the crime.
When considering the scene where the body was found, there is clear evidence of crime scene staging. Although it is unclear whether the strangulation or the blunt force trauma occurred first, it is clear that the strangulation was not carried out with the garotte, as the overly long length of cord makes it unfunctional. It is likely that the strangulation was carried out, and then the garotte tied, explaining the amount of the victims hair present in the knotting. The knotting is crude and haphazard and appears to largely be a case of cord wound around a convenient stick. The hand bindings were loose and would have been ineffective, and appear to be for show rather than function. As mentioned above, the sexual assault seems staged, as there was only shallow penetration and the item used was small and tapered. The crime scene certainly has overtones of sexual sadism, although I believe this to be deliberate staging to mislead investigators.
Concluding Summary
This profile suggests:
• An adult female offender, although males should not be removed from the investigation on the basis of this.
• A personality disorder is likely to be present in the offender.
• A staged crime-scene and ransom note.
• A familiarity with the Ramsey house, including the basement level.
• A strong familiarity with the family routine, down to who used which stairs and when.
• The immediate family appears to be the strongest subjects in this case, although motivation is unknown.
This profile suffers from an inability to access original documents and first-hand access to both data and witnesses.
Suggested Investigative Strategy
The following are suggested as possible investigative strategies:
• Patsy Ramsey should undergo a psychological evaluation, concentrating on determining if she is suffering from a personality disorder.
• The lack of following of police procedure in the initial hours of this case will make it extremely difficult to bring the perpetrator to justice, if one is ever located. The possible removal of, or tampering with, evidence is likely to make a conviction very difficult to obtain.
• Female friends of the family, past and present, should be interviewed.
• A complete list should attempt to be collated of people known to be familiar with all areas of the boulder home. Working in concentric circles, and in order of most visits, those on the list should be identified, and asked to submit to a voluntary DNA test.
• The parents, in particular Patsy Ramsey, should not be discounted as suspects.
My profile inside the cut.
Homicide of JonBenet Ramsey 6 Aug 1990 - 26 Dec 1996
Offender Profile
Prepared by:
Samantha van der Wijngaart, BFET, BSc (Psych), PGCert Ed, USQ.
Griffith University
30 May 2008
Clarification
The author of this report is willing to clarify any points raised in the report, and recommends a verbal briefing to those interested in using it. All clarifications and verbal discussions will be added as an addendum to the original report.
Instructions
A very broad brief was given - to produce a written profile of JonBenet Ramsey’s killer/s, including justification for inferences and a recommended investigative strategy.
Caveats & Sources of Information
This report can be used to guide an investigation, however, it should not be used be used alone to convict an offender or conduct an investigation.
This report is an attempt to take available scientific information and apply it to given facts about a case to determine an offender profile, and to make investigative recommendations. It is not based on experiential knowledge, excepting knowledge of knotting technique.
The statistics used in the commission of this document are indicative only, and in one case (1) are sourced from an overseas sample. Statistics and peer-reviewed journals detailing specific areas of concern are difficult to locate for specific populations, so those used are considered the best available, but not infallible.
As this report is commissioned as a course requirement, access to original documents was not available. The internet has been used widely to locate source data, such as autopsy photographs, depositions, court determinations, etc. References are provided at the end of the document. Also, a true profile will make as much use as possible of first hand interviews, and discussions with those involved in the case. This profile has not benefitted from this exposure.
Competence
Mrs van der Wijngaart is an honours psychology student at the University of Southern Queensland, and is also studying a Graduate Certificate in Crime Analysis at Griffith University. Mrs van der Wijngaart has recently completed a literature review of Female Serial Killers. Mrs van der Wijngaart has completed a course in offender profiling, and other than that really has no qualifications to complete a profile at all, but is required to do so as an assessment item. Mrs van der Wijngaart is a Scout Leader of ten years, and as such has familiarity with knotting practices.
Victimology
JonBenet Ramsey was a six year old female child, living with her affluent family in an elite suburb of Boulder, Colorado. She and her brother attended a local Presbyterian church school. Her family consisted of her parents, John (b. 7 Dec 1943) and Patricia “Patsy” Ramsey (b. 29 Dec 1956), married 5 Nov 1980, and had two children, Burke (b. 27 Jan 1987) and JonBenet (b. 6 Aug 1990). John had three children to a previous marriage - Elizabeth (b. 1969, d. 1992), Melinda (b. 1972) and John Andrew (b. 1976). John’s marriage to Lucinda Ramsey ended in approximately 1977/78. Neither of Johns surviving adult children, nor his ex-wife were living or present in Colorado at the time of the murder. John, Patsy and the two children had moved to Colorado in 1991. Patsy had recently survived ovarian cancer. They had employed a non-resident housekeeper, Linda Hoffman-Pugh, for three days a week, since October 1995.
JonBenet Ramsey had a bed wetting problem that necessitated clean sheets most days (2). No detailed medical history is available for this profile, but her pediatrician of three years, and a reported 30 visits, Dr. Francesco Beuf, saw no evidence of abuse (3). Her development was normal, achieving developmental milestones appropriately. No evidence has been sighted which suggests any criminal or serious behavioral issues.
JonBenet was a regular, and successful, competitor in child beauty pageants, and had been crowned “1996 Little Miss Colorado”. Patsy Ramsey had also been a beauty queen in her youth, winning the “Miss West Virginia” title in 1977. She is known to have funded many of the competitions JonBenet entered, across several states (4). JonBenet liked art and craft, and Shirley Temple movies.
The family is described as being well off, known in the community, and as entertainers, hosting a party for 100 people in the days before the murder occurred. John Ramsey was a successful businessman, running his own business “Access Graphics”. They are active members of St. John's Episcopal Church, in Boulder .
JonBenet slept in second floor twin bedroom, with ensuite bathroom, in a three story house with a multi-room basement. The house was of a complex design, and would not have been easily maneuvered by someone unfamiliar with its layout, see Annex A. This suggests that the offender was familiar with the house, and where the children’s bedrooms were. It also suggests that neither the parents, on the third floor, or her brother, at the far end of the same floor, would have been likely to have heard an intruder, had there been one. Other elements suggesting a familiarity with the layout of the house were the ability to locate pens, paper and to know which stairs were likely to be used in the morning to leave the ransom note upon.
JonBenet Ramsey was a low to medium risk victim. Her age, apparently close family and family oriented lifestyle were protective factors. Her risk was only increased by her involvement in beauty pageants, which put her in the public eye.
Case Summary and Analysis
The details of this case, as understood, are as follows:
1. JonBenet Ramsey, the victim, was a six year old girl.
2. The offence occurred in the home of John & Patsy Ramsey, 755 15th St., Boulder, CO (5).
3. According to police reports, the victim was last seen alive at approximately 10pm, on December 25, 1996, when she was put to bed by her parents (5)
4. John & Patsy Ramsey went to bed soon after (5).
5. Patsy Ramsey arose at around 5.30am, and soon afterwards headed downstairs via the spiral staircase (see Annex A) (6).
6. Patsy Ramsey discovered a 2.5 page ransom note on the spiral staircase (5) (7).
7. The note demanded a $118,000 ransom, and a demand not to contact police (7).
8. Patsy Ramsey checked JonBenet’s room and found her missing (5).
9. At 5.52am, Patsy Ramsey called 911. An audio enhanced version of the tape includes the voices of Patsy, husband John, and son Burke (8).
10. At 5.59am, Police begin to arrive (5).
11. A police officer searches the basement for possible intruder exits, but does not enter the room where the body is later found (9).
12. Fleet & Priscilla White arrive (5).
13. White searches basement, finds nothing (6). Further searches basement train room and notes broken window, shard of glass and suitcase (6). White does not search wine room as cannot locate light switch (6).
14. The house is not sealed as a crimescene, excepting JonBenet’s bedroom, which is sealed at about 10.30 (6).
15. At the suggestion of a police officer, Ramsey & White search house and discover body in basement wine room (5).
16. Body is carried upstairs by John Ramsey (5).
17. At approximately 8.30pm, pathologist Dr. John Meyer examined the corpse
18. The body is removed from the house at 10.45pm and the last detective left at 11.44pm.
Characteristics of the Offence
The following section attempts to describe the figures on prevalence of this type of offence, possible characteristics of the offender(s) and a probable sequence of events. The family have not been excluded as suspects.
• US kidnapping statistics have not been routinely kept, and is not one of the crimes included in the FBI’s national Uniform Crime Reporting database. (10)
• There is approximately one child abduction murder for every 10,000 missing child reports (11).
• It is possible that the crime was committed by a family member. Finkelhor & Ormrod (10) state that family kidnapping is committed primarily by parents, and has a 43% likelihood of being the female partner, much higher than in other kidnapping types.
• Family kidnapping happens equally to children of both sexes (10).
• 49% of juvenile kidnapping offences are family kidnappings, 27% acquaintance kidnappings and only 24% are stranger kidnappings (10).
• Acquaintance kidnapping involves a “comparatively high percentage of juvenile perpetrators, has the largest percentage of female and teenage victim, is more often associated with other crimes (especially sexual and physical assault), occurs at homes and residences and has the highest percentage of injured victims” (10 p. 2).
• Stranger kidnapping “victimizes more females than males, occurs primarily at outdoor locations, victimizes both teenagers and school-age children, is associated with sexual assaults in the case of girl victims and robberies in the case of boy victims, and is the type of kidnapping most likely to involve the use of a firearm” (10 p. 2).
• Of particular note, “only one death and a few major injuries were associated with juvenile kidnapping” (10 p. 2).
• Turvey reports that staging is most often used to conceal domestic homicide (12).
• Ligature strangulation was much more likely to occur when the victim as acquainted with their killer (1).
• Strangulation victims were found at the scene of the crime 86% of the time (1).
• Sadistic features are rare, with none of the Finnish cases involving taking victim as hostage, tying up, penetration with an object (1).
• Only 11% of the Finnish female homicidal strangulation cases were sexually related, corresponding to similar findings across Scandinavian countries (1).
• In 63% of the Finnish cases, strangulation was accompanied by other forms of violence, including being hit by a blunt instrument (1).
• In 61% of Finnish strangulation homicides, the perpetrator had a personality disorder (1).
• Bivariate analysis suggested that “the use of a ligature in homicidal strangulation may be associated with the offender being a female, drug user, the offender and victim being acquaintances rather than family members or intimate partners, and the motive being a drunken quarrel (1 p. 81).
• Hakkanen (1) suggests that the use of a ligature in a homicidal strangulation may be due to “the perceived physical disadvantage of the offender”. (p.82 - emphasis original)
Thus, it can be expected that this type of kidnap/homicide would have been committed by a perpetrator known to the victim, either a family member or acquaintance. Elements of staging associated (described in section xx) with the crime scene suggest that the crime scene was presented to represent a sexually sadistic homicide scene, but was done to cover a domestic homicide.
The age of an offender has been notoriously hard to profile. No subject should be eliminated purely on the basis of age. However, I speculate that creation of a sexually sadistic scene suggests that the perpetrator cannot have been a child or young teenager, as they would not know of, or be able to attempt to stage, a sexually sadistic crime scene.
FBI data suggests that when a child under the age of 12 is murdered, a family member is the likely culprit (13). The use of ligature strangulation suggests the crime was committed by an adult female known to the victim. An intricate knowledge of the movements of members of the household, and the layout of the house, suggests that the perpetrator was not only known to the victim, but to her family also.
There is no particular reason to suggest that the offender has a criminal history, in the Hakkanen (1) article, homicidal stranglers had a criminal history only 58% of the time. Although Hanfland et al. (11) suggest that it is very likely that child abductor murders will be prior criminals, I suggest that the murder was staged to appear as a child abduction homicide, but was in truth a domestic homicide. The almost token amount of sexual activity and penetration suggest again that the homicide was staged to appear as a sexually oriented, but lacked the depth of effort and reward that would be expected of a sexual predator.
Thus, the offender can be expected to be:
• Adult Female
• Personality disordered
• Known to victim and family
• Familiar with the Ramsey house
The unusually long ransom note has been subjected to forensic analysis by many experts in the field, and I
shall not attempt to replicate their work here, as I do not have experience in the field. There has been general agreement that the handwriting was disguised (Iannetta, Widmer , Epstein), and that it was unusual for a “foreign faction” to describe itself as “small”. The supposed kidnappers did not call at the given ransom time. It is my belief that the ransom note was part of the overall staging of the crime.
When considering the scene where the body was found, there is clear evidence of crime scene staging. Although it is unclear whether the strangulation or the blunt force trauma occurred first, it is clear that the strangulation was not carried out with the garotte, as the overly long length of cord makes it unfunctional. It is likely that the strangulation was carried out, and then the garotte tied, explaining the amount of the victims hair present in the knotting. The knotting is crude and haphazard and appears to largely be a case of cord wound around a convenient stick. The hand bindings were loose and would have been ineffective, and appear to be for show rather than function. As mentioned above, the sexual assault seems staged, as there was only shallow penetration and the item used was small and tapered. The crime scene certainly has overtones of sexual sadism, although I believe this to be deliberate staging to mislead investigators.
Concluding Summary
This profile suggests:
• An adult female offender, although males should not be removed from the investigation on the basis of this.
• A personality disorder is likely to be present in the offender.
• A staged crime-scene and ransom note.
• A familiarity with the Ramsey house, including the basement level.
• A strong familiarity with the family routine, down to who used which stairs and when.
• The immediate family appears to be the strongest subjects in this case, although motivation is unknown.
This profile suffers from an inability to access original documents and first-hand access to both data and witnesses.
Suggested Investigative Strategy
The following are suggested as possible investigative strategies:
• Patsy Ramsey should undergo a psychological evaluation, concentrating on determining if she is suffering from a personality disorder.
• The lack of following of police procedure in the initial hours of this case will make it extremely difficult to bring the perpetrator to justice, if one is ever located. The possible removal of, or tampering with, evidence is likely to make a conviction very difficult to obtain.
• Female friends of the family, past and present, should be interviewed.
• A complete list should attempt to be collated of people known to be familiar with all areas of the boulder home. Working in concentric circles, and in order of most visits, those on the list should be identified, and asked to submit to a voluntary DNA test.
• The parents, in particular Patsy Ramsey, should not be discounted as suspects.