JonBenet Ramsey's Grave

How could this have happened?

On Christmas Day, 1996, Patsy's life seemed almost ideal: a former beauty queen married to a successful self-made businessman. She and her husband had moved to Boulder  in 1991 where John ran a computer company that he had started in his garage. The Ramseys readily adapted to their new life in Colorado and made many new friends. They built a large house in an elite suburb, and entertained often. Their last party in Boulder, just three days before the murder, was particularly happy. Over a hundred guests were present at a Christmas function. The Ramseys believed that they had good reason to celebrate. Patsy had warded off recurrence of ovarian cancer and John had been voted Boulder 's "businessman of the year." It seemed that John had finally recovered from the devastation of losing his 22-year-old daughter Elizabeth in a 1992 automobile accident.

John and Patsy Ramsey

On Christmas night, 1996, the family drove home the few blocks from a party at a friend's house. JonBenet had fallen asleep in the car so they carried her up the stairs to her room and put her to bed at 9:30 p.m. Shortly after, Patsy and John went to bed as they planned to get up early to prepare for a trip to their vacation home on Lake Michigan.

JonBenet Ransey

The next day, Patsy woke just after 5:00 a.m. and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. On the staircase, she found a two-and-a-half page note that said that JonBenet had been kidnapped by a "small foreign faction" and was being held for a ransom of $118,000. The letter warned that if the money was not delivered, the child would be executed. Patsy yelled to John as she ran back up the stairs and opened the door to JonBenet's room. Finding JonBenet gone, Patsy and John decided to call the police despite the dire warnings in the ransom letter. The Boulder police arrived at the house seven minutes later.