JonBenet: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation

by Steve Thomas, Don Davis, Donald A. Davis

Book Overview

Finally, the information you've been waiting for: who really killed JonBenet? Perhaps the most compelling murder case of our day, the death of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey galvanized the nation-and years after it occurred, the mystery still endures. Who killed the young beauty queen and why? Who is covering up for whom and who is simply lying? In "JonBenet, "the most authoritative and comprehensive study of the Ramsey murder, a former lead Boulder...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312253265
• ISBN13: 9780312253264
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 356 Pages
• Weight: 1.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Not my favorite....

The author strongly believes the parents are guilty. We all know how miserably the Boulder PD botched this case from the beginning and continued (and still continue) to do so. It was hard to get through this book. With about a chapter or two to go I just couldn't do it anymore. We get it. You think the parents did it. I will say that this is a great book to read if you really want to understand just how deep to mistrust and belief of the parents guilt was within the Boulder PD.

Good solid and logical

I have never once had any interest in the story of Jonbenet Ramsy, other then I thought that it is terrible that a little kid was killed I really di not pay much attention to this. For some reason one day when I was at Barnes and Noble, I was picking up some military history and the book Perfect Murder, Perfect Town caught my eye in the true crime section. I stood there for about 15 minutes debating whether I was going to buy it or not. I decided to buy it because I had been doing alot of technical reading for my job and reading for the military and I wanted something that was going to be easy to read while I was on vacation. I have in the past liked true crime books, but again the media hype really turned me off with this case. I would turn off the news immediately to another channel if the was any kind of story on this case, I just was not interested. Fast forward, I finished reading PMPT by Schiller and then bought Thomas's book for some follow up reading and it was solid, just like the man. It became clear to me almost immediately that most people looking at this case approach it the same way they would approach most other subjects, whether it would be religion or politics or whatever. When I began reading Schiller's book I started with the ideas that the Ramsey's were probably being rail roaded. That opinion was probably formed when I heard John Walsh talk about his own case with his son. John Walsh was being interviewed and said, "do not judge the Ramsey's unless you have been through something like this yourself." I agreed with John Walsh. When I got half way into Schiller's book it became crystal clear to me that the Ramsy's were responsible for the death of their daughter. The very first time that I read the ransom note I knew that it was made up and not from a kidnapper or intruder. I could see that the comments in the note came from movies like Dirty Harry and Speed, especially the comment "the girl dies." It was completely illogical that an intruder or kidnapper would write this, nor bring any means in order to write it. My experience with criminals is that they just don't hang around when they commit crimes especially one that killed a child, look at the cases of Daniel Van Dam and Polly Klaas both men did what they did and bolted. Anyone who still believes that the Ramsy's were victims is just kidding themselves. I understand that thinking. Who would possibly want to think that parents would do this to their own child? It is too horrible to contemplate and I understand that it is far easier to believe that a bad man did this. People think evil always looks like Charles Manson or a man with a tail, horns and hooves. I think that the many people who are so adamnat to believe that the Ramsy's are innocent is simply either not familiar with the case or just does not want to see face up to the fact that evil looks pretty normal, and if it does then it could mean that all of us are capable of doing horrible things, that I think is a h

A real inside look at what happened

This is the fourth book I've read on the Jon Benét case and easily the best one.Former Boulder police Det. Steve Thomas, who was one of the chief investigators in the Ramsey case, does not mice words here and leaves the reader with no doubt about who killed Jon Benét. He also makes it abundantly clear why the case never went to trial and why it is highly unlikely that it ever will.Thomas acknowledges that the crime scene was hopelessly compromised by the inexperienced boulder police, but more important demonstrates that the case could not be tried because the top attorneys in the Boulder District Attorney's office, and in particular DA Alex Hunter, were afraid to face the Ramseys and their team of lawyer in court. Thomas cites statistics showing that the vast majority of criminal cases in Boulder during the tenure of Alex Hunter had been plea bargained and not taken to trial. The effect of this kind of justice was to leave the DA's office with an appalling lack of trial experience and a morbid fear of going against "Team Ramsey." Hunter, a politician's politician, clearly saw that his main job was to make sure no indictment against the Ramsey's would ever see the light of day. To this end, he and his attorneys worked very hard to discourage the police, whose investigation clearly showed that the Ramseys were guilty and should be indicted. John Ramsey took advantage of this situation by hiring lawyers who were friends of lawyers in the district attorney's office who were supplied with information about the ongoing investigation. Thomas goes so far as to quote people accusing the district attorney's office of obstruction of justice. Of course no such charges were ever filed.After reading this vivid and uncompromised account, I no longer have any doubt about what happened to Jon Benét. Thomas presents his scenario on pages 285-289. He also explains why he thinks it was a murder and not an accident. The real question is, why did John Ramsey help Patsy cover it up? Thomas's answer (p. 289) is that Ramsey "chose to protect his wife." It was perhaps a snap decision that once entered into could not be undone. Thomas does not see John Ramsey as having molested his daughter; instead he believes that the prior vaginal trauma that Jon Benét allegedly suffered was at the hands of her frantic mother handing out punishment for regressed toilet training. We can see this possibility from Thomas's account of Patsy Ramsey being questioned by retired Denver homicide detective Captain Tom Haney (pp. 325-327). Patsy comes across as a very tough broad indeed, even a little on the crude side. Thomas concludes that beneath her mask, he saw "cold rage." Perhaps John Ramsey was afraid of going against his wife. Perhaps she knew something very embarrassing that he wanted to keep hidden.Because Thomas had intimate and extensive knowledge of the facts of the case second to none, there are bits of evidence here that the

As a former prosecuting attorney.....

As a former prosecuting attorney who specialized in crimes against children, I absolutely could not put this riveting book down. I literally finished it in one day. Mr. Thomas gives a true insider's account of the mess that was the JonBenet Ramsey murder investigation, from the bungled preservation of evidence by the first officers on the scene to the incredible stonewalling by both the Ramseys and Boulder DA Alex Hunter and his plea-happy bunch of senior attorneys. The Boulder Police Department took a lot of heat, some of it well-deserved, for the lack of progress in making an arrest in this case. This book makes it perfectly clear, however, that the handful of dedicated and experienced investigators who were assigned to the case by Boulder's "New-Age" police chief, Tom Koby, were stymied at every turn by the DA's incredible fear of actually having to try this case against the experienced trial attorneys who were hired by the Ramseys less than 36 hours after JonBenet's lifeless body was discovered in the basement of her own home.It is no secret that Mr. Thomas believes that Patsy Ramsey murdered her child in the late evening hours of Christmas 1996. Based upon the mountain of evidence he discloses in this book, much of which was ignored or actually suppressed by the Boulder DA, I believe his conclusion is a fair one. Certainly the Ramseys themselves have done everything in their power to thwart the disclosure of the truth in this case, in the process naming as possible suspects just about every person who ever has been close to them. In fact, they just this week backed out of taking polygraph tests yet again. One can only wonder what they are hiding. As a parent, I would be the first one standing in line to do everything within my power to find the person who killed my child. After reading this book, however, you'll understand why the Ramseys have not cooperated with investigators.Far from focusing exclusively on the parents from the outset, as the Ramseys have claimed, Mr. Thomas and the other investigators at Boulder PD, the FBI, and other police agencies in Colorado, Georgia and Michigan, have exhaustively cleared hundreds of suspects since JonBenet's death. Indeed, based upon the tremendous amount of scientific and circumstantial evidence which has been gathered in this case, the only people who can reasonably said to be prime suspects at this time are John and Patsy Ramsey. Mr. Thomas' very justifiable frustration with the Ramseys, the Boulder DA and many of the ranking officers of the Boulder PD is evident in this wonderful and extremely thorough book. All Mr. Thomas wants is "justice for a child who was killed in her home on Christmas night." After eighteen months of of an investigation which the DA allowed to be dictated in large part by the Ramseys themselves (a practice absolutely unheard-of in accepted investigative methodology), Mr. Thomas finally resigned in protest when it became

If it looks like a duck....

Thank you, Steve Thomas, for the courage to say what so many people think! The JonBenet case captivated me from the start, more than that it was the murder of a darling little girl - in the main, I was intrigued with the complete and utter lack of cooperation on the part of the parents. The less they cooperated, the more interested I became and the more convinced of their - especially Patsy's - involvement. Thanks to Steve Thomas' fine work, all the pieces seem to fit together, and I do not understand how any thinking person could come to any other conclusion than that of Patsy's guilt. It is just impossible to think anything else. There is one and only one thing (I think) that makes some people doubt her guilt; the fact that it is nigh onto unbelievable that a mother could kill her own daughter like that. There is no denying she did it, but I agree that no sane mother could do this. I have read every word that I can get my hands on about this case, and thought that Thomas' book would just be a rehash of what I already knew. Not so - I could not put it down. Thomas reveals many little known facts that again point irrevocably to the Ramseys' involvement. For example,the ransom note said that the kidnapper would call with instructions between 8 & 10 am, yet neither of the Ramseys made any notice of that time frame, nor even noticed when 10 o'clock came and went with no word. No way. They had to know there would be no call from a kidnapper; else they would have sat glued to the phone and agonized when no call came. It's called human nature. Finally, shame, shame on the DA's office and its sycophants. I admire Steve Thomas' courage in resigning and cannot help but notice that some of the people in that mess who showed the most integrity and courage, like Thomas and the Whites, have been demonized.