Who killed JonBenet?

Hoda Kotb Correspondent • Profile

To some, the image was strangely reminiscent of another infamous suspect. Like Lee Harvey Oswald, who told reporters he was innocent, John Mark Karr also spoke out as he was jostled by reporters in a chaotic and surreal scene in a crowded hallway.

“I love JonBenet and she died accidentally,” he said.

Unlike Oswald, Karr claims he actually knew something about this killing: “I was with JonBenet when she died,” he said.

Since news of the arrest broke, a story that has had so many strange twists and turns has turned stranger still  — with the man in the center of the case so mysterious even childhood friends don’t recognize him. Karr, said to be obsessed with high-profile crime cases and who continually surrounded himself with young children, is just the latest development in a mystery that has fascinated us for nearly a decade.

MSNBC’s Dan Abrams was first to report the news about the arrest Wednesday afternoon.

Dan Abrams, NBC legal analyst: I’ve never seen anything like this.  There’s something beyond weird about listening to this guy. The way he spoke about JonBenet. She was 6. He’s saying, “I loved her” and he  talking about how beautiful she was. This is really crazy talk.

But as strange as the latest developments seem, and no matter what ends up happening with suspect John Karr, some experts are shifting the focus in the case away from the Ramsey family and taking a closer look at something known as “the intruder theory.”

A review of the Ramsey case
Dateline talked to former investigators, an FBI profiler, and experts who have followed this case through every bizarre twist and turn every step of the way. Now of course, the facts of the case, are well known: the horror came to light at first light the morning after Christmas, December 26, 1996.

It happened at a million-dollar home in a quiet, upscale neighborhood in Boulder, Colorado.  6 year-old JonBenet was put to bed around 9 p.m. that Christmas night. The next morning, her mother, Patsy, said she discovered that JonBenet was missing.

In the kitchen, she said, she found a rambling three-page note  demanding $118,000 for JonBenet's return. Police soon arrived and began combing the house for any sign of JonBenet.  Friends joined the frantic search— a crucial crime scene error that would come back to haunt the Boulder police department:

Abrams: They shouldn’t have let people into the house, which was a crime scene.  They shouldn’t have let John Ramsey walk around the house. 

Finally, hours later, it was JonBenet’s father, John Ramsey, who discovered his daughter’s body in a small room in the basement. 

The injuries were gruesome.  She had been strangled with a homemade garotte made from rope and a paint brush handle.  Her mouth was bound by duct tape, and she’d been dealt a savage blow to her head.

There were few obvious signs of a break-in. Investigators began to focus on the people who were in the home that night: John and Patsy Ramsey.

The case became a media and national obsession, especially after John and Patsy Ramsey came under intense suspicion. The stories began to swirl—the Ramseys were uncooperative with police, the ransom note was a fake, there was no forced entry. 

On top of all the rumors, investigators knew that in the murder of a child, the parents are always prime suspects. According to the Justice Department, only one in 12 child murders is committed by a stranger.

Hoda Kotb, Dateline correspondent: Right away, the Ramseys were under suspicion.  They wouldn’t talk to the police, at least not extensively.  They hired a PR firm. So, instantly, people thought “Ah-ha, these people had something to do with it,” right?

Abrams: There’s no question that the police department focused in on the Ramseys pretty quickly.

Among the evidence that seemed to point an accusing finger at the Ramseys: the ransom note was written with a pen and paper found inside the home, the broken paint brush that was used to make the garotte, and came from Patsy Ramsey’s art supply kit.

Theories implicating the Ramseys abounded: that Patsy Ramsey had flown into a rage  over bedwetting and killed JonBenet, that the Ramseys were covering  up for their son, Burke... all allegations the family repeatedly denied.

But the suspicions didn’t go away.  And in 1997, former FBI profiler John Douglas was hired by the Ramseys attorneys to help in a possible legal defense.  At first, Douglas, too, doubted their innocence.

John Douglas, former FBI profiler hired by the Ramseys: The news that was coming out over the air it seemed as if the family was responsible.

But then, in January 1997, Douglas conducted a four hour interview with the Ramseys. Days later, he shared his impressions with Dateline, noting he was immediately struck by the couple’s description of the moment John found JonBenet’s body.

Douglas: And everyone hears him screaming and running upstairs “My god! My baby!”  and he grabs the child and removes the duct tape and carries the child upstairs where they’re trying to resuscitate the child.

The Ramseys described to Douglas the horrific details of what they said happened in those next few frantic moments.

Douglas: It was a real emotional scene for the family, putting the child in front of the Christmas tree as they’re trying to rub the skin, the body is cold, the mother’s hysterical, the father’s hysterical, the minister is there, neighbors running in and out, so there really isn’t a crime scene...

The desperate rescue attempt, which completely contaminated any evidence at the scene, painted a picture of a family in agony, Douglas said, and he told  Dateline this week that he couldn’t believe the Ramseys he encountered in his interview were capable of such brutality. 

Douglas: And here is a young child, such force cracking her skull. This is not a crime of parents.  Parents certainly kill. But not these kinds of parents.

Indeed, Douglas says, even when parents commit murder, it’s not usually as horrific as the scene at the Ramsey’s.

Douglas: When parents kill, there’s generally a softening of the crime scene.  Where they take a blanket, cover up the child, roll the child over, face down or something like that. The child was found, JonBenet was face up.  Her hands were tied together.  Her head was off to the side.  She had a piece of duct tape over her mouth. 

And now, looking back nine and half years later, Douglas can’t shake the conclusions he first made about the case:

Douglas: I came to a very quick resolution that they’re barking up the wrong tree. This investigation is going in the wrong direction here. 

And it turns out, another expert thought the Ramseys were being  treated unfairly as well.

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