The original ransom note and the transcript
- “Mr. Ramsey,
2. Listen carefully! We are a group of individuals that represent
3. a small foreign faction. We xx respect your bussiness
4. but not the country that it serves. At this time we have
5. your daughter in our posession. She is safe and unharmed and
6. if you want her to see 1997, you must follow our instructions to
7. the letter.
8. You will withdraw $118,000.00 from your account. $100,000 will be
9. in $100 bills and the remaining $18,000 in $20 bills. Make sure
10. that you bring an adequate size attache to the bank. When you get
11. home you will put the money in a brown paper bag. I will call you
12. between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery. The
13. delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested. If we
14. monitor you getting the money early, we might call you early to
15. arrange an earlier delivery of the money and hence a earlier
16. delivery pickup of your daughter.
17. Any deviation of my instructions will result in the immediate
18. execution of your daughter. You will also be denied her remains
19. for proper burial. The two gentlemen watching over your daughter
20. do not particularly like you so I advise you not to provoke them.
21. Speaking to anyone about your situation, such as Police, F.B.I.,
22. etc., will result in your daughter being beheaded. If we catch you
23. talking to a stray dog, she dies. If you alert bank authorities, she
24. dies. If the money is in any way marked or tampered with, she dies.
25. You will be scanned for electronic devices and if any are found, she
26. dies. You can try to deceive us but be warned that we are familiar
27. with Law enforcement countermeasures and tactics. You stand a 99%
28. chance of killing your daughter if you try to out smart us. Follow
29. our instructions and you stand a 100% chance of getting her back.
30. You and your family are under constant scrutiny as well as the
31. authorities. Don’t try to grow a brain John. You are not the only
32. fat cat around so don’t think that killing will be difficult. Don’t
33. underestimate us John. Use that good southern common sense of yours.
34. It is up to you now John!
35. Victory!
36. S.B.T.C”
Throughout the investigation into the murder of JonBenet Ramsey there were many pieces of evidence that began to lead the police to the Ramsey family. One thing that leads back to Patsy Ramsey constantly is the ransom letter found in the home. A majority of ransom letters remain short and to the point. This letter was written on stationery from the home and was over three pages long. It contained many personal details of the Ramsey family specifically JonBenet’s father. Statement Analysis writes that, “You will withdraw $118,000.00 from your account.” The kidnapper may know the Ramseys are wealthy, but how does the writer know they have $118,000 in their “account” (Marc McClish). This section of the note details the directions that the Ramseys were supposed to follow in order to retrieve their daughter. It specifically mentions the amount of money they were supposed to retrieve and where they were supposed to get it. The writer would have had to have known how much money the Ramseys had in their accounts in order to ask for what they did. It is widely believed that Patsy Ramsey wrote this note due to the information it contained, it being pointed at her husband, and the time frame in which it could have been written in the home. She knew plenty about their financial standing and had the ability to write the note the night of JonBenets death. As for the content of the ransom note, it is thought that it was so long because the writer wanted to push the idea of the crime rather than just getting to the point. Forensic outreach writes, “In other words, much of the information in the letter was rather irrelevant and has been interpreted as the writer trying to “sell” the scenario to the investigators. For example, instead of what was said in the ransom note, “we have your daughter in our possession [sic]”, a kidnapper in a tense, highly pressurized situation would be expected to simply state “we have your daughter” (Forensic Outreach). All of these factors as well as the deep research into the notes structure and subject point to the fact that Patsy Ramsey had information that pertained to the situation that no one else could have known and would have had ample time to write such a long note that an unknown killer would not have.