In Jon Benet’s autopsy, it was revealed that Jon Benet suffered head trauma and had pieces of undigested pineapple in her system (Walsh). According to Patsy Ramsey, Burke had been eating pineapples with milk and tea while Jon Benet slept upstairs the night before she was found. It is possible that Jon Benet could have went downstairs and stole a piece of Burke’s pineapple. This could’ve led to Burke losing his anger, causing him to pick up a nearby flashlight and hit Jon Benet in the head, killing her accidentally.
Burke Ramsey’s disturbing behavior before and after JonBenet’s murder point to him as being responsible. FBI special agent Jim Clemente said, “Burke had a history of scatological problems” (CBS Real Crime). Burke showed these problems by leaving excrement around the Ramsey house. According to the Ramsey’s former housekeeper, Linda Hoffman Pugh, Burke was known to leave feces specifically in JonBenet’s bed and to spread it on walls in the home. (Reynolds). When crime scene technicians visited Jon Benet’s bedroom after sealing it off, they apparently found “feces smeared on a box of candy” she had gotten for Christmas” (Reynolds). This abnormal behavior suggests that Burke not only had mental issues, but he also may have had jealousy issues towards his sister.
Burke’s anger problems also point to his responsibility in JonBenet’s death. According to an old family friend of the Ramsey’s, Burke was easy to anger, and had struck JonBenet with a golf club after getting mad, leaving her with a scar on her face (CBS Real Crime). This behavior shows that Burke was capable of being fatally violent with JonBenet.
Burke’s response to questions in his investigative interview are very odd, and they don’t show any feelings of a typical child. Two weeks after the murder, Burke told investigators that he felt safe and didn’t worry that an intruder would come back for him. (CBS Real Crime). According to former FBI profiler Jim Clemente, these responses and feelings were, “very unusual for a child” (CBS Real Crime). It is expected for a child to feel scared and unsafe after an intruder has kidnapped and murdered their sister. Most children would feel in extreme danger living in the house that their sister was murdered in. Burke’s casual feelings would be considered as very unusual, unless he knew that there was no intruder to blame for murdering his sister. This behavior again leads one to believe that JonBenet’s murder was not at the hands of an intruder, but rather someone in the house, and Burke’s mental and anger issues prove him to be capable.
Burke told investigators that he first asked his dad where JonBenet’s body was found. It is strange for a nine year old to ask about their sisters body, rather than what had happened to her (CBS Real Crime). His concern with Jon Benet’s dead body is very abnormal for a child of that age. When asked how Jon Benet died, Burke did physical demonstrations of someone hitting her with a hammer. Jim Clemente states that this was “odd because most children would not want to reenact something like that” (CBS Real Crime). Burke Ramsey’s interview was full of unusual behavior . He had “. . . no appropriate emotion at all about this happening to his sister and there was no indication of a child experiencing recent trauma” (CBS Real Crime). Burke’s lack of trauma and emotion give more reason to suspect him as responsible for JonBenet’s murder.
The exaggerations and discomfort Burke showed in interview two years later are also very odd. When asked if he heard anything the night his sister died, he stated, “I always sleep real deeply. I never can hear anything” (CBS Real Crime). According to Jim Clemente, this is overselling, his use of the words real and never can show deception (Rapt). If innocent, why would Burke need to over sell? Burke may have felt the need to oversell to cover up his accountability. Burke also shows extreme discomfort when asked about a picture from the day of the murder. It was an image of the dining table with the cup of pineapple. Jim Clemente adds, “such a simple question, yet he is avoiding it” He went on to add that Burke was “looking like he was about to jump out of his seat, showing unusual behavior” (CBS Real Crime). Burke’s response to the pineapple raises suspicion, and again suggests his responsibility.
Burke’s scatological and anger issues before the murder suggest his capability of murdering his sister, and his lack of emotion and then guilty behavior after the murder point to his responsibility.
