An Open Letter to John and Patsy Ramsey
Dear John and Patsy Ramsey:
I feel I can address you both by your first names, as you have been a familiar presence in my home since the terrible tragedy of JonBenét's death Christmas night, some twenty months ago. Whether it be the television screen, the newspaper, or my computer screen, I have seen your faces and heard your words over and over, hence the reason I am writing to you in this manner.
JonBenét was a beautiful child who's demise came far to soon and in a manner so graphic and despicable that she has become this country's symbol for justice for all abused, tortured, and murdered children. The Internet alone has dozens of sites, with hundreds, possibly thousands, of people who have followed this case almost from day one. Lest you think we are all true crime junkies or obsessed with ghoulish acts of violence, let me assure you, the large majority of us are people who still believe in family, morals, and truth. And the truth is, we have all adopted your daughter in our hearts and we want the person or persons who did this to her to be arrested, prosecuted, and convicted.
Little girls are supposed to laugh and giggle and play with dolls; they are not supposed to be miniature versions of an adult. As a woman, and a parent, I find it inexcusable that a child her age would have her hair bleached, her face painted, her body dressed like she was ready for a layout in Playboy, and be taught to walk and flash a smile like a high-priced hooker! I am not alone in my opinion on this. People all over this country are asking, on a daily basis, what kind of parents encourge and demand this type of life for an innocent child?
And now I am asking you. What was your motive to put your child into this lifestyle? The public opinion weighs heavily towards the opinion that you, Patsy, were living vicariously through your daughter. Was working so hard towards that Miss America crown that you weren't able to win worth JonBenét's life? We've all seen you claim that JonBenét loved being in the pageants and that it was only a few. A few? The large number of photographs and variety of outfits say differently. Others who have attended the same pageants say differently. People who claim to know you and your family say differently. Comman sense says that everyone can't be wrong.
Many people have acknowledged that the type of pageants JonBenét was involved in was a paradise for pedophiles. Surely you had to be aware of this? And yet as parents, you willingly subjected you daughter to this atmosphere and danger. Being the child of wealthy parents, I would imagine, would certainly add to her appeal to any pervert watching her. What precautions did you take to ensure her safety? To prevent her from being kiddnapped just for the money, let alone any perverse activity?
How can you go on television and expect the public to believe that you loved, cherished, and protected your daughter? We live in a violent world, with terrible things happening to nice people every day. We are not naive and we will not buy rehearsed performances and scripted documentaries. The same media you are trying to use to further your own cause has educated us in the fine art of publicity and how far someone will go with it.
You have both looked the public in the eye and stated that "I did not kill my daughter". You put up a reward, a bit smaller then the one offered by the Globe. You hired investigators, a renowned FBI profiler, high profile lawyers and countless others to find the truth. You vowed to find the killer, the terrible person who robbed you of your precious little girl and ended her life as though it meant nothing. Where are all these hired guns now? All that appear to be left are the lawyers. And strangely, no answers.
You avoided talking with the police, refusing interviews, and yet, you thought nothing of going on television to tell your story, while claiming that the police were pursuing you instead of the real killer. Certainly you relize that the people closet to a victim are always the people who need to be ruled out first? Innocent people have nothing to fear, especially when they have the type of legal protection that you were able to hire.
Have you put your own publicized fears of being wrongly accused ahead of the truth by preventing the Boulder Police Department from proceeding with their investigation? As parents of a child found abused, strangled, and dead in your home, certainly you can understand the importance of clearing all persons who were in the home and had opportunity to participate in the crime? Then explain to the public why you refused to come forward immediately? Explain how, while you remain under the "umbrella of suspicon", you have been able to impede this investigation by accessing reports, records, video tapes, and other evidence usually withheld until charges are put forth?
As parents of the slain little girl, you would be entitled to know the details of the investigation. If this were my child, I certainly would expect complete cooperation from the authorities with me, and I would have offered mine to them from day one. However, as suspects, not yet cleared, what gives you the right to the type of access you have? Is it your money? Is it your connections, both political and business? What allows you to have this special privilege not granted to others in the same or similar situation?
Furthermore, with the financial, business, and political resources that you have at your disposal, why aren't you out there, making commercials and documentaries demanding that the guilty party be found and brought to justice? Why haven't you been pounding on the doors of the Boulder authorities, demanding and pushing for an investigative grand jury? Why did it take you so long to submit to questioning, and then only under extreme circumstances? Don't you think that you should have been giving full disclosure from day one and screaming and yelling to get yourselves cleared of suspicion so that the concentration could shift to finding the real killer?
Instead, you preform scripted events for the public, with full control over the content. Do you beg for someone to come forward with information? Do you express disgust and loathing and contempt for the person who has done this to you and your family? Do you demand justice for your dead daughter? NO! You whine and complain about the inappropriate treatment that you are receiving by the press. You whine and complain about the terrible police deparment in Boulder and accuse them of only concentrating on you as suspects. Did you ever think that maybe this is your own entire fault?
If you would have cooperated right from the start, because as you have maintainted, you are innocent, the police department would not have had to spend all this time and energy on you. Unless, of course, they found that there was no other place to look after all.
Your behavior does not follow what I would expect innocent grieving parents to follow. Not that there is a manual for this situation, but certainly surviving parents of a murdered child do not continue to act as though they have something to hide. Protecting your rights by obtaining legal counsel from the start was unusual to most of us, but not without merit. However, using them to avoid being cleared, rather than to avoid being wrongly charged, is inexcusable in my opinion.
Your daughter JonBenét, that beautiful angelic child, did not deserve to experience the torturous death that ended her short six years of life. Is her gruesome death all that you want her life to stand for? Is this the way that you want to remember her; a garrote around her neck, her Wednesday panties stainted with blood and urine, her tiny body bruised and rigid and discolored, mucous drainage from her nose and crying eyes dried on her cold and lifeless face? Is this heartbreaking tortured little girl's image the one you want everyone to remember? Or is it the image of a miniature hooker, with a painted face, showgirl costumes, and streetwalker stage movements that Gypsy Rose Lee would have died for?
Only you have the ability to show the world the innocent, loving, and joyful little girl that you claim JonBenét really was. So far, all I have seen is the face and body of a child old before her time, with a haunting sadness in her eyes, beyond the painted on smile for the camera. If you are innocent of any involvement in the death of your daughter, then do the right thing. Come forward and publicly tell the entire story, unrehearsed and without restrictions. Answer all the questions. Begin to work to make JonBenét's life count by making her death a wake-up call for protecting all children everywhere from abuse of any kind.
And if you are guilty of any actions leading to her death and covering it up, know that as each day passes, she dies again and again, unable to rest in peace, crying tears in Heaven, until the truth is revealed and Justice for JonBenét is realized. I truly wish for the guilty party, whoever it may be, to find a living hell on earth, and worse beyond.
Angels shouldn't have to cry. Your daughter has touched the hearts of many, and united strangers via the Internet from all ends of this country to fight for Justice for JonBenét and all the other little children like her.
How can you give up when we won't?
~~~SJ has givin me permission to post her letter here on my Web Page~~~
If there are any questions regarding this site send e-mail to:
Justice for JonBenét
Internet Poster
SJ in Ohio
