Who Broke the Basement Window?

Fairly early on in researching the JonBenet case, Nick and I suspected something was really off with the broken window story.

At first, the window was no big deal to John. He didn’t seem to want to draw attention to it. If you want to make the case that someone came in from the outside of the house and broke in, wouldn’t you be cheerleading a broken window as prima facie, bona fide whoopdedoo evidence? So why does John not even mention it to the cops that morning? As a concerned parent he should be waving a great big flag at it. So why doesn’t he?

The police aren’t sure whether there’s been any break in anywhere, and what’s more, are mumbling about no footprints in snow. But the broken window is John’s big opportunity to say – wow, this is how and where they could have gotten in. Except John didn’t seem to be thinking that. Besides this, why is it that the window was broken months ago?

What we want to know is:

Why are there inconsistencies around the window [and what are they exactly?]
If John didn’t break the window, who did?
Was it broken 4-5 months earlier, or on the night of the murder?
If it was broken on the night of the murder, who broke it, how, why and what does this mean?

Late on December 27^th, the police first discussed the broken window with John. It’s 9:30pm and Linda Arndt and Larry Mason are at the Fernie’s house where the Ramseys are staying…

Linda Arndt’s report dated Jan 8, 1997:

John was told that there was a broken window located in the basement of his home. [In response] John told us that he had broken out a basement window approx. 4 to 5 months ago. This window was located in the room where the Christmas decorations were kept. The grate covering the window well to this window was not secured. John had been locked out of the house. John told us he removed the grate, kicked in the basement window, and gained entrance to the house from this window. John told us he had not re-secured the window nor had he fixed the window which he had broken.

Let’s consider a hypothetical scenario. John and/or Patsy intentionally break the glass on Dec 25/25 as part of a staging. Again, we’re stuck with the quandary of why not bring it to the attention of the police? Plus, why didn’t they leave the glass on the ground? If you’re creating the illusion that somebody forced their way in, then leave the evidence and make sure somebody sees it. They didn’t do that either.

There’s also the possibility that John really did break the window that summer because he was locked out, therefore he really didn’t think it was suspicious when he saw it on December 26. Nevertheless, a broken window that could be opened from the outside would still be a point of entry/exit, so why not tell the police that? Why did Patsy say she told the housekeeper about the broken window but the housekeeper, Linda Hoffman Pugh, knew nothing about it from Patsy, let alone saw that it was broken?

In our book The Day After Christmas 2, the plot thickens. We interrogate the statements of John, Patsy and Burke on the broken window. Who was there when it was broken, when was it broken and how? Do you think the three offer three consistent statements or do you think all three statements contradict one another?…