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.

img_5850At 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:

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

Late on December 27th, 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 file-nov-29-11-52-31-pmwindow 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?…

Part 2 of The Day After Christmas trilogy is available now, exclusively on Amazon.  Be on the lookout for Part 3 in December.

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“Allergic to Nonsense”

Review of…


The Day After Christmas:  JonBenet Ramsey

Pick The Day After Christmas!  by Katharine Polenberg   

In this first installment of their next trilogy (about the unprosecuted murder of JonBenet Ramsey) the authors have raised the bar for true crime. Like the difference between porn and erotica in art, the difference between sensationalist crime writing and this new book is in its effect on the consumer and genre: the higher art and written word must be seen as elevating and honoring its subject.

This is what I see: there is real literary prose here. There is autobiographical analogy from van der Leek that stands alone as haunting short story; there is anthropological and psychological foundation in the cited research for the sense they make of the sensational. 
I like this team.

As I read this book I was reminded of the scene in the film “Infamous” in which Harper Lee and Truman Capote go over their notes and Lee corrects Capote’s recollection of a local’s description of Bonnie Clutter: “If you ever DID see her- not if you ever saw her.” “Good catch” he responds. Capote and Lee were hearing the home-grown vocabulary around the crime scene in the Clutter household. In this series of books we have the benefit of these authors’ equally sharp ears, and their ability to tell us what they think and why. Wilson and van der Leek share a thought process that is clear, instructive and humorously allergic to nonsense.

The Day After Christmas is available exclusively on Amazon

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The Changing Stories of John Ramsey, Part 2

Pedophile? Mad Man? Neighbor? Santa? Jealous Employee? Terrorist?  Which is it, John?

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Trump, True Crime and the Tyranny of Political Correctness

 

Wake up America.  This is the reality of our country right now.  

What are we – you and I, not our President – gonna do to fix it?

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The Reviews are in for The Craven Silence Trilogy

We’re thrilled that our books on JonBenet have expanded the minds of so many and have inspired our readers to further the conversation.  Here’s the latest…


From Katharine Polenberg

Read the 3 installments on Kindle, and I think you brought an intuitive, intelligent enthusiasm to img_5628-2the interrogation via the psychology of the children.  It’s underestimated how much damage the sibling rivalry and parental short-sightedness does to the child’s personality (and the adults who go with the flow!)  It’s so clear, in this telling of yours, that there were always two “only child” offspring in the house:  first a son who is the only child until a sister comes along.  He becomes the “other” child while she is given the turn at being the “only.”  If only the father had adopted his own boy as fiercely as she sank her teeth into her girl.  There’d still have been damaged young people growing up – but they’d at least have grown up physically together and possibly lived equally long lives.

 

The Craven Silence trilogy can be found exclusively on Amazon

 

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The Changing Stories of John Ramsey, Part 1 [SoundCloud]

There’s no such thing as either silence or noise; both co-exist, just at varying levels.  Have you ever noticed that even in the quietest of places, even when all of nature is still, there’s always a gentle buzzing in our heads?

I was thinking about this today as I was listening to various interviews with John Ramsey, which I recognize may sound weird.  What I mean is that for the last several months, Nick and I have explored the concept of silence as it pertains to the JonBenet Ramsey case.  Silence being the inaction, and then collusion, of a multitude of major players.  The flip side of that coin is deliberate deception.  That’s the part that I consider the noise. The constant chatter pointing us in a different direction, preventing us from being lulled into some total sense of peace.  John has arguably been the noisiest of the bunch.  The question is, why?

Some of his deceptions have been more obvious than others like his claim that he and Patsy didn’t talk to the media in the early days after the murder.  Of course we know that’s not true.  But since John blames the media for being part and parcel to the public’s poor perception of their family, he can’t very well admit to how much he’s used them for his own agenda.

What’s even harder to stomach though is the ping pong match between telling the public to hide their babies – there’s a killer on the loose! – and the good ‘ole Christian act of forgiving everybody no matter what, because yes, God seeks the hearts of killers too…

“I’m sorry… for them, for what… they’ve done.  And I hope that they’ve, uh, learned and, from that experience…” 

Do you notice the hemming and hawing in this statement?  Is it possible for even the most sincere Christians to hope that the killer [assuming the killer is an intruder] of their 6 year old child has learned from “the experience?”  Would they even refer to a murder as an “experience?”  So which is it, John?  Is the killer a dangerous animal that needs to be captured?  Or, is it somebody a lot more like us [hint hint], in which case the killer deserves forgiveness?

Here’s a clue…  the most hot under the collar I’ve seen John [which is still fairly mild] was when the CBS show was on the verge of airing their theory.  You know, the one that hit a little too close to home.  John, for the most part has been calm, “not angry,” getting on with life, in his own words, but suddenly in September he’s “mad.”  Does he say he’s mad because JonBenet was killed and a killer is still on the loose?  Not exactly.

The contradictions don’t stop there.  John dramatically told Dr. Phil last month that he’s done talking to the media.  He basically says never again, no more, see ya, leave me alone.  But then, surprise, he shows up on an Australian radio show just a few weeks later.  When asked why, the closest we get to an answer is… he would like to visit Australia some day.  Huh?  Listen for yourself…

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Did John Ramsey and Mary Lacy intentionally misdirect the case? #JonBenet

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Excerpt from The Craven Silence 3 #JonBenetRamsey

From the chapter

Wanted: missing photos, video, rope, duct tape, piece of paintbrush…


“Both ends of the duct tape found on her were torn, indicating that it came from a roll of tape that had been used before.” — Plaintiff’s Statement Disputing Material Fact [PSDMF]

I want to get back to Steve Thomas’ reconstruction, but whoever is guilty of murder, we’re still not clear on what happened to missing pieces of evidence. Were these various items evanescent?  Where is the rest of the rope used to tie and strangle JonBenét? Where is the original roll of duct tape?  What happened to the other piece of the broken paintbrush? Did they disappear into Boulder’s thin, cold Christmassy air?  We believe that’s exactly what happened.

Let’s address just one of these objects before moving on.  The duct tape across JonBenét’s mouth was similar to duct tape that had been used to fix two painted canvasses to their frames.  One of these paintings was hung in JonBenét’s bedroom.

 Patsy was an amateur painter and John was a man who habitually engaged in remodelling. Duct tape can also be used to protect surfaces from being contaminated by paint splatter, such as window and door frames. 

Since my own brother is a professional artist, and since I also have canvasses prepared for photographic printing, I know how often duct tape is used in mounting canvasses onto frames. For this reason I’m inclined to think the duct tape belonged to or was bought by Patsy.  If that’s the case it may explain why red fibers from her outfit worn on Christmas night were found on the discarded duct tape in the basement.  If the duct tape was Patsy’s, she knew where it was and she retrieved it.  Did she apply it to her daughter’s mouth?  Unknown.  

What’s interesting is that the duct tape found was torn on either end, which proves it was used.  This suggests at least the possibility that it came from the home.  If so, what happened to it?  What happened to the other end of the paintbrush and the nylon rope?  I believe they were burned.  At Christmas it’s not unusual to have a fire going.  Of course one of the first things that sticks out when looking at the Ramsey residence is the enormous chimney.

Some of the best footage we have of the fireplace is…

The Craven Silence 3 is available exclusively on Amazon Kindle

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Beth Karas on what should have happened – legally speaking – in the #JonBenetRamsey case

“You gotta take the tough cases to trial.  Sometimes you just have to do it and let the jurors decide because it is the right thing to do.” – Beth Karas

Last month, Investigation Discovery aired their special on JonBenet Ramsey titled An American Murder Mystery.  Beth Karas was a featured legal analyst on the program and offered insights on the suspects, including Mark Karr.

This week, she joined Nick and I for a discussion on numerous aspects of the case spanning the 20 years that have passed since the murder of JonBenet.

We delve into Alex Hunter.  Were his investigative choices strategic?  Should the Grand Jury indictment have been filed?  What about Lou Smit; were his findings objective?    We also touch on Linda Arndt, Steve Thomas, Ollie Gray… and many more.  And of course, we discuss the Ramseys.

“Mark Klaas, I have read, whose daughter Polly Klaas was kidnapped and murdered right from her home in a pajama party she’s having with girlfriends when she was about 13, begged them [John and Patsy] to cooperate with the police.  Work with the police.  Act like parents who have had their daughter senselessly, brutally murdered.” – Beth Karas

Watch the full discussion here…

For more on the JonBenet case, read The Craven Silence, parts 1 and 2, available on Amazon Kindle.

Beth Karas will be featured on the Reelz Channel program Hollywood Homicide Uncovered offering her expertise on the Phil Spector case.

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Excerpt from The Craven Silence 2 #JonBenetRamsey

From the chapter…


Playing Chess with Polygraphs

BYNUM: Oh, that’s – that’s ouija board science, number one. And I will also tell you, to my knowledge, that request has not been made of John and Patsy. Diane Sawyer ABC PrimeTime September 10 1997
 
The craziest thing about the “Polygraph narrative” is its gargantuan scale; it’s a complete narrative entirely on its own.  One could devote a book exclusively to rollercoastering through that farce.
 
At this point we’re going to take you through the highlights, but at the end of the day, the polygraphs are a lot like the police co-operation mirage.  The Ramseys can retrospectively claim that they did [eventually] speak to police.  Ditto they can retrospectively claim they did [eventually] take a polygraph or ten.
 
When we poke thoroughly through the Scalextric of this case, when we descend through the clunky depths of Lego strata, when we plumb the basement level of a SuperMario game, we eventually reach a dark obscurity with a clue twinkling in the midst of it.  john-and-patsy-3
 
On the 17th of March 2000, John and Patsy Ramsey were interviewed on ABC News 20/20 by Barbara Walters.  It wasn’t so much an interview at all as PR for the release of their book Death of Innocence.  
 
Their book was released a little more than two weeks prior to the Walters interview on March 1, 2000. Curiously, Amazon currently shows the release of the mass-market paperback as January 1, 2001.  You can say what you like about this “discrepancy”, the dailycamera.com published excerpts out of their book on March 15, 2000.  In other words, a local Boulder newspaper had seen their book two days prior to the Ramsey’s interview with a sub-par Barbara Walters. Ten days after hitting ABC the Ramseys gave Larry King a double dose on CNN.     
 
Let’s go to Larry and then boomerang back to Barbara.
 
From cnn.com [March 27, 2000]:
 
KING: Good evening. It’s a great pleasure to welcome the Ramseys to this edition of LARRY KING LIVE. It is a live appearance. Their book is “The Death of Innocence,” just published. They are the co-authors. They will also be with us tomorrow night. There’s the cover of the book.
 
This will be a two-night appearance, both evenings live… We’re going to get the whole story, as much as we can cover in two nights of programming. We hope to cover as much of it as we can. First on, something directly current… You had said recently in an interview that you were willing to take a lie detector test, and apparently the Boulder police are now saying let’s set it up.
 
Will you do it?
 
By “recent interview” Larry’s talking about their interview with Barbara Walters two weeks prior.  It’s important to stress though that having written a book, by March 2000 more than three years after JonBenét’s death they haven’t even taken a lie-detector test.  If they’re innocent, what’s the problem?
 
 Now notice how John answers…

The Craven Silence 2, the sequel to the bestselling The Craven Silence is available on Amazon Kindle

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