After recent releases of mystery series and movies on Netflix (Such as “Extremely Wicked”, a story of serial killer, Ted Bundy and “Casting Jonbenet Ramsey”, a story of a gruesome murder), many are left questioning, why now? Jonbenet Ramsey passed away on December 26, 1996 - over two decades ago. An unsolved mystery of a pageant queen would soon surface and face the harsh media.

It was a snowy Christmas in Boulder, Colorado. Later, videos would be released of six-year old Jonbenet playing with her recently opened dolls and toys. Kaylei Lewis, an intrigued college student who has been involved in the case since she was a kid, wrote how it was “devastating how Jonbenet was simply playing with toys possibly hours before her death.” The poor girl had no possible way of knowing.

The family would soon rest their eyes from a tiresome Christmas party around 10-11 pm. But in the early hours of December 26 at around 5am Patricia Ramsey (mother of Jonbenet) discovered a ransom note saying that Jonbenet had been kidnapped and demanding for $118,000 (the same amount of money her father received as a bonus) The police were called in the morning at 5:25 despite the obvious message on the ransom note saying that Jonbenet would be killed if they were called.

John and Patsy Ramsey quickly became suspects by the police. The police soon became suspicious that they had something to do with her disappearance. However, throughout the search, important evidence would be contaminated due to the fact that many people were at the Ramsey house the night before her death for a Christmas party. The search party was given to John Ramsey and a family friend, Fleet White. However, the search was cut short.

Jonbenet’s lifeless body was found in the basement under a white blanket with a nylon cord wrapped around her neck, her wrists were tied above her head, and duct tape across her mouth. Crime Museum wrote “While there was no evidence of rape, there was the possibility of sexual assault.” A very gruesome sight.

So why was the immediate family so sought after in the search? Why did the police so thoroughly believe that it was connected to the family? Well, maybe because of the suspicious ways they acted. There was a significant break between the story that the Ramsey’s gave. The autopsy revealed that Jonbenet did have pineapple in her digestive system. However, both parents confessed to never giving her pineapple in the recent days. Jonbenet’s brother, Burke, was also supposedly asleep throughout the entire scene of the crime. Which severely deviates from the evidence.

Throughout the casual police search, very few potential evidences surfaced. Pieces of broken glass littered the ground while scuff marks scratched aimlessly around a window. Fingerprints, hand-prints, and a single boot mark pressed onto the soft, basement carpet.

Theories of the convict surfaced quickly.

The most popular conspiracy being Patricia (Patsy) Ramsey. Patsy said she first knew Jonbenet was missing when she was confronted by a ransom note at the bottom of the staircase. Analysis of the note reported it was most likely written by a woman. Along with that information, Patsy was believed to be a very strict mother. Some claim that she physically punished Jonbenet for peeing the bed and accidentally killed her. Most people, including Kaylei Lewis believe that Patsy was the main conspirator. “Patsy herself was said to be a very harsh mother towards Jonbenet, it’s not unlikely that Jonbenet made one wrong move and set Patsy in a rage” Kaylei Lewis said.   

If this is the case, Jonbenet will never get the justice she deserves because Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer in 2006.

Another notorious theory was that of Jonbenet’s father, John Bennett. Because of the parent’s strange behaviors and the insufficiency of footprints outside in the snow in the front yard, the parents were harshly accused by the media. Lead investigators believe that Jonbenet knew her killer and trusted him/her. That being said, she trusted them enough to be lured out of her bedroom-possibly with the promise of pineapple.

The parents were the main suspects of this case because of strange behaviors. However, there is little to no concrete proof who commited the crime.

Lastly, Jonbenet’s little brother, Burke, was thought by a good portion of the media to have been involved. Even though Burke would’ve been 9 years old at the time of the crime, media suggested that he may have accidentally injured and killed Jonbenet. Followed by this, Patsy and John Bennett would try and cover it up to save Burke’s innocence. While this is a plausible theory, very little evidence supports it.

After a few years, the devastating case of Jonbenet faded. Less media coverage was prevalent and less people were talking about it. Mentions of the case would occasionally surface but before long, the case faded away.

However, due to recent events in early January 2019, a male convict confessed to committing the crime. While this was shocking and overwhelming to many relevant people in the media industry, professionals soon realized that the convict was practically just begging for attention. This being said, there would be no possible way the criminal could even be in Colorado at the time of Jonbenet’s passing. Often times, criminals will to confess to crimes they did not commit for attention and media coverage.

The soon-to-be released case of Jonbenet Ramsey “Casting Jonbenet Ramsey” will be released to Netflix in late May. Hopefully, this will jog the memories of witnesses or people with information on the subject.

In the end, nobody really knows what happened to Jonbenet. The amount of strange, grievous specifics may forever fog over the truth of what happened to Jonbenet Ramsey.