Part 3 of three-part series
Chronology based on scores of articles in The Denver Post beginning on Dec. 27, 1997, the day after JonBenet Ramsey’s death in her Boulder home.
1977 – Patsy Ramsey named Miss West Virginia.
1990: Aug. 6 – JonBenet Patricia Ramsey is born in Atlanta.
1991 – The Ramseys move from Atlanta to Boulder.
1995 – JonBenet Ramsey crowned Little Miss Colorado
1996 – JonBenet wins America’s Tiny Little Miss contest
Dec. 26: 5:52 a.m. – Patsy Ramsey calls 911 from her 15-bedroom, brick, Tudor-style home at 755 15th Street to report that her 6-year-old daughter JonBenet Ramsey, a student at Martin Park Elementary School, had been abducted. Someone had left a ransom note on a back stair case leading from the kitchen to the parents’ third floor bedroom demanding $118,000.
The Ramsey home has tall gables, dormers and mullioned windows on a large lot filled with mature trees. The residence was still festooned with bright Christmas decorations that seemed incongruous at a murder scene, according to a Denver Post article. A Santa Claus figure and sleigh rested at the end of the front walk, which was lined with large plastic candy canes, the story says. This year JonBenet had dressed up as a Christmas present and sung “”Jingle Bell Rock.”
JonBenet had one sibling living at home, Burke, who was 9. Another sibling who lists his address as the residence is stepbrother John Andrew Ramsey, then 20, a student at the University of Colorado. JonBenet also had a stepsister, Melinda, then 24, of Atlanta.
The Ramseys had been active in various civic philanthropic activities, including Opera Colorado and Junior League. While in
Atlanta, they were active in the Atlanta Symphony Black and White Ball, as well as the Phoenix Debutantes of Atlanta. The downstairs front section of their house was used to entertain guests – as many as 50 two days before Christmas – and included a catering kitchen.
1:30 p.m. – John Ramsey, president and founder of Access Graphics, a privately held subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, searches the house, discovers his daughter’s body in a little used utility room in the basement and carries her body upstairs in his arms, screaming and pulling duct tape off of her mouth. Police would claim that they hadn’t searched the house because they had no reason to believe the child was still in the home after receiving the ransom note.
The FBI is called into the investigation because the Ramseys discovered a ransom note.
Late in the evening: Police detectives and crime scene investigators began searching the house after securing a search warrant. Boulder assigns 30 officers to the case.
Dec. 27: Autopsy performed on JonBenet Ramsey’s body. The autopsy determined that JonBenet was bludgeoned to death. Boulder County Coroner John Meyer ruled yesterday that JonBenet died of asphyxiation caused by strangulation. He listed the child’s death as a homicide.
Patsy Ramsey traveled around the country with JonBonet to attend her daughter’s beauty contests.
“They were so serious about this beauty queen stuff, but they never put any pressure on her,” said Nelson Schneider,
another neighbor. “She had her own float in the Colorado Parade of Lights in December 1995, and Patsy walked along the side of the float the whole parade to make sure (JonBonet) was safe.”
