Im not saying parents dont kill their kids parents do kill their children, Smit said in his tapes. Having said that, the grand jury in the Ramsey case did indeed ultimately recommend indicting both John and Patsy Ramsey in connection with their daughter's death. The grand jury ended up accusing both John and Patsy Ramsey of unlawfully, knowingly, recklessly and feloniously permitting a child to be unreasonably placed in a situation which posed a threat of injury to the childs life or health as well as rendering assistance to a person, with intent to hinder, delay or prevent the discovery, detention, apprehension, prosecution, convictions and punishment of such person for the commission of a crime.. (This is the same scenario some cite to suggest that John and Patsy were protecting their son, Burke; though it is one thing to hypothetically cover up their daughter's death at the hands of her 9-year-old brother to protect him, and quite another to do so for an adult friend or acquaintance.). We were outraged. ", Janet McReynolds said Wednesday that her husband's involvement in the infamous case was "the greatest trial of his life.". Theres a lot of the same verbiage in this note as was in even the note that was written in that particular movie, Smit said in the recordings. The week before the murder, McReynolds had dressed up as the local Santa and entertained children at a Christmas gathering. One of the suspects investigated and cleared early on by authorities in JonBenet's death was family friend and neighbor Bill McReynolds, a man who had evidently been hired by Patsy to play Santa Claus at the Ramsey family's Christmas parties in both 1995 and 1996 (and possibly 1994, too). Elections to select Councilmembers are held on the . To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. Letting them go was a big mistake, as they soon layered up and did not get to formally interview them again until May of 1997, five months after their daughter was murdered., The case was then passed to the DAs office in 2002 after the Ramseys said they had no confidence in the police.. The first non-family suspect in the case was a friend, Bill McReynolds who was at the house two days before her death and liked to dress up as Santa Clause. If I try to consider an outsider, it would be one of the housekeepers or nannies who had some shady family members. Their desperation to protect Burke leads them to lie about certain little things which only makes them look guiltier. 9 yo kids kill, but it doesn't happen often enough for the Ramseys to think that Burke would be blamed. Particularly when you start with children of this age, when they die, tend to die at the hands of their parents, Garrett told 20/20. So the focus is naturally gonna be on the parents to begin with. They know someone outside the family has murdered their daughter, but they know no one will believe they're all innocent, so in order to protect Burke and themselves they call the police and report the kidnapping in the hopes that if they play along, the real killer will be caught eventually. On the morning of Dec. 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey frantically called 911 after making a shocking discovery a ransom note was on the first floor of her home, and her 6-year-old daughter was nowhere to be found. A window in the basement was broken and an unidentified footprint was found at the scene. "He loved being Santa, he loved little children, and then the Ramsey case destroyed that career and just devastated him. With twinkling blue eyes and beautiful features, she was an enigma ever since she stepped into the world. They didnt do it.. Now, in the house, the ransom note is written on a pad that belongs to Patsy., He said police began to suspect that maybe the Ramseys had harmed their child in some way, then panicked and tried to create basically a kidnapping scenario.. In the aftermath of their daughters murder, John Ramsey went on to lose his job and claims he spent millions of dollars on private investigators, lawyers and security. Waltrip was one of the most famous voices in NASCAR for 19 years. Bill McReynolds was found dead in his Mashpee, Mass., home Monday by his wife, Janet, when she. JonBent Patricia Ramsey was a six-year-old girl found dead in the basement of her Boulder, Colorado home on December 26, 1996. Theres a narrative out there that this is an unsolved homicide and that we just have to accept that as a fact, and that is not the truth. You're right. The Man Behind the Beard: The Story of Bill McReynolds video created by Listen Carefully: The JonBenet Story: 8.4K views, 22 likes, 0 loves, 37. The body was found by her father, John Ramsey. | Photos If we leverage the evidence, we follow the facts, we will find this killer., 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. The family friend, who died in 2002, was considered in JonBent's murder. According to CNN, an original prosecutor on the Ramsey case claimed that Bill had given JonBent a card with the message: "You will receive a special gift after Christmas." They search the house and find JonBenet murdered. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Could Bill "Santa Claus" McReynolds have been a closet pedophile? New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. While the Ramsey's were at the party, the killer staged the kidnapping, he wrote the ransom note so he could throw off the investigation as long as possible.. bill mcreynolds daughter bill mcreynolds daughter. Now, twenty-five years after the shocking discovering, there are still many unanswered questions about the case as experts and amateurs alike try to uncover what happened that night. JBR could just have been bragging. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. But it wasn't just Santa that investigators were interested in. On December 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey woke up around 5:45 a.m. and found a three-page handwritten note. Though the McReynolds' were both ruled out as suspects early on, as were the Ramseys some years later, as a forensic psychologist, I find it difficult to dismiss such potentially meaningful "coincidences" in a notorious cold case such as this. Her hands were tied above her head. Why not bring it with him? According to a CNN report in 2006, Trip DeMuth, an original prosecutor on the case, said that McReynolds' alleged Christmas card to JonBent was particularly concerning: The McReynolds were reportedly cleared of charges after submitting DNA samples, CNN reported. Cindy Mara is one of the daughters of Lou Smit, who investigated JonBenet Ramsey's case and whose dying wish was for his family and friends to find her killer. I thought there was something drastically wrong and that there was a gross injustice in this case, he said in the tapes. Bill allegedly had an unusually close and trusting relationship with JonBenet, and easy access to both her and her brother, Burke. Thats the question I always ask.. KEVIN E. SCHMIDT. Adam Driver & Wife Joanne Tucker Are Expecting Baby #2, This Alvin Ailey Dancer Fuels Herself With Healthy Meals, Yet All Her Kids Want Is Sugar, Courteney Cox Just Responded To Prince Harrys Story About Doing Mushrooms At Her House, Daisy Jones & The Six Is A Nostalgic Series Based On A Best-Selling Book, What Parents Are Talking About Delivered Straight To Your Inbox, By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. That was probably another reason there was some interest in him as a possible suspect. Can Good Relationship Experiences Change Attachment Styles? I wish we would have done a better job of securing and controlling the crime scene on day one, said Beckner. The interrogation ultimately took place at a different police department and the Boulder investigators were forced to watch from a separate building. It was his wife. Throughout both interrogations, JonBents parents vehemently denied anyone in their family killed their daughter. Be that as it may, what I want to focus on in this next post, however, is not some other single piece of evidence in this baffling case, but rather on what took place back in 1999, when 12 people were officially tasked by the Boulder District Attorney's office with reviewing the entirety of available evidence at the time and recommending whether to criminally indict anyone in regard to the death of JonBenet Ramsey. JonBent was buried in Marietta, Georgia, the Ramseys hometown, on Dec. 31, 1996. He was just so devastated by the mere idea anyone would suspect him of a crime," she said. Or perhaps the Ramseys felt that, with poor JonBenet already dead, they did not want to see their friend, Bill, who was already in poor health, die in prison. Another suspect was Bill McReynolds. Don't Talk to Me, Steven Thomas If they were so anxious about it anyway, why not just remove the pineapple and avoid saying that Burke had a snack with her & getting the police to actually look for their daughter's killer? Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. A federal court ruled that it was unlikely that Patsy wrote the note and cited six certified handwriting experts. JonBents cause of death was determined to be strangulation with a makeshift garrote, a weapon that, in this case, involved a string wrapped around a piece of one of Patsy Ramseys paintbrushes. He said that this evidence was not something that was made public for quite a long time. An analysis found that it didnt match anyone in the Ramsey family. No suspects were ever found. Youve just been dealt a horrible, crushing blow.. Arndt suggested that John Ramsey look around the house for any signs that his daughters belongings were out of place. A minuscule amount of mixed DNA (from different locations and multiple foreign sources) doesn't prove much - unless someone cleaned up afterward, there should have been much more evidence from a single profile left. They didn't follow procedure with the nail clippers. He was 72. Therefore, he very controversially decided not to file any formal charges against the Ramsey's at all. Bill Cosby and daughter Erika, 11, watch son Erinn, 10 and daughter Ennis, 7, upload snowballs, on winter stroll on 60th Street on January 25, 1977. dave crawford obituary; used 3 horse trailer with living quarters and slide out; bill mcreynolds daughter Categories. However, I believe that Bill McReynolds cooperated completely with everything asked of him by the police and was thoroughly investigated. Olivas high school friend, Michael Vail claimed that Oliva had call him on the phone to confess that he had hurt a little girl. Police investigated a wide variety of individuals in relation to JonBenet Ramsey's murder, including Bill McReynolds, though McReynolds (who died in 2002) also maintained his innocence and was cleared of any involvement in her death. In the ensuing years, Smit continued to look at the information he had on the JonBent case and compiled it all into a database. The amount demanded was identical to Johns Christmas bonus the year before, which suggested that whoever had that information might have been involved in the crime. The idea that a parents first thought upon finding their child murdered is to start a coverup out of pure survival instinct is fantastical. The 26-year-old committed suicide two days after a 1997 press conference where the Boulder DA announced that they were looking at a new suspect. However, physical evidence suggested that those details were part of a set-up. Why did he even write it in the house? The 2 1/2-page letter demanded that John withdraw $118,000 and wait for further instructions. Additionally, the McReynolds' 9-year-old daughter was reportedly abducted on Dec. 26, the same day JonBent was found dead, only years prior in the 1970s. According to The Guardian, Bill McReynolds had written a note to JonBent, as Santa, days before her body was discovered. Were not investigators. Very suspicious. Part of Karrs twisted confession involved diary entries written about crime in which Karr describes strangling JonBent as a love game gone wrong. McReynolds is described as the man hired by Patsy to play Santa Claus at the Ramsey family's Christmas parties in 1995 and 1996. However, the McReynolds were officially cleared (again, via DNA analysis, which is certainly not infallible) of any involvement in the crime, with these startling aforementioned "facts" deemed purely coincidental by both themselves and, presumably, the Boulder police department. All because they thought Burke might be arrested for eating pineapple with JonBenet? And Burke. Cookie Notice Longmont Police Department records on the December 26, 1974 kidnapping of Jill McReynolds (daughter of JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect "Santa" Bill McReynolds) and her friend by an unidentified pedophile Addeddate 2020-07-08 01:31:47 Identifier JillMcReynolds_LongmontPD Identifier-ark He served as a Winston Cup crew chief from 1985 to 2000, amassing 23 Cup wins, 21 poles, 122 top-five and 209 top-ten finishes. Transforming Empathy Into Compassion: Why It Matters, How Siblings Contribute to "The Good Life", What "Poker Face" Gets Wrong About Lie Detection, A Profile of Oregon's Pseudocommando Killer. What exactly were these findings and related recommendations, and what became of them? The Boulder Police Department was hit with a lot of criticism due to their handling of the investigation. Get the help you need from a therapist near youa FREE service from Psychology Today. Just because he saw JonBenet last? Convinced that the ransom note had most likely been written at the house, investigators next took writing samples from dozens of people, including John, Patsy Ramsey and Burke Ramsey, John Ramsey's children from his first marriage, former friend Fleet White, Bill McReynolds, who portrayed Santa Claus at the Ramseys' Christmas party, neighbor . But were not gonna stop investigating. He told the Denver Post that when he first met JonBent in 1995 he was struck by her smile, her "pensive, almost retiring" demeanor, and her angelic glow. The revelations prompted police to call. Nonetheless, in retrospect, we must take into consideration these strange recommendations rendered by this grand jury and their possible significance. According to The Daily Camera, the McReynolds' middle daughter, 9-years-old at the time, was abducted on December 26, 1974, and witnessed the sexual molestation of her friend. In his video diaries, Smit pointed out that whoever wrote the ransom note included language that was drawn from several movies. So he was a white male with dark hair around 20-25 years old. missoula jobs part time; best fitness tracker for hockey Helgoth was tied to a supposed property. Bill was both a Prefect and Head Boy. The note said, You are not the only fat cat around, and also included other lines that were similar to the dialogue from the films Dirty Harry and Speed.. Born in Birmingham, Ala., McReynolds currently resides in Mooresville, N.C., with his wife, Linda . To begin with probably another reason there was some interest in him as a possible suspect Sun. Said Beckner completely with everything asked of him by the police and was thoroughly investigated that those were. A window in the basement of her Boulder, Colorado home on December 26 1996. Lot of criticism due to their handling of the most famous voices NASCAR. 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