Page 21 - Crimes of 20th century

20. The Murder of JonBenet

Ramsey, 1996

Two corollary developments distinguish this terrible unsolved killing of a beautiful six-
year-old girl in Boulder, Colo. The first was the suddenly widespread revelation of the
existence of children's beauty pageants — in which JonBenet was entered time and again
by her former beauty queen mother, Patsy. Public fascination and repulsion over the
makeup, costumes and prepubescent swimsuit competitions at times overshadowed the
crime of child murder itself. The second development was the tenacity with which
observers and large segments of the public held on to suspicions that JonBenet's wealthy
family had something to do with her death. The murder was discovered the day after
Christmas 1996 and to this day no credible suspect has been arrested, despite the high-
profile false confession of teacher John Mark Karr. In the meantime, Patsy Ramsey has
died of cancer. But those who view her with suspicion have not relented.

[Editor's Note: A year after this package was published, DNA evidence prompted the
Boulder District Attorney to apologize to John Ramsey and his immediate family, saying
they were not considered suspects in the crime.]

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