Murder of JonBenet Ramsey

Kidnapping goes wrong theory

In many ways the death of JonBenet Ramsay is similar to kidnapping of Lindbergh baby - the child was taken from the family house, the child died on the day of kidnapping, there was a ransom note found on the crime scene, the ransom note included words that were misspelled, there was heavy media coverage, there were mistakes made by the police at the beginning of the investigation when it comes to securing the crime scene. The theory of kidnapping going wrong, like in case of Lindbergh baby, seems to fit the evidence in case of JonBenet Ramsey.

Facts that are supporting the theory:

  • JonBenet Ramsey often have taken part in beauty pageants, which must have drawned attention to the family,
  • if the ransom note was written before the murder it would suggest that kidnapping for ransom was the original aim of the killer,
  • the amount of money in the ransom note was unusually exact and close to what John Ramsay got as bonus, which means that either the kidnapper was someone close to the family or someone who took precautions while preparing for the operation and somehow checked how much money the Ramseys are able to get in short time, this excludes the option that the kidnapping was just random,
  • if the head injuries were caused during the kidnapping it would fit the same profile as in Lindbergh case and the strangulation would be the last resort of making sure that JonBenet would not be able to tell what happened; that fact would suggest that the girl saw her kidnapper or even knew him - otherwise he would just leave her stunned or unconscious and left the house without making sure that she is dead,
  • the kidnapper took the stun gun with him, so the kidnapping was his main target.


Facts that oppose the theory:

  • there were no signs of forced entry, although it doesn’t mean that there was no intruder,
  • if there was some sort of sexual assault it would not fit the kidnapping for ransom theory or the assault took place after the killer had to drop the plan of kidnapping the girl,
  • the kidnapper had to use a garrotte made of the things he found in the house, which means that he wasn’t armed in case the plan goes wrong (f.e. if he was detected he would not be able to defend himself) or he was armed in gun or something that would bring the attention of rest of the family,
  • apart from the DNA sample on the JonBenet’s clothes there are no other signs of presence of the intruder, although it is possible that some of them were destroyed before the police have secured the crime scene.


The scenario of the kidnapping based on the evidence available is rather obvious: the intruder used the stun gun to daze the girl, took her and left the ransom note. Most probably she woke up in the process of leaving the house, so he used the force to keep her quiet and caused the head injuries. Realizing that she might still be alive and will be able to recognize him he made the garrotte and killed her, later left the house without being detected by rest of the family. The facts seem to be strongly behind this theory.



 theory




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