Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Ex-FBI Profiler Gives JonBenet Take
> BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -- The key to solving JonBenet
> Ramsey's slaying may be contained in 430 words of
> small, sometimes shaky script that two experts suggest
> were written to throw investigators off the killer's
> track.
>
> As the investigation winds down and heads toward a
> grand jury, the 2 1/2-page ransom note looms large as
> one uncontaminated piece of evidence in the
> 15-month-old case.
>
> Yet the note initially caused trouble: Police,
> accepting it as proof of a kidnapping and assuming the
> missing child had been whisked away, allowed friends
> and family to wander unescorted through the house and
> taint the crime scene.
>
> No officer was with John Ramsey, for instance, when he
> went to a basement storage room and returned carrying
> his daughter's beaten and strangled body.
>
> ``The note was totally ridiculous from the standpoint
> of having any credibility as a kidnap note,'' former
> FBI profiler Robert Ressler told The Associated Press.
> Police ``wasted effectively eight hours of crucial time
> in buying this kidnap note.''
>
> But, said Ressler, ``get the person that wrote that
> note and that person may not have killed JonBenet, but
> they certainly know what happened.''
>
> For that reason, he said, ``It's probably the best
> piece of evidence they have.''
>
> Police Cmdr. Mark Beckner, who took over the
> investigation in October, called the note important but
> would not say what conclusions authorities have drawn
> from it.
>
> ------
>
> ``Listen Carefully!'' the note begins. ``We are a group
> of individuals that represent a small foreign faction.
> We respect your business but not the country that it
> serves. At this time we have your daughter in our
> possession.''
>
> ------
>
> Ressler has assisted with hundreds of investigations,
> including those of multiple murderers Charles Manson,
> Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy. Now a
> private consultant in forensic behavioral science and
> based in Virginia, Ressler said the evidence, including
> the autopsy, suggests JonBenet was killed accidentally
> and ``an elaborate cover-up was done to divert police
> away from the crime.''
>
> He believes, for instance, that the child was garroted
> to divert police from what he believes is the true
> cause of her death: a blow to the head. The writing of
> the note, he said, was part of the overall effort to
> send police astray.
>
> If police had not fallen for the ploy, he said bluntly,
> the case would now be solved. ``They should have
> immediately started the investigation at another
> level,'' he said.
>
> Patsy Ramsey said she found the note at 5:30 a.m. Dec.
> 26, 1996, as she walked down the backstairs toward the
> kitchen to make coffee.
>
> Gregg McCrary, another former FBI profiler now doing
> private criminal consulting in Virginia, said placement
> of the note -- on the backstairs of the sprawling $1.5
> million home -- is significant.
>
> ``That's not a prominent place to leave a note --
> unless you know that they come downstairs in the
> morning to make coffee,'' McCrary said. ``That shows me
> a knowledge of the house and of the activities of the
> people in the house.''
>
> ------
>
> ``The two gentlemen watching over your daughter do not
> particularly like you so I advise you not to provoke
> them. Speaking to anyone about your situation such as
> police or FBI will result in your daughter being
> beheaded. ... Use that good, southern common sense of
> yours.''
>
> ------
>
> Ressler said this passage and others that provide
> information about the kidnappers show the writer has no
> criminal experience.
>
> ``Kidnap notes do not give information,'' Ressler said.
> ``They don't tell you how many people are in the
> organization, they don't tell you they are going to
> behead your daughter and they don't tell you the kind
> of container to use to get the money.''
>
> In addition, he said, the note ``reflects a person
> whose knowledge of kidnapping comes from movies and
> books.'' One line, in particular -- ``Don't try to grow
> a brain, John'' -- echoes a line spoken by actor Dennis
> Hopper in the movie ``Speed.''
>
> The ransom note was written with a black felt-tip pen
> on lined paper reportedly from a tablet in the home.
> Containing directives and contingencies, it is overall
> a sophisticated letter written by an educated person,
> said Bethany Dumas, a University of Tennessee English
> linguistics professor who has testified several times
> as an expert witness.
>
> ------
>
> ``You can try to deceive us, but be warned we are
> familiar with law enforcement counter-measures and
> tactics.''
>
> ------
>
> That passage, Dumas said, is ``very formal, very
> educated.''
>
> The $118,000 demand is interesting to McCrary, who
> notes most ransom demands are for ``a huge fat sum.''
> When Exxon executive Sidney J. Reso was abducted in
> 1992, the ransom demanded was $18.5 million.
>
> Also, McCrary said, the Ramsey note is unnecessarily
> wordy.
>
> ``Like the comment, `We respect your business.' It's
> not important to get the job done, but somebody felt it
> was important to say,'' McCrary said. ``Usually, it's
> `We've got your daughter and if you want to see her
> alive pay us.'''
>
> ------
>
> ``Make sure that you bring an adequate size attache to
> the bank. When you get home you will put the money in a
> brown paper bag. I will call you between 8 and 10 a.m.
> tomorrow to instruct you on delivery. The delivery will
> be exhausting so I advise you to be rested.''
>
> ------
>
> ``This business of getting a good night's rest because
> the next days are going to be trying, all these things
> are just above and beyond a kidnapper,'' Ressler said.
>
> The language has a caretaker quality and sounds like it
> comes from a ``college-educated mature female. But I'm
> not saying that it is Mrs. Ramsey,'' he said.
>
> Ressler said the writing points to a woman because
> ``men aren't that caring. They really don't care.''
>
> A huge turnout of reporters and photographers is
> expected in Boulder on Wednesday, when selection for
> the next Boulder County grand jury begins, although
> District Attorney Alex Hunter has not yet indicated
> whether he will send the Ramsey case to the new grand
> jury.
--
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