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The first episode of The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey premiered last night on CBS to little fanfare as it was competing with The Emmy’s and Sunday Night Football. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth watching, though, so if you missed it you can watch online for free on CBS’s website. When I saw the first trailer for this show I thought it was going to be a documentary-style show akin to Making A Murderer and The Jinx, but what we get instead is this sort of reality tv show feel.
I really liked the first episode (it was 90 minutes long), but the conclusion airs tonight. With it only being a two-part series, I’ve gotta think that they aren’t going to catch whoever did this. Cameras follow FBI supervisory special agent Jim Clemente and former New Scotland Yard criminal behavioral analyst Laura Richards in episode one as they delve into the 911-call, the infamous ransom note, and a closer look at the Ramsey home where JonBenet’s body was found.
The original 911 dispatcher, Kim Archuletta, felt Patsy’s 911 call sounded rehearsed
We start out with the 911 call and an interview with the 911 operator who took the phone call from Patsy Ramsey on that night in 1996. There might have been voices in the background, and using advanced technology not available to investigators back in the 90s, we learn that there was conversation going on after Patsy thought she had hung up the phone.
“We’re not speaking to you,” followed by Patsy asking, “What did you do? Help me, Jesus,” then Burke asking, “What did you find?”
If you listen to the tape, Patsy sounds guilty as hell. It just doesn’t add up, man. Her voice changes on a dime from frantic to incredibly composed for a mother who supposedly had just found a ransom note regarding her missing daughter. The investigators talk a lot about “a gear shift” after Patsy thinks that she hangs up the phone. Sort of a “Okay, we’ve taken care of the 911 call, now what?”
So where do we go from there, you ask? You have to look at Burke, JonBenet’s older brother who was nine years old at the time. In statements to police, the parents said that Burke was asleep through this entire ordeal. But from this conversation that happens after Patsy thinks the phone is hung up, I’ve got to think that Burke could have murdered his little sister.
Some of the lines from the ransom note sound like they’re lifted from famous crime films.
The investigators spent a lot of time with the ransom note and the most ridiculous part about it was the fact that whoever wrote it just blatantly ripped off a bunch of lines from well-known movies.
“If we catch you talking to a stray dog, she dies” sounds like “If you talk to anyone, even if it’s a Pekingese on a lamp post… the girl dies” from Dirty Harry. The line “Don’t try to grow a brain, John” reads like the line “Do not attempt to grow a brain” from Speed.
Even more laughable was that the cops noted in their investigation that the Ramsey’s home was decorated with framed movie posters. I mean no one was using Google back in ’96, so it’s not like the cops could just type this stuff into a computer. But you can’t use “Dirty Harry” and “Speed” if you’re going to forge a ransom letter. Steal lines from lesser known movies. It’s almost like the Ramsey’s had never covered up a murder before.
At that point in the first episode, it’s very clear that Clemente and Richards are going along with the long-held belief that Burke was the murderer. This is where the murder weapon and cause of death come into play. Enter Dr. Werner Spitz, a forensic pathologist, who worked with others investigating the JFK and MLK, Jr. assassinations. You know this guy is legit. And he maintains that a flashlight found in the Ramsey’s kitchen was used to strike JonBenet on the top of the skull and kill her.
The rest – the strangulation, her tied hands, the duct tape over her mouth, Spitz concludes, was probably staged.
Clemente and Richards even brought a ten-year-old kid into their office and then had him strike a would-be skull with a flashlight to see if a child would have the strength to do such a thing. Result? The team concludes that it would not have taken much strength to cause such an injury, suggesting the possibility of Burke’s involvement. But they haven’t gone into what Burke is doing now, and since both of the parents are dead I’m just guessing that Burke didn’t want to incriminate himself by going on the show.
If the Part One of this show tells us anything, it’s that the older brother Burke should be suspect numero uno. I’m assuming we’ll get someone in the finale who is an expert in DNA to see if any new evidence can be found. The conclusion of The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. on CBS. For some reason I’m not super confident they’re going to be able to pin the murder on Burke which is why they were able to wrap the entire thing up in two episodes. For shame, CBS..
[via Rolling Stone]
Image via Youtube
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jduda@grandex.co
This case scared the hell out of me when I was five. Years later, in college, I actually met a girl who had known JonBenet. Talk about eerie.
This almost felt like an episode of South Park. Way over dramatic with a group of “experts” with made up titles so no one will argue with and they find absolutely zero conclusive evidence. I mean we all know what happened, but this show is unnecessary and comical.
Both parents are not dead. John is still alive.
That kid they had smash the skull with the mag-lite? I hope he saves his paycheck for the therapy he’s gonna need one day. That whole scene was f’d up.