DOI - The Murderer

John Ramsey's "Description of the Killer" pgs 363-4.

1.RamFact:"The murderer is a man." Basis: "The tremendous blow...required the strength of a man."

2.RamBelief: "killer is a pedophile" Basis: John was told garotte & wrist ties were likey part of/ consistent with a sexual bondage fantasy situation.

3.RamFact: "The killer is a psychopath." Basis: dictionary definition of the word.

4.RamFact: "He is younger rather than older...25-35" Basis: none

5.RamFact: "He goes to the movies." Basis; "phrases used in the ransom note came directly from movies.."

6.RamFact: "...is either an ex-con or has been around people who are hardened criminals." Basis: "He thinks like a criminal."

7.RamSuspicion: "he wore gloves." Basis: (implied) criminals know not to leave prints

8.RamPossibility: "He may be part of a gang or from a foreign country." Basis: assertion that foreigners dig garrotes & complex knots.

9.RamFact: "After the murder, the killer's strange mannerisms would have been noticable..." Basis: none, but reads as if cribbed from MindHunter.

10. RamFact: "..the number 118 and the letters SBTC had some significance to him." Basis: they were the numbers & letters used.

11. RamPossibility: "He may have been jealous of, or angry at [John]" Basis: John's business/business practices/parent company

12. RamFact: "he had access to a stun gun." Basis: some guy in a delorean

13. RamFact: "..was in the vicinity of Boulder, Colorado, on December 25, 1996." Basis: Okay, this one I'll give him.


As sketchy as John's killer profile is, it still tends to eliminate most (all?) of those named as suspects by the Ramseys elsewhere in the book and in interviews. Priscilla's not a man, so she's eliminated. Fleet isn't an ex-con or associate, so he is....etc.

Applying John's statement "this wasn't his first crime, and won't be his last" does wipe the suspect list clean, as noone they've named (reluctantly) has murdered another child.

The killer John describes wasn't angry or jealous of any other businessmen?

Or... 1. female 2. no sexual element to the crime 3. killer relatively sane 4. older than 35 5. not a movie goer 6.otherwise upstanding law-abiding person 7. n/a 8. domestic non-gangmember 9. normal appearance 10. chosen at random (yeahyeah bonus amount) 11. Bore no ill will towards John, liked him lots 12. didn't have access to, or use one 13. was in Boulder, though anxious to leave shortly thereafter