John and Patsy on Christian Lecture Circuit

Parents of JonBenet Ramsey in Bristol to Share Faith

By ANDREA HOPKINS
Bristol Herald Courier

Thursday, April 3, 2003

John and Patsy Ramsey still smile at the happy memories of the all-too-brief time they shared with their golden-haired daughter JonBenet.

But there are darker memories, too -- thoughts of finding the child's lifeless body in their Boulder, Colo., home a day after Christmas 1996, a police probe that pointed a finger at them as the child's killers, and six years spent without answers.
But through it all, they said, they have kept their faith in God and see his spirit at work in their lives.

"People ask us, 'How did you get through all this? How did you remain standing?'" John Ramsey said Wednesday as he sat with his wife in the afternoon sun in Bristol Tennessee's Anderson Park. "The answer really is that God has sustained us."

Patsy Ramsey, her hands resting on a well-worn leather-bound Bible open to a passage from Psalms, agreed.

"God says he will never leave us, and he hasn't since the day we found JonBenet's body," she said.

It was a desire to share their faith that brought the Ramseys from their home in Atlanta to the Tri-Cities. The couple were invited by Kingsport businessman Don Hill, who had met them at a prayer rally in the nation's capital.

They spoke Wednesday at a meeting of the Bristol Christian Commerce Organization at King Pharmaceuticals and later at a prayer meeting at Christ Fellowship Church in Kingsport.

They were slated to speak again today at the Kingsport Christian Roundtable meeting at noon at the Kingsport Ramada Inn.

The Bristol Christian Commerce group invited the press to attend its Wednesday program, but King security guards barred reporters from entering. A uniformed city police officer stood watch on a parking lot across the street, and a number of plainclothes officers were inside the building.

Later, King vice president James Greene said the company did not bar the press. Instead, he put the blame on reporters, whom he said should have asked his permission before the event.

"We allow that organization to use our facilities for their meetings, but we have our own policy (for the press)," he said. "We weren't made aware the press was invited. Our security will not let press in unless it is cleared by me."

Because of the security snafu, the Ramseys agreed to speak with reporters at the nearby park after the event.

The couple were thrust unwillingly into the public spotlight six years ago when their daughter, a child beauty queen, was found strangled and with a fractured skull in the basement of the family's home.

John Ramsey has said he found his daughter's body about seven hours after his wife called police and reported her missing. Patsy Ramsey told police she had found a ransom note on a back staircase that demanded $118,000 for her daughter's safe return.

The investigation seemed to quickly focus on the Ramseys, but they never were charged. They still maintain their innocence and appear somewhat frustrated by the lack of progress in the investigation.

"I'm not bitter at the police, but I am extremely disappointed and angry," John Ramsey said, adding that he believed clues were missed because investigators were so focused on the family.

The Ramseys got a bit of good news in December when the Boulder County District Attorney's office took over the probe. They also recently learned of a DNA sample found at their home that did not match anyone in the family, they said.

Both said they believe the DNA could be the key to finding their daughter's killer. The sample has been compared to those contained in state and federal law enforcement databases, but no match has been found, the Ramseys said.

"If people want to do anything to help, they can pray for a DNA match," Patsy Ramsey said. "That will be a very significant piece of finding the killer."

The Ramseys have their own theories about their daughter's killer. They believe it was someone who might have known about the family or seen the girl in a public place and targeted her.

"There's no doubt this was pre-planned, maybe for a long time," John Ramsey said. "We lived in a fairly small town. We were a large employer. It was not a place where you could be anonymous."

At the time, the family was pretty casual about security. Kids were always coming and going, and the doors to the home sometimes were unlocked, he said.

Since his daughter's death, he has taken to warning other corporate folks and parents in general to take more precautions, he said.

"You have to realize evil doesn't just exist in New York City or Los Angeles; it can be around you wherever you are," John Ramsey said. "If you are in a large crowd with your children, chances are someone is looking at them inappropriately."

Since JonBenet's death, the Ramseys have moved to Atlanta in part in an effort to give a normal life to their surviving child, Burke, now 16. The couple said one of the hardest things about the past six years was shielding their son from the accusations and innuendo repeated as gospel on the covers of tabloid newspapers.

"I'm happy to say he is a very typical 16-year-old," his mother said.

While the death of one child might seem like enough misfortune for one family, the Ramseys also lost their eldest daughter at 22 in a car crash. And, Patsy Ramsey twice has battled cancer.

Patsy Ramsey said she was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in 1993 and was given little chance for survival. She said she believes she was miraculously healed by God and said doctors have no other explanation for her recovery.

Now, she is fighting a recurrence of that cancer in her liver. She is receiving chemotherapy but again puts her faith in God.

"God saved my life to go through this horror of the death of JonBenet, and he will make something good come of all of this 10 years of horrible tragedy," she said. "We just have to stay tuned and stay close to him and find where he is leading."

At times, they thought their faith would be shaken, but instead it grew stronger, they said.

"The low point was when my oldest daughter was killed. It really challenged my faith," John Ramsey said. "When people suffer a loss, their faith doesn't stay the same. It withers or it grows. For me, it grew."

The Ramseys, who have spent time in churches of various denominations, now attend an evangelical church in Atlanta.

They believe God has led them to share their story with others also toiling under heavy burdens. That was part of their message in Bristol Wednesday.

"Life is a battle," Patsy Ramsey said. "It's not going to be easy. There will be trials and tribulations, but God has made a way for us."

 

More.....

Parents of JonBenet Ramsey explain how faith in God got them through
ordeal :

Thursday, April 03, 2003

By Becky Campbell
Times-News

KINGSPORT - JonBenet Ramsey was never meant to live a long life on
Earth - she was on borrowed time from her Heavenly Father, sent to
Earth for a specific mission, her mother told a Kingsport church
congregation Wednesday.

"We have read countless letters from people who came to Christ because
of JonBenet,'' Patsy Ramsey, flanked by her husband and JonBenet's
father, John Ramsey, said during the Wednesday night service at Christ
Fellowship Church.

The couple, whom police in Boulder, Colo., scrutinized and suspected
to be the killers of their young daughter on Dec. 26, 1996, are in
Kingsport this week telling the story of how faith in God brought them
though years of being publicly tried in the media.

The Ramseys woke up the day after Christmas in 1996 to find a ransom
note demanding money for the safe return of their 6-year-old daughter.


But six hours later, her battered body was found in the family's
basement. She had been beaten to death.

"It was the worst moment of my life,'' John Ramsey said.

The ensuing investigation turned to the couple as the suspected
killers, and "it turned into a media frenzy through misinformation,
wrong information and guess,'' John Ramsey said.

The couple said they are thankful for those around the case who have
been courageous enough to stand against the majority of investigators
and people who believe them guilty - Lisa Ryckman, a newspaper
reporter who required guarded escorts after writing stories about the
Ramseys' presumption of innocence; Detective Lou Smith, an experienced
Colorado homicide investigator who said the evidence points to an
intruder; and new Boulder District Attorney General Mary Keenan, who
took the investigation away from the Boulder Police Department in
December.

The Ramseys are hopeful this last development will lead to JonBenet's
killer.

They said they had a feeling of peace in 1999 as they watched live
televised reports of a grand jury's decision to not indict them.

"We knew God was there with us at that point as he had always been,''
Patsy Ramsey said.

They made the decision to begin speaking publicly because "we've been
given this unique platform. We felt like it's time to come out and not
be silent any longer.''

 

Thanks for posting those Lurker!

I would have missed them otherwise.

I wonder when Patsy became a Christian. A true Christian would have known that God was there BEFORE the day they found JonBenet's body.

I think it was more like a sigh of relief! Oh, so God was only with them the day they found JonBenet's body and after then? Not before?

OK, like I said, back to an older theory of mine, with much revamping to be done.

Little slips from guilty lips?

 

justification

This is how Patsy justifies what happened that night:

-" JonBenet Ramsey was never meant to live a long life on
Earth - she was on borrowed time from her Heavenly Father, sent to
Earth for a specific mission, her mother told a Kingsport church
congregation Wednesday.

"We have read countless letters from people who came to Christ because
of JonBenet,'' Patsy Ramsey, flanked by her husband and JonBenet's
father, John Ramsey, said during the Wednesday night service at Christ
Fellowship Church."

Probably to the Ramseys' way of thinking this makes what happened all right. After all, it was God's plan, according to their own words.

I have news for her. God didn't kill JonBenet.

 

What a load of crap

First of all,

The couple were thrust unwillingly into the public spotlight ...

Yeah, they were totally 'unwilling' to hold press conference on CNN!

And that JonBenet was beaten to death? Where did this reporter (second article) get their facts?!

Ayeka

 

Fabulous Makeover

Suspected child molester/murderers transformed into suffering saints....all in 6 and 1/2 short years.

Not even Jim and Tammy Faye had this much chutzpah!

 

BS!

As always.

Of course, they are starring the Traveling Bible Show. True christians will feel obligated to take pity on the tell-tale hearts that go pitty-pat.

Thanks for snagging the articles Lurk!

RR

 

I think....

I need to puke and then drink a bottle of Mylanta.

I can not believe the nerve of these people. It was God who killed JB? No, it was Patsy that killed JB and then blamed God.

Give me a flipping break here people. That would be like me blaming God for my mom being a dang alcoholic and dying because of it. Gee, that would have been so much easier to look to God to blame instead of my mom. It would have been so much easier to blame God for the decisions I had to make to let my mom die with some dignity rather than take the responsibility myself.

One question, where do you buy guts like this? Do they only sell them in Atlanta? Because I have never seen them in Denver, Dallas, Oakland, Little Rock, Tulsa, Los Angeles, or any of the other big places I have been. Does anyone know?

 

The new GLOBE

...has a photo of P&J on the cover from their Tennessee trip. They look pretty good, actually.

I don't much care for the headline on the judge's opinion, lol. I haven't had a chance to read the story yet.

 

THEY LOOK PRETTY GOOD?!!!!! Fedora let Bob clean your glasses for you! Patsy looks good--she always does--but John looks like Nosferatu with an eating disorder!