Odds and Sods - The Strange 1998 Interviews

For the first time, I am taking the opportunity to read the complete 1998 interviews with John and Patsy. At this point, I have to say the National Enquirer cut out some of the oddest and most puzzling things the Ramseys have ever said, yet those same things are more revealing of the Ramsey character than most of what John and Patsy have let the public see of themselves.

One thing that has become clear is that John was obsessed with money and how cheaply things could be obtained for. In the light of that information, I think it is credible to believe that John or Patsy would have only specified $118,000 as a ransom, since to John in particular, that would have been a lot of money to pay by his own standards.

Excerpts:

 

There is some hidden story about motorcycles and John, current in 1998. What was that about? Did John have some midlife crisis, buy a Harley, and hit the road for a few weeks, leaving Patsy and Burke alone in Atlanta at a point when they were still supposedly fearful for their lives from a potential attack by JonBenet's killer?

 

I thought Patsy was supposed to have spent the entirety of the morning of December 26th in either the sunroom or the study. But that is not so much true. Apparently, she left her friends and went up to the second floor on her own. Why, in all the attention that has been paid to John's disappearance during that morning, has no notice been paid to Patsy doing the same thing?

 

Thanks Why_Nut!

I'm sorry I just can't picture John on a Harley.....Maybe a scooter. LOL

I like how she said yes they had a disagreement about the bike, and he never said yes they did or no they didn't. Am I reading that right?

 

VERY interesting observations, Why_Nut. John does seem preoccupied with money, that's for sure. What interests me most is his claim that he decided to break in via the grated window because it would be less expensive to replace than one of the windows on the first floor. But then he must have realized at some point that ruining his "business suit" by shimmying down into that extremely narrow and filthy space would end up costing a LOT more. Which is no doubt why he came up with the story about removing the suit, jacket, pants and all, before performing his acrobatic breakin, "one summer," or "last summer". Needing to come up with some logical reason for breaking in at the least logical place, he is forced to then shed his clothing to protect his excuse: money!

 

Focus has often been on the flashlight as the bludgeon which was used to deal out JonBenet's headblow, but why has no focus been put on this other possibility? Why have John and Patsy not been adamant in insisting the following items be examined for forensic evidence? Could it be because they fear that only their DNA would appear, and it would be embarrassing in the extreme to find that the equipment fits the skull fracture, and yet no intruder evidence can be found on them?

 

How peculiar, John. Why did you go on NBC and do a five-part interview with Katie Couric, when your attitude towards NBC was so poisonous? Do you harbor some hidden hate for Lin Wood, that he loves NBC so much when making all the appearances he has? Referring to the first Tracey documentary:

 

<TABLE class=tborder cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=6 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR title="Post 82259" vAlign=top><TD class=alt1 align=middle width=125>Why_Nut</TD><TD class=alt2>How peculiar, John. Why did you go on NBC and do a five-part interview with Katie Couric, when your attitude towards NBC was so poisonous? Do you harbor some hidden hate for Lin Wood, that he loves NBC so much when making all the appearances he has? Referring to the first Tracey documentary:
Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">JOHN RAMSEY: ABC was acceptable to us, NBC was absolutely not acceptable. NBC is a tabloid and they are a problem. They are the, Fox NBC are very tabloidy. ABC is, has, in our impression, after you know throughout this, is they have been the most credible of anybody in terms of ethics and standards and so that made a lot of sense.

MIKE KANE: Did you have input into that or --

JOHN RAMSEY: We just said don't come to us telling us NBC is going to do it. Over our dead body will that happen. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Thank you for the time and effort put into these posts WN. Very interesting. You have zoned into John Ramsey being a real cheapskate; something I never noticed. The dumbells.were never discussed at all as another suspect weapon. Good for you!

 

Thanks for posting all this, Why_Nut! You've honed JR's personality perfectly as well as proficiently demonstrated the man is no public speaker! I wondered why more attention wasn't ever given to his "Fat Boy" road trips as well. Did he go alone? If not, who were his motoring companions and were they interviewed?

Two very strange comments:

JOHN RAMSEY: We just said don't come to us telling us NBC is going to do it. Over our dead body will that happen.

JOHN RAMSEY: Christmas is a tough time for us because I think we lost Beth in January, and we liked to kind of have things to do and planned.

He doesn't remember when his first daughter died???? "Over our dead body" (singular)??? The man's utterly lacking in any sensitivity too! Apparently two dead daughters hasn't touched this guy too deeply. Say it with me now...SOCIOPATH. :unreal:

 

Thank you Why_Nut

Why_Nut, I want to thank you for all the research you have done over the years. I am always drawn to your postings as I know there is going to be insight into tidbits of information that some of us missed.

The above quote by Patsy Ramsey is quite revealing in my opinion, not only the fact, like you pointed out that she left the area to go upstairs (something we did not pay attention to and obviously nobody else did either), but that when they asked for a picture of JonBenet that Patsy went to look for one within one of the portfolios which were obviously from JonBenet's beauty pagaent photo sessions. Family photo albums are one thing but portfolios of professional photography are quite another.

First, it is hard to believe that there were no "normal" photos in any picture frames downstairs in the house for Patsy to give the police or gee, how about one from her purse or John's wallet. So where does she go, to JonBenet's portfolio books and she doesn't bother to state what room that closet was in where the books were kept. She says she "probably" laid them out on the bed so obviously she was in one of the bedrooms that had a bed in it and not necessarily an empty room or hall walk in closet or alcove where there was only JonBenet's pagaent stuff. So which bedroom was it? And except for this reference how come we have never read any references in any other reports, interviews, etc. about Patsy leaving the area.

In this quote by Patsy, she is obviously more interested in finding a photo of JonBenet in her portfolio and then added comments she found one of JonBenet in a "cute" T-shirt. I mean your kids missing, suppose to be kidnapped, you're suppose to be in a panic and who cares if the picture you provide of your missing daughter is one of her in a "cute" T-shirt. It's the "face" of the child you should be interested in providing to the police unless that "cute" T-shirt was the last thing she was seen in.

It goes to show what was important to Patsy. It wasn't just her daughter who was missing. It was her beautiful daughter in a "cute" T-shirt who was missing.

But yet the Ramseys used a school picture that, in my opinion didn't even look like JonBenet for their wanted poster.

Also, I remember reading in one of the interviews (don't remember which one at the moment) that John stated that Arndt took him to the guest bedroom upstairs (John Andrews room) that morning where John Ramsey sat on the chair while talking to Arndt about the procedure to follow when the telephone rang that morning. So in addition to John wandering all over the house that morning, both he and Arndt were physically in the same bedroom (the one with the rope) that Smit keeps referencing as the room the so called intruder was suspected to be hiding in.

Now I am wondering if this was the same bedroom where Patsy was digging things out of the closet (or maybe from under the bed) that morning looking for the portfolio books. And I am also wondering now if the portfolio books were kept in a box or bag or knapsack, or attache case, suitcase or something that could be quickly grabbed to take to a pageant interview to show the portfolio books. Just how much rooting around did Patsy do that morning looking for the books and what was dragged out of various closets to find what she was looking for.

I mean it would not take too much imagination to wonder if the bag of rope that could have been used for photo session props could be the same bag the portfolio books were kept in.

ACandyRose
===============================================

 

My Opinion on the Window

DocG,

I have always thought that the basement window meant more to John Ramsey than a potential entry/exit point for any intruder long before his daughter was murdered. In my opinion, I think that John Ramsey used that window to exit and re-enter when he was sneaking out of the house so Patsy wouldn't see him. He may have also used it one summer but I think he used it more than that. I also believe that is the reason he went into the basement that morning to check if "HE" left that window open from the last time "HE" came in that way and in my opinion that could have been anytime, not that "one summer" or "last summer" as he has made comment.

You know the saying, "Once a run around, always a run around" and in my opinion John Ramsey was and is a run around when he was married the first time and when he was married to Patsy. He was even running around on his girlfriend to date Patsy. I think that any guilt or coverup John Ramsey has in association to that window has to do with that window being his way in and/or out of the house.

The fact that John Ramsey stated he closed the window and latched it that morning and then didn't say anything about (except in their book, after the fact) it to Arndt upstairs tells me that he was hiding something about the window, something that has nothing to do with the murder.

And then of course there was the "chair" that was blocking the door to the train room that John Ramsey stated he had to move that morning to open that door yet this same door is suspected to be closed by Smit's intruder who is suggested to have reached around the door as it was being closed and pulled the chair back to a point where it was blocking the outside of the door opening again after the intruder is on the inside. Quite a task for a fast exiting intruder in my opinion. And even moreso after hearing suggestions that the intruder was carrying JonBenet to stuff her into a suitcase.

And since Smit includes this chair moving act as a suggestion on what the intruder did then to believe that suggestion we would have to believe the intruder obviously knew about the chair. And why would an intruder use a wobbly suitcase as a balancing act to get out the window when there was a chair that could have been dragged to the window to step on to get out. Not only is this intruder dumb but the whole suggestion is dumb.

ACandyRose
===================================================

 

Excellent point about the "guest" room ACR. I never realized the Patsy was upstairs unattended. (Thanks Why_Nut!) You are probably right about the rope being used as a prop during one or more of JB's photo shoots.

Ahh, the window....I think you might be right ACR. What other reason could he possibly have for not reporting the broken window to the BPD? Oh yeah, he mentioned it in passing. I think that is when FW's hinky meter was really going. I mean, here's Johnny in the basement saying he should have had the window repaired right after he broke it to get in the house. If his story about the window isn't a lie, it was broke for at least four or five months before the murder. I guess Johnny was too tight with his money to spend fifty bucks to get the window fixed. :snake:

 

Acr

Right on.... Didn't JB havon a cowgirl outfit in one pagent? Thus she would need rope for her prop. Plus...weren't all the pagent clothes kept in that spare bedroom closet? Makes one wonder....doesn't it????

 

I wonder if John has given a moment's thought to the idea that the intense stress Patsy is under from living in a state whose weather she has no liking for is what keeps her cancer coming back again and again?. Not that that would matter to John, of course, at least not the self-absorbed John we have come to know through these transcripts.

 

Here is a Patsy peculiarity. You recall she said in DOI, "I remember my mother's words, 'Never leave the house without your makeup.' Plus we are going to be with Melinda's fiance, Stewart, so I want to make a good impression." That seems rather at odds with what Patsy said about her makeup on the morning of December 26th.

 

John and Patsy, it is interesting that if you are innocent and were merely stating the truth in 1998, that your separate versions of the truth were so different from each other on the subject of whether the spiral staircase was used by you both to leave items for the attention of the other person, such that an intruder must have known your family well and would have automatically known a ransom note was the best and most normal place to get your ordinary attention.

 

Sometimes, I find it amazing that Patsy Ramsey, a mature adult woman, could even feed herself, let alone exist as a normal human functioning in average human society. How else to explain that she admits not knowing how many phone numbers were associated with her own house? Is there any reader of these forums who can honestly say, "I have no idea how many phone numbers there are in my home"?

 

The impression which has always been given on the subject of what John was wearing at the time of the 911 call was always "just underwear briefs," which is a distateful image at best but all we have had to work with. I can see now that this was Patsy's fault, because John at least mitigates the picture with somewhat more clothing involved.

 

This is interesting. We have all read about various cell phone records, lost or not. The implication all along has been that there was only one cell phone involved on the part of the Ramseys, and that that singular cell phone was lost, which is supposed to explain why there were no records for it during December. But what is this? Apparently, according to Patsy, there were at least two and possibly three cell phones in play, and records would have to have been obtained for all of them, not just one, if the investigation was to be thorough enough as far as checking out who may have called who in the time frame of JonBenet's death.

 

The phone records were of interest to many it seems.