Conspiracy Theorists Unite!!!

[Martini Girl]

I love John Oliver.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

Burke Ramsey, the older brother of JonBenet, is giving a three-part interview to Dr. Phil which will air in September.

I've done a 180 on my theory of the case. I used to think it was an intruder. But after reading James Kolar's Foreign Faction: Who Really Kidnapped JonBenet?, I'm convinced Burke killed her and the parents covered it up. The biggest problem for me was the DNA evidence, but Kolar does a convincing job of debunking it.

I don't think Burke has ever spoken publicly, and it's weird that he would claim to have new details since according to his parents he was asleep the entire time. He can't be charged because he was under ten years old. Maybe he thinks that if people see him as a normal, law-abiding citizen they'll stop suspecting him?

[forever1267]

I've always felt the same way. An accident bounded by jealousy of his sister, and the parents covered it all up. It's the only thing that make sense.

[mrpeanut]

Realistically, what repercussions would the older brother have faced had the parents been forthright in that scenario?

[chonies]

That's my question, too. There's a lot of inconsistency when dealing with child offenders as it is, and surely the Ramsey family had enough capital to have stifled the media interest, no?

I forget who it is, but one greecie laid out a theory about it being a close family friend. I don't follow the case directly but I like reading other people's posts about it.

[Deleted]

Aug 7, 2016 5:06:54 GMT -4 forever1267 said:

I've always felt the same way. An accident bounded by jealousy of his sister, and the parents covered it all up. It's the only thing that make sense.

I never thought it made sense for a couple reasons. One is motive. There's no evidence of Burke and Jonbenet having a history of animosity and jealousy towards one another. Did he suddenly snap? If so, why? What in the world could cause a 10 year old to mortally wound his sister? The other thing that doesn't make sense is that after the murders Burke was shuttled off to various family friends. Again, this is a 10 year old. If John and Patsy knew he committed a crime and were covering for him, why would they let him be around other people he could potentially spill the beans to? Patsy was drugged up and John was wandering around like a zombie. The three of them were often separated immediately following the murder. That doesn't add up to a family trying to keep an extremely dark secret. But by far the biggest reason I think an intruder is more likely is because there were so many potential suspects. Hundreds of them. John's coworkers, various workers in their home, those workers families and friends, all the people involved in Jonbenet's pageant world and their families and friends, the Ramsey family friends. Not to mention a bunch of strangers who walked through their home as part of neighborhood Christmas tour. Many people had keys. There's just so much more evidence, both logically and factual, that point to an intruder than there is that points to John, Patsy or Burke and it was never thoroughly investigated.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

Read Kolar's Foreign Faction. It brings up a lot of evidence I didn't know about.

There is definitely evidence Burke had issues with his sister. Police found pajama bottoms and a candy box smeared with Burke's feces in JonBenet's room. The Ramseys had books in their home library about sexual misbehavior in children. An open dictionary on one of their tables had a dog-eared corner pointing towards the word "incest." The autopsy found evidence of prior sexual abuse, most likely someone inserting their fingers or small objects into her vagina. And someone did the same thing with the paintbrush end used for the garrote in her murder.

The parents have always maintained Burke slept through Patsy's scream, the 911 call, and part of the morning. But it makes no sense that the parents wouldn't wake him up when he was a potential witness to his sister's kidnapping. Also, Burke can be heard at the end of the 911 call. He's asking his parents about what they found and John Ramsey is saying, "We're not speaking to you." Fleet White said that on the drive over to the White's house, Burke was distant and asked no questions about where his sister was or what may have happened to her.

There's physical evidence too - the ransom note clearly authored by Patsy, Burke's fingerprints on the pineapple bowl, the Hi-Tec boot print in the cellar, marks on JonBenet's body matching the end of Burke's train track...I could go on, but the book explains it better. The Ramseys have never consented to release Burke's medical records to police, and there's probably a good reason.

The biggest problem people have with the "Burke Did It" theory is 1) it doesn't seem possible for a 9-year-old, and 2) Burke seems to be living a completely normal life now. But there have been plenty of children, some younger than Burke, who commit murder. Not all of them go on to re-offend. I can only hope Burke got a really good psychiatrist.

ETA: Legally Burke was not criminally liable under the age of ten in Colorado. But Patsy likely didn't know this, and she panicked. At best she probably saw Burke living in an institution for the rest of his childhood. It also ruined their image as an upstanding family.

[Deleted]

There is definitely evidence Burke had issues with his sister. Police found pajama bottoms and a candy box smeared with Burke's feces in JonBenet's room.

This is something hadn't heard of before. Was it tested? How is it known that it is Burke's?

There's physical evidence too - the ransom note clearly authored by Patsy

It was never proven that Patsy wrote the ransom note. It's full of movie references and gives the impression of a writer in their teens or 20s IMO. The request for John's $118,000 bonus is especially odd if it were Patsy who was writing it as a coverup. Why use a detail that points directly back at the Ramseys? It would make more sense for someone who was framing the Ramseys to put that unusual amount in the ransom note, or someone who knew for sure that John recently received that amount of money and had originally intended to kidnap, not kill, Jonbenet.

Here's more on the evidence regarding Burke, the 911 call, evidence for and against prior sexual abuse, the pineapple and the dictionary. It's all one big mess of maybe. There is no definitive evidence to prove anyone did or didn't do it, but there are plenty of theories. I suppose Burke wants to attempt to put the theory that he molested and killed his sister to rest once and for all. Good luck with that. It won't happen. Unless he offers up irrefutable proof that he's innocent the theory that he killed Jonbenet will live on along with all the rest. 

[Baby Fish Mouth]

I always go back to Occam's razor in cases like this. The intruder theory says that someone got into the Ramsey home, waited for hours, wrote a ridiculously long ransom note for an amount much less than the Ramseys were worth, lured JonBenet from her bed, fed her pineapple, hit her over the head, waited 45 minutes to 2 hours before strangling her, and then somehow got out of the house without anyone waking up.  None of that makes any sense. And based on the touch DNA evidence from JonBenet's clothing, it was at least 5-6 different people.

Total b.s. It makes a lot more sense that this was an inside job perpetrated by a family member and covered up by the parents.

[Deleted]

Because conjecture outweighs the evidence, there's a way to make any of the theories seem like nonsense. Nobody will ever be proven right or wrong. John Kolar's book came out some time ago. He didn't present any truly persuasive objective evidence any more than John Douglas or Lou Smit or the Perfect Murder Perfect Town book did. Similar to Jack The Ripper, this case is a permanent mystery. That's why it's so intriguing. Unfortunately for Burke Ramsey, he's been tried and convicted by thousands, if not millions of stranger. If he's guilty, he will be taking a huge risk by inviting more scrutiny. But if he's innocent, he has every right to defend himself (though, like I said, I don't think he's going to change any minds).