Post by hi224 on Nov 25, 2019 0:34:49 GMT
asic context: The JonBenet Ramsey case is the famous 1996 case of a six-year-old girl whose body was found in her own home after her mother reported a kidnapping. The case drew attention because of a phoney "ransom note" and various other suspicious details. It remains unsolved.
For 23 years, the only sources describing the Ramsey family's statements on the day the body was found (December 26, 1996) have been second-hand reports by the Boulder Police, or reflections from the Ramseys years later. We have had to cobble together an understanding of what John, Patsy and Burke Ramsey said in the crucial early moments of the investigation, based on police reports, and the many books written on the case.
Around a week ago, that changed. A user who has defended the Ramseys online for many years shared one page of the transcript of nine-year-old Burke Ramsey's first interview with police. This interview was taped the same afternoon the body was found, before Burke had been informed that his sister's body had been discovered. His parents were not present, and thus there is a limit to how much Burke could have been "coached" for this interview. The interview is, at the very least, an important piece of first-hand testimony from someone who was in the house when the killing occurred.
I should point out: this is not a classified document. We know the full transcript of this 1996 interview has been provided to the media before, by the Ramseys' investigators. Various journalists have seen it, as it is briefly summarized in numerous books on the case. Several other (later) police interviews with the Ramseys have been broadcast in segments and full transcripts have been released of those interviews. The status of this 1996 transcript is more akin to that of a "historical source document" at this stage, than a sensitive and confidential piece of evidence.
And we now know, of course, that it has been passed around for some time by a select few members of the public (who happen to be close to the Ramsey family). The user claims the full transcript in her possession is around 30 pages. In addition to the one page she picked out for us to see, she has posted her own summary (part 1, part 2) of the rest of the interview, complete with her own opinions of why Burke gave some of the answers he did (though it is clear from comparing even this one page with her summary, that the summary is not all-inclusive, and even inaccurate at times).
One page is not much--but it does contain some information that was never publicly known. For example, Burke Ramsey says he wore "blue fuzzy" pajamas on the night of the killing. For the last 23 years we have had no idea what Burke wore that night. Burke also says "we got our PJ's on", potentially contradicting his parents' story that JonBenet was carried into bed already asleep from the car that night. Burke also does not appear to mention playing with a toy with his father before going to bed - a key detail of the parents' account of that night. But it's difficult to know, without seeing the other 29 pages, if Burke definitely left out this detail.
Anyway, I thought you guys may be interested in learning a little more about a very old, very familiar case. There is so much speculation, so many rumors, so many pieces of "evidence" floating around in online discussions that turn out to be nothing more than theories or, in some cases, outright distortions. Even a little piece of solid information like this moves us all a little closer to the truth--no matter what our final theory of the crime is.
Discussion Questions:
Does anything in this newly-released page stand out to you as interesting or potentially significant?
Do you think there is any good reason for a random member of the public to be deciding which parts of the transcript should and should not be available?
For 23 years, the only sources describing the Ramsey family's statements on the day the body was found (December 26, 1996) have been second-hand reports by the Boulder Police, or reflections from the Ramseys years later. We have had to cobble together an understanding of what John, Patsy and Burke Ramsey said in the crucial early moments of the investigation, based on police reports, and the many books written on the case.
Around a week ago, that changed. A user who has defended the Ramseys online for many years shared one page of the transcript of nine-year-old Burke Ramsey's first interview with police. This interview was taped the same afternoon the body was found, before Burke had been informed that his sister's body had been discovered. His parents were not present, and thus there is a limit to how much Burke could have been "coached" for this interview. The interview is, at the very least, an important piece of first-hand testimony from someone who was in the house when the killing occurred.
I should point out: this is not a classified document. We know the full transcript of this 1996 interview has been provided to the media before, by the Ramseys' investigators. Various journalists have seen it, as it is briefly summarized in numerous books on the case. Several other (later) police interviews with the Ramseys have been broadcast in segments and full transcripts have been released of those interviews. The status of this 1996 transcript is more akin to that of a "historical source document" at this stage, than a sensitive and confidential piece of evidence.
And we now know, of course, that it has been passed around for some time by a select few members of the public (who happen to be close to the Ramsey family). The user claims the full transcript in her possession is around 30 pages. In addition to the one page she picked out for us to see, she has posted her own summary (part 1, part 2) of the rest of the interview, complete with her own opinions of why Burke gave some of the answers he did (though it is clear from comparing even this one page with her summary, that the summary is not all-inclusive, and even inaccurate at times).
One page is not much--but it does contain some information that was never publicly known. For example, Burke Ramsey says he wore "blue fuzzy" pajamas on the night of the killing. For the last 23 years we have had no idea what Burke wore that night. Burke also says "we got our PJ's on", potentially contradicting his parents' story that JonBenet was carried into bed already asleep from the car that night. Burke also does not appear to mention playing with a toy with his father before going to bed - a key detail of the parents' account of that night. But it's difficult to know, without seeing the other 29 pages, if Burke definitely left out this detail.
Anyway, I thought you guys may be interested in learning a little more about a very old, very familiar case. There is so much speculation, so many rumors, so many pieces of "evidence" floating around in online discussions that turn out to be nothing more than theories or, in some cases, outright distortions. Even a little piece of solid information like this moves us all a little closer to the truth--no matter what our final theory of the crime is.
Discussion Questions:
Does anything in this newly-released page stand out to you as interesting or potentially significant?
Do you think there is any good reason for a random member of the public to be deciding which parts of the transcript should and should not be available?
