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Investigators in Netflix’s ‘Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?,’ which went up today, talk about how the demands and length of the ransom note were unprecedented.
One of the most startling pieces of evidence to surface following the discovery of 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey’s body in the family’s Boulder, Colorado, home was the eerie ransom note that the murderer most likely left behind.
Was the note authentic, though?
Authorities talk about one of the most well-known and dramatic murder cases in history in Netflix’s Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?, which went live on the streaming service on Monday, November 25.
It started on the morning of December 26, 1996, when John Ramsey discovered his young daughter, a beauty pageant queen, dead in a little used basement room. The girl had been beaten, sexually raped, and garroted to death.
Related: Exclusive: John Ramsey Explains Why He Didn’t Weep Upon Discovering His Daughter JonBenét’s Body
When John’s wife Patsy noticed their daughter was missing earlier that morning, she alerted the police. Patsy, who has since passed away, hastily disclosed on the conversation that she had found a handwritten ransom note demanding $118,000, which is exactly the amount of a recent employment bonus that John received, in exchange for JonBenét’s safe return.
The ransom note is discussed by investigators in the first episode of the three-part documentary series.
Get the latest issue of People, which will be available on newsstands next week, or subscribe to PEOPLE today to learn more about John Ramsey’s efforts to get JonBenét’s murder solved during his lifetime.
In the episode, former Boulder police investigator Jeff Kithcart states, “I was going through the notebook that contained Patsy’s handwriting, and I came across an entire sheet of paper in the notebook still attached with what appeared to be the initial ransom note.” It said, ‘Mr.,’ followed by what might have been the first vertical stroke of a ‘R.’ It might have been the initial draft of what I thought might have been the ransom note.
An interview with FBI agent Ron Walker from 2006 is featured later in the episode, when he talks about how the demands and length of the note were unusual for a kidnapping ransom note.
Walker describes the note as “quite unusual to see this magnum opus.” “Your ransom notes are usually brief and direct.”
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The $118,000 is the next item that truly catches your attention, he continues. A really strange number to request. Although $118,000 is a low amount, it is also a fairly normal amount because it is simply not what one would anticipate seeing. 200,000, 300,000, 250,000, a million, or half a million are what you anticipate seeing. Not 118,000, though.
Walker claims that these elements convinced him that the memo was “basically fraudulent.” The note wasn’t actually one of kidnapping.
Although there have been numerous speculations as to who might be accountable, no one has ever been named as the note’s author or charged with JonBenét’s death.
Related: John Ramsey explains why he doesn’t mind being accused of murdering his daughter. JonBenét (Only Available)
John says he is optimistic that the murderer will be apprehended nearly thirty years after his daughter was killed.
In this week’s cover story, he tells PEOPLE, “If it remains in the hands of the Boulder Police, it will not be solved, period.” “It will be resolved if they accept all of the available and offered assistance that is available.” I do think it will be resolved.
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