JonBents cause of death was determined to be strangulation with a makeshift garrote, a weapon that, in this case, involved a string wrapped around a piece of one of Patsy Ramseys paintbrushes. McReynolds is described as the man hired by Patsy to play Santa Claus at the Ramsey family's Christmas parties in 1995 and 1996. For other inquiries, Contact Us. The family moved to Florida when Robert was six years old. How many people knew that? I had seen evidence of an intruder in the house that night., With his intruder theory regarding JonBents murder increasingly pushed by the wayside, Smit ultimately chose to resign from the case, writing in a letter to Boulder District Attorney Hunter: Even though I want to continue to participate in the official investigation and assist in finding the killer of JonBenet, I find that I cannot in good conscience be a part of the persecution of innocent people, said Smit, referring to JonBents parents. John Mark Karr another suspect of the JonBenet murder case, was not considered a suspect right away. People would have and did believe they were innocent, though. All in the Ramsey's home in such a short time span? Why would the killer care if Patsy found the note before the body. Patsy finds the ransom note hours later. John Anderson, former sheriff of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office in Texas, talks about his friend Lou Smit, the legendary detective who died before he could solve 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey's case. And if there were other reasons for them to worry about it, then it's far more logical to think that Burke indeed killed JonBenet. Bill McReynolds Other suspects included neighbor Bill McReynolds, a local Santa Claus who visited the Ramseys a few days before the girl's death. He was beloved by many people here," said Janet McReynolds. It is reported that McReynolds paid a little too much attention to JonBenet and had supposedly chosen JonBenet to be his "special friend". Bill McReynolds was found dead in his Mashpee, Mass., home Monday by his wife, Janet, when she. The case has fascinated the nation for the past 20 years, but it remains unsolved. Doesnt hold up to Occams Razor. The McReynolds vehemently denied any involvement in JonBent's murder and Janet stated that the couple felt "sensitive to the horror" due to what had happened to their own child. They were never charged as suspects in the murder. She is now tasked along with other members of Smits family with solving his last case as part of his dying wish -- that of 6-year-old JonBent Ramsey. Too convoluted. Bill McReynolds was found dead in his Mashpee, Mass., home Monday by his wife, Janet, when she returned from a weekend trip. Convinced that the ransom note had most likely been written at the house, investigators next took writing samples from dozens of people, including John, Patsy Ramsey and Burke Ramsey, John Ramsey's children from his first marriage, former friend Fleet White, Bill McReynolds, who portrayed Santa Claus at the Ramseys' Christmas party, neighbor . Right from the start, Bill McReynolds raised the suspicions on people by the way he was behaving and the things he was saying about JonBenet Bill McReynolds quoted in The Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO - December 29, 1996 "She had an angel's spirit, which is unusual not only among adults, but children, and I'm just devastated that she's gone," said Bill McReynolds, who played Santa at the . Arndt said the moment sparked fear in her that JonBents father might have killed their daughter, and so she braced herself for a possible confrontation. I got a pen and paper and he gave me a name, and he said, Start with this name.. McReynolds planned the murder in advance and he told JonBenet that Santa would visit her after Christmas to get her to go downstairs that night and wait for him. He would never fully recover from that kind of suspicion.". Keep in mind that just after JonBent's death, there were rumors that sexual assault was a factor in the murder, but those claims are under dispute in light of recent interviews like A&E's The Killing of JonBent: The Truth Uncovered, which aired on Labor Day weekend. Letting them go was a big mistake, as they soon layered up and did not get to formally interview them again until May of 1997, five months after their daughter was murdered., The case was then passed to the DAs office in 2002 after the Ramseys said they had no confidence in the police.. We do not know. missoula jobs part time; best fitness tracker for hockey Gary Oliva was a known sex offender in Colorado when JonBent was murdered. They tell him to go back to bed and agree to deny he was ever up. It wasnt until 2008 when the Boulder County District Attorneys office ruled that the Ramseys were no longer considered suspects thanks to newly developed DNA sampling and testing techniques. Helgoth was tied to a supposed property. So he was a white male with dark hair around 20-25 years old. After 13 years, Smit still believed that an unidentified intruder was responsible for JonBenets murder. Anything I'd say would sound suspicious." and take a fresh and unbiased look at the totality of the evidence as it stands right now and its implications regarding the deeply disturbing possibility that JonBenet's murderer may not have been an immediate member of the Ramsey family, as most still believe, nor some mysterious random intruder(s), but rather a close and trusted friend and confidant. I immediately knelt down over her, felt her cheek, took the tape off immediately off her mouth. Additionally, the McReynolds' 9-year-old daughter was reportedly abducted on Dec. 26, the same day JonBent was found dead, only years prior in the 1970s. That's Bill McReynolds, who got a lot of gigs playing Santa because he was a jolly fellow whose kickass beard was 100-percent real. At the time of Bill's death, the couple resided in Cape Cod they reportedly left Boulder in 1998 in order to seek a new beginning, far from where the tragic murder occurred. Janet McReynolds said in the same interview that her 1970s play sounded "quaint" in light of the Ramsey murder and only made her family more empathetic to the Ramseys' loss. McReynolds won a Western States Art Foundation regional prize and a $7,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, but it was never published and no copy has been released to the media since. In his video diaries, Smit pointed out that whoever wrote the ransom note included language that was drawn from several movies. The day after Christmas in 1996, the body of 6-year-old beauty pageant queen JonBent Ramsey was found in the basement of her parents Boulder, Colorado home. Psychology Today 2023 Sussex Publishers, LLC, How to Handle People Who Are Eternally Evasive. Very suspicious. Suspicious. She was lying on a white blanket. He's quoted as saying: It seems likely that McReynolds was questioned because, like many others, he had been in the Ramsey home and interacted with JonBent in the days leading up to her death. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Or, in this case, an evil Santa? JBR could just have been bragging. Two days before the murder he visited the house. W. MCREYNOLDS: Well, I will tell you that -- I won't tell you about what happened to me as a child because that's not relevant. Don't Talk to Me, Steven Thomas The interrogation ultimately took place at a different police department and the Boulder investigators were forced to watch from a separate building. Hair and handwriting samples were collected by police from both of them at that time, according to an Associated Press report. No suspects were ever found in the case, but both children were found. Please dont let it die, she said. McReynolds played Santa Claus at a Christmas party at the Ramsey house a few nights before JonBent was killed. Nonetheless, in retrospect, we must take into consideration these strange recommendations rendered by this grand jury and their possible significance. Since they didn't, any DNA was mixed and contaminated. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Published 02/22/21 08. Were not interrogating possible suspects. Apart from it, how come the killer left no traces behind? But, based on these observations, if this case were to be actively reopened, and the fairly extensive pool of formerly cleared suspects reconsidered, it would make sense in my view to revisit the possibility that either Bill or Janet McReynolds, or both in collaboration, could have conceivably been directly involved in JonBenet's abduction, torture, molestation, and murder that terrible Christmas night. Another eerie-sounding connection theory, is that Janet McReynolds had allegedly written a play about a young girl who had molested, tortured and killed in a basement in 1976. We also should have separated John and Patsy and gotten full statements from them that day. Be that as it may, what I want to focus on in this next post, however, is not some other single piece of evidence in this baffling case, but rather on what took place back in 1999, when 12 people were officially tasked by the Boulder District Attorney's office with reviewing the entirety of available evidence at the time and recommending whether to criminally indict anyone in regard to the death of JonBenet Ramsey. For instance, if neither John nor Patsy Ramsey was responsible for directly causing their daughter's death, who did? However, the McReynolds were officially cleared (again, via DNA analysis, which is certainly not infallible) of any involvement in the crime, with these startling aforementioned "facts" deemed purely coincidental by both themselves and, presumably, the Boulder police department. However, with the Ramseys friends showing up for moral support, they also contaminated the scene by moving about the house. Marra said that after his death, her family teamed up with some of Smits former homicide partners to keep investigating the case. That was probably another reason there was some interest in him as a possible suspect. The week before the murder, McReynolds had dressed up as the local Santa and entertained children at a Christmas gathering. There were some reasons to suspect this. Based on my own forensic experience in working with pedophiles, I believe it would be more likely for the perpetrator in this case, probably male, to have acted alone rather than in collaboration with a spouse or partner. That's where the $118,000 demand comes from. A former Boulder, Colo., police detective who spent almost two years investigating the killing of JonBenet Ramsey . We were shocked, added John Ramsey. This "theory" Is fucking stupid. JonBent Ramsey was found in less than eight hours and even stranger is that her body was found inside the house, in the utility room, in the basement of Ramsey Residence. I concluded, considering the enigmatic note on its own, that it leads me to believe it was written by an at least close-to-middle-aged male intruder, familiar with John Ramsey's business, resentful of his affluence, and possibly of foreign birth, with English being his second language. The real Killer doesn't know the Ramsey's personally so he is never questioned or identified. The still unsolved case has seen many people come under suspicion as it's shrouded in conspiracies - with some even suggesting her older brother Burke could have been behind the grisly murder. Barry Williams/Getty Images News/Getty Images, will air a six-hour, three-part documentary. Throughout both interrogations, JonBents parents vehemently denied anyone in their family killed their daughter. The revelations prompted police to call. As the investigation continued under Smit, he became concerned that authorities had totally ruled out the possibility of an intruder killing Jon Benet, and therefore werent looking for evidence of the possibility, Marra said. Karr had reached out to University of Colorado Boulder professor, Michael Tracey through email. William Arthur "Bill" Weasley (b. Just want to post this publicly on record in case the new DNA testing that's being done proves me right. Hired by Marilyn Haus to play Santa at the mall. Santa Claus, A.K.A Bill McReynolds recruited a younger male to kill JonBenet and film it or take pictures for him. I thought there was something drastically wrong and that there was a gross injustice in this case, he said in the tapes. Despite their denials, police continued to suspect the parents in JonBents murder. YouTube Yes. "Some of his students kept relationships with him their entire lives," Cosper said. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Your theory is a very specific and detailed scenario - most of it isn't supported by evidence. He served as a Winston Cup crew chief from 1985 to 2000, amassing 23 Cup wins, 21 poles, 122 top-five and 209 top-ten finishes. JonBenet is not in her room. He spent 15 years calling races with Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds before Jeff Gordon replaced McReynolds in 2016. Police investigated a wide variety of individuals in relation to JonBenet Ramsey's murder, including Bill McReynolds, though McReynolds (who died in 2002) also maintained his innocence and was cleared of any involvement in her death. Staying Single: What Most People Do If They Divorce After 50, A Psychological Diagnosis for People Who Lie About Everything. By 2008, new DNA testing technology had been developed, called touch DNA, which allowed forensic experts to test the dead skin cells left behind on objects at crime scenes. 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