Entertainment

How Did JonBenét Ramsey Die? The Details Of The Case Are Conflicting

by Megan Walsh

Part of the confusion over JonBenét Ramsey's death concerns not only the circumstances surrounding her disappearance and discovery, but also the manner of her death itself. There are several strange details about her murder that have made many wonder if it was staged, or if some aspects were intended to cover up the real killer. She was killed on Christmas in 1996, at just six years old, and her body was discovered in the wine cellar of her home despite a ransom note discovered by her parents that indicated she was kidnapped. So, how did JonBenét Ramsey die?

Police chief Mark Beckner, who worked on the Ramsey case when it happened, did a Reddit AMA in which he discussed details of the case. According to him, JonBenét was hit in the head with an object that may have been a flashlight or something similar, which fractured her skull and knocked her unconscious. Forty-five minutes to two hours later, she was strangled with a garrote made from a cord and a broken paintbrush taken from the Ramsey home. The strangulation is what ultimately killed her, says Beckner, but the blow to the head would have killed her eventually. She may have been sexually assaulted, though Chief Beckner believed the trauma to her genitals was staged. She was also found with her hands bound and duct tape over her mouth. There was DNA at the scene, but it didn't match any of the suspects police had considered.

There are other strange details. Aside from the broken paintbrush, another part of which was found amongst Patsy Ramsey's art supplies, there was pineapple found in JonBenét's stomach that she was thought to have ingested only an hour or two before her death. Neither of her parents remembered giving JonBenét pineapple, but there was a bowl of pineapple in the kitchen. It makes the timeline even more curious – would an intruder have had time to give JonBenét a snack, write a two and a half page ransom note (there was even a potential first draft of the note found in the house), bludgeon JonBenét, and then wait an hour or more to strangle her? All without leaving an fingerprints behind, or any sign that the house was broken into?

However, the crime scene was also potentially compromised by so many people entering the house immediately after, including family and friends of the Ramseys. And new evidence has come up over the years, too. They now think a stun gun may have been used on JonBenét, and there were also two distinct boot prints found in the basement. In addition to this, there was blood found on JonBenét's underwear from the night of the murder containing the DNA of an unknown man. The DNA has not been matched to anyone in the existing police database or any of the suspects in the case. It did not match the Ramseys, either.