WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:13.240 Callaroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Reed Carter. Wednesday, December 2 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:17.440 twenty fourth, twenty twenty five, Christmas Eve. Welcome to twelve 3 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:20.320 Crimes of Christmas. For the next twelve days. While the 4 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:23.920 courts are dark for the holidays, we're covering classic cases 5 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:26.600 that shook America, and we're starting with the one that 6 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:30.440 happened exactly twenty nine years ago. Tomorrow, December twenty fifth, 7 00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:34.880 nineteen ninety six, Boulder, Colorado, a six year old beauty 8 00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:37.600 queen named John Beney Ramsey went to bed in her 9 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:41.359 family's fifteen room mansion after a Christmas party. She never 10 00:00:41.399 --> 00:00:45.000 woke up. The next morning, her mother, Patsy, found a rambling, 11 00:00:45.079 --> 00:00:49.240 three page ransom note on the back staircase demanded exactly 12 00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:53.200 one hundred and eighteen thousand dollars for John Benney's safe return. 13 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:57.280 That number wasn't random, it was almost exactly what her 14 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:00.520 father John had received as his Christmas bonus that year. 15 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:04.280 Patsy called nine one one at five fifty two a 16 00:01:04.439 --> 00:01:08.079 m police arrived. Seven minutes later. They searched the house, 17 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:11.359 but somehow missed the basement. For seven hours, John Bennet's 18 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:13.840 body lay in the wine cellar, while officers combed the 19 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:18.079 upstairs and friends wandered freely through the crime scene. At 20 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:21.239 one pm, a detective asked John Ramsey to search the 21 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:24.319 house again. He went straight to the basement, opened the 22 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:27.359 door to a small storage room, found his daughter lying 23 00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:30.680 on the floor, duct tape over her mouth, hands bound 24 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:33.560 above her head, a garrote made from a broken paint 25 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:37.079 brush handle twisted around her neck. She was six years old. 26 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:41.519 John carried John Bennet's body upstairs, laid her on the 27 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:45.920 living room floor, destroyed whatever forensic evidence might have remained, 28 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:51.439 the crime scene was already contaminated beyond repair. Twenty nine 29 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:54.439 years later, no one has been charged, the case remains 30 00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:57.680 officially unsolved, and we still don't know who killed John 31 00:01:57.719 --> 00:02:01.680 Beney Ramsey on Christmas night. I'm reed, Carter. This is 32 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:06.040 Celebrity Trials today. The murder that has haunted America for 33 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:11.000 nearly three decades, the botched investigation, the destroyed crime scene, 34 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:13.280 and a six year old girl who should be thirty 35 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:18.960 five years old today, Part one of three. Before we 36 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:21.719 get to the horror, let's talk about who John Benet 37 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:25.039 Ramsey was, because she deserves to be remembered as more 38 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:28.800 than a victim, more than a case file. John Benet 39 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:33.360 Patricia Ramsey was born August sixth, nineteen ninety in Atlanta, Georgia. 40 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:37.759 Her father, John Bennett Ramsey, was a successful businessman who 41 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:41.479 ran Access Graphics, a computer company that had recently been 42 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:46.080 acquired by Lockheed Martin. Her mother, Patricia Anne Ramsey Patsy, 43 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:49.400 was a former beauty queen who'd won Miss West Virginia 44 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:53.360 in nineteen seventy seven. The family moved to Boulder, Colorado, 45 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:57.560 in nineteen ninety one, when Access Graphics relocated its headquarters. 46 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:01.960 John was worth an estimated six million dollars. They lived 47 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:05.680 in a Tudor style mansion on Fifteenth Street, fifteen rooms, 48 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:09.680 a wine cellar, multiple staircases, and a basement so large 49 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:12.840 and labyrinthine that police would later fail to search it properly. 50 00:03:13.240 --> 00:03:16.199 John Bennet had an older brother, Burke, who was nine 51 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:18.800 at the time of her death. She also had older 52 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:22.840 half siblings from John's first marriage, John Andrew and Melinda, 53 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:26.479 and she'd had another half sister, Elizabeth, who died in 54 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:29.199 a car accident in nineteen ninety two at age twenty two. 55 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:34.400 John Benney was buried next to her Patsy introduced John 56 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:37.919 Benney to beauty pageants at age four. The Little Girl 57 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:42.479 was a natural blonde hair, blue eyes, a smile that 58 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:46.840 lit up stages. She won titles including Little Miss Colorado, 59 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:52.960 America's Royale Miss, Little Miss Charlevois, Colorado, State All Star Kids, 60 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:57.439 Cover Girl, and National Tiny Miss Beauty. The pageant world 61 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:03.039 would later become controversial of John Bennet. Performing in elaborate costumes, 62 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:07.879 full makeup, and styled hair made some viewers uncomfortable, but 63 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:12.120 by all accounts, John Beney loved performing. She was described 64 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:16.519 as outgoing, affectionate, and genuinely happy on stage. She attended 65 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:21.920 High Peaks Elementary School in Boulder, loved her family, loved Christmas. 66 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:25.439 Had no idea that December twenty fifth, nineteen ninety six, 67 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:29.279 would be her last day alive. That Christmas Day, the 68 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:32.720 Ramsays spent the morning at home opening presents. In the 69 00:04:32.759 --> 00:04:35.079 early evening, they attended a party at the home of 70 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:39.000 family friends Fleet and Priscilla White. John Benet played with 71 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:42.879 other children ate dinner. By the time they left around 72 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:46.639 nine pm, she was already asleep in the car. John 73 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:48.879 carried her inside and up to her bedroom on the 74 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:51.959 second floor. Put her to bed, still wearing the clothes 75 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:55.879 from the party. Patsy changed her into pajamas without waking her. 76 00:04:56.279 --> 00:04:59.160 The family went to sleep. They had an early flight 77 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:02.199 the next morning, heading to their vacation home in Michigan, 78 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:06.839 then onto a Disney cruise. Sometime between ten pm on 79 00:05:06.920 --> 00:05:10.160 Christmas night and five thirty am on December twenty sixth, 80 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:14.000 John Bennet Ramsey was taken from her bed, brought to 81 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:18.240 the basement, sexually assaulted, struck in the head with enough 82 00:05:18.279 --> 00:05:22.240 force to fracture her skull, strangled with a garrot fashioned 83 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:25.560 from nylon cord and a broken paint brush. She fought. 84 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:29.399 The autopsy found scratches on her neck half moon shapes 85 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:32.399 from her own fingernails trying to claw the cord away. 86 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:36.399 She was conscious when the strangulation began. A six year 87 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:39.120 old girl fighting for her life in her own basement 88 00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:43.480 on Christmas night, and nobody heard anything. John, Patsy, and 89 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:47.759 Burke all claimed to have slept through whatever happened. No screams, 90 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:52.680 no sounds of struggle. Nothing make it make sense. John 91 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:55.680 Beney should be thirty five years old today, should have 92 00:05:55.720 --> 00:05:59.040 graduated high school, college, maybe started a family of her 93 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:03.920 own instead. She's been dead for twenty nine years, buried 94 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:08.240 in Marietta, Georgia, next to her half sister Elizabeth. Someone 95 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:10.879 has to say her name. Someone has to remember she 96 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:24.720 was a person, not just a case file. December twenty sixth, 97 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:29.240 nineteen ninety six, the day after Christmas, five thirty am, 98 00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:33.399 Patsy Ramsey came downstairs to make coffee. The family had 99 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:36.480 that early flight to catch. As she descended the back 100 00:06:36.519 --> 00:06:39.279 staircase toward the kitchen, she saw papers on the steps, 101 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:44.959 three pages handwritten a ransom note. Mister Ramsey, listen carefully. 102 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:48.079 We are a group of individuals that represent a small 103 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:51.759 foreign faction. We respect your business, but not the country 104 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:55.040 that it serves. At this time, we have your daughter 105 00:06:55.120 --> 00:07:00.839 in our possession. Patsy stopped reading ran upstairs. John Benet's 106 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:05.519 bed was empty. She woke John, screamed, then called nine 107 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.360 one one. The call came in at five point fifty 108 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:13.240 two a m. Patsy was hysterical. We have a kidnapping. 109 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:18.800 Hurry please. The dispatcher tried to calm her down, asked questions, 110 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:22.920 how old is your daughter? She's six years old. She's blonde. 111 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:27.319 Does the note say who took her. No, I don't know, 112 00:07:27.959 --> 00:07:32.800 there's a there's a ransom note here. Police officer Rick 113 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:36.480 French arrived at five fifty five am, first responder. He 114 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:38.959 did a quick search of the house, but missed the basement, 115 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:42.560 missed the wine cellar, where John Benet's body was already lying. 116 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:46.160 Here's the first failure. French should have searched every room, 117 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:51.360 every closet, every possible hiding place. That's basic procedure for 118 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:55.240 a missing child. But the house was enormous, fifteen rooms, 119 00:07:55.319 --> 00:07:58.800 multiple levels, a confusing layout, and the ransom note said 120 00:07:58.839 --> 00:08:02.319 John Bennet had been kidnap, apped, taken somewhere else, So 121 00:08:02.439 --> 00:08:05.279 French focused on the upper floors, where she'd last been seen. 122 00:08:05.959 --> 00:08:10.439 By six a m. More officers arrived. They secured John 123 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:13.639 Benet's bedroom, taped it off, but that was the only 124 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:17.600 room they protected. The rest of the house open season. 125 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:21.959 Patsy had already called friends and family. Fleet and Priscilla 126 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:26.560 White arrived, John Fernie and his wife others followed. By 127 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:30.120 mid morning, the Ramsey home was filled with people walking 128 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:35.399 through rooms, touching surfaces, using bathrooms, contaminating any forensic evidence 129 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:39.200 that might have existed. Your tax dollars at work. Meanwhile, 130 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:43.159 the ransom note sat on a table, three pages over 131 00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:48.080 three hundred seventy words, the longest ransom note in FBI history. 132 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:51.440 Let me tell you what that note said, because every 133 00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:55.399 word of it would become evidence. You will withdraw one 134 00:08:55.480 --> 00:08:59.360 hundred eighteen thousand dollars from your account. One hundred thousand 135 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:02.200 dollars will be in one hundred dollar bills and the 136 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:06.840 remaining eighteen thousand dollars in twenty dollar bills. Make sure 137 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:09.840 that you bring an adequate size attache to the bank. 138 00:09:10.039 --> 00:09:12.159 When you get home, you will put the money in 139 00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:15.320 a brown paper bag. I will call you between eight 140 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:19.639 and ten am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery one 141 00:09:19.799 --> 00:09:24.600 hundred eighteen thousand dollars, not a round number, not a 142 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:29.240 million dollars, which you'd expect from kidnappers targeting a multimillionaire. 143 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:34.279 One hundred eighteen thousand dollars, almost exactly what John Ramsey 144 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:37.519 had received as his Christmas bonus that year. Whoever wrote 145 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:41.279 this note new intimate details about the family's finances. The 146 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:45.799 note continued with threats. Any deviation of my instructions will 147 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:49.279 result in the immediate execution of your daughter. You will 148 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:53.720 also be denied her remains for proper burial. It referenced 149 00:09:53.799 --> 00:09:57.600 speaking to the two gentlemen watching over your daughter, warned 150 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:00.519 John not to contact police, said the fa family was 151 00:10:00.919 --> 00:10:06.879 under constant scrutiny, and it was signed Victory SBTC. Nobody 152 00:10:06.919 --> 00:10:11.200 has ever figured out what SBTC stands for. Theories ranged 153 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:14.480 from saved by the Cross to references from action movies. 154 00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:18.399 The note itself contained phrases that seemed borrowed from films 155 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:22.080 like Speed, Dirty, Harry, and Ransom. But here's the most 156 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:25.200 damning detail. The note was written on a legal pad 157 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:28.679 from inside the Ramsey home using a pen from inside 158 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:31.960 the Ramsey home. The FBI told Boulder police this was 159 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:37.279 extraordinarily unusual. Kidnappers write ransom notes beforehand. They don't sit 160 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:39.919 in a victim's house composing a three page letter while 161 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:42.919 a dead child lies in the basement, unless the killer 162 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:46.399 wasn't a kidnapper at all. The call the note promised 163 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:50.840 between eight and ten am never came because John Benney 164 00:10:51.080 --> 00:10:55.320 wasn't kidnapped. She was already dead, had been dead for hours. 165 00:10:56.120 --> 00:10:59.320 At one pm, Detective Linda Arndt made a decision that 166 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:03.720 would haunt the investigation Forever Frustrated that no ransom call 167 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:06.879 had come, she asked John Ramsay and family friend Fleet 168 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:09.840 White to search the house again see if anything was 169 00:11:09.879 --> 00:11:13.600 out of place. John went straight to the basement to 170 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:17.320 a room investigators had somehow missed a small storage area, 171 00:11:17.879 --> 00:11:21.440 the wine cellar. He opened the door and there was 172 00:11:21.559 --> 00:11:25.159 John Bennet. She was lying on her back, a white 173 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:28.720 blanket partially covering her body, duct tape over her mouth, 174 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:32.720 wrists bound above her head with white cord, another cord, 175 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:36.159 a garrot made from nylon rope, and a broken paintbrush 176 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:40.399 handle wrapped around her neck. John screamed, picked up his 177 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:43.559 daughter's body, carried her upstairs, laid her on the living 178 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:47.120 room floor, ripped the duct tape off her mouth. Detective 179 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:52.519 aren't watched in horror. Any forensic evidence on the body, fingerprints, fibers, 180 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:57.679 DNA was now compromised. The crime scene, already contaminated by 181 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:01.000 hours of foot traffic, was destroyed for by a grieving 182 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:04.919 father holding his dead child. The coroner didn't arrive until 183 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:08.799 eight pm that night. John Benet's body wasn't removed until 184 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:13.159 ten forty five pm, more than seventeen hours after Patsy's 185 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:17.000 nine to one one call. Welcome to justice in America. 186 00:12:17.240 --> 00:12:20.000 A six year old girl murdered on Christmas night and 187 00:12:20.039 --> 00:12:25.039 the police bungled the investigation from the first minute. We'll 188 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:27.440 be right back with the autopsy findings that would shock 189 00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:30.720 the nation and the evidence that pointed in two completely 190 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:49.960 different directions. Welcome back to celebrity trials. I'm Reed Carter. 191 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:54.360 December twenty seventh, nineteen ninety six. The day after John 192 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:58.600 Benet's body was discovered, Boulder County Coroner John Meyer performed 193 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:03.440 the autopsy. The official cause of death asphyxia by strangulation 194 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:09.000 associated with cranio cerebral trauma. In plain English, she was 195 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:13.080 strangled and her skull was fractured. Both injuries could have 196 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:15.720 been fatal on their own. Let me paint you the 197 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:19.440 picture of what the autopsy revealed. John Bennet had an 198 00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:21.639 eight and a half inch linear fracture on the right 199 00:13:21.720 --> 00:13:25.200 side of her skull. Someone had struck her with tremendous force, 200 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:29.200 likely a blunt object, possibly a flashlight or similar weapon. 201 00:13:29.799 --> 00:13:34.440 The blow caused bleeding in her brain, subarachnoid and subdural hemorrhage, 202 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:37.799 but she didn't die. Immediately from the head wound. The 203 00:13:37.879 --> 00:13:43.320 evidence suggested she survived unconscious but alive, for somewhere between 204 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:47.159 forty five minutes and two hours after being struck. During 205 00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:50.799 that time, someone fashioned a garat, took a paint brush 206 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:53.919 from Patsy Ramsay's art supplies in the basement, broke it 207 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:57.360 into three pieces, used one piece as a handle, wrapped 208 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:01.840 nylon cord around it, created a device specifically designed to strangle. 209 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.080 Then they put it around John Bennet's neck and twisted. 210 00:14:05.559 --> 00:14:08.759 The autopsy found a deep ligature furrow around her neck, 211 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:14.120 petechial hemorrhages in her eyes, tiny blood spots caused by strangulation. 212 00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:18.000 She was alive when the cord tightened. The half moon 213 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:21.519 scratches on her neck proved she fought tried to pull 214 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:24.279 the garrote away with her own fingers, a six year 215 00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:28.559 old girl fighting to breathe in her own basement. There 216 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:32.120 was also evidence of sexual assault. No seamen was found, 217 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:36.840 suggesting no conventional rape, but there was vaginal injury, trauma 218 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:41.039 to the hymen, a small amount of blood evidence that something, 219 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:44.639 possibly the missing piece of the paintbrush that was never found, 220 00:14:45.240 --> 00:14:48.919 had been used to assault her. The coroner noted that 221 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:52.799 her vaginal area appeared to have been wiped clean. Someone 222 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:56.240 tried to eliminate evidence. Duct tape covered her mouth, though 223 00:14:56.279 --> 00:14:59.720 her arms were bound loosely above her head. Her torso 224 00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:03.039 was wrapped in a white blanket, her favorite blanket, freshly 225 00:15:03.080 --> 00:15:05.879 laundered that had been in the dryer. Whoever covered her 226 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:09.399 knew which blanket she preferred, knew where the clean laundry was. 227 00:15:10.039 --> 00:15:13.600 The autopsy also found fragments of pineapple in John Bennet's 228 00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:17.080 digestive system. She'd eaten pineapple within a few hours of 229 00:15:17.080 --> 00:15:20.360 her death, but John and Patsy insisted they hadn't fed 230 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:23.360 her pineapple that night, said she was asleep when they 231 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:26.600 got home from the party. Crime scene photos showed a 232 00:15:26.600 --> 00:15:29.440 bowl of pineapple on the kitchen table with a spoon 233 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:32.679 in it. Burke's fingerprints were on the bowl. Did John 234 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:35.759 Benet wake up after being put to bed go downstairs 235 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:39.519 for a snack encounter her killer? The pineapple has never 236 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:44.159 been explained. Here's what the evidence told investigators. Whoever killed 237 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:48.360 John Bennett knew the house intimately knew where to find 238 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:52.279 the paintbrush, the cord, the blanket, the notepad and pen 239 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:56.000 for the ransom note, spent considerable time in the basement 240 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:00.639 fashioning the garotte, writing a three page letter covering the 241 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:04.240 body with care. This wasn't a rushed kidnapping gone wrong. 242 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:09.519 This was methodical, personal staged but it also contained elements 243 00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:13.200 that made no sense for the family theory. Unknown male 244 00:16:13.320 --> 00:16:16.360 DNA was found in the crotch of John Beney's underwear, 245 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:20.600 mixed with her blood. That DNA didn't match John, Patsy 246 00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:24.759 or Burke, didn't match anyone in the FBI's database, still doesn't. 247 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:28.240 A bootprint was found next to her body, didn't match 248 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:31.279 any shoe owned by the family. A climbing rope was 249 00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:34.399 discovered in a paper bag and a guest bedroom. The 250 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:38.080 Ramsey said it didn't belong to them. An open basement window, 251 00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:41.360 one that John Ramsey admitted he'd broken months earlier when 252 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:45.840 locked out, showed possible signs of entry. Evidence pointing inside 253 00:16:45.840 --> 00:16:49.519 the house, evidence pointing outside. Twenty nine years later, we 254 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:55.279 still don't know which direction leads to the truth. That's 255 00:16:55.320 --> 00:16:58.679 part one of our John Beney Ramsey Special. December twenty fifth, 256 00:16:58.759 --> 00:17:01.840 nineteen ninety six, a six year old beauty queen murdered 257 00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:05.240 in her own home. On Christmas night, December twenty sixth 258 00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:09.200 her mother found a bizarre ransom note. Police arrived but 259 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:12.839 failed to search the basement. Seven hours later, her father 260 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:16.039 found the body. The crime scene was destroyed before it 261 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:21.759 was ever properly documented. Tomorrow, Part two. The investigation that 262 00:17:21.799 --> 00:17:25.440 turned the Ramses into suspects, the media circus that convicted 263 00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:28.559 them in the court of public opinion, the intruder theory 264 00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:31.920 that never got a fair hearing, and the nineteen ninety 265 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.519 nine grand jury that voted to indict but was overruled 266 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:39.160 by a district attorney who refused to prosecute John Benet. 267 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:43.279 Patricia Ramsey was six years old. She loved performing, loved 268 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:47.119 her family, loved Christmas. She should be thirty five today, 269 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.960 should be building her own life. Instead, she's been dead 270 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:55.839 for twenty nine years and her killer has never faced justice. 271 00:17:55.880 --> 00:17:59.640 Tomorrow is Christmas, the anniversary of her murder. Will continue 272 00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:03.079 her story. Sory Rest in peace, John Benet. Someone has 273 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:06.400 to say your name. I'm Reed Carter. This is celebrity trials.