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But what about....
1. The Writing Tablet?
The police have determined that a writing tablet and pen found in the home were used to write the "ransom note".
They think this is evidence that the Ramseys staged the kidnapping to hide the (perhaps accidental) murder of their
daughter. They have obtained two housefuls of handwriting samples to compare with the "Ransom Note" and do not
have a match.
1. Could an "intruder" have removed this particular tablet from the house prior to the crime and then
returned it on December 25/26th.?
Absolutely! The Ramseys were out of their house frequently in 1996. If the killer obtained, or had
made, a key to the home he could have been in the house more than once. I also suppose that if the
tablet had a sample of Patsy's handwriting on it, as has been reported, the writer of the note would
have tried to duplicate it as much as possible for obvious reasons. Perhaps this is why there is a (very)
slight ( 4.5 rating meaning they can not match/cannot rule out all possibility, for Patsy, 5 meaning no
chance for John) resemblance between the two.
2. Could the murderer have composed the ransom note prior to the crime and then copied it onto the tablet
after entering the house on December 25/26? ( It is highly unlikely that anyone could have written that
bizarre note after committing such a crime ).
Of course!; In about 10 minutes. The Ramsey's were gone from about 4:00 pm until about 9:30 pm. This
was more than enough time to prepare some of the items for the crime scene. Incidently, why did the
writer use printing, instead of cursive? Was it an effort to disguise their handwriting, or were they in the
habit of printing? Could this be a clue as to their (previous) occupation? Drafters, engineers, artists,
cartoonists, architects and contractors very often develop a printing style of writing. Drafters, architects
and engineers would tend to be more exact or disciplined. Contractors or artists would tend to be more
stylish or undisciplined in their printing. Just a thought.
3. Would the murderer have a motive for planting this tablet at the scene?
Obviously. See below
4. Would the Ramseys have a motive to leave a tablet in the home that would incriminate them?
Now wouldn't that be a stupid thing to do if they were trying to stage the crime? Other incriminating
evidence such as the excess tape and cord were removed, probably because they would have been
incriminating to the real culprit. All of the evidence left at the crime scene was calculated to infer guilt
by association.
2. The Ransom Note?
A "ransom" note was found in the home by Patsy Ramsey. What were some unusual characteristics of this note?
1. The note was atypically long. Short ransom notes offer fewer clues. The lack of a note would provide
more uncertainty concerning what had happened to the missing person (Maybe they wandered off to
a friend's house?). It would have been to a kidnapper's advantage not to alert anyone until after the
victim had been spirited away. The purpose of a ransom note is to give directions, not to tell a story.
This characteristic indicates that the letter was written for a different reason, or reasons.
2. The 3 page note/letter was laid out at the bottom of the "spiral" stairway, the MOST LIKELY access to
the first floor, especially if the Ramsey's had found their daughter missing from her bedroom. There
was a reason for this:
By placing the pages on the most likely route to the first floor the killer insured that if
the Ramseys were to awaken and come down the stairs during the night they would have
been stopped short by the pages.
Upon reading them they would have assumed exactly what they had on the morning of the 26th.: That
a kidnapper had left with their daughter. This would have bought the "intruder" time to escape through
the basement window which had been prepared ahead of time for a quick escape (with the suitcase
placed under it. Possibly the grate had been displaced in advance also, but this would not necessarily
have been required since the Ramseys did not awaken he may have left through the butler's door).
3. The police determined that if the pages were placed on the stair steps, as Patsy described, anyone trying
to step over them would lose their balance. This led them to discount Patsy's testimony concerning
how she found them (There was no footprint on the pages) and thought it proof of her guilt.
I don't think this would happen if they were placed on the first step up. Even if they were on the floor
directly at the bottom of the step would this really make any difference?
4. The police believe that the ransom note was written by one of the Ramseys to stage the crime as a
kidnapping rather than a homicide.
Do we really believe the Ramsey's killed their daughter, staged this elaborate and bizarre scene and
then set out to write a rambling, yet composed, but completely unnecessary 3 page "ransom" letter
that appears to be a rather superficial fake? This really isn't very logical. Dozens of reputable citizens,
having known the Ramseys for year, cannot believe they are capable of killing their daughter. But just
suppose that they did kill her "accidentally"; Are these the kind of people to create such an elaborate
and bizarre cover up? No. The ransom note is contrived to give the appearance of staging
by the Ramseys, as are many other aspects of the crime.
5. Other detectives believe that the note is a decoy of some type. Why?
Because of the style of writing, the length, the cryptic references to movies/books (In Cold Blood ?),
and the oddball amount of money demanded. Would John, an admittedly intelligent man, purposely
bring suspicion on himself by demanding an amount of money (his bonus) very few people, presumably,
would know about? It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to know he was worth a lot of money. Why would
the "mastermind" "demand" this particular amount of money? This amount may reveal part of his
motive. If the Ramsey's wrote the letter why would they use this figure? It makes no sense. It would
have made better sense to just not have writen a note at all if the parents were trying to fake a kidnap-
ping. Why not just call the police and say "our daughter is missing. She wasn't in bed when we went in
to wake her for our trip." Why write this ransom note?
6. I repeat, therefore, the ransom Note, is not a ransom note!, and the Ramseys did not write it.
Knowing this, then, and since the autopsy indicates that cause of death was not accidental we must
conclude that the killing was premeditated murder.
7. What purpose does the note serve then?
Three purposes:
a) It was a three-fold diversion
1. The pages were laid out on (at) the spiral stairs rather than a table, or not at all, so that no one
could miss seeing them. See note 2 above.
2. The kidnapping ploy delayed the recognition of the true crime and led to probable contamination
of at least some of the crime scene.
3. Because of the unusual aspects of the note it has served to divert police attention away from the
murderer toward the parents.
