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Elements of The Crime Modeled After Movies or Books
The murderer(s) of JonBenet Ramsey purposed to make certain statements about certain groups and philosophies, of which, the Ramseys are representative. He has chosen to use their high profile lifestyle to promote his own agenda. The crime scene is extensively staged according to elements of specific books & movies to trumphet anarchist doctrines; criminals and problems are produced by institutions of society like large corporations, inequity of wealth, the capitalist economic system; Further, violence is purpetuated by fundamentalist morality and discipline, which ultimately leads to physical abuse. The murderer has left many clues, not of a physical nature, but of a symbolic nature. He has arrogantly challenged us to decipher the mysterious messages left behind. From the outset he has used the sensationalism of the case and the media's obsession with it to promote his agenda, without the knowledge of the various participants, but with great effect. The manner in which this was done parallels the movie "Seven":
Method taken from the movie "Seven"
The movie "Seven", released in 1995, concerns a fictional series of murders based on the "7 Deadly Sins" of Dante's "Inferno". The pathologically self-righteous killer, chillingly played by Kevin Spacey, turns each crime scene into a "sermon". Each of his victims are chosen as a particularly appropriate representative of each sin and the means of their death is sadistically calculated to make them "atone" for their sin. An obese man, for example, is forced to eat until he explodes internally. The word "gluttony" is found written in grease on the wall behind the refrigerator. A crooked lawyer is forced to cut off a pound of his own flesh; the word "greed" is then written on the floor with his blood. A prideful model has her face hideously disfigured and is given the choice of "facing" life or commiting suicide. At each crime scene the murderer, known as "John Doe", has purposefully left clues that lead to the next victim. He revels in the control he thus exercises over the police. His methodology demonstrates his superior intelligence. At the end he surrenders to the detectives and manipulates them into participating in the last murder. On the way to the scene of the last murder a young detective, played by Brad Pitt, rails at "Doe" for being a pervert and for murdering innocent people. To which John Doe responds: "innocent? Is that supposed to be funny?". He then reveals his philosophy and reasons for the killings. Sin is so common place. It is on every corner. Someone has to call attention to this pervasive evil. John Doe is that instrument chosen to get every one's attention. You have to hit them over the head with a sledgehammer any more to get their attention, he says. You have to be dramatic. The victims deserved to die, in the way they did. You'd like to get me in a "windowless room" wouldn't you detective?, he asks, meaning a place of judgement where no one could see him work the perp over. Shortly, at the chosen site, a box is delivered to the detectives, It is opened and found to contain the head (beheaded) of the detective's wife. In shock and rage the young detective shoots John Doe. In Doe's mind, Pitt becomes as much a killer as he at that point, demonstrating his hypocrisy ( a "shot" at capital punishment ) and sin of anger. Doe, himself, becomes the last victim, having committed the sin of envy...of envying the detective's relationship with his wife ( with jealousy as the root motivation of all crime, per anarchist doctrine, so the elimination of the outward object is the solution, rather than a change of character ).
One or more phrases, or elements were copied from the following movies:
In Cold Blood
A two part mini-series of the Clutter family murders was aired on National TV on November 24 and 26, 1996. An article in the Wichita Eagle, Wichita, Kansas newspaper, dated Nov. 25, 1996, describes the nation wide attention that the series had generated in the town of Holcomb, Kansas, and the house where the family was murdered. The Clutters were a wealthy, respectable. hard-working and well liked family, who in many ways, were like the Ramsey family. Details of the similarities between the two families and crimes have been covered at Jameson's Page and one of mine. There are many corresponding elements between the two crimes. A summary of the main common characteristics:
Teddy bear w/purse left on bed next to JonBenet's.
"The white and pink bed,... was dominated by a big pink-and-white Teddy bear"
"I only remember Nancy’s teddy bear staring at me."
Red heart drawn on her left palm
" his sexual interest in female children was a….secret he’d never confessed to anyone and hoped no one
suspected….Seducing pubescent girls, as he had done ‘8 or 9’ times….He took the child’s hand and said, ‘
You’re my baby girl, You’re my little sweetheart.’…"
The house was a maze. Only someone who had been in it a lot, lived in it, could have gotten around in it.
A former employee of Mr. Clutter’s, Floyd Wells, meets Dick Hickock, in Lansing prison and tells
him about the rich Clutter family. Dick becomes obsessed with murdering them and stealing their money. Wells
tells Hickock "all about the house, its layout, where the money is kept."
Her hands were tied together
"Her hands were tied behind her, and her ankles were roped together with the kind of cord you see on
venetian blinds." "The cord around her wrists..." "Having once served in the Merchant Marine, he understood
rope and was clever with knots. He chose a white nylon cord...."
Her mouth had been taped
Her mouth had been taped with adhesive (tape)..…"
The garrote was fastened to the stick with an elaborate knot
(the knot was) "...a very complicated, artful piece of work..."
She was taken to the basement where she was murdered (apparently) in the furnace room and put in the windowless
(pitch black) "wine cellar".
"...we followed him down to the basement. Or playroom ....inside you couldn’t see your hand until Mr. Ewalt
found the light switch. It was a furnace room..."
A half-sole print was found next to her body.
"Sheriff…was pointing at...a blood-stained footprint. On the mattress box (next to Mr. Clutter). A half-sole
footprint..."
A scream was heard across the street, but not upstairs and across the house.
"Alfred Stoecklein….wished ‘folks would...understand ‘ why he and his wife, though they lived scarcely a hundred
yards from the Clutter home, had not heard the slightest echo of gun thunder….A west wind, like it was, would carry
the sound t’other way. ..there’s that big barn ‘tween this house and our’n ….And did you ever think of this? Him that
done it, he must’ve knowed we couldn’t hear….him that done it had it figured out to the final T.."
JonBenet had been covered (wrapped?) in her white blanket and laid on the floor. Only the parents, it was reasoned, would
bother to wrap her up nice like that.
"Now, what kind of person would do that--tie up two women …and then draw up the bedcovers, tuck them in, like
sweet dreams and good night?"
The garrote handle, made from Patsy's paintbrush, had the word "Korea" impressed on it.
He also sent me $30.00 a month while in Korea war (sic) while he was there from beginning until the end…."p.128,
Korea or Korean war mentioned on pages 134, 137, 145, 187, 276
Neighbors that night noticed that the light at the southwest corner that was normally on had been turned off and that
strange lights were on in the kitchen. A large flashlight was left on the kitchen counter.
"Dick put on gloves; I’d already put on mine (no fingerprints). He carried the knife and flashlight. I had the shot
(stun?) gun." "’…when you turned off the upstairs light, that left the house completely dark.’ ‘Did. And we never
used the lights again. Except the flashlight."
JonBenet wet her bed a lot
Perry used to get beat by the nuns at the orphanage for wetting his bed...."She woke me up. She had a flashlight,
and she hit me with it. Hit me and hit me."
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Perry ( of ICB ) dreams a lot about travel and adventure. He sees the movie "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" 8 times. p.15. The old man reminds him of his father. The Movie concerns a down on his luck American, Dobbs, in Mexico who is reduced to panhandling to survive ("Say buddy, will you stake a fellow American...?") When he finally takes a two week job, working in the jungle, his boss cheats him out of most of his money. He meets an old prospector who tells him and his new found friend of a great treasure of gold but warns them of the power of gold to change a man's character; from good intentions to greed. The trio set out to the mountains to get rich. In the end Dobbs turns greedy and tries to steal his partners' share. He is subsequently killed by bandits, the bandits are executed and the gold dust is blown away by the wind. The moral of this story is lost on Perry...but perhaps not on the murderer. It relates to the matter of James Merrick and his claim for $118,000.00 back wages...the two men went to the mountains to strike it rich, one of them got rich, greedy and tried to make off with the other's money. Much of the wealth has been blown away by the "wind" by now. The murderer is telling us that he is familiar with this incident in John"s life and the movie and put the two together, and is providing this as one of many possible suspects to "muddle the picture".
One neighbor saw strange lights in the kitchen after midnight, another heard a scream about 2:00 am.
The killers arrived at the Clutters house just after midnight. They were there about 2 hours.
"…the Kansas Supreme Court decreed that their lives must end between midnight and 2:00am.,…"
The cause of death was asphixiation from being strangled.
The two murderers were hung (strangled) on the gallows.
Dirty Harry
This movie aired on November 29, 1996, on TBS. At one point the kidnapper says, " If you talk to anyone, I don't care if it's a Pekingnese pissing against a lamppost, the girl dies." The similar line from the ransom note: " If we catch you talking to a stray dog, she dies." Again, the kidnapper in the movie says, " It sounds like you had a good rest. You'll need it." The ransom note says, "The delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested."
In the Nick of Time
The story of a political faction that kidnaps a 6 year old girl. The kidnapper begins, "Listen to me very carefully!" This show aired at 7:30p.m. on the 25th. of December! And from the ransom note: "Listen carefully!""We are a small foreign faction.."
Speed
A terroist says, "You know that I'm on top of you. Do not attempt to grow a brain." The ransom note says, "You and your family are under constant scrutiny as well as the authorities. Don't try to grow a brain John."
Ransom
A rich CEO and his wife deal with the kidnapping of their son. The kidnappers negotiate for his return yet intend to kill him all along.
Ricochet
A convict escapes from prison and begins a plot to frame and destroy the person who put him behind bars. X's and circles drawn on a photograph, indicating the targeted victim, is suggestive of the x's and heart of this crime.
The Rope
A 1929 play loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb murder has a scene where dinner guests and relatives discuss the kidnapping of Bobby Franks as his body lies within a shipping chest a few feet away.