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jbrunsolved · 1 month ago

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Letter from Macy to Kolar

January 25, 2007

Chief James Kolar

Telluride Police Department

P.O. Box 372

Dear Chief Kolar;

I have reviewed your presentation on the JonBenet Ramsey Murder Investigation. It has also been reviewed by first assistant district Atty. Peter Maguire, Assistant district Atty. Bill Nagel and Chief Investigator Tom Bennett. We have spent substantial time examining your Investigative Report, Summary Report and PowerPoint presentation. We have independently arrived at the same conclusions.

I hired you as my Chief Investigator in July 2005. At that time, we discussed your role regarding the Ramsey case. I was clear in my direction to you that we would follow up leads from law enforcement and other credible sources that had indicia of reliability. That decision was based upon history that involved Chief Investigator Bennett having to spend an inordinate amount of time responding to leads from marginal at best. We made a deliberate decision to put our investigatory priorities on recent cases. You obviously disregarded my direction. You proceeded without my approval and without consulting with me. You are clearly acting outside of your defined role.

When you departed from the employment of the Boulder District Attorney's Office in March of 2006, your wall as an investigator with this office terminated. The Ramsey case is still under my control. You have continued to proceed outside the limits of your jurisdiction. It appears that you have utilized confidential information that should legally have remained under the control of my office. This is quite concerning to me and tonight management staff to place their trust in your professionalism.

I am going to address your presentation although it galls me to respond to what I consider to be an abuse of authority. Chief investigator Tom Bennett, first but just assistant district attorney Peter Maguire, assistant attorney Bill Nagel and myself are in agreement, reached independently, as to the value of your theory. We are in agreement that the first portion of your presentation is based on the Boulder Police Department’s Case Summary and facts that have been previously documented and debated. There is nothing new in terms of evidence in this presentation. The last quarter of your PowerPoint presentation which is the final 70+ frames are not based on facts supported by evidence. Your theory is based upon conjecture, which at times approaches pure flights of fantasy. Your conclusions are based upon suppositions and inferences with absolutely no support in evidence or in the record. Your presentation lacks the fundamental substantive factual basis from which reasonable minds cannot differ.

I must repeat, there is no substantive basis to your theory. It is almost pure speculation as to what could've happened rather than evidence as to what did happen.

You requested in your communication of January 5 that your presentation be shared with certain entities in law enforcement. It will not be shared with them. We will not be part of this mockery you are trying to market. We take our jobs and our role with regard to this case seriously. When and if we have a serious suspect based upon substantial evidence, we will work closely with all appropriate agencies. This is not that time.

I am requesting the return forthwith any and all information you obtained while under the employment of the Boulder District Attorney's Office as it applies to the Ramsey investigation. You were not granted permission to remove any such information from this office. This includes all reports, documents, photographs, CDs or other materials and anything prepared using such documents.

Finally, I need to remind you that as of the date of your resignation from the Boulder District Attorney's Office, you're no longer protected by any immunity from civil litigation based on your conduct as investigator. I recommend that you discuss your unauthorized activities with the City of Telluride Risk Management Office to determine what if any liability your current employer might have as a result of your activities.

Mary T. Lacy

District Attorney

Twentieth Judicial District

Cc: Attorney General John Suthers

Deputy Attorney General Jeanne Smith

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jbrunsolved · 1 month ago

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Dr. Werner Spitz Concludes: Brother Killed JonBenet Ramsey

A team of investigators, including Dr. Spitz, 89, a retired Wayne State University professor and world-renowned forensic pathologist, examined evidence in the 1996 slaying of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey and concluded Monday night that brother Burke did it.

The conclusion came on the CBS docu-series "The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey."

CBS Detroit reports:

On Monday night’s premiere of the series “The Case Of: JonBenét Ramsey,” Spitz forwarded a theory that Ramsey was killed by a heavy flashlight that was seen in crime scene photographs on the family’s kitchen counter top the next day. He showed through demonstrations on the CBS special that the fatal injury to the 6-year-old’s skull matched the flashlight’s outer rim, though no DNA was ever discovered on the device.

The team included retired FBI profiler Jim Clemente and criminal behavioral analyst Laura Richards.

The team believes the parents concocted a story to cover for their son.

“If you really, really use your free time to think about this case, you cannot come to a different conclusion,” Spitz told CBS Detroit. “It’s the boy who did it, whether he was jealous, or mentally unfit or something … I don’t know the why, I’m not a psychiatrist, but what I am sure about is what I know about him, that is what happened here. And the parents changed the scene to make it look like something it wasn’t."

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jbrunsolved · 1 month ago

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lin wood interview with westworld Part Two

Obviously, those efforts on my part failed. CBS abandoned all of its journalistic principles in airing this show, and I think CBS will have to pay a severe penalty in terms of monetary damages for what it's done to this young man.

I've been practicing law for many years, and in the last twenty years, since the Richard Jewell case, I have handled a number of high-profile, public-figure-plaintiffs libel cases, and I also clearly keep up with the area in terms of other cases. I've never seen a case this egregious. And for it to have occurred under the CBS brand, with its reputation for integrity, makes the defamation and the accusation that much more egregious. This young man will live the rest of his life with people going onto Google and finding headlines saying, "CBS proved Burke Ramsey killed his sister." CBS. It's unbelievable.

When was the last time you communicated with CBS?

After the series, I sent a demand for litigation hold to CBS — which is a demand that they preserve all documentary evidence, including electronic evidence, related to the broadcast. I followed up with another letter — a formal retraction demand, which under California law must be sent within twenty days of the broadcast. California law gives CBS thirty days to correct.

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I have no expectations that CBS is going to see the light and correct its error. I've never found media defendants to be that smart. So I would expect a lawsuit will be filed at the end of October or the beginning of November.

So the only reason you went forward with the current lawsuit against Dr. Spitz but didn't file concurrently against CBS is because of the California law requiring what is essentially a waiting period?

Correct. Michigan law only provides that you must allow a reasonable time period, which has been defined as being as short as five-plus days. So a retraction demand was sent to Werner Spitz. His lawyer did write me and told me that he had no interest in retracting, so we went ahead and prepared the lawsuit against him — and we did not have the time constraints we have in California. That explains why Spitz was filed first. It doesn't mean to give him any greater role in the defamation. But what Spitz did do — Spitz gave an interview to CBS Detroit and explicitly made the accusations, directly as a statement of fact, that Burke killed JonBenét. That's a separate accusation beyond his role in the CBS docuseries. So I was able, under law, to get that lawsuit filed, but I would have sued him separately for that interview anyway. He'll also be a party to the CBS case for defamation arising out of the docuseries itself.

There's been speculation that your comments about a planned lawsuit wouldn't result in an actual filing because of concern that the discovery process would result in the release of material the Ramsey family wouldn't be comfortable putting out in public. Was that ever a consideration?

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The idea that there would be any hesitation in suing over this case because of fear of the discovery process is utter nonsense. I have already filed and successfully pursued three cases on behalf of Burke Ramsey, all those years ago. I have also filed defendant cases for John and Patsy Ramsey. They have been deposed. There is absolutely no concern whatsoever in engaging fully in the discovery process.

Discovery in this case is going to support my client's position. Because his position is based on fact and evidence. On the other hand, discovery is going to expose Dr. Spitz in his case and CBS in its case. It's going to expose the utter lack of evidentiary foundation for the accusations against Burke Ramsey. And it's going to, I believe, prove by clear and convincing evidence that this accusation was manufactured in order to produce big ratings during September sweeps and get the CBS docuseries off to a good start with an intent to avoid CBS's internal standards. That's because they did not allow this broadcast to be produced by 48 Hours. 48 Hours is the arm of CBS that produces true-crime programs in what might be generally described as the entertainment area. 48 Hours has done at least three shows on the JonBenét Ramsey case. They were, in fact, supposed to produce the twentieth-anniversary segment. But it was pulled by CBS Entertainment to give the show to Critical Content. And in so doing, it allowed the show to be produced outside CBS's internal standards. They were allowed to have greater freedom to make this false accusation against Burke, which no other show has made against this young man.

Is it your hope, since there are still more than two months before the twenty-year mark of this crime, that the lawsuits will dissuade other producers or news agencies from going down this particular path?

I want to be diplomatic, okay? In my view, only a damned fool would accuse Burke Ramsey of the murder of his sister. I am not in the business of chilling speech. I am in the business of holding entities and individuals accountable for false accusations. And I will certainly aggressively do so if anyone makes this same accusation against this young man.

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I can't tell you in strong enough words: There is absolutely not one iota of physical evidence that links this young man to the murder of his sister.... It's not even a matter of exonerating him. It shows that he is not even a legitimate suspect, as acknowledged by law enforcement authorities publicly in 1998 and 1999. So in order to accuse this young man, you've either got to intentionally misrepresent the evidence, intentionally ignore the evidence, or manufacture evidence to come up with the sensational, for-profit headline that Burke Ramsey was somehow involved in the murder of his sister.

I call it outrageous, but it's really hard to find the right word to adequately describe CBS and any other member of the responsible media who would make this type of accusation against this young man. For the past twenty years, since age nine, Burke Ramsey has lived with the burdens of his sister being murdered, his mother and father accused periodically in national media frenzies, and being investigated — his parents being investigated for the murder, and his mother dying. This young man has had a lot on his shoulders this past twenty years. And yet he has been able to successfully maintain his private life. He's a good, fine young man, a graduate of college, gainfully employed and trying to live as normal a life as he possibly can under these extraordinary circumstances. And for CBS to now add to that young man's burdens.... The fact is, he'll live the rest of his life knowing that people Googling him will see that he has been falsely been accused of murder, to see that he has been falsely portrayed as a killer since age nine. That will impact every business and social relationship this young man will ever engage in.

It is unconscionable conduct that CBS would openly defy the findings of legitimate law enforcement authorities, would ignore actual evidence in the case, would manufacture evidence, and would go out and pay money to these television expert whores such as Werner Spitz and Henry Lee, to come onto their air to give some kind of feigned credibility to these false accusations.

If you can't tell how pissed off I am, I am not apparently able to adequately express myself. I didn't fall off the truck yesterday. I've been around the block with some of the largest media companies in the country in significant libel cases. This one is, among those I've represented, the most egregious libel case I've ever seen. I can't imagine what a judge or a jury's reaction would be. I think I know. I think I got a taste of it in the earlier cases I filed on behalf of Burke. But those defendants had the good sense to promptly settle their cases with Burke and not repeat the foolishness, the unlawful accusations.

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You'll notice that I sued Spitz for $150 million. It's not by coincidence that was the verdict in the Hulk Hogan-versus-Gawker case. And that message was intentional. Let me assure, the CBS case is going to be for a hell of a lot more than $150 million.

Will you take similar actions if news organizations come forward and accuse John Ramsey or Patsy Ramsey should they definitively say one or both of them did it?

Patsy Ramsey — this is one of the tragedies of our legal system. Once Patsy Ramsey died, any cause of action for future defamation expired, was lost, at her death. In other words, a lawsuit cannot be brought by someone's estate for defamation. So if a member of the credible mainstream media wants to make an accusation against Patsy, despite the public exoneration from the Boulder District Attorney's Office, I can't bring action against them. I wish I could. If I could, I would. But I cannot.

If someone accuses John Ramsey, that's a different story. I'm not going to sit idly by and let John Ramsey be falsely accused of the murder of his daughter. Nor am I going to sit by and let John Ramsey be accused of an unlawful cover-up of his daughter's murder, which would include the accusation that John Ramsey lied to police. So CBS is likely going to be on the other end of a lawsuit in the near future filed by John Ramsey. Because the docuseries clearly accuses John Ramsey of a cover-up of this false accusation related to Burke killing his sister. At least for the present time, the focus will be on the case filed by Burke. But at some point in the foreseeable future, John Ramsey will also file a lawsuit against CBS.

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I do want to say this. I understand the public's need to know. And I understand the public's curiosity and interest in the JonBenét Ramsey case. And I have a healthy respect for the First Amendment when it is properly exercised. So I don't mean to discourage a robust discussion of the facts of this case and the evidence in this case. I would encourage it to the extent that it remains a matter of public interest. What I will not encourage and I will not tolerate is a media individual or a media entity, in discussing the evidence, taking the additional step of accusing Burke Ramsey of murdering his sister, because there is no evidence to support that accusation. Zero evidence. And it defies the public statements by law enforcement about this young man not even being a possible suspect in this case. So talk about the case. Talk about it accurately. Debate the evidence. But that doesn't require, nor does it justify, accusing an individual like Burke Ramsey, or even his father, John Ramsey, when we know as a matter of fact that Burke has never been considered a suspect and John Ramsey has been exonerated.

If there was any evidence to base a charge against John Ramsey over these twenty years, that charge would have been made.

As we know, a grand jury was ready to indict John Ramsey at one point.

Be careful when you talk about what the grand jury was ready to do. I've seen the recommendation of the grand jury, and it certainly didn't involve Burke Ramsey. It talked about assisting someone in the first-degree charge of murder. That wouldn't apply to Burke.

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A district attorney can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. Now, that grand jury sat for eighteen months. What we don't know are all the other recommendations that were submitted to that grand jury by the district attorney's office. I'm sure, if you saw them, that you would find things that said Patsy Ramsey should be charged with first-degree homicide. They obviously answered no, or they didn't answer. So those recommendations themselves are internally confusing, if not contradictory. I suspect you had a grand jury that was so confused after eighteen months of being pushed hard by the Boulder police to make some recommendation that it finally came up with these nonsensical, contradictory recommendations that Alex Hunter, in the proper exercise of his prosecutorial duty, knew he could never sustain beyond a reasonable doubt. And he did the right thing by not bringing the charge.

Guilt or innocence is not determined by a grand jury recommendation. And it certainly is not determined when that recommendation is rejected by the district attorney's office. It doesn't take much to make out a prima facie case. It takes a lot to make out a criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt. And there is no evidence that would support that charge against John and Patsy.

I've always said it would be nice if the entire grand jury procedure was released to the public. All of the testimony. All of the recommendations submitted to the grand jury. When you pull out a small piece of a puzzle developed over eighteen months, it doesn't give you the context to understand what that one piece of the puzzle really means and where it fits. Somebody decided to leak that, and then it was affirmed by a judge that it should be released. They should have released the whole thing. I have long advocated, on behalf of the Ramsey family, that all of the evidence should come out, all of the testimony given to the grand jury, so the public can draw its only conclusions. Put the evidence out there, and people can look at the real evidence. The only conclusions that have been drawn from the real evidence so far is that John and Patsy Ramsey have been exonerated by the district attorney based on DNA evidence, and it was deemed in 1998 and 1999 that Burke Ramsey was not a suspect. So I don't have any fear of people drawing their own conclusions as long as they are doing it based on a full and accurate representation of the evidence. It's the misinformed accusations, the uninformed accusations, the speculative accusations for profit that get my attention when it comes to filing lawsuits against individuals or entities.

There are many observers out there who would dispute your use of the word "exonerated" when it comes to what the district attorney's office said about John and Patsy Ramsey. Tell me why "exonerated" is the right word from your perspective.

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Don't make it my word. Go back to what the district attorney's office said. They said going forward, the Ramseys would be treated as victims, because that's what they are. That's their role in this case. An apology was issued to the family for the years of accusations and media coverage they'd had to endure. That 2008 statement by Mary Lacy cannot be reasonably interpreted as anything other than a public and official exoneration.

Now, can people disagree with Mary Lacy? Yes, provided those people are basing their disagreement of an informed review of the accurate evidence.

I'm not a criminal lawyer, though between the Ramsey case and the Jewell case, I sometimes feel as if I was a quasi-criminal lawyer. But what I've learned, which I think is consistent with common sense — and I think most people who rushed to accuse the Ramseys in this case literally checked common sense at the door — but what I can say is that we know as a matter of fact under the actual evidence that DNA, likely saliva, not touch DNA, was found in the blood spot in the crotch of JonBenét's underwear. And that DNA was found under her fingernails. We know that DNA was not Ramsey [DNA]. The police department knew that within a couple weeks of the murder, but didn't bother to report it to the district attorney's office for months. But we know that the markers were sufficient in the underwear to be certified for the CODIS database. And while the fingernail DNA didn't have enough markers for the database, the markers that were discovered were consistent with the DNA found in her underwear.

Then, along in 2008, with the new technology of touch DNA, it was found that there was DNA found on both sides of the waistband of her pajama bottoms. That DNA is tested and guess what: It matches the DNA found in her underwear, which was consistent with the DNA found under her fingernails. No legitimate law enforcement individual would ever look for an innocent explanation of foreign DNA found on the body of a murder victim. The fact that the Boulder Police Department attempted to try to justify the DNA somehow being there from the manufacturing process in Asia is laughable. It defies any legitimate use of DNA evidence connected with a crime.

So what do you have? You have evidence that does not support a charge against the family. You have DNA evidence found in three areas on the body of the victim that matches. You find the person's DNA, you match the DNA to an individual. One and one equals two. You're going to solve this murder. This is a DNA case, and only those people who have a longstanding conviction that the Ramseys were involved, only those people obsessed with Ramsey guilt, will try to explain away the clear, hard evidence that exonerates the family.

Unfortunately, many of the opinions that were shaped in this case were shaped early. And then it becomes what's called confirmation bias, where you view everything through the prism of what belief you had previously formed. The public was deceived in this case, intentionally by the Boulder Police Department leaking false and accusatory information to the media about this family. We know that as a matter of sworn testimony.

So do I understand that there are people who want to twist Mary Lacy's public exoneration into something other than what it clearly was? Yes. Do I understand that people want to continue to defy the evidence and make some accusation against the Ramseys? I understand that, too, because the false information leaked by the police was so overwhelmingly against this family that there were conclusions drawn by the public that are very, very difficult to change. I'm sure there are still people who continue to believe that Richard Jewell bombed the Olympics even though Eric Rudolph pled guilty to the crime. That's what happens, because the whisper of innocence never overcomes the shout of guilt.

I understand it. But when it comes to someone with credibility in the media making the accusation, I'm going to deal with it. And I'm going to teach them a legal lesson they will not forget.

#burke

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jbrunsolved · 1 month ago

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L. wood excerpt to Westword

Westword: Why have you decided to file suit in this case, particularly given that over the course of twenty years, lots of people have made wild accusations against members of the Ramsey family?

Lin Wood: Since 1999 and 2000, when I successfully suedStar magazine, the New York Post and Court TV for falsely accusing Burke Ramsey of the death of JonBenét, no member of the mainstream media or even the tabloid media has dared to make that accusation against this young man again. He was officially and publicly cleared — being described as not being a suspect or a possible suspect by the Boulder Police Department in May of 1998 and the Boulder District Attorney's Office in May of 1999. And there has been no evidence developed in the case since then other than DNA evidence developed in 2008 that was used by then-district attorney Mary Lacy to exonerate the entire family. Burke had already been exonerated. So other than, as you say, wild accusations that have floated around in the Internet world over the last twenty years, no credible attack has ever been made against Burke Ramsey since the foolishness in 1999 and 2000.

Jim Kolar's book was published a few years ago. It was self-published. It had no credibility. No mainstream publisher would touch it. I know for a fact that Jim Kolar approached a number of members of the mainstream media in New York seeking interviews to publicize the book, and they refused to interview him. They refused any attempt to give publicity or credibility to his book, Foreign Faction. And that book is the cornerstone of the CBS docuseries that was recently broadcast. So while Jim Kolar was not worth a lawsuit a few years ago, because I did not feel he had any credibility and I did not want to give him the appearance of credibility that would publicize his book by filing a lawsuit against him, obviously things have changed now, because CBS used this book as part of its script for the docuseries.

ou've probably seen me quoted as saying this series was a fraud. There was no new investigation by a new team of experts. This was a scripted show, primarily off of Jim Kolar's book

Did you know in advance of the CBS docuseries' airing that this was going to be a theme? And did you reach out in any way to producers to try to present a different point of view or to let them know that litigation would be forthcoming if they followed that particular route?

The answer is yes to both questions. I had received information in the early part of the summer that CBS intended to air a docuseries based on true crime, clearly trying to build on the success about the true-crime series about O.J. Simpson and the program The Making of a Murderer. And I understood they were going to be relying on Jim Kolar's theories. So I was relatively confident they were going to make the mistake of using Burke Ramsey. And I did reach out to CBS before the broadcast, and I did inform them that if they did in fact make those accusations against Burke, a lawsuit would be filed. Which should come as no surprise to them.

I had agreed for Burke to be interviewed by Dr. Phil McGraw. And that was because I understood the accusations were likely going to be made, and I felt like it had reached the point where Burke, who has been silent for the last twenty years and has not given any interviews, should exercise what the law refers to as his right of reasonable response. I had also hoped that good judgment would prevail and CBS might even at the last minute reconsider the error of its ways when Burke gave the interview, which also discussed a lot of evidence in the case. I hoped that CBS might reconsider and not make the accusations against Burke.

#burke

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jbrunsolved · 1 month ago

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Video clip - L. Wood in court on behalf of Burke

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jbrunsolved · 1 month ago

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Ramsey v CBS Complaint (Burke)

N. Defendants Pronouncement that Burke Killed JonBenét

After Defendants presented the limited “evidence” they could muster against Burke, Defendants announced the conclusion of their “complete reinvestigation” in rapid-fire succession.

The inescapable false and defamatory conclusion of this final segment is that Burke killed JonBenét.

Defendants began this segment with Clemente proclaiming their goal: Now that we’ve been investigating for months, we’ve been working together as a team, I think we need to actually try to piece together everything that happened. Anybody who does a legitimate investigation will look at all the evidence and see where that evidence takes you. So we have to test every theory and the ones that remain, are the ones that are supported by the evidence.

Defendants first agreed quickly and with little examination—correctly—that neither John or Patsy killed JonBenét.

Defendants then declared that there was no intruder: “I don’t think the evidence that stands up to scientific or behavioral scrutiny indicates that somebody came in from outsidethat home and killed JonBenét.”

Defendants falsely attacked the intruder theory by proclaiming “that the DNA evidence in this case is totally erroneous” and there is “really no sexual assault here.”

Richards then invited Kolar to share what he believes happened that night, as though she did not already know: “James, I’m interested to know what exactly you think happened in the house that night.”

Kolar then stated the grand accusation against Burke—the same one from Foreign Faction:

My hypothesis was that I think the Ramseys came home around 9:30, 10:00 o’clock. I think JonBenét was asleep. I think John did carry her upstairs. Patsy remained downstairs with Burke and served him the tea and the pineapple. I think that accounts for the physical evidence as well as the latent prints. Then I think she got JonBenét up to make sure she used the toilet so she didn’t wet the bed that night. JonBenét was up, she may or may not have brushed her teeth. That stuff was out on the counter. And then I think she was up and awake enough, but she maybe was still hungry and went downstairs. In the meantime, Patsy continued packing for the Michigan trip. I think if Burke was upset about circumstances or Christmas presents, he probably would’ve been upset about her trying to snag a piece of pineapple. Out of anger he may have struck her with that flashlight.

Without further discussion, the remaining five Pseudo-Experts unanimously agreed with Kolar’s accusation that Burke killed JonBenét with the Flashlight over a piece of pineapple: Spitz: “I think we all agree on that.” Clemente: “Yeah.

Fitzgerald: “Yes.” Richards: “Absolutely.” Lee: “Sure, yeah, I agree with that.” Spitz: “Okay.”

As Kolar sets forth Defendants’ accusation, the Documentary flashes fictional reenactments designed to bolster and support Defendants’ false accusations.

Defendants openly and falsely accused Burke of fatally bashing JonBenét over the head with the Flashlight. And Defendants offered no other alternative for who may have murdered JonBenét. To the contrary, Defendants attempted to negate all other possibilities.

Consistent with their marketing, Defendants portrayed that they “solved it.”

Defendants then provide a motive for John and Patsy for a cover-up: “[Patsy] said she would have nothing left to live for if she lost Burke.”

Defendants then openly conclude, without clearly explaining any connection between John and Patsy and the cover-up, that John and Patsy covered up Burke’s crime: Mixed motives make it pretty clear that both parents are involved. . . . And I think that’s what we have here in the language utilized as well as the crime scene itself, the body and everything else. Within an hour of this crime being committed, there’s probably a cover-up starting with whatever they did to the body and certainly the writing of this letter, the 9-1-1 call, everything that happened later. But I don’t think Burke was involved in the cover-up.

But as far as the cover-up itself, I would say primarily, it’s John and Patsy who were involved in that. I think the most likely probability is that adults in that family, John and Patsy Ramsey—and this is consistent with what the grand jury wanted to indict them for—staged this to look like a monster predator had come in their house and killed their daughter. It’s my opinion that the Ramsey family did not want law enforcement to resolve this case and that’s why it remains unsolved.

100% agree. . . . I think in the end this was about two parents [who] deeply cared for the daughter they lost and wanted to protect the child they had remaining.

Defendants’ false accusation against Burke was accepted as true by millions of viewers who were convinced that it was based on a legitimate reinvestigation by legitimate experts and based on truthful and complete information broadcast by CBS.

The viewers did not know that the Documentary was a purposeful fraud, built around Kolar’s Burke-did-it accusation. The Documentary was not a “complete reinvestigation” of JonBenét’s murder by a panel of seven independent “experts.” It was a fraudulent charade that merely repackaged Kolar’s false accusations and decades of debunked theories in a manner intended to deceive the viewers into believing that the information was real. It was all a lie. But a lie that will haunt and harm Burke for the rest of his natural life.

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jbrunsolved · 1 month ago

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Ramseys v CBS Complaint - Section about the pineapple theory.

M. Defendants Set the Stage for Their Preposterous Theory that Burke Killed JonBenét for Taking His Pineapple

Defendants absurdly claim that Burke knew that the pineapple is the smoking gun for this crime, and that he then successfully deceived law enforcement as to his knowledge.

The false and defamatory gist of this section is that Burke killed JonBenét after becoming enraged when she took a piece of his pineapple without asking, lied to investigators, and was complicit in the cover-up of JonBenét’s death.

Defendants attempt to support this preconceived gist by reviewing pre-selected excerpts from Burke’s interview with Boulder PD Detective Schuler eighteen months after JonBenét’s death (the “Schuler Interview”).

Defendants use the Schuler Interview to set the stage for their knowingly false, defamatory, and purely speculative accusation that Burke killed JonBenét over a piece of pineapple and then stabbed her with his toy train track. These theories are taken straight from Foreign Faction. See, e.g., pp. 65, 343, 384-385.

Defendants go so far as to make the inherently improbable assertion that during the Schuler Interview, Burke is “aware that that piece of pineapple in JonBenét’s stomach actually creates a major problem in terms of the timeline of when and how she was killed.”

Defendants knowingly fail to disclose that they have no basis whatsoever to assert that Burke, at eleven-years-old, is playing a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with Detective Schuler.

In this segment, Defendants continue to cast a shadow over Burke’s alleged improper behavior during interviews.

For instance, Clemente claims that Burke is “acting like a smart aleck here, like I’m smart and I’m proud of myself.” Clemente’s knowingly false and defamatory implication is that Burke is proud of himself for outsmarting law enforcement by hiding that he killed JonBenét.

Clemente also falsely accuses Burke of deception because he “oversell[s]” when he states “I always sleep really deeply and I can never hear anything.”

Defendants then use two topics raised by Detective Schuler as a springboard for two key aspects of their version of events: the purported pineapple in JonBenét’s lower intestine and Burke’s toy train track.

For instance, Defendants show an excerpt of Burke responding yes to Detective Schuler’s question about JonBenét liking pineapple, and then Defendants pounce. Defendants make the false and defamatory accusation that Burke lost his temper and bludgeoned JonBenét with a flashlight because she at a piece of his pineapple.

Defendants then preface their wildly false and speculative conclusion by stating that the pineapple issue “might look quite innocuous and inconsequential but it also tells us a lot about what probably went on” that night.

Defendants knowingly and falsely claim that the pineapple “gives us a possible timeline,” because “the pineapple was ingested subsequently” to the Ramseys returning homefrom dinner at the Whites.

Defendants conjecture is particularly far reaching in this segment. Spitz extrapolates from his “three children” in order to accuse Burke of killing JonBenét: Clemente: But it’s certainly reasonable to believe that JonBenét may have snatched one piece. Spitz: Right, directly with her fingers. For estimating time of death, this is important. Clemente: Isn’t it possible that JonBenét came down and saw that Burke was eating this, and took one piece? She didn’t touch the bowl, she didn’t touch the spoon— Spitz: You know, I have three grandchildren myself. Kids will do that. They’ll go by and pick out a piece with their fingers.

To convince their audience that their rampant speculation is accurate, Defendants splice in a clip of a blonde girl stealing a piece of pineapple from a young boy, who, in turn, violently grabs the girl by the wrist.

Upon information and belief, Defendants had actual knowledge and failed to disclose that a Boulder PD analysis after the autopsy determined that JonBenét’s small intestine had the remnants cherries, grapes, and pineapple—common fruit cocktail ingredients. Yet, because the presence of cherries and grapes completely undermines Defendants’ series of events, Defendants consciously fail to share their knowledge with the viewer. Instead, Spitz merely asks “Did the pathology report indicate what the pineapple looked like, or the gastric contents?”

Further, Spitz is aware that the presence of the fruit cocktail in JonBenét’s stomach does not establish a concrete timeline from which investigators may glean her time of death, and that the minimum amount of time it would require for the fruit to get to JonBenét’s lower intestine undermines the theory that it “started the cascade of the rest of events that happened on the day she died.”

Defendants also knowingly failed to disclose that the amount of time it would have taken the pineapple to travel to JonBenét’s small intestine is fundamentally inconsistent with the Burke-did-it accusation.

Defendants then note that while Burke and Patsy’s fingertips are on the bowl of pineapple, JonBenét’s are not. This is explainable, Defendants speculate, because she must have only taken “one piece” but “didn’t touch the bowl” or “touch the spoon.”

Defendants have no factual basis for speculating that JonBenét took a piece of Burke’s pineapple, much less that her fingerprints are not present on Defendants’ purported smoking gun because she only “snatched one piece.”

The fact JonBenét’s fingerprints are not on the bowl of pineapple or the spoon is actually strong evidence that she did not eat the pineapple from the bowl.

Upon information and belief, Defendants knowingly failed to disclose that there was more than one piece of fruit in JonBenét’s digestive tract.

Upon information and belief, Defendants knowingly failed to disclose that there was more than one type of fruit in JonBenét’s digestive tract.

Defendants next use a clip of Burke affirming that he had an electric train set to Schuler as an opportunity to replace the stun gun with Burke’s toy train. “It was an incredible discovery, to find a toy in the house that could have been responsible for these injuries. . . . An adult would have been calling 9-1-1 for an ambulance.”

Pseudo-Expert Kolar then repeats his entirely speculative accusation, discussed above, that Burke used one of his train toys to inflict the supposed stun gun injuries on JonBenét. See Foreign Faction, pp. 384-385

#burke

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jbrunsolved · 1 month ago

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why people think Patsy did it (reddit comment that covers the gist)

People ignore it because Patsy wrote the Ransom Letter. Patsy was wearing the same clothes from the night before when the police arrived. Patsy’s sweater fiber’s were found in the knotted cord around JBRs neck. Patsy’s paintbrush was wrapped around JBR’s neck. Patsy’s notepad and Patsy’s pen were used to write the Ransom Letter. Patsy was seen physically punishing JBR in the bathroom for bed-wetting on more than one occasion. Patsy was clearly involved in the evening’s events. It was not an Intruder. The Intruder theory was put forward by the Ramsey’s and their Investigator, Lou Smitz. The Intruder theory was a concoction made up to distract from the fact that Patsy killed JonBenet.

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jbrunsolved · 1 month ago

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BDI's and the excrement issue

via reddit.

A post about excrement

I have come to the conclusion that some of you really enjoy talking about shit- so I made a post about it.

There is only one incident relayed by a previous disgruntled housekeeper involving poop smears potentially left by Burke. Here’s the statement Geraldine supposedly made:

”I had reviewed an investigator’s report that documented a 1997 interview with former Ramsey nanny–housekeeper Geraldine Vodicka, who stated that Burke had smeared feces on the walls of a bathroom during his mother’s first bout with cancer. She told investigators that Nedra Paugh, who was visiting the Ramsey home at the time, had directed her to clean up the mess”. (Kolar)

This is the ONLY event involving smeared feces and could’ve easily been a young child’s solution to no toilet paper. If you must associate it with a child acting out, why is it never suggested that it could be due to a child watching their mother battle stage 4 cancer?

In an attempt to push his ‘scatological SBP’ theory, Kolar goes on to state:

”CSIs had written about finding a pair of pajama bottoms in JonBenét’s bedroom that contained fecal material. They were too big for her and were thought to belong to Burke”.

Below is a portion of Patsy’s interview with the police where they discuss the pants that were turned inside out and found on JonBenet’s bedroom floor:

TOM HANEY: How about 378? PATSY RAMSEY: This is JonBenet's floor, her pants. TOM HANEY: Do you recall those particular pants, when she would have worn those last? PATSY RAMSEY: Not for sure. Probably recently because they are dropped in the middle of the floor, but I don't remember exactly. TOM HANEY: They are kind of inside out. PATSY RAMSEY: Right. TOM HANEY: 379 is a close up of it. It appears they are stained. PATSY RAMSEY: Right. TOM HANEY: Is that something that JonBenet had a problem with? PATSY RAMSEY: Well she, you know, she was at age where she was learning to wipe herself and, you know, sometimes she wouldn't do such a great job. TOM HANEY: Did she have accidents, if you will, in the course of the day or the night, as opposed to just bed wetting? PATSY RAMSEY: Not usually, no, huh-uh. That would probably be more from just not wiping real well.

To again bolster his SBP theory, Kolar states:

”Additionally, a box of candy located in her bedroom had also been observed to be smeared with feces. Both of these discoveries had been made during the processing of the crime scene during the execution of search warrants following the discovery of JonBenét’s body”.

Kolar mentions this box of chocolates but has never included a source or CSI’s actual findings. The box of candy is not listed on any of the available lab reports. He only states what supposedly one person thought they saw. What’s more likely- melted chocolate from children eating a box of chocolates or poop? It’s just ridiculous to assume anything else... unless there’s an actual report stating otherwise.

In an attempt to give even more credence to his theory, Kolar says the following:

”As noted previously, Linda Hoffmann-Pugh had also mentioned finding fecal material in JonBenét’s bed sheets. It raised the question as to who may have been responsible for the deposit of that material in her bed–had it been JonBenét or was it Burke?”

(So ridiculous)

When Linda told police about JonBenet wetting the bed, she added this:

”She told the police that the problem also extended to JonBenét soiling the bed, and recalled once finding fecal matter the size of a grapefruit on the sheet”. (Thomas)

Linda clearly stated it was JonBenet who had an accident in her bed and not Burke. Her having an accident has been attributed to a bout of diarrhea while sick. Why Kolar would even suggest that Burke crawled into JonBenet’s bed and took a shit is just plain stupid and the fact that so many buy into his nonsense is frankly, kind of sad.

Additionally, I’d like to add the following for all of you that carry on about Burke’s supposed ‘mental health issues’. One of Kolar’s main talking points suggesting potential behavior problems with Burke is finding out that Patsy’s mother bought her the following books.

Kolar says:

”I had also found it interesting that the Paughs had reportedly purchased several books on childhood behavior for the Ramsey family. The titles of the books were intriguing: ‘The Hurried Child–Growing Up Too Fast’, by David Elkind; ‘Children at Risk’, by Dobson / Bruer and ‘Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right From Wrong’, by Kilpatrick.

”When exploring the nature of the content of these three books, I wondered what might have been taking place in the home that prompted the grandparents to purchase these types of childhood behavioral books for the family.”

Later on, he once again references them stating:

”could have been an underlying reason for the grandparent’s purchase of the childhood behavioral books discussed previously.”

Here are the actual descriptions of each book which can be found on Amazon:

”The Hurried Child–Growing Up Too Fast”, by David Elkind

With the first two editions of this landmark work, Dr. David Elkind eloquently called our attention to the dangers of exposing our children to overwhelming pressures, pressures that can lead to a wide range of childhood and teenage crises. Internationally recognized as the voice of reason and compassion, Dr. Elkind showed that in blurring the boundaries of what is age appropriate, by expecting-or imposing-too much too soon, we force our kids to grow up far too fast. In the two decades since this groundbreaking book first appeared, we have compounded the problem, inadvertently stepping up the assault on childhood in the media, in schools, and at home. Taking a detailed, up-to-the-minute look at the world of today's children and teens in terms of the Internet, classroom culture, school violence, movies, television, and a growing societal incivility, Dr. Elkind shows a whole new generation of parents where hurrying occurs and why and what we can do about it.

”Children at Risk”, Dobson / Bruer

In this hard-hitting and empowering book, James Dobson and Gary Bauer expose the cultural forces endangering today's children and show what you can do to defend your family, your faith and your traditional values. A national bestseller revised and expanded for even more knowledge to protect your most precious gift-your children.

”Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right From Wrong” by Kilpatrick

A hard-hitting and controversial book, WHY JOHNNY CAN'T TELL RIGHT FROM WRONG will not only open eyes but change minds. America today suffers from unprecedented rates of teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, suicide, and violence. Most of the programs intended to deal with these problems have failed because, according to William Kilpatrick, schools and parents have abandoned the moral teaching they once provided. In WHY JOHNNY CAN'T TELL RIGHT FROM WRONG, Kilpatrick shows how we can correct this problem by providing our youngsters with the stories, models, and inspirations they need in order to lead good lives. He also encourages parents to read to their children and provides an annotated guide to more than 120 books for children and young adults.

These are parenting books regarding opinions on how to properly raise your child… Something a parent who wants the best for their children would read! They are clearly not ‘behavioral books’. Kolar either did not explore the nature of them as he claimed to or, is once again purposely misleading the reader.

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jbrunsolved · 1 month ago

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Books published

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jbrunsolved · 1 month ago

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3 Big Ways ‘The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey’ Got It Wrong

From confirmation bias in the 911 tape analysis to dissecting an 'appropriate' response to death, how CBS's documentary didn't tell the whole story

This month, two new TV documentary specials about the unsolved murder of JonBenét Ramsey have aired in anticipation of the 20th anniversary of the six-year-old’s tragic and mysterious death on Christmas night, 1996. Viewers who hoped to learn conclusive proof of who killed the child beauty queen sometime after she was put to bed in her Boulder, Colorado, home were likely disappointed. Two decades later, and the debate over whether it was the Ramseys or an intruder rages on, with A&E and CBS taking startlingly different positions.

Though each promised new exclusive details, both programs largely relied on the available evidence gathered during the investigation and interviews with members of law enforcement involved in the original case. As was the case in 1996 – and every year since – the interpretation of that evidence remains at the center of this unsolved crime. A&E’s documentary, which maintained that the Ramseys were rightfully exonerated by DNA evidence in 2008, concluded that because the intruder theory was dismissed early on by Boulder police, there simply isn’t enough evidence to name a suspect without a complete reinvestigation.

A complete reinvestigation is what CBS’s The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey promised, but the only thing they delivered was a witch hunt that culminated in naming Burke Ramsey, JonBenét’s then nine-year-old brother, as her killer, and implicating John and Patsy Ramsey in a coverup. (Burke Ramsey, now 29, appeared on Dr. Phil last week in his first-ever public interview, and insisted that neither he, his father John nor his late-mother Patsy has anything to do with JonBenét’s death.)

Absent any new physical evidence ormeaningful new witness statements, the fruits of this reinvestigation, led by former FBI agent and criminal profiler Jim Clemente and behavioral analyst Laura Richards, were almost entirely subjective, at times dangerously misleading and dependent on a flawed police investigation that will very likely never result in the killer being brought to justice.

Here, three big ways CBS mislead viewers with their reinvestigation into JonBenét Ramsey’s murder

Confirmation bias, selective hearing and the misleading 911 call analysis The first step in Clemente and Richards’ reinvestigation was analyzing Patsy Ramsey’s 911 call, specifically an inaudible portion at the very end when the phone clicked but did not disconnect. Because the operator did not hang up, the call continued to record, but no one has ever been able to conclusively decipher the extremely muffled, inaudible voices heard faintly in the background.

But many have tried. One such example is the Aerospace Corporation, who in 1997, at the request of the Boulder Police Department, conducted a test of the 911 tape, but the results were never officially released. However, in 1998, the National Enquirer leaked the results, which were subsequently quoted in Larry Schiller’s 1999 book, Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: The Uncensored Story of the JonBenét Murder and the Grand Jury’s Search for the Final Truth, and former Boulder Police Detective Steve Thomas’s book, JonBenét: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation, in 2000.

Clemente and Richards made a vague reference to this analysis, but didn’t disclose that it had been leaked and that they were aware of its conclusions, as any investigator in this case surely is. Instead, they claimed they were going to use “more modern audio technology” to figure out how many voices were on the tape and what they were saying. Sitting in a recording studio, the pair listened as the engineer fussed with levels and knobs. As Clemente and Richards began to “figure out” what was allegedly being said and who was allegedly saying it, subtitles popped up on screen in a flagrant attempt to convince the viewers that they, too, could hear it. There were three voices speaking, they claimed, and one of them was Burke Ramsey, whom Patsy and John told investigators was asleep in his room the morning they discovered JonBenét was missing.

A cursory review of the Twitter reactions to this segment indicates that many viewers could not make out any of what Clemente and Richards claimed to hear. “In the headphones it was incredibly clear,” Clemente tweeted, the implication being that despite devoting substantial time to playing back the audio over and over again, viewers should just trust what Clemente and Richards said they heard.

The problem is, at least as far as the 911 call analysis goes, Clemente and Richards lost credibility by failing to disclose that the leaked results from the Aerospace Corporation’s analysis are word for word what they seemed shocked and awed to hear on the other end of those headphones. Here is what the Aerospace Corporation found in their analysis of that 911 call, according to a report in local newspaper the Daily Camera: “Those sources say enhancement of the tape reveals Burke’s voice in the background, asking his parents ‘What did you find?’,” the paper writes. “John Ramsey allegedly can be heard shouting to Burke, ‘We are not talking to you,’ and Patsy shouts ‘Oh my Jesus, oh my Jesus.'”

This is what Clemente and Richards concluded, verbatim. It’s not clear if and how their analysis is new or more advanced than what was done previously. Far more egregiously, not disclosing their knowledge of the conclusions of the Aerospace report misleads viewers about the purity of their own analysis by not addressing the significant risk of confirmation bias, the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories – a factor in the vast majority of wrongful conviction cases. Witness identification, recall of memories, evidence collection and analysis and forensic testing can all result in misleading or false results if precautions are not taken to prevent it. At the very least, the risk that confirmation bias can lead to selective hearing should be considered when weighing the significance of Clemente and Richards’ analysis of Patsy Ramsey’s 911 call.

Instead, viewers were subjected to their herculean efforts to isolate, amplify and translate this supposed bit of muffled dialogue as if it was just as brand new to them. And then they presented their conclusions as proof that the Ramseys had lied, and used Burke’s alleged presence as an excuse to add him to their suspect list.

Dismissing the DNA evidence entirely Some of the forensic scientists and experts Clemente and Richards assembled for their investigative team, including forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz and forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee, offered some interesting and credible assessments of the physical evidence. For example, Dr. Lee did a demonstration that showed how a blow from a flashlight found on the Ramseys’ kitchen counter could have caused JonBenét’s skull fracture. And both Dr. Lee and Dr. Spitz disagreed with Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy’s decision to exonerate the Ramseys in 2008 based on new DNA tests which revealed the presence of unidentified male DNA from a single source on both JonBenét’s underwear and leggings. Dr. Lee explained how touch DNA is so easily transferred that it can show up on a brand new pair of underwear straight out of its sealed packaging, so his belief that the presence of unidentified male DNA on a little girl’s underwear could have come from a factory worker was convincing.

However, just because the DNA is not proof of an intruder or proof of the Ramseys’ innocence doesn’t mean the touch DNA is completely useless either, as Dr. Lee claimed. Regardless of how CBS regards its investigation, this is still an unsolved murder, no one in the Ramsey family has been proven guilty in a court of law and the intruder theory has not been conclusively ruled out. The absence of proof is not proof of anything.

While touch DNA is easily transferred, there are still scenarios in which a specific DNA match would be regarded as extremely suspicious and should be pursued further. What if the DNA suddenly matched a child molester who had never worked in a factory that manufactured little girls’ underwear and had no reason to have ever come into contact with JonBenét, her new underwear or any of her other belongings that the DNA might have transferred from? Touch DNA alone is not a reason to convict, but it shouldn’t be ignored as an investigatory lead. Dr. Lee’s bizarre conclusion essentially invalidated the usefulness of touch DNA in all criminal cases.

Overselling linguistic forensics and behavioral analysis as conclusive Time and time again, Clemente, Richards, former FBI “linguistic profiler” James Fitzgerald and former FBI statement analyst Stan Burke, reached certain conclusions based on highly subjective analysis of the vocal inflections, body language, pronoun use, linguistic phrasing and human behavior exhibited by the Ramseys during the investigation. Everything from Patsy Ramsey referring to herself as “the mother” in the 911 call, to John Ramsey’s decision to pick up his dead daughter’s body, to the “appropriateness” of Burke Ramsey’s response to her death was scrutinized through the lens of the investigators’ “expertise.”

The Case of never made it clear that these areas of forensic science and behavioral analysis are viewed by the courts with varying degrees of acceptability and reliability, and with very good reason. Human behavior and language is not one-size-fits-all, especially with the introduction of trauma. Jim Clemente voicing his opinion that Burke didn’t respond or emote “appropriately” seems irresponsible, especially when presented as evidence of guilt.

The admissibility of linguistic forensics and behavioral analysis testimony is subject to a set of standards that may limit its scope or forbid it entirely in a court of law. In criminal cases, these methods are more likely to be used to eliminate potential suspects – not presented as proof of someone’s guilt.

Alas, the social media response to The Case of has been flooded with comments about how Burke is “weird” and “a total psychopath” who is “obviously guilty.” For Clemente and his team to stoke that mentality without any caveats has repercussions that go beyond this case. Human beings are naturally inclined towards relying on their emotions and intuition, so expert testimony and evidence that is informed by subjective assessments of what is and isn’t normal behavior can be incredibly convincing.

Moreover, Clemente and Richards presented themselves and their team of investigators as infallible, their expertise as inarguable and their opinions as indisputable facts. More than once, they made unproven, disputed or misleading statements without providing further evidence, like the claim that John Ramsey disappeared for an hour and a half the morning of the murder – in actuality, he was in his study and the Boulder police just didn’t notice. They also rushed to disprove alternate theories. After one attempt to get through a replica model of the basement window, Clemente and Richards concluded there could not have been an intruder because the spider web in the corner was “destroyed” and the real spider web in the Ramseys basement window was undisturbed.

Yet when laying out their theory for Burke Ramsey as the killer, these experts literally made up a story about Burke killing JonBenét (on accident or in anger, but probably unintentionally) by hitting her in the head with a flashlight because she took a piece of his pineapple. The proof? JonBenét had undigested pineapple in her stomach. Even if this theory had been proven back in 1996, at age nine, Burke would have been too young to be legally prosecuted in Colorado, and he certainly couldn’t be held responsible for any horrendous cover-up instigated by his parents. To unleash a witch hunt on him now without rock solid proof of guilt is a cruel ratings ploy.

CBS included a disclaimer at the end of their closing credits which acknowledged that the “opinions and conclusions … about how [the crime] may have occurred represent just some of the a number of possible scenarios,” and encouraged viewers to “reach their own conclusions.” This bare minimum of legal cover may be just enough to protect CBS from John Ramsey’s inevitable lawsuit – as his attorney Lin Wood has already suggested is in the works – but it likely went unnoticed by viewers. The repercussions of depending on such controversial evidence go beyond this case, as jury members (the majority of which are not educated in the law) are often asked to weigh similar evidence and testimony when deciding guilt or innocence. The Case of oversold the same flawed methodology that has manipulated juries and resulted in countless wrongful convictions, coupled it with cherry-picked evidence and an extreme case of tunnel vision in order to finger a nine-year-old for a 20-year-old cold murder. That’s disturbing and irresponsible, no matter who killed JonBenét Ramsey.

CBS investigators allege that it was Burke, JonBenét’s older brother, who murdered her. Watch here.

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