JBR Notes I Notes: Note Retrieval

How could you find out what note pad was used to write a ransom note?

1. Oblique Lighting 2. Magnification 3. Shading

Why would that be important? You could find out who owned the note pad

that was used to write the ranson notes.

Step 1 Find suspicious note pads.

Then use the 3 different methods 1. Oblique Lighting – Hold paper at an

angle in the light.

Note Retrieval Cont. 2. Magnification – use a hand lens, a

stereomicroscope or maybe even an electron microscope to see if you can see the handwriting.

Note Retrieval Notes Cont 3. Shading – take a pencil and shade the

ENTIRE note.

When the police did these tests in the Ramsey Household, they found….

The notepad was in a dresser drawer in the Ramsey household. Does this necessarily mean that the Ramseys wrote the note?

You can also look for: 1. watermarks – All paper has some type

of watermark. Can help to locate where the paper was sold and often who printed it.

You can also look for cont… Tear marks – can help locate the criminal.

Can it also tell something about the criminal?

Also… Ink Chromatography – Use filter paper to

tell what kind of ink was used on the ransom note. Ink chromatography done on the ransom letter matched an ink pen found in the Ramsey home…

So does this mean the Ramseys wrote the ransom letter?

Strangely, when police asked Patsy for a writing sample…

She used the same pad of paper that was used to write the ransom note.

JBR Notes 2 Timeline of the crime - Note: All of this happened in a 24 hour

period!

Cast of Characters: JonBenet – 6 year old beauty queen John – her dad. Created popups (worth millions

of dollars). Fired his asst. Mitchell. Mitchell – Assistant who was cleared of the crime

but said John owed him 118,000$. Patsy – her mom. Burke – JonBenet’s 9 ½ yr old brother John , JonBenet, Patsy, and Burke were the only

people living in the house at the time of the crime.

Cast (continued) Fleet White – Friend of the family Priscilla White – Fleets wife

Timeline: The date was 12/25/1996

5 pm: Ramseys go to dinner at the Whites house.

9:30 pm: Ramseys drive home. John carries a sleeping JonBenet into the house. Didn’t want to wake her up.

12 am: Neighbor Melanie Stanton says she heard a piercing scream. Husband said he heard a scraping of pavement sound.

Timeline Continued 5:45 am: Patsy and John wake up to catch

a flight to Detroit. Patys finds ransom note on the stairs. She screams when she reads “We have your daughter”. Ramseys claim Burke does not wake up.

5:51 am: Patsy calls the police even though the note says if you tell the police “she dies”. Burkes voice is heard in the background on the tape.

Timeline continued 5:52 am: Police respond: They are shown

the ransom note. Police note Patsy’s makeup is fresh. Patsy claims she slept with it on.

6:20 am: Short staffed police ask Fleet White to do a search of the home. Fleet says he checked the room where the body will eventually be found and says he found nothing.

Timeline continued 7:00 am: Patsy claims that she woke Burke

up. 1:00 pm: Detective says that he saw Fleet

crouching down calling an ambulance. Moments later John is carrying JonBenets body up the stairs. He is carrying her away from his body! John claims he found her in a rarely used wine cellar downstairs.

Timeline Notes conclusion 1:01 pm: John places JonBenet on the

floor where they “disturb the crime scene” by: Performing CPR on an obviously dead girl. Covering her with a chair covering.

-Patsy shouts “Jesus you raised Lazarus from the grave, save my baby!”

Afterwards Jon contacts friends saying “they killed

her”. Police finally get search warrant almost 7

hours after the crime.

JBR Notes III What did the police find when they

examined JonBenets body?

Rope Marks Rope marks are called “Furrow Marks”

- would be left from struggling

- would tell you the type of material used.

- yarn or rope is braided.

- twine is not.

Types of Knots Fishermans – Used to tie on hooks.

Surgeons – knot is twisted because skin expands and contracts

Construction – close hitch used for strength.

Knots cont. JonBenet was tied up using a figure 8 knot. No furrow marks! Material used was braided. What does this suggest?

…Lets go Back to rope lab

What does this suggest? Material was either yarn or rope. JonBenet was either dead/knocked out

when she was tied up…or she trusted the person that tied her up. Hands were tied in front of her body.

Serial killers kidnappers use Zip Knots You can use them to tie up garbage bags. What else does this suggest about

JonBenets killer/kidnapper?

He was inexperienced. He was familiar (she trusted him/her)

Maintaining the Integrity of the Knot

A string is often tied on both sides of the knot to “maintain the integrity” of the knot. This just makes sure that the knot is not tampered with in any way.

What else did they find? JonBenet had a garrotte around her neck

which was made from Patsys art supplies. JonBenet’s skull was bashed in. JonBenet had marks inside of her vagina

that suggested someone had manipulated her using a paintbrush or a finger.

What does this suggest about the killer?

Now, write down your current opinion about who killed JBR on the back of your notes sheet. Be sure to give lots of reasons for your answer!

JBR Notes 4 Schematics

Definition of Schematics Schematics – a picture of the crime scene. Distances to clues are measured on

schematics

Triangulation Method Distances to clues are measured using at

least 2 fixed points. A fixed point is a point that cannot be

moved. (Brick/concrete walls make good fixed points.)

Triangulation Method Example

The Ramsey House Schematic The Ramsey house schematic is

complicated because it is so big.

Assignment: Look at the Ramsey house schematic and explain how the crime was committed. - Once you have finished, does your explanation make sense?