JonBenet’s
death fell in the valley of silence that is holiday TV.
Sports and Christmas carolers,
bowl games and warm family programming is the standard holiday
fare. Usually dwarfed by Rudolph and Frosty, are local news
shows where the anchor shows you the most well lit home,
and how to make sugar cookies. The JonBenet story landed
in the
slowest news period of the year and was quickly picked up
by the media. A small child, murdered in her own home on
Christmas
Day was news. And the footage of JonBenet, dancing, in a
pink sequined dress, singing, ”I wanna be a cowboy’s
sweetheart,” began to hit the news and was picked up
by the tabloid. The media sources, such as The AP, The Globe,
the Enquirer, and every other piece of journalism picked
up the story and attached every ugly headline they could
think
of to it. JonBenet would find no mercy with the tabloids
and neither would Patsy and John, and the other Ramsey’s,
John Andrew and Melinda who both had airtight alibis for
that night. There was a student at the nearby University
that pasted
a montage of photographs and titled it ”Daddy’s
Little Hooker” The artist later claimed he was trying
to make a statement, but John and Patsy were deeply hurt
by the exhibit. John tried to write a letter to the “artist” and
wrote him a letter telling him that he hoped as he matured,
he’d think twice before putting up such a crass and
vulgar display of an innocent child. He received no response,
which
didn’t surprise him. But the local media and the Ramsey
family had made a few enemies in the reporter’s circle.
The Boulder police had a very unpleasant surprise in store
for them.
The
Globe, a tabloid newspaper, obtained autopsy and crime
scene photos that were sold to them by one of the paparazzi.
The press went completely wild.
The DA’s office was beyond indignant and demanded to
know who had leaked out the photos. He couldn’t believe
his own staff had betrayed him by letting those photos fall
into the wrong hands. And he knew that now it was too late,
the film had been developed at Photo Craft Laboratories where
the pictures were developed by the morgue. A tabloid reporter
bribed the clerk who did the developing, and obtained copies
of 6 photos of JonBenet. I personally have never seen them,
and I don’t want to. It is this kind of so called journalist
that makes people wary and distrustful of people who write
to educate, to inform, to study. The Globe was the tabloid
that bought the photos and plastered them all over the cover.
Most people found it gristly and disrespectful, the victim’s
age making it even worse. Many places had a boycott, and others
sold them in the right of free speech. Those photos, had they
been kept confidential, could possibly lead to clues, or even
solve the case. The Boulder police were telling tales and sneaking
around being the Big Bosses backs, just like they’d
been snubbed many a time. There were very strong and unwavering
in their judgment of the DA’s office.
The
local law enforcement agencies offered to help each other,
but by then
it was too late and the minimal contributions to the
case, were done under hostile conditions. This would make
the case
harder and harder to solve, and more hardening of the
officers involved. The media basically went mad for JonBenet.
A 6-year-old
beauty queen is kidnapped, molested and murdered in her
own home. This was the best kind of tabloid journalism
and many
the opportunist took advantage by cashing in on the name,
Jon Benet. In February 2000, the magazine Brill’s Content,
ran a feature called, “JonBenet Inc.” This detailed
many of the myths and suspicions that had been circulated
since her death. Many of these were later proven to be lies.
The
reports from the scene of the crime were also misleading.
So many people had been inside the house, and the body had
been
touched by at least 3 people in the Ramsey home, where there
were at least 6 people at all times. |