| John
and Patricia Paugh Ramsey were the flashy family on the block,
at 755 Fifteenth Street.
The home was
huge, the décor very opulent. Patsy had done it all
herself, the draperies and custom window dressings. She and
John had an age difference, and he had an ex wife with whom
he had several children. Sadly, one of his daughters had been
killed in an automobile accident; he had another daughter,
Melinda, and a son, John Andrew. He had a son with Patsy, Burke
Hamilton. One often repeated story is that God appeared in
a dream and told John that he would have a son and to name
him Burke Hamilton Ramsey. John did that and in 1996 he and
Patsy had a daughter and she was named Jon Benet. It was a
merging of John’s name: John Bennett. At home she was
called Johnni-B. The Ramsey family had lived in Atlanta before
moving to Colorado. Atlanta was home to them and in the book
Patsy co-wrote, ”The Death Of Innocence”, she admitted
that she wasn’t too hot on the idea of way out west.
But they did move to Boulder, Colorado. John making quite a
success of his company, Access Graphics. In 1996, the same
year of JonBenet’s death, his firm hit their 1 billion-dollar
mark. There was a huge luncheon for over 300 employees, décor
and menu by Patsy Ramsey, and was written up in the Boulder
Daily Camera. Patsy decorated their home for the town tour,
with lavish theme Christmas trees in the main rooms, all the
bedrooms and had supposedly lain her Miss West Virginia ball
gown complete with tiara on the Master bedroom suite, which
took
up the entire top floor of the home. At least 1000 people saw
the home on the Christmas tour, and saw the layout of the home.
It is a very large house and with all the strangers that paraded
in and out there is no way imaginable that all of them could
be accounted for all at one time. It was a guided tour, but
someone could have easily wandered off, then took a private
tour, seeing the basement and the wine cellar room that JonBenet’s
body was found in.
The
family had a dynamic that was unusual. John was an aggressive
businessman and traveling much of the time. In the book, ”Perfect
Murder, Perfect Town”, by Lawrence Schiller, the Ramsey
family gardener said that JonBenet had told him she missed
her father, he was away a lot, and she cried a little when
telling him. He felt it was not his business to talk to her
about her family, and changed the topic. Patsy was a stay
at home Mom, but she was rarely idle. She was a volunteer
at the school, worked with JonBenet’s Brownie Troop,
was an Opera patron and planned events for various charities.
Patsy was quite the extravagant woman about town. But sadly,
another crisis came into their family. Patsy had not planned
on having stage 4 ovarian cancer, which has a survival rate
of 5%. Not good odds, Patsy must have thought. But she was
a strong willed woman and fought her cancer, and she has
said she believes she was cured because of her faith in Jesus
Christ. She had chemotherapy and lost all her hair and a
great deal of weight. The cancer passed, and scans began
to show no evidence of cancerous cells. She had a total hysterectomy
during the first surgery and made an amazing recovery. Patsy’s
faith in Jesus Christ was unshakable.
As
Patsy began to recover, she vowed to be there for her children.
She soon went back to the pursuits
she loved. One
of them was the pageant circuit. There are many tiny tot
pageants all across the country, and with Patsy’s knowledge
of the business, JonBenet was a perfect contestant. She learned
the ropes quickly and she watched the videos with her Mom
or Aunt, as they competed in separate years for the title
of Miss West Virginia. JonBenet had a closet stacked with
custom-made dresses, shoes, and costumes. She loved hats
and wore them often, looking adorable with her blonde hair,
perfectly done and tinted to a shade of platinum. She was
gracious if she won, and sweet and cute when she was a runner
up. Patsy paid for dancing and singing lessons to help her
perform in front of many people. The custom portfolio had
many professionally done portraits, which were, like the
customized dresses, excessive and very expensive. JonBenet
often took home an award for best wardrobe.
Patsy has defended herself, saying that she didn’t
regret the high glamour photos, they are all they have of
their beautiful daughter now. The portfolio of glamour shots
had all sorts of poses. Jon Benet was photographed as a Las
Vegas showgirl, as a cowgirl, a shot of her with her platinum
blonde hair in curls with baby’s breath crowning her
head with delicate flowers. The business of pageants and
beauty contests are a sub culture many of us know nothing
about. The children are dressed, made up and groomed to be
beautiful, and the intent may be innocent, but unfortunately,
an environment for a pedophile to victimize a young girl.
Could Jon Benet have been spotted at one of these pageants,
and then stalked? Many people believe this is not a realistic
possibility. I believe it is very possible, considering the
fact that Jon Benet had so much exposure, even having her
own float in the 1995 Boulder Christmas Parade. Who knows
who might be looking, planning, stalking? The Ramsey family
had been dragged through the mud tried and convicted in the
court of public opinion. In my mind, I am not so sure.
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