Following the success of shows recounting murder cases and trials like, The People v. O.J Simpson, and Making A Murderer, both CBS and Lifetime are bringing JonBent's story to TV this year. The longer he stayed in the house and the more things he touched, the more danger he would be in. But like police, the jury didnt believe someone couldve entered the window with the cobwebs remaining intact. She is now tasked along with other members of Smits family with solving his last case as part of his dying wish -- that of 6-year-old JonBent Ramsey. Why not just take some photos of her and be gone. So in this theory, did John lie about the chairs in the basement, or did the killer magically slip out among all the family and LE there? Over the course of a year, this grand jury, comprised of a dozen ordinary citizens, studied in secret session the evidence presented to them and finally submitted their findings to the District Attorney. His own daughter was kidnapped 20 years before the murder and his wife wrote a play about a child getting murdered and left in a basement just like JonBenet Ramsey's murder. Since it was Christmas, the department was short-staffed and was not prepared for the scene they were faced with at the Ramsey House. John Mark Karr another suspect of the JonBenet murder case, was not considered a suspect right away. If they were so anxious about it anyway, why not just remove the pineapple and avoid saying that Burke had a snack with her & getting the police to actually look for their daughter's killer? Other suspects included neighbor Bill McReynolds, a local Santa Claus who visited the Ramseys a few days before the girls death. Im not saying parents dont kill their kids parents do kill their children, Smit said in his tapes. JonBenet is alone when the killer emerges from his hiding place and strikes her with a heavy object (likely the flashlight) He takes her down to the basement where he ducktapes her mouth, sexually assaults her and strangles her with the garrote, snuff movie style. Anything I'd say would sound suspicious." The idea that a parents first thought upon finding their child murdered is to start a coverup out of pure survival instinct is fantastical. However, it was revealed two weeks later that his DNA did not match the evidence found on JonBents clothing and he was released. You think about this number and how its relevant John Ramsey got a bonus from his company for $118,000, Garrett said, referring to JonBents father. McReynolds, a former University of Colorado journalism professor, portrayed Santa Claus at the Ramseys' home for the third consecutive year in 1996 two nights before the 6-year-old was found slain. However, I believe that Bill McReynolds cooperated completely with everything asked of him by the police and was thoroughly investigated. McReynolds daughter was kidnapped 22 years before which caused more suspicions . The revelations prompted police to call. Santa was apparently coming to visit JB. I tried to untie the cord that was around her arms and I couldnt get the knot untied.. I mean, were suffering from having lost our child and then, for someone to accuse you, its just, you cant believe that would happen, she told CNN in January 1997. Simson trial and quickly gained traction with news outlets around the world. McReynolds claimed he was innocent and died in 2002. Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride and new circuit court Judge Dana McReynolds enter the courtroom for a swearing-in ceremony Wednesday morning at the Henry County . You have her pad and a wrote it with her pen and can match her handwriting. The week before the murder, McReynolds had dressed up as the local Santa and entertained children at a Christmas gathering. The correspondence took a disturbing turn, with Karr talking about his sexual fascination with JonBent. McReynolds's own daughter had been kidnapped 22 years before. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. When Haney suggested there might be trace evidence that appears to link Patsy Ramsey to her daughters murder, Patsy Ramsey said, That is totally impossible. There couldve been fingerprints there.. Apparently they're supposed to use separate clippers for each nail. Bill McReynolds was found dead in his Mashpee, Mass., home Monday by his wife, Janet, when she returned from a weekend trip. The presence of pedophilic urges and fantasies could, of course, also have strongly motivated beautiful JonBenet's molestation and conceivably led to her sadistic torture and murder. The family friend, who died in 2002, was considered in JonBent's murder. His latest book, "Larry McReynolds: The Constant Pursuit of Perfection," was released in 2016. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Investigators werent able to find anything incriminating during the Ramseys interrogations. On the morning of Dec. 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey frantically called 911 after making a shocking discovery a ransom note was on the first floor of her home, and her 6-year-old daughter was nowhere to be found. Apart from it, how come the killer left no traces behind? To this day, questions around the note still arise. Fascinating. It feels like you came up with a narrative first and then tried to adjust it to some of the evidence. Here is the exact wording of the recently released grand jury's recommended indictment of both John and Patsy Ramsey, which concluded that they each "unlawfully, knowingly, recklessly and feloniously permit[ted] a child to be unreasonably placed in a situation which posed a threat of injury to the child's life or health, resulting in her death." A former Boulder, Colo., police detective who spent almost two years investigating the killing of JonBenet Ramsey . "Some of his students kept relationships with him their entire lives," Cosper said. The child beauty queen had died sometime during the previous night but wasnt found until hours later. A little more than two decades earlier, in 1974, spookily or maybe synchronistically, on the exact same day JonBenet was found dead in her basement decades later, December 26, the day after Christmas, McReynolds' own 9-year-old daughter had evidently been abducted along with her friend and reportedly witnessed the sexual molestation of her fellow victim during the abduction. They were in the kitchen, they were in the living room. After his retirement from CU in 1992, the couple moved to Rollinsville. What parents would engage in this sick game out of irrational desire to protect their innocent child? Karr had reached out to University of Colorado Boulder professor, Michael Tracey through email. But even as dozens of people visited him each day to pay their respects at the hospital, and later in hospice, he never stopped talking about JonBents case, according to his other daughter, Dawn Miller. In 1976, Janet McReynolds had written an award-winning play about the sexual assault, torture and murder of a girl whose body was found in a basement. Therefore, he very controversially decided not to file any formal charges against the Ramsey's at all. On the very same day in 1974 - Boxing Day - McReynolds's nine-year-old daughter had been abducted with a friend, and had witnessed the sexual molestation of her friend. Longmont Police Department records on the December 26, 1974 kidnapping of Jill McReynolds (daughter of JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect "Santa" Bill McReynolds) and her friend by an unidentified pedophile Addeddate 2020-07-08 01:31:47 Identifier JillMcReynolds_LongmontPD Identifier-ark The couple's 40th wedding anniversary was Sunday. The 6-year-old girl was found dead on the morning after Christmas 1996. JONBENET Ramsey was just six years old when she was murdered on Christmas Day in 1996. It is reported that McReynolds paid a little too much attention to JonBenet and had supposedly chosen JonBenet to be his "special friend". All because they thought Burke might be arrested for eating pineapple with JonBenet? Go retest. He said she told him it was impossible for them to have physical evidence linking her to the crime. While JonBents half-brother, John Andrew Ramsey, said his father has remarried and is focusing on life, he also said their fight for justice on behalf of his half-sister is not over. Pedophiles are highly skilled at finding ways to gain access to attractive children, and cultivating a close and trusting affectionate relationship with the intended victim in hopes that this will prevent him or her from reporting inappropriate sexual behavior to other adults. Another eerie-sounding connection theory, is that Janet McReynolds had allegedly written a play about a young girl who had molested, tortured and killed in a basement in 1976. A federal court ruled that it was unlikely that Patsy wrote the note and cited six certified handwriting experts. Hair and handwriting samples were collected by police from both of them at that time, according to an Associated Press report. With the case now in the publics view, police sought to question JonBents parents. Indeed, despite their apparently good friendship, Bill McReynolds was cited by John Ramsey himself during a taped interview after JonBenet's gruesome death as being suspect in his own mind. On December 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey woke up around 5:45 a.m. and found a three-page handwritten note. JonBent Patricia Ramsey was a six-year-old girl found dead in the basement of her Boulder, Colorado home on December 26, 1996. Letting them go was a big mistake, as they soon layered up and did not get to formally interview them again until May of 1997, five months after their daughter was murdered., The case was then passed to the DAs office in 2002 after the Ramseys said they had no confidence in the police.. Theyre grieving. Madison McReynolds played Lindsey from Season One to Season Five; Kay Panabaker took over the role in the Season Six finale Way to Go, and continued to play it up until Season Twelve's episode Zippered, via photo, where she's uncredited. So who is Bill McReynolds? KEVIN E. SCHMIDT. One of the suspects investigated and cleared early on by authorities in JonBenet's death was family friend and neighbor Bill McReynolds, a man who had evidently been hired by Patsy to play Santa Claus at the Ramsey family's Christmas parties in both 1995 and 1996 (and possibly 1994, too). I place particular importance on this aspect of the JonBenet Ramsey case because this group of eight men and four women had access to a massive amount of evidence related to the circumstances surrounding JonBenet's death, and sufficient time to consider it in depth and detail. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. McReynolds won a Western States Art Foundation regional prize and a $7,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, but it was never published and no copy has been released to the media since. No suspects were ever found in the case, but both children were found. McReynolds and her husband, a journalism professor at the University of Colorado at the time of JonBent's murder, were at the Ramsey home on December 23, 1996, playing Mr. and Mrs. Claus for the kids. We are just trying to eliminate people from that list and we just figure, if we keep at it, hopefully, well finally whittle it down to one person remaining on that list, said Marra. Given the lavish lifestyle and financial success of John Ramsey, it would not be unusual for people around him and his family to feel some degree of envy or resentment. Michael Helgoth, who owned a pair of Hi-Tec boots and a stun gun and had died by suicide shortly after JonBents murder, was also cleared after the team found his DNA did not match that found at the crime scene. Another was Michael Helgoth, an electrician who worked at a nearby auto salvage yard. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Police arrived shortly after the 911 call and began investigating the scene for clues about the kidnapper. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. We dont want them there.. According to CNN, an original prosecutor on the Ramsey case claimed that Bill had given JonBent a card with the message: "You will receive a special gift after Christmas." Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday at 9 p.m. Authorities ultimately cleared Oliva as a suspect after they were unable to connect him to the crime scene. His NASCAR career began in 1975. JBR could just have been bragging. J. MCREYNOLDS: The basic thrust and the parallel that I am now seeing with the JonBenet case is that the victim, in my play, was a scapegoat for the sins of the community. She was lying on a white blanket. No one was ever arrested for the crime. They realize that someone is playing a sick game with them. So how could there be dna from this accomplice? William "Bill" McReynolds, 92 formerly of Dumas, passed away on Friday, August 14, 2020. You could arguably do this whole thing again if JBR doesn't say anything. The couple spent the next 30 years in Boulder, raising three children. "I spoke to Bill McReynolds once in my life, and that was during a class that he was teaching," Wolf said. The child had also suffered an 8-inch skull fracture, shocks from a stun gun and sexual abuse with a broken piece from the paintbrush used in the garrote, according to Brad Garrett, a former FBI agent and ABC News contributor who wasnt involved in JonBents case. They know someone outside the family has murdered their daughter, but they know no one will believe they're all innocent, so in order to protect Burke and themselves they call the police and report the kidnapping in the hopes that if they play along, the real killer will be caught eventually. He said that this evidence was not something that was made public for quite a long time. An analysis found that it didnt match anyone in the Ramsey family. I thought there was no dna found under her fingertips? He played Ramsey Santa 1994, 1995 and 1996. They didnt do it.. Might the McReynolds together or Bill or Janet separately have harbored such toxic resentment, directing it at John Ramsey and his family? Cindy Mara is one of the daughters of Lou Smit, who investigated JonBenet Ramsey's case and whose dying wish was for his family and friends to find her killer. JonBent Ramsey was found in less than eight hours and even stranger is that her body was found inside the house, in the utility room, in the basement of Ramsey Residence. My play was loosely based on, or suggested by, a JonBent Ramsey was an American child beauty queen. Smits daughter, Cindy Marra, said the interviews firmed up his belief that the Ramseys had nothing to do with JonBents murder. and our Arndt said the moment sparked fear in her that JonBents father might have killed their daughter, and so she braced herself for a possible confrontation. He was just so devastated by the mere idea anyone would suspect him of a crime," she said, according to Bill's obituary in The Daily Camera. For many years, JonBents parents and brother, Burke, who was 9-years-old at the time of her death, were considered the main suspects until they were cleared of suspicion. So he was a white male with dark hair around 20-25 years old. One of his Santa jobs included an appearance at the Ramsey's holiday party three days before JonBenet's death, where he gave JonBenet a cardwhich said "You will receive a special gift after Christmas." McReynolds also stated that JonBent had given him a vial of gold glitter at both the 1995 and 1996 Christmas parties. advantages of alternate form reliability; bill mcreynolds daughter 29 November 1970) was an English pure-blood wizard, the first child of Arthur and Molly Weasley (ne Prewett) and the eldest brother of Charlie, Percy, the late Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny. In that particular movie, a fat cat industrialist, his son was kidnapped. They went to a war: they kept lying, twisting facts, throwing friends into the fire, and obstructing justice for decades now. Waltrip joined the broadcast booth for FOX Sports in 2001, a year after he retired from NASCAR. A minuscule amount of mixed DNA (from different locations and multiple foreign sources) doesn't prove much - unless someone cleaned up afterward, there should have been much more evidence from a single profile left. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, JonBent Ramsey was strangled to death twenty-five years ago and her killer has never been brought to justice, John and Patsy Ramsey were prime suspects for years but were later exonerated when DNA testing had cleared them of any involvement, Investigators could not prove whether or not Patsy wrote the ransom note but she was later cleared by a federal court, Gary Oliva, a sex offender, was found with magazine photos of JonBent in his backpack when police arrested him on drug charges, John Mark Karr falsely confessed to killing JonBent in a 'love game' gone wrong but DNA had cleared him, Many people believe that an intruder killed JonBent but it has never been proven by police, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Lawrence Brandon McReynolds is an American professional stock car racing driver and the No. She wakes Burke up and the two go downstairs together where they eat pineapple. The note said, You are not the only fat cat around, and also included other lines that were similar to the dialogue from the films Dirty Harry and Speed.. But if it was and this is pure speculation both or one of the McReynolds to which the grand jury vaguely referred as the perpetrator(s) responsible for the "murder in the 1st degree" of JonBenet, why would John and Patsy go out of their way, risking arrest and criminal charges, making themselves the prime suspects, taking all the heat, in order to protect or render assistance to such person(s) "with intent to hinder, delay and prevent discovery, detection, apprehension, prosecution, conviction and punishment" of their own darling daughter's deranged killer(s)? Anderson said that the team narrowing down Smits list met with Boulder authorities in September 2020 to present the list of their top 20 suspects in the case. Patsy finds the ransom note hours later. Catherine Willows is a fictional character, portrayed by Marg Helgenberger, from the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and its sequel, CSI: Vegas.Helgenberger made her franchise debut in the first-season episode "Pilot". The 2 1/2-page letter demanded that John withdraw $118,000 and wait for further instructions. Just because he saw JonBenet last? Please dont let it die, she said. According to The Guardian, Bill McReynolds had written a note to JonBent, as Santa, days before her body was discovered. Or, in this case, an evil Santa? "He made a new start. The 26-year-old committed suicide two days after a 1997 press conference where the Boulder DA announced that they were looking at a new suspect. She was found with duct tape over her mouth and a smooth cord around her . 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