JOHN AND PATSY RAMSEY
1996 CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER

Dear Friends & Family,

It's been another busy year at the Ramsey household. Can't believe its almost over and time to start again!

Melinda (24) graduated from Medical College of Georgia and is working in Pediatric ICU at Kennestone Hospital in Atlanta. John Andrew (20) is a Sophomore at the University of Colorado.

Burke is a busy fourth grader where he really shines in math and spelling. He played flag football this fall and is currently on a basketball binge! His little league team was #1. He's lost just about all of his baby teeth, so I'm sure we'll be seeing the orthodontist in 1997!

JonBenet is enjoying her first year in 'real school.' Kindergarten in the Core Knowledge program is fast paced and five full days a week. She has already been moved ahead to first grade math. She continues to enjoy participating in talent and modeling pageants. She was named "America's Royale Tiny Miss" last summer and is Colorado's Little Miss Christmas. Her teacher says she is so outgoing that she will never have trouble delivering an oral book report!

John is always on the go travelling hither and yon. Access recently celebrated its one billion $$ mark in sales, so he's pretty happy! He and his crew were underway in the Port Huron to Mackinac Island yacht race in July, but had to pull out mid way due to lack of wind. (Can you believe that?) But, his real love is the new 'old looking' boat, Grand Season, which he spent months designing.

I spend most of my 'free time' working in the school and doing volunteer work. The Charlevoix house was on the home tour in July and will likely appear in one of the Better Homes & Gardens publications in 1997. On a recent trip to NYC, my friend and I appeared amid the throng of fans on the TODAY show. Al Roker & Bryant actually talked to us and we were on camera for a few fleeting moments!

We are all enjoying continued good health and look forward to seeing you in 1997! One final note ... thank you to all my 'friends' and my dear husband for surprising me with the biggest, most outrageous 40th birthday bash I've ever had! We'll be spending my actual birthday on the Disney Big Red Boat over the new year!

Merry Christmas and much love,
The Ramseys

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Excerpts from National Enquirer book, "JonBenet, The Police Files" by Don Gentile and David Wright

1997 April 30 - Taped Interrogation interview of Patsy Ramsey by Steve Thomas and Tom Trujillo in Colorado

NE Book Page 41:

Tom Trujillo: "Actually, let's start back on the morning of the 25th, um, let's kind of break it down into small hours. What time did you guys get up that morning?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Early"

Tom Trujillo: "Before sunrise?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Six-ish probably."

Tom Trujillo: "Okay. Patsy, take through, say, the first three hours of, of Christmas morning with you and John and Burke and JonBenet. Kind of, kind of in a by minute, step-by-step of what you guys did for the first couple or three hours."

Patsy Ramsey: "Well, we went down the stairs and passed out Christmas presents."

Tom Trujillo: "About how long did it take you to pass out Christmas presents? I know you talked about you kind of did it slowly.."

Patsy Ramsey: "Yeah."

Tom Trujillo: "About how long did that take?"

Patsy Ramsey: "I don't know. Hour, maybe... I mean to pass them out and opening them. I try to get everybody to take turns, you know. Of course, their piles are bigger than my pile so... they open two or three and then I open one..."

Tom Trujillo: "What did you guys do after you open the presents up?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Uh, I think we made pancakes."

Tom Trujillo: "Okay. Had some breakfast? Um, about how long did it take to eat breakfast?"

Patsy Ramsey: "I don't know, a half hour."

Tom Trujillo: "After, after breakfast how did the family split? What did you guys do?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Oh, the kids were just playing with their stuff, you know, and I was, I don't remember exactly... I was, you know, trying to get clothes ready to go two different places. I remember that.. And then a bunch of kids started showing up to, you know, they want to see what each other got and, you know. Burke set up his Nintendo, Nintendo 64 and..."

Tom Trujillo: "During the early morning hours, the morning hours before the kids got there, did everybody go and get dressed, I take it?"

Patsy Ramsey: "At some point in the day, yeah."

Tom Trujillo: "During the day, about what time did, uh, John go down to the hanger and check on the plane?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Oh, I don't know. I don't know, lunchtime, after lunch, I, I don't remember."

Tom Trujillo: "Okay, did you have lunch that day?"

Patsy Ramsey: "I'm sure we did."

Tom Trujillo: "Okay. Do you have any idea about, what did you have for lunch?
Patsy Ramsey: "I don't remember."

Tom Trujillo: "About how long was John gone when he went out to check on the plane?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Oh, probably a couple of hours."

Tom Trujillo: "So he left about noon, afternoon sometime. Gone till two, 3:00 in the afteroon?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Um, yeah."

Tom Trujillo: "Okay. And were... kids over to the house that whole time playing with John, excuse me, JonBenet and Burke?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Uh, a better part of that day, I would say."

Tom Trujillo: "Okay. Did, uh, did Burke and JonBenet play together during that time? Did the little girls and little boys mix up at all?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Yeah."

Tom Trujillo: "Play together."

Patsy Ramsey: "Yeah, they were all, yeah, a lot of them were in Burke's room playing that Nintenedo and she was, I remember coming up there and checking on them and they were, the boys were mostly sitting around playing the Nintendo and she was, had this little jewelry making kit right there in the, in the doorway of Burke's room... so I made a couple with her."

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Excerpts from National Enquirer book, "JonBenet, The Police Files" by Don Gentile and David Wright

1997 April 30 - Taped Interrogation interview of Patsy Ramsey by Steve Thomas and Tom Trujillo in Colorado

NE Book Page 47:

Tom Trujillo: "Okay. Got home about 8:30, 9:00. What's the first thing you guys do when you got home that night? Actually, let me step back. Befofe you got home, you went over to.."

Patsy Ramsey: "Walkers and dropped off a little gift... and Stines and dropped off a little gift and drove home and JonBenet was asleep. She had fallen asleep in the car."

Tom Trujillo: "Did you have to wake her up to get her inside or..?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Well, she was just really zonked and John carried her up to her room... and, I, uh, you know, ran up behind him and, or in front of him, I can't remember. Maybe, or it might have been in front of him to turn the bed down. And he laid her down and I got her undressed and put her, I left her shirt on her and, uh, went to the bathroom and tried to find some pajama pants and all I could find was some, like long underwear pants... and put those on."

Tom Trujillo: "What color of top did she wear to bed that night. What color top was she wearing actually to the Whites' house like?

Patsy Ramsey: "Well, she wore this little outfit that I had gotten her at the Gap. We had a little, little riff over that 'cause I wanted her to wear, I was wearing a red sweater and I wanted her to wear this red sweater with her black velvet pants, 'cause I was wearing black velvet pants and it was Christmas and all that. And she didn't want to wear the red shirt just because I was wearing it. She wanted to wear the shirt that went with the outfit which was a Gap out fit that I had bought her when we went shopping for her and it was a little white, kind of neck like this.."

Tom Trujillo: "Kind of a crew neck?"

Patsy Ramsey: "...Crew neck and it had a little, little rhinestone, little kind of sequin kind of star thing on it."

Tom Trujillo: "Okay."

Patsy Ramsey: "So I just left that on her."

Tom Trujillo: "Okay. And I'm sorry. What kind of pants, what color of pants...?"

Patsy Ramsey: "They were black velvet. Black velvet jeans, kind of like, from the Gap. Some little black velvet vest."

Tom Trujillo: "And what were you wearing Patsy, a, a red turtleneck and black...?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Velvet jeans, yeah."

Tom Trujillo: "Okay."

Patsy Ramsey: "Velvet pants. And I have a Christmas sweater I was wearing."

Tom Trujillo: "And what color was that?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Red with all kinds of..."

Tom Trujillo: "And that was over the turtleneck?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Yeah."

Tom Trujillo: "..When you say you wore black velvet jeans, were those like a, a, were they a jean material..?"

Patsy Ramsey: "No, they're, no, no, no. They're black velvet."

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Excerpts from National Enquirer book, "JonBenet, The Police Files" by Don Gentile and David Wright

1997 April 30 - Taped Interrogation interview of Patsy Ramsey by Steve Thomas and Tom Trujillo in Colorado

NE Book Page 49:

Tom Trujillo: "Was she awake at all when you were over at the Stines' house?

Patsy Ramsey: "Uh, well, I just went to the door. We didn't all go in. I just went to the door... and gave them a basket of something... for a Christmas present or something. We were going, I remember, cause I had a big basket in the car to take to the Fernie, but since JonBenet had fallen asleep and it was getting kind of late.. I think we just decided not to go to the Fernies."

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Excerpts from National Enquirer book, "JonBenet, The Police Files" by Don Gentile and David Wright

1997 April 30 - Taped Interrogation interview of Patsy Ramsey by Steve Thomas and Tom Trujillo in Colorado

NE Book Page 54:

Steve Thomas: "Okay, Um, it was how long after you put JonBenet to bed, did you then retire into bed for the evening?"

Patsy Ramsey: "I don't know exactly. Maybe half hour I think, I don't, I can't remember exactly."

Steve Thomas: "And it was shortly after you went to bed that John then came to bed?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Right."

Steve Thomas: "And during that half hour, 45 minutes, after you put JonBenet to bed, and that you were still up, uh, arranging presents, brushing your teeth, you don't know, uh, whether or not John went back into JonBenet's bedroom?

Patsy Ramsey: "Um, no."

Steve Thomas: "Would it have been unlikely for him to have gone back in and awakened her for any reason?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Oh, yeah. It would have been unlikely."

Steve Thomas: "Okay. Can you give me, to the best of your memory, if you got home at nine-ish, was it shortly after coming home at nine-ish that you put JonBenet into bed... or John carried her up and put her to bed?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Yeah, it was, I mean, he carried her from the car to her bed."

Steve Thomas: "So, were you in bed then, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, by ten or 10:30 or what time, if you can reconstruct that, did you then go to bed?"

Patsy Ramsey: "I was probably, probably in bed by then. Ten or 10:30 ... I can't remember exactly."

Steve Thomas: "...John came to bed shortly thereafter, do you recall if that was 15 minutes or a half an hour?"

Patsy Ramsey: "It was probably just a few minutes."

Steve Thomas: "Okay. You were still awake?"

Patsy Ramsey: "I was, yeah, I could, was aware of him, you know, getting in bed, but ..."

Steve Thomas: "Are you a sound sleeper?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Fairly."

Steve Thomas: "Is John a fairly heavy sleeper?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Yes, I would say, he snores ..."

Steve Thomas: "When John gets up during the night on occasion ... to use the bathroom, for example, does that awaken you? Are you aware of when John leaves the bed?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Uh huh, usually..

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Excerpts from National Enquirer book, "JonBenet, The Police Files" by Don Gentile and David Wright

1998 June 25, 26, 27 - Taped Interrogation interview of Patsy Ramsey by Tom Haney and Trip DeMuth in Colorado

NE Book Page 241:

Trip DeMuth: "And the kids were playing with their toys and what have you, right, and lunch?"

Patsy Ramsey: "I don't remember lunch."

Trip DeMuth: "I think you said earlier that you may not have had lunch because there was an.."

Patsy Ramsey: "I had breakfast."

Trip DeMuth: "How late was that breakfast?"

Patsy Ramsey: "I don't remember exactly, but probably 10:00, 11:00."

Trip DeMuth: "That is what you mean by a late breakfast, okay. How about, you go to the Whites what time, approximately?"

Patsy Ramsey: "Right after, like 4:00, 5:00-ish, so we could have very easily skipped lunch."

Trip DeMuth: "Think about that period of time between late breakfast and leaving for the Whites, did you serve them anything during that period of time?"

Patsy Ramsey: "I can't remember. I don't know."

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07-09-1998 A&E Documentary
'Who Killed JonBenet’
By Michael Tracy and David Mills

John Ramsey: "She was a spark-plug in our family. She was a ball of energy. That's just something you can't not remember."

Man: "Christmas morning, 1996. On that day, JonBenet woke early."

John Ramsey: "I can remember Burke and JonBenet running up to our bed to get us up. The little kids would pass out the gifts to whoever they were for and we would go around the room and open each gift – We did that that morning."

Man: "This is the next to last photograph of JonBenet. John Ramsey took it that morning."

John Ramsey: "JonBenet had gotten a bicycle that Christmas and we played most of the day. We were going to go out to dinner and I remember we were trying to get everybody organized to leave and JonBenet was on her bike and wanted me to take her around the block. I said, no - no we don't have time, we'll do this later. She said, "Oh Daddy please," and I can remember that and that kind of hurts because we didn't do that."

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07-09-1998 A&E Documentary
'Who Killed JonBenet’
By Michael Tracy and David Mills

Man: "On their way home around 9 PM, they dropped off gifts. Susan Stein and her husband were the last people known to have seen the family before the murder."

Susan Stein: "They came to our house and I talked to Patsy for awhile maybe 10 or 15 minutes and they all seemed perfectly normal. They were all the same - bubbly about Christmas and about where they were going and we, my husband and I, waved good-bye to them as they were leaving and that was the last time we saw them as an intact family."

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07-09-1998 A&E Documentary
'Who Killed JonBenet’
By Michael Tracy and David Mills

Patsy Ramsey: "By the time we got home, JonBenet had fallen asleep in the back seat."

John Ramsey: "I carried JonBenet upstairs and it was kind of a usual routine. I took her shoes off then Patsy would come in and get her ready for bed."

Patsy Ramsey: "So I undressed her down to her little knit top that she had on and put some long underwear bottoms on her and tucked her in real tight and kissed her goodnight."

John Ramsey: "Burke was downstairs trying to put together a model that he'd got for Christmas and I couldn't get him to go to bed. We were going to get up in the morning and leave to go to Michigan so I help him put it together so I could get him to go on to bed. So he went to bed and Patsy and I went to bed."

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1999 February 18 - Lawrence Schillers book "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town

Page 523:

"On Tuesday, June 9, as agreed, Pete Hofstrom and Dan Schuler traveled to Atlanta to interview Burke Ramsey. In preparation, they consulted the FBI and the Boulder detectives and reviewed the videotape of Burkes' January 8, 1997, interview. The interviews were to be conducted at a local district attornies office and videotaped. On three consecutive days June 10, 11 and 12 for two hours each day JonBenet’s brother would be questioned by Schuler, a police officer with a gift for talking to kids, a cop who didn’t like guns and never carried one."

When Schuler asked Burke if his mother and father had prepared him for the conversation, he said no. Gently Schuler explored whether Burke thought his sister had sometimes been a bad girl and gotten mad at people. They discussed which people she got mad at and whether she had been mean and nasty to those people. Schuler asked Burke if his mother and father ever got really mad at his sister. Burke said he didn't think so. Schuler's most important questions, never asked directly, was whether JonBenet had ever done something to bring about her death. Again Burke answered no. Had she fallen and hit her head? He didn't remember her doing that.

The most delicate part of the interview was getting Burke to answer questions without revealing what the police knew. First, he was asked if he ate any pineapple and when he went to bed. He didn't remember. What did he and his father talk about when they played with his Chrismas gift that night? Just that it was time for bed. Then Schuler asked what happened after Burke went to bed. Did he have any dreams? Did he hear anything in his sleep? Burke said he had heard voices, in the distance. Maybe it was a dream, maybe not. It was so long ago he said. Without mentioning the 911 tape, Schuler asked Burke when he got up that morning and how he awakened. He did not want the Ramsey's to learn what the police knew. The plan was to confront them about the tape during their own interviews, which would probably take place later in the month. Burke said he remembered waking up and hearing a loud conversation from down the hall or on the front stairs. Maybe his mother had come into his room, but he was sure he stayed in his bed and pretended to sleep. He was concerned while he pretended, he said. Burke told Schuler he was awake when his mother made the phone call. His parents might have thought he was asleep but he wasn't he said. When he was asked if he spoke to his parents that morning before being awaken at seven to be taken to the Whites' house, he said no. He said he had stayed in his room the whole time. The 911 tape seem to say otherwise. Had Burke been coached, or had his thinking changed independently since his January 1997 interview? The detectives wondered."

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2000 March 18
John and Patsy Ramsey book
"Death of Innocence"

DOI (HB) Page 7:

"When I returned home in the afternoon, JonBenet and Burke were playing outside with the neighborhood gang. Soon Patsy called for the kids to come in to clean up a little before the party."

"She wanted JonBenet to wear a red turtleneck with her black velvet pants so that mother and daughter would be dressed alike, but JonBenet wanted to wear the complete outfit she'd chosen. Finally Mom gave in. JonBenet put on her outfit with her black boots which zipped up the front and had a bit of animal print trim along the top. JonBenet loved to dress up. Burke could care less."

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2000 March 18
John and Patsy Ramsey book
"Death of Innocence"

DOI (HB) Page 8:

"With a gift basket of different coffees in hand, we arrived at the Whites', where the festivities were well underway. Several family members and friends were visiting from out of town, including Priscilla's sisters, their companions, and her parents. Missing from the gathering were the senior Whites, because Nina White, Fleet's mother, was spending the holidays in a hospital bed in Aspen. Most of us helped ourselves to the snacks and hors d'oeuvres that Priscilla had prepared, including leftover cracked crab, which they enjoyed as a family tradition on Christmas Eve. Priscilla made a small plate especially for JonBenet to make sure there would be some left for her to try.

Dinner was served in the living and dining rooms, next to the beautifully decorated Christmas tree, glistening with silver ornaments and ribbons that reflected Priscilla's passion for all things silver. We had eaten together last Christmas, so it was beginning to feel like a new tradition for us to join their family. The fire was ablaze in the fireplace. It was Christmas Day, and life was good."

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2000 March 18
John and Patsy Ramsey book
"Death of Innocence"

DOI (HB) Page 8:

"Some time around 8:30 or so, we decided to head for home; we had a big trip ahead of us in the morning and needed to leave on time so we could arrive in Minneapolis before 11.00. Besides, Patsy wanted to drop of a couple of gifts on our way home from the Whites'. We pulled up the driveway at the Walkers' and Patsy took a small package to the door, talked for a few minutes and returned to the car. Then we drove a few blocks to the Stines' house. Patsy had bid on three gift baskets at a recent silent auction benefit, she and Burke took one of the packages to their door. We had another basket in the trunk of the car intended for our friends the Fernies', but we decided it was to late now to make any more visits. We would deliver their gift when we returned from Michigan.

After leaving the Stines', we returned to our house and drove down the narrow alley to our garage at the back of the house. I pushed the automatic garage door opener, and we rolled in. On the way home, JonBenet had fallen fast asleep in the back seat. I got her out of the car and carried her upstairs to her room, laid her on the bed, and took off her coat and shoes. I was amazed at how sound asleep she was. It had been a long day for her. Patsy came in to finish getting JonBenet ready for bed.

Meanwhile, I went downstairs to get Burke to come up to bed, but he was deeply involved in assembling the miniature parking garage he had received that morning. I could tell he wasn't going to go to bed until the project was finished, so I settled down on the floor beside him. Helping him complete what his mind was focused on was the best way to get us both in bed quickly.

At about 9:30 I led Burke upstairs and got him ready for bed, then tucked him in and turned out the light. I went on up to our room on the third floor which we had converted from an attic space to a master suite in 1993. Patsy was already in bed. I got ready, took a melatonin tablet to insure a good night's sleep, set the alarm clock for 5:30 am, and read in bed for a short while before turning out the light.

Unfortunately I slept soundly."

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2000 March 18
John and Patsy Ramsey book
"Death of Innocence"

DOI (HB) Page 346:

"Sometimes I thought of the prayer I'd said so many times in my childhood.

Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

I had taught Burke and JonBenet to say that prayer each night before going to sleep. Then, after we lost Beth in the automobile accident, I disliked saying the third phrase, so I modified it.

Keep me safe all through the night
And wake me in the morning light."

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2000 March 20 - NBC News Today Show - John and Patsy Ramsey

Ms. RAMSEY: JonBenet had fallen asleep. She had fallen asleep in the back of the car by the time we got home.

COURIC: Did she ever wake up? Tell me what happened once you got her home.

Ms. RAMSEY: We put her to--John carried her up to bed, and then I, you know, kind of got her undressed and pulled her pajama pants on. They were kind of long underwear pants that were in her pajama drawer. She was sound asleep. Tucked her in bed, kissed her good night, said the prayers, and...

COURIC: You said your prayers.

Ms. RAMSEY: I said my prayers over her and tucked her in bed.

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04-18-2000 Steve Thomas, "JonBenet, Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation"

Page 23:

"Officers reconstructed some of the timeline of the previous night from the parents' recollections. John Ramsey said the family returned home from the party about ten o'clock, and he read to both children before they went to sleep. He confirmed to Arndt that he had read to JonBenet after tucking her in. He would later deny these statements as well. The parents said that everyone was in bed by ten-thirty because they had to be up early for the flight to Michigan, where they had planned to spend a belated Christmas at their vacation home with Ramsey's older children, then go to Florida for a cruise on Disney's Big Red Boat. Patsy said JonBenet went to sleep wearing long white underwear and a red turtleneck top."

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04-18-2000 Steve Thomas, "JonBenet, Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation"

Page 317:

"Burke Ramsey seemed to have recovered his memory, but to me he answers seemed awkward and he was clearly uncomfortable. When asked how he thought JonBenet had been killed, he replied, "I have no idea." In his first interview he had been explicit in describing what happened to her. He confirmed that her bed-wetting had been a big problem. With his legs pulled up and his chin on his knees, Burke said he played some Nintendo on the afternoon of December 25. When showed a photograph of the pineapple and bowl, he recognized the bowl. That showed it belonged in the house and not brought in by an intruder.

He recalled nothing unusual at the Whites' party other than getting a mild shock from the electric deer fence outside. He said his sister fell asleep in the car on the way home but awakened to help carry presents into the house of a friend. When they got home, JonBenet walked in slowly and walked up the spiral stairs to bed, just ahead of Patsy. That was quite a difference from the initial and frequently repeated story that she was carried to bed. I felt that this poor kid was confused and that he really had no idea what had happened that night.

He heard the house creaking during the night, he said, and when he awoke, his mother was turning on the lights and in a rush, saying, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh," then his father turned the lights on and off again. Burke stayed in bed wondering if something had happened. He heard his father trying to calm his mother, then telling her to call the police. Burke told the detective he did not get out of bed that morning and that a policeman looked into his room. He recalled thinking that when the police arrived "we would probably be tied up all day" and that he was disappointed the family would not be going to Charlevoix as planned."

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