The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey

The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey (2016)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

This television special was shown over a two night period and it's build-up was that the infamous murder of JonBenet Ramsey would be solved twenty-years after it happened.

THE CASE OF: JONBENET RAMSEY is certainly an entertaining special as we get all sorts of experts coming together to take a fresh look at the evidence and try to piece together what happened. We also get a few new interviews including the 911 dispatcher as well as a friend of the Ramsey's.

This series is certainly worth watching but at the same time I wouldn't get too worked up by the hype. After the success of the Steve Avery Netflix special and the various O.J. Simpson specials it was clear CBS was trying to hit the iron while it was still hot. For the most part they have delivered an entertaining series but at the same time I wouldn't say this is the definitive word on the subject and especially since a lot of the original evidence wasn't examined.

The series is also quite obvious in how they come up with the guilty party. I won't ruin the outcome but it'll be interesting to see how any future lawsuits work out.

This special was based on a rather exciting premise: what if a group of world-renowned experts came together to re-examine one of America's most famous unsolved cases? That question will have to remain unanswered. Instead we see what would happen if a group of world-renowned experts attempt to shamelessly cash in on the anniversary of one of America's most famous unsolved cases.

Without going into too much detail (to avoid spoilers), the group gets up to all sorts of ridiculous shenanigans over the course of their "investigation." Almost every aspect of the investigation suffers from serious flaws.

Interviews were mostly with people who had obvious agendas/ulterior motives for conducting an interview and the questions asked by the interviewers were both loaded and leading. Even worse, obvious questions go unasked.

There is more pseudoscience than actual science during the special; some of the "experiments" would be right at home in an episode of Ghost Hunters (911 call meets "EVP"). What little real science there is often is performed in a misleading, erroneous, or irrelevant manner (i.e. major methodological flaws in the DNA, flashlight, and stun gun "tests," among others). Sharp-eyed viewers will notice that at least one of the flashlight tests was repeated until they got the results they wanted.

In terms of examining the evidence, some evidence is twisted/edited, some hand-waved away, and other parts ignored completely simply because they can't make it fit while other pieces are given inflated importance because it plays better with their theory.

The total incompetence of the Boulder police force on the case is mentioned, but glossed over, while simultaneously giving air time to some improbable conspiracy theories that aren't given even the most cursory examination for plausibility.

In many of the conversation sequences the group arrives at conclusions that make no logical sense or ask questions in a tone implying they feel it's a "gotcha!" question when in fact I could come up with a half-dozen plausible explanations off the top of my head to explain away the alleged "inconsistency." Roughly half of these sessions are devoted to discussing how they feel a person should have looked/felt/reacted in any given situation. Sorry, but psychology isn't so predictable as to fit into the neat little boxes provided.

The series ends with a blatant play at emotions that is as offensive as it is misguided, leaving the viewer with no doubts that there is no low the group will not stoop to.

Overall, the mini-series gives an impression of a group of people straining very hard to make the evidence fit their preconceived theories on the case. I was expecting a hard-hitting look at all the evidence and instead got an obvious cash grab by way of a self-serving law enforcement puff piece. I was seriously disappointed. Do yourself a favor and watch "JonBenet: An American Murder Mystery" instead. It, too, is far from perfect, but it at least gives an honest effort to make an impartial investigation.

I've seen several JonBenet documentary's and this one covers it better than any of the others. I would possibly recommend one of the others as a first watch, since a couple of them may have more entertainment value, but if you're looking for best coverage of it in terms of answers, look no further. I almost skipped this one due to the lackluster reviews, but they couldn't be more wrong.

This is essentially, A panel of experts who thoroughly examine all of the actual pieces of evidence in this case and brainstorm together to piece this mystery together and now I finally feel content when it comes to this mystery. And I see no bias whatsoever, just common sense based on info/evidence in the case.

For the record I really enjoy analyzing various mysteries and I cover a lot them. At the point that I know what the truth is or at the point when I know the most possible information that can be extracted out of a given mystery (this mystery falls into the later), I feel content and no longer feel a need to ponder the case any further and thanks to this doc I'm no longer curious for anything else in the JonBenet case.

Below aren't any spoilers persay. It's just my take on what I determine to be responsible for JonBenet's murder, which the documentary changed my view on this matter. Based on all of the evidence/info/interviews I've had no doubt in reference to the parents being deceptive and covering up the murder, what this means is where this mystery has always resided. Prior to this I was skeptical of the Burke/brother theory in which he's responsible for the intentional/accidental murder of his sister and the mother and father covering it up. This seemed like a stretch because he wouldn't be tried as an adult anyways, even though he would likely still be taken away from his parents not to mention this would be an embarrassment for their family as well. Of course hindsight is 20/20 and they could have never known what scrutiny this would put them under anyways. I was also skeptical because as far as we know, Burke has a clean slate (in terms of doing twisted things) before and after the death of this sister... with the exception of one prior instance when Burke hit Jonbenet with a Golf club, which in prior doc's this was said to be an accidental back swing, however based on an interview associated with a family friend, she claims that it was an intentional golf whack. Now that I've seen more stuff in reference to Burke including interviews, he is the most likely murderer. The thing that freaks me out the most about Burke is he shows absolutely no emotion or anything at any point for the loss of his sister. When I was 8 my sister cracked her chin open and I did all the crying for her. When I was 5 I went to my first funeral of a next door neighbor who I barely knew and balled my eyes out. This isn't the big ahaa or anything, but the fact that Burke is skipping around like it's the yellow brick road during his sisters funeral and having a grand ole time is bizarre and the interviews that they show of him shortly after the murder in this documentary are even more bizarre. Prior to this I even watched the 4 part Dr. Phil show in ref to this case in which most of it is Burke being interviewed as an adult in which he is an extremely weird person who's definitely on the spectrum, but even with that I was still skeptical... definitely not after seeing this doc. I even rule out accidental murder at this point, because he appears to be a psycopath who lacks empathy. He could care less that his sister was murdered, he even seems to revel in it.

I've seen two documentaries on this top.

They left me with more questions than answers, and a lingering suspicion that there had to be more information to point towards the points raised in the other documentaries.

Here we have several experts. I read another review decrying the validity of the experts various methods without going into detail as to why the previous reviewer believes the experts processes weren't credible.

I found the integrity of the experts to be perfectly acceptable. First, the letter is carefully scrutinised. Red flags are found straight away.

Without going into what the experts concluded, I found the documentary to be a worthy piece of the jigsaw.

Yes, it does aim to bring the viewer to a conclusion on exactly what happened, but it didn't begin with any agenda.

If this case, or true crime interests you, I think you will find these episodes to be essential viewing. I gave this 10/10 not just for the experts, but also the detailed shocking revelations revealed around the inept Police investigation and the D. A's strange attitude.

I can't say anymore without spoilers.

The filmmakers do say that this information is yours to do with as you wish. They succeeded in making me think differently about this case.

I wouldn't hesitate in recommending this to anyone interested in the case, and real crime documentaries.

AJB.

I stopped watching when they asked a young boy to strike a mock-up of the girls head with a torch. That is just sick!