chiltonsjillfreeport

It's appalling that 48 Hours continues to rerun this episode. In short, it's mostly a puff piece from the Ramsey's point of view, long on interviews with them and their defenders.

I was mortified to hear this commentary from Eileen Moriarty (as a former reporter, long my favorite 48 Hours correspondent): "While the tapes show how strongly prosecutors believed John and Patsy Ramsey were responsible for the death of their daughter, frankly there isn't a lot of physical evidence that links them. So questioners looked for inconsistencies, and focused on minute details from the crime scene."

This episode fails to mention a Boulder grand jury voted to indict the Ramseys in JonBenet's death, evidence of a prior history of sexual assault (attested to by every expert who examined JonBenet's vaginal injuries), and a practice 'ransom note' found at the scene.

An inordinate amount of screen time is given to Lou Smith, the former investigator who propagated two discredited theories around JonBenet Ramsey's murder: the basement window theory (windows hidden under a grate, btw) as a means of entrance/egress for intruders; and the stun gun theory to explain marks on JonBenet's face and back.

At one point Smit says "there's no leaves or debris" against the center window panel...a claim disproven by the camera shot of leaves and debris up to the window sill. The 'stun gun' marks have been debunked by virtually all medical experts-while investigators matched the injuries to prongs from Burke Ramsey's model train tracks in the basement.

Lou Smit, who admits to praying with the Ramseys (but denies bias), claims they had no motive to sexually assault her. But that doesn't hold up while omitting the evidence of prior SA. Covering up older, unreported SA injuries would be a strong motive to stage a SA at the time of her death, given knowledge of what an autopsy will reveal.

What does the unidentified DNA under JonBenet's fingernails/on her panties (made much of here) really prove? The DNA under her nails could be from anyone whose hand she touched that night-when the Ramseys attended a Christmas party. The DNA on her panties could be touch DNA from anyone who handled the underwear during packaging.

I never read about JonBenet Ramsey's murder until recently-when coverage of the grand jury's bill to indict (quashed and kept secret by Boulder DA Alex Hunter) spurred me to read the medical reports and a summary of the evidence against the Ramseys.

Given how subjective-and exploitative-much of the media coverage has been, I'd suggest anyone who's interested should research the facts. This episode is so one-sided it should be beneath anyone's standards.