http://jonbenetramsey.pbworks.com/w/page...es%20Index

[u]PMPT Page 127[/u]

"Several days later, Thomas and Gosage returned to Access Graphics and interviewed Gary Merriman again. A month later, Merriman would be asked by police to write the figure 118,000 over and over again, although he was never asked if he knew the amount of John Ramsey's bonus for the year. He did. It was within pennies of $118,000. After his seventh handwriting sample, Merriman felt he'd written enough to fill the Library of Congress. "If you need more, come back with handcuffs," Merriman told the detectives. That was when they said they didn't think he'd killed JonBenet but that he might have written the note."

My note - I have no reason to believe he was ever checked for palm prints, DNA....

   
   

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/18/nyreg...-york.html

‘Testilying’ by Police: A Stubborn Problem

By Joseph Goldstein

• March 18, 2018
  

The JonBenet Ramsey Episode of ‘My Favorite Murder’ Captures the True Crime Podcast at its Dishy, Casual Best
By Nathan Rabin

Pod-Canon is an ongoing tribute to the greatest individual comedy-related podcast episodes of all time.
As readers of this column may have discovered, I am something of a podcast fan. I would even go so far as as to describe myself as an enthusiast. For the last six or seven years, podcasts have been a huge part of my life and career, but my wife, bless her heart, has never quite caught the bug. It might have something to do with her not having an iPod and being averse to change and new technology, but other than Serial the world of podcasting just did not hold much appeal for her.
Until recently, that is. Serial led to an interest in another true-crime podcast, Breakdown, which covers the notorious “hot car death” where a seriously lacking father and human being left his son to die an awful death in a hot car while he was out sexting with a bunch of different women who were not his wife. It was a solid true crime podcast of additional interest because the case is happening not far from where we live, and, as podcasts tend to do, it left her with a hunger for more.
One thing led to another and Serial led to Breakdown, which led to My Favorite Murder, a podcast that combines my wife’s love of true crime with my love of podcasts where funny people bullshit and kibitz about their various obsessions. My wife was not alone in falling in love with My Favorite Murder and its hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark.
The podcast quickly became a pop culture sensation, and I have watched with amusement as my wife threw herself into the rituals of becoming a podcasting superfan. She joined a Facebook group devoted to the podcast, but because she is a neophyte to this world, she is a lurker rather than an active participant. She binge-listened to the back catalog and developed the sense that podcast obsessives have that their favorite podcasters are their friends and kindred spirits even if they never meet.
And because my wife has fallen in love with My Favorite Murder and isn’t much of a fan of headphones I have been listening casually to it and enjoying it as well, although everything did not click completely with me until a recent episode on the murder of JonBenet Ramsey. That is for a very good reason. I have discovered that people are invariably more interested in reading, or listening, or watching, something related to something they know about and the wife’s true crime fixation has led to us watching two of the strange preponderance of mini-series about this decades-old case.
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Our culture’s obsession with Ramsey is maddening on multiple levels. In one of the mini-series’ more egregious moments, JonBenet Ramsey’s death is described as our nation’s biggest unsolved mystery, which is a strange assertion to make when 2Pac’s death is still unsolved. I would argue that despite not being a cute little blonde girl, 2Pac was a more important cultural figure than Ramsey.
But watching these mini-series and listening to the My Favorite Murder, I quickly came to understand why we were, and remain, so fascinated by the death of a tiny little beauty pageant queen. As the hosts hilariously yet casually establish, the JonBenet Ramsey case has everything. It’s about money, class, sex and the disconcerting way we over-sexualize children. It’s violent, it’s mysterious and twenty years on, we still haven’t gotten to the bottom of it even as we’re overflowing with clues, suspects, and red herrings, including a deeply disturbed man who confessed to the killing, despite clearly having nothing to do with it.
But some of the enduring fascination can also be traced to the many incongruous and screamingly colorful elements of the case. My Favorite Murder discusses, for example, the hyperbolic luridness of a ransom note seemingly cobbled together from old action movie scripts like Speed and Dirty Harry. It’s a truly bizarre piece of work that seems to belong in a Cannon 1980s action movie vehicle for Charles Bronson more than an actual murder case. The episode takes its name from a particularly bizarre phrase from the ransom letter, where the non-existent kidnappers professed to be a “small foreign faction,” which is how no one thinks or refers to themselves, criminals or not, but is the kind of phrase you might find in Missing In Action III.
Our favorite podcasters aren’t the friends we have so much as the friends we wish we had. But they’re also fascinating in that they give us a glimpse into the friendships of others and the lived-in chemistry of the hosts is a huge component of My Favorite Murder’s success. These are funny, smart, and engaged women with a real genius for tossing off instantly irresistible turns of phrase, like when the Ramseys are described as “Private Plane rich,” and Patsy Ramsey is described as having “pill eyes.” The hosts capture whole weird worlds in evocative turns of phrase, like when an oddly iconic Southern California shopping mall is described as a small town for people obsessed with shopping and the child pageant circuit is tartly summed up as a “weird commercial for pedophiles.”
In sharp contrast to Breakdown, which adopts something of a rugged, semi-hardboiled tone, or even Serial, which takes itself very seriously, My Favorite Murder is wonderfully casual and conversational, the work of two murder junkies who share a fascination with the uglier, bleaker and more violent side of life that doesn’t get in the way of being funny and relatable and real. Hell, they don’t even begin to discuss the Ramsey murder until after ten minutes of kibitzing about the surreal nature of podcast/internet fame. The subject may be murder, but the tone is totes casual.
I’ve been trying to turn my wife onto podcasts as a medium for over a half decade. Hell, I write an entire column specifically designed to turn people onto great podcasts. You’re reading it now, yet I’m not sure I have ever succeeded in getting my wife addicted to any of the myriad podcasts I love. Yet, my enthusiastic neophyte of a wife has already turned me on to a podcast, and I am glad she did.
Nathan Rabin is the author of five books, including Weird Al: The Book (with Al Yankovic) and the recently released Ebook “Short Read”, vu[p]splitsider-d3d3LnZ1bHR1cmUuY29tLzIwMTYvMTAvdGhlLWpvbmJlbmV0LXJhbXNleS1lcGlzb2RlLW9mLW15LWZhdm9yaXRlLW11cmRlci1jYXB0dXJlcy10aGUtdHJ1ZS1jcmltZS1wb2RjYXN0LWF0LWl0cy1kaXNoeS1jYXN1YWwtYmVzdC5odG1s[i]gGbF0w[t]w&tag=vulture-20]7 Days In Ohio: Trump, The Gathering of The Juggalos And The Summer Everything Went Insane.

The following except from Whitson’s book (pg 123) presents an interesting concept regarding movie quotes (or near quotes) found in the Ransom Note…


Based upon modern surveillance equipment and GPS devices, kidnapping for ransom is virtually impossible. How would an offender collect the ransom without being caught? This type of delusional thinking may work in a movie, but not in the real world. This was the premise for the movie Ransom, which was released a few weeks prior to JonBenet's murder. I believe the offender in JonBenet's murder incorporated movies into his fantasy world and he was influenced by the movie Ransom, as well as the following movies that contained quotations in the ransom note
Ransom
The movie Ransom with Mel Gibson was showing in theatres during December 1996. The movie Ransom involved a high-profile executive of a prominent company who was recently in the media. Three people watched over the kidnapped little boy, while he was bound and had duct tape over his mouth. The following phrases were linked to the ransom note and the movie Ransom. (first is the passage from the note then followed by the lines from the movie).
At this time, we have your daughter in our possession… I have your son.
You will withdraw $118,000.00 from your account… No consecutive serial numbers.
$100,000.00 will be in $100 bills and the remaining $18,000 in $20 bills… No new bills, no marked bills.
Make sure that you bring an adequate size attache to the bank… The money will fit into 2 Samsonite hard shell suitcases, number 260.
Speaking to anyone about your situation such as police, F.B.I., etc., will result in your daughter being beheaded… Do not involve the police or the FBI. If you do, I will kill him.
If the money is in any way marked or tampered with, she dies. You will be scanned for electronic devices and if any are found, she dies… Do not inform the media or I will kill him. No tracking devices in the money or the cases or I will kill him.
I will call you between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery… I will contact you in 48 hours.
Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry was a famous Clint Eastwood movie which focused on a psychopathic rapist and killer.
Listen carefully… Now listen to me carefully. Now listen. Listen very carefully.
If we catch you' talking to a stray dog, she dies... If you talk to anyone, I don't care if it's a Pekingese pissing against a lamppost, the girl dies.
The delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested... It sounds like you had a good rest. You'll need it.
She dies, she dies, she dies… If I even think you're being followed, the girl dies.
Ruthless People
Listen carefully… Listen very carefully.
At this time, we have your daughter in our possession…We have kidnapped your wife.
You stand a 99% chance of killing your daughter if you try to outsmart us. You are not the only fat cat around so don't think that killing will be difficult… We have no qualms about killing and will do so without provocation.
You and your family are under constant scrutiny as well as the authorities… If you notify the police, she will be killed.
Make sure you bring an adequate size attache to the bank... You will obtain a new black Tourister briefcase model #8104.
She is safe and unharmed and if you want her to see 1997, you must follow our instructions to the letter… If you deviate from our instructions in any way, she will be killed.
I will call you between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery… Will be contacted at 11:00 a.m.
Speed
The movie Speed, with Sandra Bullock, involved an offender who threatened to explode a bus full of passengers, unless he received payment.
You and your family are under constant surveillance as well as the authorities. Don't try to grow a brain, John… You know that I'm on top of you. Do not attempt to grow a brain.
Nick of Time
The movie Nick of Time was on television in Boulder on December 25, 1996, and the movie makes references to "Listen carefully" and "Foreign faction," which are included in the ransom note.

Seven
The movie Seven involves a psychopathic killer, who uses the phrase "proper burial." The ransom note states, ''You will also be denied her remains for proper burial." The movie makes reference to a beheading and the ransom note states, "Speaking to anyone about your situation such as police, F.B.I., etc., will result in your daughter being beheaded."

NOTE: I watched the movie and didn't catch the phrases. I brought up a transcript of the movie and searched for Proper burial and beheaded, no match.

Carol McKinley reported that screams in the basement might well have been missed by parents sleeping on the third floor, far removed from the basement room where JonBenét lost her life.  I want to report that after doing sound experiments in the house, I agree.  I took turns with others - one would go to the bedroom and the other would remain in the basement and rap a flashlight around in that duct pipe - barely any sound was heard in the third floor bedroom.  But my own voice, a soft voice, clearly carried out the duct pipe - people from CBS were walking from the Ramsey house to the Stanton house to listen as I banged the pipe with the flashlight.  They didn't get to the road when they laughed and declared that the sound could CERTAINLY have been heard - they could hear me talking to the producer - a private conversation carried to the front yard by the megaphone in the window. THE SCREAM and SCRAPING SOUNDS

                                                .

Officer Harkopp spoke to Melody Stanton.  She and her husband live to the southeast of the Ramsey home, across the street. She told him she heard a blood-curdling scream from the Ramsey home. It stopped soon after it started. Melody woke her husband, Luther, but he heard no scream. Melody heard nothing more, but her husband did - and this is very important - he heard "the sound of metal clashing against cement". These sounds were not reported in the press until nearly a year later when Jeff Shapiro canvassed the neighborhood and wrote the story for the Globe.

                                                .

Could this have been the sound of a grate being dropped back into place as the killer fled?  No, it was a repeated sound.  Shapiro described it to me as like the ping of something being hit again and again.  Some suggest it could have been the sound of a grate being moved, inch, by inch.  No one knows for sure what it was.  Luther heard that sound, but Melody did not. She went back to sleep. That being the case, there was time between the scream and that noise - long enough to end a life, move her body to the windowless room and then exit.

                                                .

(Were fibers or trace materials found on the window ledge, on the concrete ledge outside? We know the window was taken as evidence, and the grate, but we have no lab results nearly three years later.)

                                                .

The police DID do experiments to see how sound traveled in the house and neighborhood. The police made noises throughout the house and investigated who could hear what from where. The surprise is that a scream in the basement COULD be heard far better across the street than from the master bedroom . It was reported that sounds actually traveled throughout the pipes in the house and exited from the roof, wafting through the air to the neighbors' houses. Meanwhile, the floors, walls, carpeting, curtains, furniture, even the decorative material hanging from the ceiling around the head of JR and Patsy's bed muffled the sound.

                                                .

 personal comment - ò¿ó - The above paragraph was written more than 6 months before I went on a tour of the Ramsey house.  When I went to the house, I found something that had NOT been reported earlier. - - -                               .

 There is a basement window in the front of the house.  A duct pipe leads into a small block room - the room that holds the small furnace, hot water heater, and a chest freezer.  That duct is not connected to ANYTHING on the inside - it is simply a 90 degree  bend and connects to nothing.  Further, it was not blocked in any way.  Totally open.

.

A scream in that room would be carried out of that basement by that pipe - by a pipe as effective as any megaphone in existence.
                                                .        

jameson photos 
                                                .
The room beyond this window holds a small boiler, a hot water heater, and a large chest freezer.  The freezer is just to the right of this pipe, sideways, and there is not enough room in there to walk around it.

   

I was leaning against the Gibbons house with my head just under his kitchen window when I took this photo.  He could not see people walking through that kitchen, he could see the ceiling and little else.    I spoke to Scott in 2016 and he told me that he saw lights on over the window - like the bank of lights often found behind a valance.  Patsy never used those lights and he noted that as strange.

He assured me he did NOT see any moving lights or people walking around that room.

December 23rd, 1996
.
Preparations had been underway all day for the third Christmas party hosted by the Ramseys in one month. This was the "Children's Party". About 30 friends attended.  There were Christmas trees decorated in almost every room, decorations were everywhere and the mood was festive.
.
Linda Pugh arrived at 9 am to help prepare for the afternoon party. Her 12 year old daughter, Ariana, was involved too, helping with flower arrangements. Santa was scheduled to appear to visit, hand out gifts and read a note about each guest. The notes were personal in nature, written by Patsy.
.
The Guest List (not official and I removed the names of the children)
.
 People at the Ramsey's Christmas party Dec. 23, 1996, 5pm-8pm
*  John and Patsy Ramsey, Burke (9), JonBenét (6)
*  Don Paugh
*  Fleet and Priscilla White, daughter (5-6), son (7-8)
*  Mr. & Mrs. R.A. Brown (Priscilla's parents)
*  Cliff Gaston, boyfriend of Priscilla's sister, Allison Shoeny (attended alone, without his
girlfriend) Visiting the Whites - from California
*  Bill Cox, husband of Priscilla's niece Heather. (attended alone, without his wife) Visiting the Whites -  from California
*  John and Barbara Fernie, son (10), daughter (14-15?)
*  Friend of the Fernies - male (about 9)
*  Glen and Susan Stine, son (9)
*  Susan Stine's mother
*  Glen Stine's mother
*  Larry and Pinkie Barber, two daughters (8 and 6)
*  Joe and Betty Barnhill
*  The Barnhill's boarder, Glenn Meyer, was not invited.  He went to the house to tell the Barnhills something about the dog barking and was invited to join the party.  He did for a short time.
*  Linda Hoffman-Pugh,  her daughter, Ariana (12)
*  Bill and Janet McReynolds (Santa)
.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another way to look at this -
.
There were 5 children ages 6- 8:  4 girls and one boy:  2 Barbers, 2 Whites & JonBenet.
.
There were 4 boys 9-10:  Stine, Ramsey, Fernie & Fernie friend.
.
There were 2 older girls:  Fernie & Hoffman Pugh.
.
The Ramseys had invited their circle of friends - the Whites, Fernies, Stines, Barbers, Barnhills (the Walkers were invited but did not attend) and THEY had brought assorted parents and other relatives.
.
In all there were 23 adults at the party (including Santa and his wife).
.
34 people at that party - THAT makes a rather full house!

I worked with a man who was always a joy to see again. He'd come to my office to pick up paperework, chat a bit and be off. I had no idea he was addicted to cocaine. He didn't show up for work for a few days and was arrested for a BRUTAL murder. So happens I knew the victim, knew she was a druggie, had no idea he knew her. He was caught, convicted, no idea what happened to him but I really was surprised when he was first arrested.
When the investigation started I kept track of who was saying what - - he hid his issues at work but when people understood he was suspected of MURDER, no one was willing to keep his secrets.
Over the years I have seen that happen numerous times - - and in this case, once there was a brutalized body - - there was no all-inclusive conspiracy to protect the Ramseys. Their secrets were all revealed. John's mistress, Patsy's boob job - - the Ramseys told those. Patsy's less than faithfull recycling practices and John's dislike of vacuum cleaners being run while he was home were REVEALED!
Theree is no reason to think the Ramseys were capable of this murder.

straydog77 is on Reddit and he posted today.  I want to respond to that post but want to document his lynch mob bs here.
My responses are in CAPS.

The Ramseys' closest family friends prior to the killing--Fleet and Priscilla White, who were actually [i]with the Ramseys[/i] on Christmas night 1996--believe the Ramseys were involved with Jonbenet's death.

ACTUALLY, THEY HAVE NEVER SAID THAT.  I HAVE FLEET WHITE'S SEALED DEPOSITION, IT WAS PUBLIC FOR A SHORT TIME, AND HE SURE DIDN'T SAY THAT.   IMO, HE WAS OVERWHELMED AND MISGUIDED BY BORG STEVE THOMAS, BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER.  WHAT MATTERS IS THAT HE HAS NEVER SAID HE THOUGHT THE RAMSEYS WEREE GUILTY.  PRISCILLA NEVER ADDRESSED THE SUBJECT IN ANY PUBLIC FORUM BUT I HAVE BEEN TOLD SHE ALSO NEVER ACCUSED EITHER PARENT.


The housekeeper--Linda Hoffman-Pugh, who spent more time in that home than anyone else who was not a member of that family--believes the Ramseys were involved with Jonbenet's death.


AFTER SHE LOST HER JOB, NEEDED MONEY AND GOT SEDUCED BY THE TABLOID PRESS, INCLUDING PETER BOYLES AND DARNAY HOFFMAN, SHE SURE DID GO FOR THEIR THROATS, BUT I WOULD SHARE HER EARLIER ACCOUNT - - THIS FOUND IN LARRY SCHILLER'S BOOK, PERFECT MURDER, PERFECT TOWN.

PMPT Page 198-202

Linda Hoffman-Pugh Story

"I was born in Lyons, Kansas, and my dad was a poor wheat farmer. I had three brothers and one sister. I'm the youngest, and one of my brothers is twenty-three years older than me. He's a welder, with his own construction business in Fort Morgan, Colorado.

When I was thirteen we moved to Fort Morgan because my dad wasn't doing well. He went to work for my brother as a ditch digger. My dad was an alcoholic. He died in 1986. My mother was forty-one when she had me. I have six living kids. Ten grandchildren. And a paper route.

I have my ladies, the women I work for. I have a doctor's wife in Greeley, and a lawyer. I was working for a bonded agency called Merry Maids when I met Patsy. I started with her one day a week. I was dumbfounded, the place was so huge. It was too much for one person. Soon we had four people, once a week.

Patsy was warm and kind. Just a sweet person. But she had a hard time keeping up the laundry. She was doing lots of charity work and was involved with her children's schooling.

Then I went to work for her three days a week, $72 a day. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I'd get there at 9:00 in the morning and be gone by 3:00. That's when my daughter Ariana gets out of school. Sometimes I worked for Patsy on Saturdays and holidays. She gave me a $300 bonus at the end of my first year. That was October 27, 1996

Patsy was afraid she wasn't going to live, that her cancer would come back and she'd never live to see the children grow up. She read a lot about illness and healing. Every three months she had a checkup. She believed if she prayed, everything would be all right. Patsy admired John. He accomplished a lot. She told me that when they started out they had nothing, and they worked themselves up to where they were now.

I first met JonBenet when she was in preschool. She was home, like, half a day. Patsy called her Jonnie B. I spent half my time picking up after her. She and her brother would just leave everything on the floor-their socks, their shoes, toys, books, just everything. They were never trained to put things away properly.

I always came in the side door, and I'd walk right into the kitchen and not know where to start. Dishes all over. If they had Ovaltine, the jar would still be open. I always had to wipe the peanut butter off the counter. "I think we ought to get a hamper," I told Patsy.

"Yeah, that sounds good," she answered. But we never got one.

"Linda is not here to pick up," Patsy's mother would say.

"She's here to clean. How do you expect her to do a good job if she's picking up?"

"OK, Mom, I'll work it out."

Patsy's clothes went into the laundry chute. I never had to pick up after John. Maybe once- a pair of shoes. Patsy changed purses once a week. She'd lay her purse on the spiral staircase and I'd clean it out and put it in the closet. She had maybe forty of them , and even more pairs of shoes. I think the problem with the children was they didn't have any responsibility. They were spoiled.

Burke had this red Scout knife and always whittled. He'd never use a bag or paper to catch the shavings. He'd whittle all over the place. I asked Patsy to have a talk with him. She answered, "Well I don't know what to do other than take the knife away from him." After Thanksgiving I took that knife away from him and hid it in the cupboard just outside JonBenet's room. That's how that problem was solved.

These weren't naughty children. They dressed themselves, and Patsy did JonBenet's hair. All her daughter's clothes were organized in drawers. Turtlenecks in one drawer, pants in another, nighties and panties in one, socks in another. Dates on all their underclothes.

"Just go away and leave me alone," JonBenet said when I tried to help her with her boots. Sometimes she acted like a spoiled brat.

"No, don't you answer the door," she'd say when someone went to open it at a luncheon Patsy gave. "I'm answering the door."

JonBenet spent a lot of her time sitting on her bed watching Shirley Temple movies on her VCR. She loved them all.

She also loved being in pageants. If she didn't want to go, Patsy didn't make her. Nedra used to bring lots of things for JonBenet to wear. Nedra did most of the pageant planning. JonBenet would have to practice singing and dancing. Nedra and Patsy's sister, Pam would decorate JonBenet's shoes, her gloves, put sequins on her hats. Some dresses were made from scratch, but they had fun altering most things. They prepared differently for each pageant. Sometimes it would take a month. They were always reworking something.

JonBenet played a lot with Daphne, the White's little girl. They were real close. And Burke had his friends, the Walker and Stine children. When the Ramseys traveled, I started taking the children's dog, Jacques home with me. It would always yip, yip, yip, and I couldn't take it. Joe Barnhill, the elderly neighbor from across the street started watching Jacques, and they got attached to each other. before long the dog was always running across the street to the Barnhill's house. Jacques started staying over there, and when JonBenet wanted to see her dog, she went over and played with him.

In the summer of "96, JonBenet started wearing those diaper type underpants-Pull-Ups. She even wore them to bed. There was always a wet one in the trash. By the end of the summer, Patsy was trying to get her to do without them. Then JonBenet started wetting the bed again. Almost every day I was there, there was a wet bed. Patsy said she wasn't going to use Pull-Ups again. She just put a plastic cover on the bed. No big deal to her. By the time I'd come in the morning, Patsy would have all the sheets off the bed and in the laundry. JonBenet's white blanket would already be in the dryer. The Ramseys had two washer-dryers-one in the basement and a stackable unit in a closet just outside JonBenet's room.

Patsy started taking a painting class, and JonBenet drew a lot with crayons and markers. People and flowers. They had a big easel, but most of the time JonBenet painted on a card table in the butler's kitchen. Patsy had her paints and brushes in a white paint tote. Sometimes she asked me to take her paints down to the basement. "I don't want to see it." On the day of the Ramseys' Christmas party, I took the paint tote downstairs.

Evenings were for the family. They did homework and had dinner together. Patsy worked on school projects with the kids. She was always doing something for the children on her computer. She read to them at bedtime. Sometimes she asked me to baby-sit if she couldn't find a sitter. Patsy spent a lot of time alone in the house while John was away on business. She never kept a baseball bat under the bed, or Mace. Never even set the alarm. She didn't like it, because it went off accidentally and it drove the police crazy.

The last month I was there, nothing was different. Patsy went to New York with her family and some friends. JonBenet even ice skated at Rockefeller Center. When they came back, they got ready for another pageant. Patsy was always putting things off until the last minute.

On December 23, JonBenet was playing with makeup.

"JonBenet, you are not going anywhere with all that on," Patsy told her. "You take some of it off." JonBenet did.

At one o'clock she went to play with some friends and was back by four o'clock. Late that afternoon she didn't want to wear a dress for their Christmas party. Patsy got a little agitated. Finally, JonBenet put on a velvet one with short sleeves.

I stuck around with my daughter Ariana to see Santa. We hadn't planned to stay, so Ariana wasn't dressed up. Patsy gave my daughter a Christmas sweater and a vest. Even lent her a pair of her shoes. At the last minute, Patsy wrote a little verse about Ariana for Santa to read.

At 5:30 P.M. Santa showed up. By then the Barnhills, the Fernies, the Stines, Pinky Barber, and the Whites, who came with Priscilla's parents, had all arrived. maybe eight couples and their children. Most of the men gathered by the spiral staircase. John made drinks for everybody from the butler's kitchen. The kids played in the living room by the big Christmas tree. That's where Santa read his litle verses about everyone. This year, Mrs. Claus was there too, Santa looked kind of sick.

I was supposed to come back the next day, December 24, and clean up. I called Patsy and said I couldn't. I told her I had a fight with my sister and needed some money to pay the rent. I asked Patsy for a $2,000 loan. I told her I would pay it back $50 each week. She didn't hesitate. "Sure." Said she'd leave it for me on the kitchen counter for my next regular visit on December 27.

The more I think about it, JonBenet could not have been killed by a stranger. I didn't even know that room was there. How could a stranger know to go there? How in the world did this happen?

-Linda Hoffman Pugh"