intention and action

Allegedly predator teachers like Keith McGuire, facing trial this month for rape, are not exactly the same as the substitute teacher who in 2006 confessed to killing JonBenet and has never been charged with a crime; his touching and intentions for very little girls is widely known by his very own words.

Shoalanda poses the tough to answer questions about teachers in the article--
The Keith McGuire Rape Case - Part I
November 29, 2008

"He stated he had a problem." - Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely speaking of Keith McGuire

We expect those in the teaching profession to care for our children as their own and we should expect no less. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. There is always the John Mark Karr or Debra Lafave. When any teacher takes a sexual interest in his or her student, we are just that more wary of them all, sometimes judging them wrongly.

How do we know the difference between an innocent touch and something more sinister? How can we judge the intent of a teacher we barely know? More importantly, what happens if we're wrong? When there's two, or perhaps three, sides to every story, how can we discern the truth from fiction?"

right to know

High profile cases like JonBenet and Elizabeth Smart enter our lives giving some of those captivated by these stories a sense of entitlement to sensitive, often confidential, details of the crimes and investigations. In the case of JonBenet, this right to know has been passionately pursued, often dressed up in a 'pursuit of justice for the childs sake' in this unsolved crime.

Jason questions the public's right to know in A Month of Change...
November 28, 2008

"Though Nicholas Browning has somewhat faded from the national limelight, I've become enthralled with the Elizabeth Smart saga, as well as that of JonBenet Ramsey.

Both cases strike me as instances in which the families -- both Caucasian, both wealthy -- knew more than they were letting on. The fact that they were both white and wealthy shouldn't be construed as making them any more likely to commit crimes, though it certainly determines the kind of attention they receive from the media... especially because it was their young, pretty daughters who were kidnapped, not their sons.

God only knows who kidnapped JonBenet. As for Elizabeth Smart, well, her father speaks like he's from another planet completely.

More importantly, does the public have a right to know what happened to her in all the horrifying detail, seeing how we were held captive by the media's nonstop coverage?"

not hard to remember

Do Colorado historians want to forget JonBenet?

“The Dark Side of Colorado: Murder, Mayhem, and Massacre”
by dkrainwater
November 2008

Don and Kellie Rainwater have collected these macabre stories together in one volume in their new book, “The Dark Side of Colorado: Murder, Mayhem, and Massacre” This new book features stories that some Colorado historians want to forget.

Jon Benet Ramsey’s murder is detailed and though the parents were recently exonerated, the mystery is still alive for the residents of Boulder.

nortorious and newsworthy

The Discovery Channel has published several quizzes to test your skill on famous crimes and as one would expect, a session for Jonbenet--

Investigation Discovery

"Test your knowledge of some of the most newsworthy and notorious famous crimes.

In the early morning of December 26, 1996, six year old JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in her Colorado home.

Test your knowledge of the crime. "


Took the simple test and found one question that had bad scoop and cannot be answered correctly. Your turn.

tragedies and terrorism

As much as some would like to chastise the media for publishing leaks and creating a sensation for anything JonBenet, the risks of tragedy being turned into entertainment was poked in respect to the citizen journalism coverage of the massacre in Mumbai (Bombay). The demand of the audience. And as a wise man reflected recently, for good or ill.....

Blogs feed information frenzy on Mumbai blasts
Thu Nov 27, 2008
by Bill Tarrant

"Twitter came in for some criticism as well in the blogosphere for divulging too many details that could prove helpful to the gunmen holed up in the hotels with their hostages and who may have been monitoring blog sites.

"It's a terrorist strike. Not entertainment. So tweeters, please be responsible with your tweets," said one blogger identified as primaveron@mumbai.

Trying to aid India's weak public services, Mumbai Met Blog, (www.mumbai.metblogs.com) posted the telephone numbers of hospitals on its website, encouraging readers to donate blood."

profile of the author of the ransom note

Revealing details about the personality of author of the ransom note left at JonBenet's home, handwring expert Michelle Dresbold is the only civilian to be invited to the United States Secret Service’s Advanced Document Examination training program - -

Sex, Lies, and Handwriting : A Top Expert Reveals the Secrets Hidden in Your Handwriting
From Religion Spiritual Book Recommendations
November 2008

"In Sex, Lies, and Handwriting, Dresbold explains how a single sentence can provide insight into a person’s background, psychology, and behavior. Throughout the book, Dresbold explores the handwriting of sly politicians, convicted criminals, notorious killers, suspected cheats, and ordinary people who’ve written to Dresbold’s “The Handwriting Doctor” column for help.

Dresbold also explains how criminals are tracked through handwritten clues and what spouses, friends, or employees might be hiding in their script.

Finally, Dresbold re-examines the handwriting evidence in several notorious unsolved cases. She uncovers fascinating clues that reveal the secret side of Lizzie Borden, acquitted of the ax murder of her parents in 1893’s “trial of the century.” Dresbold also reveals astonishing details about the author of the JonBenÉt Ramsey ransom note, and she presents startling new evidence that exposes the real Jack the Ripper (contrary to popular theories, he wasn’t a prince or a painter after all)."

Mindhunter

John Douglas, who back in early 1997 was one of the first to identify the gaping holes in suspicions that JonBenet's parents killed their daughter, is hosting the premier of documentaries titled "Mindhunter" this Sunday on MSNBC at 10PM EST - -



Here is an excerpt from the MSNBC press release:

At any given time, there are an estimated 30-50 serial killers active in the United States. Former FBI Agent, John Douglas, knows them better than most. Renown as the architect of American criminal profiling, John Douglas knows that "the only way to truly understand the criminal mind is to get inside it." His approach is different from that of a journalist. Drawing on his 25 years of experience in the FBI's Behavioral Science unit, Douglas taps into the minds of the killers he interviews in order to find out who they are and what drove them to murder. In "Mindhunter," Douglas goes head-to-head with two of the nation's most disturbing and violent serial killers: Joseph Kondro and Donald Harvey.

Kondro is every parent's worst nightmare—a murderer who killed his friends' children.

Harvey began his murderous lifestyle at age 18 as a hospital orderly. That year alone, he killed more people than most serial killers do in their entire lifetime. All of them were patients.

Douglas' discoveries have changed the nature of crime investigation. As a criminal profiler, his interviews have helped crime investigators create profiles that will more effectively identify and capture the serial killers among us.

In partnership with Gregory Breck with site design by Douglas J. Gallagher, Mr. Douglas also maintains the Mindhunter website to "answer to numerous requests for more and ongoing information about John Douglas and his work. The site is designed to be a regularly updated resource for current information about John Douglas, including his participation in the investigation of open cases, his lectures, personal appearances, projects, book releases, and media events. "

a most violent criminal

In the third edition, profiler Brent E. Turvey further defines his process and method for gaining understanding of the violent nature and behavior of JonBenet's killer. Turvey provides clear principles and practice standards and refers to a strong code of ethics that anyone profiling strong opinions on guilt or innocence in this case ought to take note of should they want to be taken seriously in the pursuit of justice for JonBenet - -

Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis

"Now in its third edition, Criminal Profiling is established as an industry standard text. It moves evidence-based criminal profiling into a full embrace of the scientific method with respect to examining and interpreting behavioral evidence. If focuses on criminal profiling as an investigative and forensic process, helping to solve crime through an honest understanding of the nature and behavior of the most violent criminals. Throughout the text, the author outlines specific principles and practice standards for Behavioral Evidence Analysis, focusing on the application of theory and method to real cases.

Topics covered include Criminal Profiling Guidelines from the Academy of Behavioral Profiling, the Whitechapel murders, the JonBenet Ramsey case, ..."

bad appples

Calling for the resignation of Orange County principal Dr. Tracy Brennan, supension of yet another California educator due to sexual misconduct is in the same time line with that one time California substitute teacher who falsley confessed to the murder of JonBenet in 2006 --

Saddleback High Principal Previously Involved in Sex-Crime Negligence, Accused of Harrassment Herself
by Gustavo Arellano
November 2008

"We don't blame those folks for despising [Dr. Tracy] Brennan--as the Weekly reported a couple of days ago, Brennan has neglected to alert Saddleback parents about the arrest of Alonso Manuel Gonzalez on allegations he sexually molested a disabled student. But, in some ways, an ambivalent attitude when it comes to sex crimes seems to be part of Brennan's modus operandi.

In 2004, Brennan was an assistant superintendent of education at the Anaheim Unified High School District when police arrested 14-year-old Jose Avina on charges he robbed and raped his peers (he's now serving a life sentence for those crimes). As in the Gonzalez case, Brennan was in a situation where she and her superiors neglected to alert parents about a serious case

In response to the article, OBSERVER says:

FRANK FARSAD, another former Anaheim Union High School District teacher, pled guilty to some type of sexual misconduct according to a one-time media report. Another strange piece of trivia about Farsad is that Farsad and John Mark Karr's (confessed to murder of Jonbenet Ramsey in August 2006), teaching credentials in the State of California, were both suspended during the same California Commission of Teaching Credentials meeting in March or April 2003."

legacy of the long johns

The techniques used to exonerate JonBenet's mom and dad is helping bring closure for other children and crime victims around the world.

Xana O'Neill of the Los Angeles News wrote in Cheat Sheet - -

"....must-read articles that will impress your co-workers, wow your friends and make you seem smart.... '

DNA evidence analyzed this summer cleared JonBenet's family of her murder. The man who spearheaded that investigation uses the same techniques used in crime-solving to ID the badly charred remains of 9/11 victims and soldiers and is hoping to spread the DNA technology to new areas. "

From the referenced Washington Post article - -

With the same understated, patient tone he has used for decades -- first as a top U.S. military expert on soldiers' remains, then as leader of international efforts to identify victims of massacres in Bosnia -- Huffine, a top executive at the Lorton-based DNA identification lab Bode Technology, walks though the connections he finds amid the static.

"You see, DNA technology never works in a vacuum," Huffine said. "If you improve a technique that might help get DNA results from a very challenging environment, like in the JonBenet Ramsey case, those same types of techniques could be used to help identify people who are missing in other countries. It could help to address systematic and government-sponsored rape in other countries, and so on."

Experience with the Trade Center, where bones were subjected to intense heat, is in turn applied to the work in Peru, where soldiers tried to hide killings by burning bodies.

"It's very September 11-like material. It's very degraded," said Jose Pablo Baraybar, executive director of the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team, which has been sending exhumed remains from a massacre in southern Peru's Accomarca area to Lorton. "There are a lot of children. That's a problem. The bones are very fragile."

recession proof

As long as crimes like Jonbenet's remain unsolved there will be public speculation and debate but for some others, cases like hers represents job security - -

Getting Away with Murder - Part 2
by Stacy Dittrich

Today, in Part 2 of Getting Away with Murder, I’ll be focusing on the cases of Natalee Holloway, Rilya Wilson, O.J. Simpson, and JonBenét Ramsey. (Click here to read Part 1)

The prosecutor has since cleared the parents and believes that, someday, DNA evidence will hit on a match to the true murderer. It’s my opinion that the human race will most likely witness The Rapture before an arrest in the murder of JonBenét Ramsey. It’s a shame, but the man that brutally took the life of this small, innocent child has to look in the mirror every day and live with it.

I have always said during my tenure as a police officer that my job security was higher than anyone’s. Now, as a full-time crime writer, my opinion remains the same.

and when discussing caylee

Bloggers at Nancy Grace's Open Thread are drawing parallels between Caylee Anthony and JonBenet's stories, pointing out observations of Nancy Grace's bias in the Ramsey case and a shared media link in Larry Garrison.

As an aside there is still no confirmation that Karr is not in fact the fuzzy man behind JonBenet in that 12/1996 video published earlier this month.

Back to the Caylee discussion; here are some of the comments from Open Thread The Nancy Grace Show 11/20

Dee said:

As for Jon Benet, I was ashamed of NG [Nancy Grace], even after the touch dna proved that it wasn’t a family member who killed the poor little girl. Patsy Ramsey went to her grave with people thinking she had something to do with her daughter’s death. Like b/c the child peed in the bed. Give me a break. I never believed it. And what did NG do? She snafu’ed the dna evidence and said it wasn’t reliable. I bet if touch DNA was used in this case [Casey Anthony], she’d be all over it like gravy on rice. It would all of a sudden become undeniable proof. To me NG owed the Ramsey family an apology, but we all know that will never happen. The sad truth.


BJ said:

This is interesting about Garrison. Garrison describes himself as a film and television producer, journalist and actor. He is a co-author of Aruba: The Tragic Untold Story of Natalee Holloway and Corruption in Paradise, about the 2005 disappearance of an Alabama teenager.

He also represented the family of John Mark Karr, who falsely admitted to killing Colorado 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey.

JOHN MARK KARR……………YUK

the fashion muse

Inspired by JonBenet, New York designer Patrik Rzepski collections hint at punk rock, violence and teenage angst.

"Tragic stories have always inspired me," said Mr. Rzepski, a design-school dropout, who has shown four collections, among them one based on JonBenet Ramsey and Sharon Tate.

Rzepski's first collection of womenswear debuted in October 2001 and a menswear line was launched in 2007.

New York Times profiled Rzepski's collection as "a revelation."
Style Magazine named Rzepski one of the "Fifteen to Know"
New York Magazine profiled Rzepski in "Famous by 2010"

famous AD

JonBenet didn't make it in the Top 10 People Made Famous By Their Deaths over at the List Universe.


In the list of 10 that included J. D. Tippit, Horst Wessel and Edward Slovik some visitors at List Universe thought JonBenet could have been mentioned.


joebecca said--
um, Jonbenet Ramsey was only missing for a few hours before she was found dead in her own basement. it was truly her murder that made her famous.


Lilith Hel wrote--
emmitt till, the black dahlia, and jonbenet ramsey could all be honorable mentions, but the latter is probably the only one known outside the usa.

in good company, unexpected places

It may be too dangerous to speculate what's next; JonBenet image as body art.

By KELLI SKYE FADROSKI
The Orange County Register

Orange Pop: The unstoppable Jeffree Star

Jeffree Star is much more than makeup, short skirts and pink hair. The gender-bending electro artist has worked nonstop to build a growing empire that beyond live performances includes a clothing line, a modeling career and gigs as a makeup designer.

Star is also engulfed in tattoos – he has 70 of them covering his arms and legs, 13 of which were done by his friend and "L.A. Ink" star, Kat Von D.

Among his collection are tattoos he calls "beauty queens," including portraits of JonBenet Ramsey, Princess Diana, "The Black Dahlia," Christina Ricci as Wednesday Adams, Marilyn Monroe and Sharon Tate.

Uncyclopedia's comic relief

John Mark Karr's page on uncyclopedia wiki page is dripping with inaccurate information. There find satire of all the incidents someone has envisioned Karr confessed to, our favorites from that list below.

The wiki describes itself --

Uncyclopedia is an encyclopedia full of misinformation and utter lies. You might say it puts the "psych!" in "encyclopedia". It's sort of like Congress or Parliament, but unlike Congress or Parliament, we do have a sense of humor. Nonetheless, this is one of the only factual pages, before everything turns into a puddle of utter confusion and disarray. Savor it.

John Mark Karr uncyclopedia page

"He was recently found not guilty for the 1996 robbery of beauty pageant queen JonBenét Ramsey. It is known that Karr struggled with urges of kleptomania his entire life, the rest of which will be spent in prison.

In addition to kidnapping JonBenet, Karr also confesses to:

Being in league with Voldemort

Having WMD's

Tipping less than 15% at restaurants

Being a member of Team Rocket

Lying about all the above comments

Making up the previous comment in a stupid attempt at humor

Deciding that the previous comment was pretty funny after all

Asking you if you would like to send him a letter right now cause he's lonely.

Seriously. Yes, it's me

Believing that it really isn't butter.

Creating AIDS. Seriously, it was meant as a joke and then everything just went crazy....."

mistreated and mis-convicted

Defense attorney takes measures to protect client from being treated like the Ramseys.

By Larry Riley • November 19, 2008
Larry Riley: Real courtroom drama is not like on TV

"Nearly 60 local citizens, not counting spectators and assorted officials, jammed Delaware County Circuit Court 3 on Monday morning to be seated as prospective jurors in the Tony French murder trial this week.

French, accused of conspiring and aiding in the 1993 murder of his wife, Teresa, who was divorcing him, goes first, followed next month by alleged triggerman Jess Woods, whom prosecutors say carried out the shooting for $5,000.

[Defense attorney Steve] Smith was looking for jurors who wouldn't be afraid to tell the state they didn't make their case even if the true culprit isn't known: "I don't have to prove anything," he said.

To that end, he asked whether jurors believed O.J. Simpson was guilty of killing his ex-wife. Smith also brought up JonBenét Ramsey, the 6-year-old pushed by her Colorado parents into beauty pageantry and found murdered in the basement of her home in 1996. The parents were hounded as suspects, though just this year officially exonerated of any role in the child's death.
Smith wanted to know how can we make sure his client isn't mistreated and mis-convicted that way."

Shazam! Style Media

How news stories like JonBenet are made will be featured segment in the first of a series of six half hour specials on the Independent Film Channel tonight.

By Ted Cox Daily Herald Columnist
Published: 11/18/2008

IFC's 'Media Project' is '60 Minutes' for the Obama era

"The Independent Film Channel finds itself in the right place at the right time with the debut of "The IFC Media Project" at 7 p.m. today.

Just as the election of Barack Obama seems to confirm a swing to the left, in the media and the culture at large, IFC emerges with a hip, progressive, youth-oriented "60 Minutes" dedicated to making itself "a user's guide to how the news gets made."

That will make a viewer go, "Hmmm," but another segment on Larry Garrison is apt to make a viewer actually go Elvis on the tube. Garrison's entire life's work is serving as a media consultant drawing attention to kidnapped and missing girls - inevitably white - because they're so good for the Nielsen ratings on cable news channels (at least when a political campaign isn't actively raging). Garrison talks quite openly and cynically about looking for tales that pack "the oh-my-God factor." And think about it: A missing or murdered black kid has to be the nephew of Jennifer Hudson to get the same sort of media attention, and even that doesn't compare with a blockbuster story like that of JonBenet Ramsey.

More reviews of the show tonight --

New York Times--The first segment profiles Larry Garrison, a consultant who helps families of missing children deal with the news media.

LA Times-- Eyebrows will raise occasionally, as in a segment on a man who promotes "missing white girl" stories to cable news.

Sepinwall on TV--The missing white girl feature, for instance, is less interested in examining why these stories are so popular than in why certain white girls get picked -- which, in turn, transforms it into a profile of media consultant Larry Garrison, who has built a cottage industry out of placing himself between news organizations and the victims' families, and of encouraging the news to do more stories on these specific victims."

the long and winding road

Tracey wrote--JonBenet will be back, there will be an event, maybe an arrest, new information, something, but she is not going away; and that hers, for good or ill, is a story for the ages – mystery, tragedy, metaphor, booster of circulation and ratings, the very gold standard of tabloid journalism.

An exerpt out of the final chapter and post script in From Christmas to August published in parts over October and November, 2008.

He goes on to say--

The question I am often asked is whether the case will ever be solved? The only logical answer, of course, is that there is no way of knowing. It certainly could be solved, assuming that the “foreign” DNA is indeed that of the killer. It is obviously vitally important to bring that person to justice. It would be a great relief to have closure, and to be able to move on because I know that there are many people for whom her murder is ever present.

JonBenet's new legacy

Breakthrough 'touch' DNA technology from Bode applied to JonBenet's case gives hope to families with victims of unsolved crimes.


Cases gone cold
By Lise Fisher
Sun staff writer


"Their names aren't in the daily headlines.

But the families of these murder victims and the officers who investigated their unsolved cases haven't forgotten or given up searching for answers.

Some officers are turning to new technology, while others have renewed pleas to the public for any information that could catch a killer.

DNA technology used in the JonBenet Ramsey case could hold clues in the investigation of the 2004 slaying of a University of Florida graduate assistant...."

JonBenet knowledge challenge

100 questions about JonBenet on this quiz put up by allthetests.com in 2007.

You can challenge your skill at--


The JonBenet Ramsey 100 question Quiz


Here are some teasers --

"Question 1: What drink did JonBenet not like at all?

Question 8: What number costumes did JonBenet model for the Randy Simons photo shoot?

Question 17: JonBenet’s favorite television channel(s) were?

Question 28: Nickname Patsy had for JonBenet?

Question 41: What store was JonBenet’s karaoke machine purchased?

Question 67: What was the other middle name was that in mind for JonBenet?

Question 95: JonBenet saw which musical while in New York, November 1996?

Question 98: What time was JonBenet born? ..."

-- best of luck to you!

Garnett focussed on evidence in Ramsey case

District Attorney-elect Stan Garnett is aiming to set a new tone as the county’s top law enforcement officer.


New DA aims to be more open
Garnett says office should be focused, confident and clear

By Pierrette J. Shields
LONGMONT TIMES

"..Don’t expect him [Garnett] to speak publicly about community controversies, although he plans to make criminal prosecutions more transparent to the public and press. Trying cases will also become a top priority during his administration, he said.

“A district attorney’s office should be a place that is very focused and very confident and very clear on what it is doing,” he said. “I want to help make sure this office obtains this.”

Garnett is inheriting an office that has been awash in controversy since the unsolved murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, whose body was discovered in the basement of her family’s home on Dec. 26, 1996. Despite long dry spells in case developments, the world spotlight shined on the Boulder County Courthouse with renewed wattage in 2006 when Lacy flew in from Thailand a man who claimed responsibility for the child’s violent death. There was no evidence the man, John Mark Karr, had ever been to Boulder, and DNA quickly ruled him out.

Lacy in July publicly said the Ramseys are innocent of any involvement in the homicide and apologized to the family for the years they spent under public suspicion.

Garnett said he doesn’t believe that would prevent his office from bringing charges against the Ramseys if the evidence were to warrant it down the line..."

re-branding JonBenet

Google, kleenex, coke; masterful market brand recognition. Just the mention of JonBenet's name in fact or fiction tees up recognition to which other heinous crimes against chidren may be compared.

Maybe JoBenet's legacy isn't really the sensational morality question of child pageants, exploitation by the media or a passionate debate of who-done-it.

The name JoBenet could better serve her memory while it already represents all those childen victims of brutal crimes unsolved.

Says Gloria Feit, in her review of C. Solimini's "Across the River" - -

"..Twenty-three years after she moved away from the New Jersey town of her birth, Andrealisa (“Andie”) Rinaldi returns home on assignment from her new employer, a tabloid of the worst kind [a redundancy perhaps], to cover a story involving the horrifying death of a ten-year-old girl in a case reminiscent of the real-life killing of Jon Benet Ramsey. [There is also a reference to the only slightly more recent Long Island Lolita case where a young woman shot her lover’s wife in the face.] The current death, which occurred six months prior [the tale takes place in 1992], involved the killing of the daughter of the town’s most prominent local real-estate developer, who was one of several of Andie’s parochial school classmates years back. The child was found dead following a New Year’s Eve party held in her home, having been strangled to death. Andie’s boss feels she can get ‘something new,” from the perspective of an old friend, including perhaps some exclusives with her former friends and classmates..."

JonBenet season again

Doug Mataconis over at Below the Beltway could have an inside track while he speculates JonBenet as a post election ratings booster--

Time To Get Ready For More Natalee Holloway And JonBenet

Over the last three months of the 2008 presidential campaign, ratings for the cable news channel MSNBC were up 158 percent over the same period a year earlier. They were up 101 percent for the Fox News Channel. On Comedy Central, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” hit a record high of 3.6 million viewers for a guest appearance by Senator Barack Obama on Oct. 29.

For cable channels with strong points of view, it was a very good election. But for all the news media outlets that set viewership records in recent months, the looming question after Senator Obama’s election is: what happens now?

slip of the tongue

Recollecting the lawsuit from Ramsey neighbor Stephen Miles, Ray Stern from Valley Fever contemplates potential for repercussions in the sale of what may or may not be Cindy McCain sucking face somebody other than John--

Cindy McCain Caught 2: Interview with John South, Tarnished National Enquirer Reporter Who Wrote Story

In 1998, [John] South, the Enquirer and the father of murder victim JonBenet Ramsey were sued for writing a story that claimed a Boulder photographer might be named as Ramsey's killer. That case was later dismissed, but the damage to Stephen Miles -- who lived six blocks from the Ramseys and had apparently never met them -- was done.

If he's wrong on the Cindy McCain story, South's defense would probably be simple: It was just a look-alike. Whoops.

JonBenetography

Interviews or case information about the tragedies of crimes against children are generally not revenue buckets for the victims' families. Then there are some potential profiteers and opportunists--


Nov. 13, 2008 Orlando Sentinel
Grandparents' spokesman profits from Caylee case

Grieving grandparents George and Cindy Anthony have learned a lesson in TV exploitation.

After insisting for months that they haven't made any money from the disappearance of their grandchild, the Anthonys' lawyer released documents Wednesday indicating that a family spokesman pocketed $6,500 from NBC without the couple's knowledge.

On Wednesday, George and Cindy Anthony's attorney, Mark NeJame, accused Larry Garrison, a California man who offered the couple public-relations advice, of "pimping" his clients out.

He [Garrison] also represented the family of John Mark Karr, who falsely admitted to killing Colorado 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey.

Although he denied being paid in the Anthony case, Garrison said he sees nothing wrong with getting paid for negotiating with news agencies to arrange interviews with his clients.

Leonard Padilla, the California bounty hunter who thrust himself into the case and helped orchestrate Anthony's initial release from jail, said he has been offered money for interviews and photos.

On Wednesday, Padilla said he turned the deals down, saying it was bad "karma." But Padilla is associated with a Web site that charges viewers $9.95 for a year of information about the Anthony case, including theories on what happened to Caylee.

Now back to JonBenet. Maybe aside from the book The Death of Innocence, it's well known the Ramseys and their legal team, Tracey or the case investigators have not directly profitted off the case in this way. Period. Contrary to the less informed or hysterics, mainstream media traditionally doesn't compensate for interviews and or information for stories produced. If not those close to or a part of the case, makes one wonder who all may have profitted, all 'leaks', videos and photos peddled to the tabloids for over a decade considered.

And that begs the next question -- if Garrison was representing the Karr famly, who if anyone was compensated for Karr's interviews, videos and photos promoted by the non-mainstream media outlets that pay for such things?

15 minutes past

On the heels of Professor Michael Tracey's publication of "From Christmas to August, an essay on murder, media mayhem and the condition of the culture" Rick Weaver explores the impact of the media in the confession and arrest of John Mark Karr back in 2006--

Monday, November 10th, 2008
Why is the Media Trying to Prove Karr’s Innocence

In the case of JonBenet Ramsey accused killer, John Mark Karr, the media has found themselves in the unusual position of actually defending someone charged with a crime.

The media is normally quick to back acquisitions of wrong doing. O. J. Simpson, Robert Blake, Jim and Tammy Bakker, Tom DeLay, and others were quickly vilified by the press as soon as they fell under suspicion. Not so with Karr. Almost immediately following his confession, media giants began to deny that he could actually be the killer. Their behavior shows a shortcoming inherent in political and business leaders.

The Ramseys were convicted in the court of public opinion despite their claims of innocence. Now that someone has actually confessed, particularly somebody that the press had not previously considered as a potential suspect, it seems that the media feels a necessity to overcome their earlier Ramsey conviction by proving Karr could not possibly have been the killer.

All leaders must reach the point that they can confidently be completely open and honest with those whom they want to follow them. If the media were to do so in the Ramsey case, the coverage would change from an emphasis of why he could not be the killer to an open an objective reporting of both sides of his potential guilt or innocence.

Find Rick Weaver's bio and the entire post above is over at Ethics Seek.

Learning how to secure a crime scene

A replica of the Ramsey home to be built to teach criminology students how to properly secure a crime scene.

Jodi Weigand at the TRIBUNE-REVIEW writes
November 12, 2008:

You probably wouldn't want to have a tea party in the doll house unveiled yesterday at Point Park University.

But the 3-foot replica of the house where Lizzie Borden is said to have axed her father and stepmother in 1892 is perfect for Point Park criminal justice students.

"It's a great tool to teach forensic students about fingerprints, shoe prints, blood spatter, DNA evidence and where you would look for evidence at a crime scene," said Steven Koehler, an associate professor in the criminal justice department. "What kind of evidence would (the perpetrator) deposit?

They're planning to recreate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to help professors teach ballistics. They're also hoping to build a replica of the Boulder, Colo., home where JonBenet Ramsey died to teach students how to properly secure a crime scene, Koehler said

Too late to help JonBenet's cause, better late than never.

writing a wrong

When JonBenet's case was tried in the media, Derek Armstrong says journalists got it wrong.

From Ilene Cooper's review at Booklist Online of Derek Armstrong's Octobober 2008 release of Drew Peterson Exposed: Polygraphs Reveal the Shocking Truth about Stacy Peterson and Kathleen Savio--

Although this is a book about Drew Peterson, the police officer under suspicion of doing away with not one but two wives, Derek Armstrong, a journalist and crime-fiction author, is one of the key players here as well.

Armstrong notes, many cases are tried in the media (e.g., the JonBenet Ramsey murder), and sometimes journalists get it wrong.

twist of fate

As Mike Tracey publishes a few of the emails (made available by the Boulder DA) from Daxis , aka John Mark Karr in his series on media, democracy it's worth spotlighting the predator's seduction in Karr's own words - -that gooming process - - and the innocent responses of a child.

Karr writes to Tracey of his new target Melanie, whose name has been changed to protect her in this story, just weeks before Karr's arrest in Thailand:

"...We continued to eat together and to talk. Finally, I let go of herhand. My hand then dropped under the table. She kept tapping me with her little foot. I suddenly held on to her foot underneath the table. She was wearing sandals and I massaged her little foot with her sandalon. She looked at me intently and with pleasure.

"Oh Melanie, I love you. Your little foot is precious."

I eventually let go of her foot. In a matter of a second or two, she pushed her little foot back into my hand. She had quickly slipped off her little sandal. She wanted the full effect of her little foot in my hand. It was so special that she would toss that shoe aside and seemed to indicate that she was expressing interest in a serious interaction with me. Her naked little foot felt so sexy in my hand.It was almost like feeling her naked body sliding up next to me. Her little foot was divine. I looked down at it as I caressed it. Her little toe nails were painted with glitter polish.

"Oh sweetheart, I love this little foot."

She just looked at me with that same smile. I rubbed her little footall over. I caressed her little toes and massaged the sole of little foot. It was truly intimate and very sexual.

And it all happened right there under that little table, in the middle of the school lunchroom.

At the end of our time together, Melanie looked at me very seriously and said,

"Will you please come back and be with me tomorrow?"

It was the sweetest request and was expressed from her heart. Her voice was soft and so intense. I replied,

"Oh yes, my love. I will be back tomorrow to be with you."

And so, my little Melanie left me with all her wonderful and profuse goodbyes. But tomorrow never came for us. Her mother came to get her early on that day and she was not there for lunch. It would be the last day I would see her for a month. I deeply regret that she willnot be my student in the Fall. She will be a first grader and I teach second grade. But I will see her again. The problem is, her first grade teacher doesn't like me for some reason and will most probably make it hard for me to have any contact with her. In a year's time, if either of us are still at the same school, she will be my student.This is when Melanie and I will become closer. I cannot wait.

Over the briefest period of only two days, I had the loveliest interaction with a little girl named Melanie.

With Melanie and many others in the past, a bond was formed quickly - romantically attached almost instantaneously.”

Is it too presumptive to suggest something similar could have happened to JonBenet that led up to her death? A brief encounter between a charming, loving and trusting child whose responses are misinterpreted as sexually romantic within the twisted mind of one lustful predator, one compulsively and sexually attracted to children?

Some would contend Karr meets the personality and perversions of JonBenet's killer.

And this encounter and others like it can take place in public places, like a school lunchroom. In a twist of fate, we should in some detatched way be thankful to Mr. Karr for writing so clearly and detailed how one so inclined initiates the grooming process with an innocent child, while the pedophiles themselves might be livid for Karr's vast disclosures - and subsequent claim he accidentally (but obviously so brutally) murdered the object of his affection.

A valuable map of the warning signs for those that care about children lies in Tracey's experience. Those concerned might be beholding to Tracey for the unqualified courage to persevere and the fortitude to publish, all degredation he may received considered. Few have had his experience, that opportunity to interact with the non-convicted sexual predator of a very young child, so unguarded and verbose.

The entire email and others from Karr to Tracey are published in full in the chapter
Meanings, pt. 4: an awful, dark year

fuzzy man

http://jonbenetsblogs.blogspot.com/search?q=karr

Asked to remember a Colorado case

Referring to JonBenet, defense attorney attorney Larry Monard reminded jurors about parents that were once suspected of killing their own child.

Cass Rains, Staff Writer for the EnidNews.com covering the conviction of Patrick Darnell Phillips in the death of 2 year old Adreion Reese Ratzlaff --

Phillips found guilty of murder

A Garfield County jury convicted Patrick Darnell Phillips, 24, Monday afternoon of beating the 2-year-old son of his live-in girlfriend to death more than two years ago.The seven-man, five-woman jury deliberated for less than three hours before returning a guilty verdict for the first-degree murder charge and recommending a life sentence.

Adreion Reese Ratzlaff was in Phillips’ care Aug. 16, 2006, when Phillips called 911 and reported an unresponsive child. The boy died two days later after being taken off life support.

Monard told the jurors people do not always have the same perceptions and impressions, which would explain the varied testimony. He then asked jurors if they remembered a Colorado case a few years ago, referring to the JonBenet Ramsey case, in which two parents were suspected of killing their child but later received an apology from prosecutor when they were ruled out as suspects.

the wake of destruction

Next in the series From Christmas to August, Mike Tracey writes of Daxis' lusting after yet a another little girl, gossip and the media, and of course the most horrific experience of his life in that year Tracey was exposed up front and personal to one John Mark Karr.

Meanings, pt. 4: an awful, dark year

I don’t want to be misunderstood here. I’m claiming no high moral ground and recognize that I have vices galore and that, for example, some of the women in my life have decent grounds for a war crimes tribunal. I understood that life is a constant struggle between the competing sides of our nature, and that in fact the whole issue of cultural identity, of the dialogue about what is good and bad in culture is an enlarged version of this agonizing struggle about personal identity, and the vexing question of, is this who I am, is this who I should be?

In this instance, from that first stirring of empathy for the Ramseys to the decision to find Karr, for good or ill, I sought to do the right thing, and I am perplexed that there were those who chose not to see it that way.

I could not get rid of one image in particular, that of his tying the ligatures to her wrists and then hanging her from the window. I don’t know how long I sat there, but there came a point when I could hold it inside no longer and, for the first time in almost a decade of thinking about and talking about the appalling things that were done to JonBenet and to her family, I started to sob. Not just tearing up, not just tears running down my cheeks but a flood and a wail of anguish and sorrow. In that sense Karr may not have killed JonBenet, but he sure as hell came close to destroying me.

Those that have been pulled into the grave with Karr, or those that use his brand of medicine, may have a better understanding of the toll and depth of personal sacrifices made in the spirit of doing the right thing. The world, and all our innocent children especially, need more heros.


This chapter and Tracey's entire essay, From Christmas to August is here.

JonBenet's crime of fashion?

Comparing JonBenet's pageant costumes to a plunging neckline outfit worn by 19 year old Hayden Panettiere, Investigating Crimes of Fashion writes:

JonBenet

OK– this photo of Hayden Panettiere really creeped me out. It reminds me of those weird, highly made up, suggestively dressed four-year-old pageant girls. And she’s wearing a leash of a necklace. Is anyone watching out for this girl?

Does this translate that pageant parents, i.e. the Ramsey's, don't watch out for their children?

Wecht fraud charges - going, going....

Only 14 of the original 84 federal felony charges filed against Dr. Cyril H. Wecht remain. Wecht has been called upon as an expert in high profile cases such as the death of JonBenet Ramsey, Clinton White House deputy counsel Vince Foster and Elvis Presley.


Paula Reed Ward of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes on Saturday, November 08, 2008:

Prosecution cuts charges to 14 in new Wecht trial

According to the defense, those counts represent all of the public corruption charges that remained against Dr. Wecht.

"I don't know why they don't just drop the whole thing," defense attorney Jerry McDevitt said after the hearing. "I know of no case where the government so overcharged any human being, failed to get a single conviction, dropped 70 charges and continued such a prosecution."

The counts that remain include five charges of wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud and four counts of theft from an organization receiving federal funds.

"What remains now are nine charges that do not involve public corruption but instead question expense charges made by Dr. Wecht to private clients, not one of whom ever complained," Mr. McDevitt said. "These charges in total involve trivial amounts, some as low as $25."

SBTC and TLC

Comparing Purity Balls and children's beauty pageants, TV Guy Kevin McDonough for for the Times Herald-Record writes;

Once known as The Learning Channel, the TLC network has carved out a special niche with viewers fascinated by the unusual.

The documentary "Purity Balls" (TLC) chronicles social rites in which a father takes a public pledge to defend his daughter's virginity. Much like the child beauty pageants made famous and/or infamous by the Jon Benet Ramsey case, these purity functions appear wholesome to some and creepy to others.

At this rate, the network may need a logo makeover. There's only a one-letter difference between TLC and TOC, The Oddity Channel. It could become TUC, The Uncomfortable Channel. Or, for that matter, TIC, The Icky Channel.

How about Society's Bizarre Television Channel?

all good things in time

Today find on the website how JonBenet's father, John Ramsey*, "is committed to seeing laws in all states requiring DNA fingerprinting so when a felony is committed there is unbiased technology that will exonerate the innocent and positively identify and convict the guilty"--

The DNA Fingerprint Project

"In the early morning hours on December 26, 1996, six year old JonBenet Ramsey was brutally murdered in her Boulder Colorado home. Before thoroughly investigating the crime, police publicly accused Patsy and John Ramsey of complicity thus resulting in years of being judged unfairly worldwide by what was printed and reported through the media.

Foreign male DNA was recovered from blood stains on JonBenet's clothing and from under her fingernails. DNA evidence was in its infancy in 1996 and used solely as a prosecutorial tool by law enforcement. Therefore the DNA evidence in JonBenet's case was virtually ignored. In 2001 the case was taken over by the new Boulder District Attorney who believed the foreign male DNA evidence was significant and should be used to investigate the crime.

By 2008 touch DNA sampling technology had advanced significantly and additional clothing of JonBenet's was examined. Those tests yielded overwhelming evidence that an unknown male had murdered JonBenet. The Boulder District Attorney immediately issued a letter acknowledging this fact, cleared Patsy and John Ramsey of any involvement, and stated she was "deeply sorry" that the Ramsey family had to endure such condemnatory public opinion.

DNA FINGERPRINT PROJECT OBJECTIVE: To enact in all states a law requiring any person arrested for a felony to be DNA fingerprinted and that DNA fingerprint to be expeditiously entered into the National CODIS databank."

*JonBenet's mom, Patsy Ramsey passed away in 2006 of ovarian cancer.

Karr joins in at TMS farewell

Posted by Governor Gray Davis
06 November 2008

TMS Celebrity Farewell

Since its inception, TMS has developed quite a celebrity following. This year several of them have accepted our invitation to pick NFL games, but there are many many more.

With our imminent transition to Pomp Culture on 11/11/08, I asked some of our famous fans to give us their parting thoughts. Some were sad to see us go, others ecstatic, and still others seemingly unsure just who I was or what I was asking them about.

Following George Bush and chiming in before Palin --

John Mark Karr - Sex Pervert

I'm going to miss TMS, but Chaim Witz has promised Pomp Culture will feature lots of shirtless Zac Efron pics, so I won't stand in the way of progress.

A perfect crime?

Dr. Cyril Wecht has made millions investigating deaths, including high-profile cases such as JonBenet Ramsey and Vince Foster. He faces numerous counts of fraud and theft on charges he used his former county staff to benefit his private practice.

The perfect crime, Dr. Wecht believes, is more possible through the ineptitude, lack of training and lack of experience by investigators. Speaking before students and faculty at Washington & Jefferson College in 2004, Dr. Wecht said the inexperience of the police force and district attorney in Boulder, CO., for example, was a hindrance to the JonBenet Ramsey investigation.
The fact nobody has been charged makes it a perfect crime, Dr. Wecht said.

Erie judge to preside over Wecht trial
Published: November 02. 2008
GoErie.com

An Erie judge will preside over the second trial of Dr. Cyril Wecht, the former Allegheny County coroner. U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin was assigned to the case Friday. He will hear the case in Pittsburgh, according to published reports. Wecht, 77, was indicted in January 2006. He was charged with 41 counts of fraud and theft. His first trial ended with a hung jury in April.In September, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, concerned about the tone of the proceedings -- both in court and during civil mediation -- ordered that a new judge be appointed to the case.

Inspiration for Holiday

From the Little Professor, Things Victorian and academic.
November 04, 2008

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: Twenty-First Annual Collection


And, in what is arguably the collection's most unpleasant tale, M. Rickert's "Holiday," the murder of JonBenet Ramsey gets smashed together with something resembling Capturing the Friedmans (n.b.: deduced from print descriptions of the film). The narrator, haunted by the ghosts of murdered little girls, is trying to write a memoir about life with dad, but gets caught up in the now-forgotten story of little Holiday, once "everyone's little girl" (28); when he admits to his agent that his own father is guilty of molestation, the agent informs him that "[t]he market is satured with them [stories about molesters]" (33), but then suggests that yoking the two tales together might make for a marketable product. While the narrator's eerie transformation into the popular idea of an abuser is interesting, I must admit that I was genuinely disgusted by the ending, and not in the good "oooh, scary" sort of way.

Rickert's won the Shirley Jackskon Award for Holiday, with an interview around Rickert's inspiration blogged at the awards blog.

What was the inspiration for "Holiday"?

Many years ago I wrote a poem that revolved around the idea of a young beauty queen child having been killed by her parents.

When I assembled my short stories I realized that I had written, over the years, many that featured dead or missing children. The publication of my collection seemed a good time to break free of that theme and move on to others. I issued myself an edict. No more dead children stories.

Then she came back.

What terrifies me most is the inner beast, the unspoken thoughts, the secret deeds, the unbearable legacy of damage humans have done to each other, the way we pretend none of it has occurred, or if we admit that it has, it is an anomaly, an enigma, a strange crack in the perfect world, when, in fact, the bad things we do to each other defines us.

Humans have the ability to consider existence, time, and space. That so many, in the light of this potential for creation, choose destruction instead, terrifies me. This is why I write horror the way I do. When I have met the monster, its name has always been Human.

Mike Tracey's From Christmas to August "Meanings" part 3

Meanings, pt. 3: public service

by Michael Tracey


A particularly odious aspect to rumour, gossip and innuendo is that they are rarely if ever presented as such. They can masquerade as “concern” for the victim, a pretentious proffering of “…it pains me to say this but…” The gossip or rumour-monger is not especially concerned with solving a problem, rather drawing a kind of narcissistic sustenance from them, from “knowing” something that others don’t. I was, for example, told by three different people, who were in no way connected, that they knew someone who had been on the chair lift at the Eldora ski area near Boulder with a cop who told them that the Ramseys were about to be arrested, and I was told this in each case with a kind of knowing glee. And gossips thrive on the negative, the controversial and the sensational – qualities which were present in abundance in the Ramsey case, as neither the media nor their public heeded the admonition of Psalm 34: 13-15: “Guard your tongue from evil, your lips from deceitful speech.”

Read the entire series:

Prologue: Christmas to August

Part 1: 'JonBenet'

Part 2: 'vile bigotry and voodoo stupidityJonBenet'

Part. 3: 'time to wake up, Professor Tracey'

Daxis: part 1 son of the devil

Daxis: part 2 Bangkok

Daxis part 3: Snake on a plane

Meanings, pt. 1: Post-OJ America

Meanings, pt. 2: a crisis of prevailing values

Better to light a candle than curse the darkness

The Dreaded Visa Run
Posted by Greg
October 22, 2008

Essentially, all a visa run means is that you have to check in with the immigration authorities at the border by leaving and then coming back into Thailand. This can mean anything from a two-month holiday around Asia to literally getting stamped out of Thailand and turning around to get stamped right back in again. Navigating the rules and regulations can be tricky, but you learn fast enough - you have to.

There was a time when people had been here 5 or 10 years on a monthly visa stamp, making a visa run every month and essentially turning into professional tourists. But when John Mark Karr decided he wanted some attention, they decided to pay a bit more attention to who was coming and going, and ended that little game right there.

The biopic

By Evan Maloney

Posted Sunday, November 02, 2008

From Splat’s 2nd birthday

I suppose: the seemingly unquenchable desire Joe Public has to examine celebrity lifestyles has given birth to a new cinematic genre: the biopic, and everyone from sexual perverts to football managers are scouting the A-list for actors to play their private parts in public.


Less amusing, more frightening: John Mark Karr, who admitted loving and killing 5 year old JonBennet Ramsey even though he couldn’t and hadn’t, wants Johnny Depp to play him on the big screen. discussing Depp’s Willy Wonka, JMK said: “He looks like me.” Karr also believes that the character of Willy Wonka is very similar to his personality except for the fact that Willy did not know how to treat children. Karr explains: “He had no knowledge of how to be around children.” So why Depp, then? “It’s his look, it’s his age, it’s the fact that he’s an attractive man and he fits my part perfectly.”

Oh pulleeze.

A Blog of Musings and Mockery

Let’s Just Call it Progress
31 October 2008 by Ben.

An era when Halloween costume shopping for girls could be confused with exploring a Victoria’s Secret lingerie trunk may be fading. Girls between the ages of 6 and 14 and their parents seem to be gravitating away from revealing costumes this year.

I lived in Boulder in 1996 — the year that someone murdered six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey and the rest of us learned that even a child in kindergarten could win a beauty pageant. I was confused then in the same way I find myself confused now.
In the 20 January 1997 issue of People Magazine, Mr. Bill Hewitt wrote:

There was one video that showed JonBenét, who had won a half-dozen pageants, including a 1995 Little Miss Colorado title and a 1996 America’s Royale Miss title, dancing in flirtatious—even provocative—fashion. Photographs also surfaced of her in heavy makeup more suited to a woman at least three times her age.

Ten years and five months later, we apparently found ourselves reading about Miley Cyrus in Vanity Fair, and seeing her wrapped in a blanket on the second page of the article. Half naked? Not really. Partially nude? To no greater extent than a girl on a beach in a bathing suit.