TED BUNDY

Ted Bundy was attractive, smart, and had a future in politics. He was also one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history

Ted Bundy" was born as Theodore Robert Cowell at the Elizabeth Lund Home For Unwed Mothers, in Burlington, Vermont, on November 24, 1946.  The home was originally built as a "Home for Friendless Women"in 1890.  

Actual photograph of babies a the Lund Center

Today it is known as the Lund Center. His mother's name was Eleanor Louise Cowell, always referred to as "Louise".  It is interesting to note that his he was not raised by Eleanor, and was brought up believing that she was his older sister.  

Ted with his mother, Louise

Eleanore Louise Cowell

Bundy's maternal grandparents posed as his parental guardians.  He did not learn his mother's true identity until he was in college, and presumably, this deception was ultimately to protect the child from the social stigma attached to unwed mothers.

The identity of his father has never been determined with certainty. His birth certificate assigns paternity to a salesman and Air Force veteran named Lloyd Marshall, but Louise later claimed that she was seduced by "a sailor" whose name may have been Jack Worthington.

Later, Louise moved to Pennsylvania  and became involved with a man and changed Ted's surname from Cowell to Nelson.  During his high school years, Louise then relocated to Tacoma, Washington and met Johnny Culpepper Bundy during a church function.  After they were married, Johnny adopted Ted, which changed his name yet again to Theodore Bundy.  

Ted seemed like an ordinary child

Ted remained distant from his stepfather. During high school, Ted was often isolated from other kids his age. He couldn't seem to understand teenage social behavior but was skilled in "faking it", indicating a propensity towards psychopathy.

Ann Rule, Bundy's biographer and true crime writer that personally knew him and worked with him, believes that he discovered his own original birth record in Vermont in 1969.  Apparently, it is recorded that Bundy expressed "a lifelong resentment toward his mother for lying about his true parentage and leaving him to discover it for himself"

Some strange facts about Ted Bundy:

✳He showed violent tendencies as young as three years old:   His mother's sister, Julia, awoke from a nap while babysitting the child, only to discover that little Teddy had surrounded her with an array of kitchen knives, raising her eyes to see the smiling toddler looking back at her.

✳It is reported that his grandfather Samuel (known to Bundy as his father, at the time) abused the family dog, swung local cats around by their tales, and tortured animals.

✳Bundy' grandmother was described as a shy woman who underwent electro-convulsive therapy for depression and was most likely agoraphobic, fearing to leave her own home. 

✳As a child, Ted tormented animals with knives.  He mutilated them with the knives which seemed to fascinate him so much.

✳Young Ted served as Vice President of the Methodist Youth Fellowship.

✳He was a  Boy Scout. 

✳His criminal activities began before he finished high school.

✳He was a constant and habitual liar.  

✳He compulsively shoplifted.   He was arrested (at least twice) as a juvenile for automobile theft and burglary, but upon reaching the age of 18, Washington State laws expunged the records.  

✳He was involved voyeurism from a young age and peeped into unsuspecting windows.   In college, he was known to "canvas the community" in search of open windows into which he could observe women undressing. 

✳He majored in Psychology in University and graduated with a degree in 1972 and graduated with honors.

✳Eerily, part of his psychology studies involved volunteering at a Suicide Crisis Center; where he became friends with his future biographer, Ann Rule, who wrote the book "Stranger Beside Me", detailing Bundy's crimes.  Ironically, at this time, she was unknowingly researching crimes that had been committed by Bundy.

✳He started taking classes upon his graduation from high school in 1965 in Psychology and Oriental Studies.  
He volunteered at a suicide crisis center alongside his now biographer, author, Ann Rule.

✳Ted was a staunch Republican, and in 1968 managed Seattle's Presidential campaign for Nelson Rockefeller, during which time he attended a Republican Convention in Miami, Florida.  Later, he was caught spying on and taping speeches by the Democrats, then later reporting back to his Republican peers.

✳He was a necrophiliac, often revisiting the murdered bodies of victims to engage in sexual activities with their corpses.

During the summer of 1974, Bundy secured employment in Olympia, Washington at the state Department of Emergency Services where he met Carol Ann Boone, whose personal life was in shambles, having recently lost a close uncle; she was a single Mother trying to raise a son, (named Jamey) and was involved in a sloppy love affair.

Ted Bundy and Carol Anne Boone with their daughter who's identity and location is protected to this day

During the penalty phase of the trial, Bundy took advantage of an obscure Florida law providing that a marriage declaration in court, in the presence of a judge, constituted a legal marriage. As he was questioning former Washington State DES coworker Carole Ann Boone—who had moved to Florida to be near Bundy, had testified on his behalf during both trials, and was again testifying on his behalf as a character witness—he asked her to marry him. She accepted, and Bundy declared to the court that they were legally married."

Another site tells that "Carole Boone, whom Bundy cruelly encouraged to believe him innocent until just before his 1989 execution. Boone married Bundy after he was condemned to death we helped engineer [a] courtroom coup." 

Incredibly, in October 1982, Boone gave birth to a daughter (whose name and current location, thankfully, are not known) and Bundy's name was given as the father.  

Bundy was suffering from relationship woes, as well, with his long-time, long- distance girlfriend, Liz, (Elizabeth Kloepfer) who lived in Utah, and whom he met in 1969.  They had been together for some time, and she wanted a deeper commitment from him, and their geographical barriers made Liz feel insecure and questioned his truthfulness concerning the possibilities of external, sexual affairs.  

Bundy with Elizabeth Kloepfer

Liz had reason to be uneasy, as over the course of time, Bundy had left strange things in her apartment that included, among other things, a container of Plaster of Paris, surgical gloves, and crutches.  While with her, his sexual drive waned, and his bizarre behavior began to really frighten her.   Bundy confirmed that he had dated at least a dozen women outside of his relationship with Liz.

VW bug he famously kidnapped victims with

CHANGELING~ The Chameleon

Posted on an Internet forum by a "man who used to work with him" (the natural assumption would be a prison guard):  "He also was like a chameleon in that he seemed to be able to frequently change his appearance. One day his hair seemed curly or parted on this side, then the next day it seemed straight or parted on the other side, or his eye color seemed different etc. I have also seen him make the scary eyes and face that some of his living victims told of. He seemed to like to manipulate people a lot, and very much enjoyed the celebrity status he had. He worked out a lot in his cell (push ups, sit ups and rapid pacing). He smoked, and solicited money for canteen and smokes from people who wrote him."

"Significant obstacles for law enforcement were Bundy's "generic", essentially anonymous physical features, and a curious "chameleon-like" ability to change his appearance almost at will. Early on, police complained of the futility of showing his photograph to witnesses; he looked different in virtually every photo ever taken of him. In person, "... his expression would so change his whole appearance that there were moments that you weren't even sure you were looking at the same person," said Stewart Hanson, Jr., the judge in the DaRonch trial. "He  really a changeling." Bundy was well aware of this unusual quality and he exploited it, using subtle modifications of facial hair or hairstyle to significantly alter his appearance as necessary. He concealed his one distinctive identifying mark, a dark mole on his neck, with turtleneck shirts and sweaters."

KILLINGS, CONVICTION & EXECUTION

Shortly after midnight on January 4, 1974, Bundy first attempted murder. He broke into the basement bedroom of a female student at the University of Washington, bludgeoned her in her sleep and sexually assaulted her. She survived, but suffered permanent brain damage. Over the following four months, he killed three students; another from the University of Washington on January 31, one from Evergreen State College on March 12 and one from Central Washington State College on April 17. After more abductions and murders, the authorities became aware that the same man, who a number of witnesses had said called himself "Ted", was responsible for the disappearances. 

Among the people who reported Bundy as a potential suspect were his ex-girlfriend, one of his psychology professors, and Ann Rule. Because of his reputation as a clean-shaven and well-mannered student, the police paid no attention to their tips. During this time, he also killed women in Oregon. Bundy then moved on to Salt Lake City, Utah where he attended the University of Utah College of Law and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, though he never really attended any gatherings. During the first semester, he killed four more women, one of which was the daughter of a police chief. The next semester, 1975, he killed four more women, three of which were taken in Colorado. 

The fourth was 13-year old Lynette Culver, who was abducted from a school playground in Pocatello, Idaho, taken to a hotel room, and raped and drowned in a bathtub. As with a number of Bundy's victims, her body was never found. He killed another girl, 15-year old Susan Curtis, during his summer break. On August 16, he was pulled over when he wouldn't stop for a police officer. Inside his car, the officer found balaclavas, gloves, a crowbar, handcuffs, and other items he suspected to be burglary tools. On March 1, 1976, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the kidnapping of Carol DaRonch, whom he had tried to abduct in Utah in 1974 by pretending to be a police officer.

In 1977, investigators had found enough evidence to charge Bundy with the January 1975 murder of Caryn Campbell, who had disappeared while on a ski trip, and managed to extradite him to Aspen. At the Pitkin County courthouse, Bundy was allowed to visit the courthouse library. From there, he escaped through a window but was pulled over in a stolen car for having dimmed headlights and arrested again. He was placed in a jail in Glenwood Springs, from which he escaped on December 30, 1977, by somehow getting his hands on a hacksaw and $500 and getting out through a crawlspace. 

By the time the jail staff realized that he was missing, he had already made his way to Chicago. After then spending some time at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and in Atlanta, he settled at Tallahassee, Florida on January 8, where he supported himself through shoplifting and purse snatching. On January 15, 1978, Bundy committed his first murders in almost two-and-a-half years. He broke into the Chi Omega sorority at the Florida State University, raped, strangled, and bludgeoned students Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman. Two other students were also attacked but survived. The same night, he attacked another woman eight blocks away; she also survived.

On February 9, 1978, Bundy committed his last known murder. He abducted 12-year-old Kimberly Leach outside her school, raped and killed her and tried to hide the body in an abandoned hog shed. On the morning of February 15, he was arrested for driving a stolen vehicle and was quickly linked to the sorority murders. 

In the end, Bundy received two death sentences; one for the sorority murders and one for the murder of Kimberly Leach. Two pieces of evidence proved crucial: a set of bite marks on Lisa Levy's buttocks and the testimony of a Chi Omega resident who hadn't been present at the killings and saw Bundy leave the building. Bundy spent the better part of the 1980s fighting his sentence. 

Ted in captivity

During this time, he was interviewed by FBIprofiler Robert Ressler, who found him uncooperative, and married Carole Ann Boone, a former co-worker, and had a daughter, Tina, with her in October 1982. When Bundy talked about the murders, he always did so in third-person and speaking hypothetically. 

As the execution date came closer, Bundy confessed to more murders for which he hadn't previously been conclusively linked to. In October 1984, Bundy contacted the Green River Task Force and offered personal insights on the case, which hadn't been solved at the time. 

REMEMBERING TED'S VICTIMS

Victims: A so-called charming man, he earned the trust of his victims before luring them to a secluded place to murder them. He preferred female victims with long, dark hair, parted down the middle

Modus Operandi

Bundy's method of obtaining victims varied; sometimes he would burglarize their homes and bludgeon them in their sleep, sometimes he would use an elaborate ruse, and sometimes he merely relied on his looks alone. The latter method was successful for Bundy because of the fact that women considered him to be good-looking and charming. 

In fact, this characteristic even allowed him to successfully abduct women in broad daylight, even if they were aware that a serial killer was present in the area. His facial features were also "unremarkable"; that is, though attractive, not especially memorable. 

This allowed him to completely change his appearance with only minor adjustments; a mustache, different hair style, a hat, etc. Sometimes, Bundy would use a fake cast to play on a potential victim's sympathy. He would ask them for assistance of some kind, such as helping him put something in his car or asking for directions. Whatever the method, his initial attacks were typically blunt force trauma to the head with a crowbar. He would later kill his victims by strangulation and would sometimes decapitate them. In one case, he cremated the severed head in a fireplace.

Bundy would often visit his victims, whom he dumped at a site in Taylor Mountain. He admitted to applying makeup to the corpses, having sex with them, and would lie with them for hours afterward. Bundy also kept a collection of photos of his victims.

VICTIMS

• 1974:January 4, Seattle, Washington: Karen Sparks^[1] (bludgeoned in her bed and sexually assaulted with a speculum; survived)
• February 1, Seattle, Washington: Lynda Ann Healy, 21 (bludgeoned while asleep and abducted from her house; her skull and mandible were found)
• March 12, Olympia, Washington: Donna Gail Manson, 19 (abducted and killed; body was never found)
• April 17, Ellensburg, Washington: Susan Elaine Rancourt, 18 (abducted and killed; her skull and mandible were found)
• May 6, Corvallis, Oregon: Roberta Kathleen "Kathy" Parks, 22 (abducted and killed; her skull and mandible were found)
• June 1, Burien, Washington: Brenda Carol Ball, 22 (abducted and killed; her skull and mandible were found)
• June 11, Seattle, Washington: Georgeann Hawkins, 18 (abducted and killed; her skeletal remains were found)
• July 14, Issaquah, Washington (both abducted and killed four hours apart in the same location; their skeletal remains were found):Janice Ann Ott, 23
• Denise Marie Naslund, 19
• September 2, unspecified location in Idaho: An unidentified teenage hitchhiker (confessed to killing; her body was never found)
• October 2, Holladay, Utah: Nancy Wilcox, 16 (assaulted and strangled; her body was never found)
• October 18, Midvale, Utah: Melissa Anne Smith, 17 (abducted and strangled; her body was found)
• October 31, Lehi, Utah: Laura Ann Aime, 17 (abducted and bludgeoned with a crowbar; her body was found by hikers)
• November 8:Murray, Utah: Carol DaRonch (abducted and intended to kill; she escaped by jumping out of his car)
• Bountiful, Utah: Debra "Debby" Kent, 17 (abducted and killed; minimal skeletal remains not positively identified to hers were found)
• 1975:January 12, Snowmass, Colorado: Caryn Campbell, 23 (abducted, raped and bludgeoned; her body was found)
• March 15, Vail, Colorado: Julie Cunningham, 26 (abducted and killed; her body was never found)
• April 6, Grand Junction, Colorado: Denise Oliverson, 25 (body was never found)
• May 6, Pocatello, Idaho: Lynette Culver, 13 (abducted, raped and drowned in a bathtub; her body was never found)
• June 28, Provo, Utah: Susan Curtis, 15 (abducted and killed; her body was never found)
• 1978:January 15, Tallahassee, Florida:Two killed and two injured in the Chi Omega killings (all of the following were bludgeoned with a log as they slept):Margaret Bowman, 21 (also strangled with a pair of pantyhose)
• Lisa Levy, 20 (also raped, bitten and strangled)
• Karen Chandler, 21 (survived)
• Kathy Kleiner, 21 (survived)
• Cheryl Thomas, 21 (bludgeoned in her bed just a few blocks away from the above killings; survived)
• February 9, Lake City, Florida: Kimberly Leach, 12 (abducted, raped and killed; her skeletal remains were found)
• PossibleEdit
• August 31, 1961, Tacoma, Washington: Ann Marie Burr, 8 (disappeared; was never found)
• June 23, 1966, Seattle, Washington (both were bludgeoned with a log as they slept):Lisa E. Wick, 20 (survived)
• Lonnie Trumbull, 20 (killed)
• May 30, 1969, near Somers Point, New Jersey (both were stabbed to death; their bodies were found in the nearby woods three days later):Susan Davis, 19
• Elizabeth Perry, 19
• July 19, 1971, Burlington, Vermont: Rita Curran, 24 (raped, strangled and bludgeoned)
• 1973:June 29, West Linn, Oregon: Rita Lorraine Jolly, 17 (disappeared; was never found)
• August 20, Eugene, Oregon: Vicki Lynn Hollar, 24 (disappeared; was never found)
• November 24, near Olympia, Washington: Katherine Merry Devine, 14 (disappeared; her body was found; the murder was later attributed to one William E. Cosden in 2002)
• 1974:May 27, near Puyallup, Washington: Brenda Joy Baker, 14 (disappeared; her body was found a month later)
• July 1, Salt Lake City, Utah: Sandra Jean Weaver, 19 (disappeared; her body was found near Grand Junction, Colorado)
• August 2, near Vancouver, Washington: Carol L. Valenzuela, 20 (disappeared; her body was found two months later along with that of another victim)
• 1975:April 15, Nederland, Colorado: Melanie Suzanne "Suzy" Cooley, 18 (abducted, bludgeoned and strangled; her body was found)
• July 1, Golden, Colorado: Shelly/Shelley^[2] Kay Robertson, 24 (disappeared; her body was found a month later)
• July 4, Farmington, Utah: Nancy Perry Baird, 23 (disappeared; was never found)
• February 1976, Salt Lake City, Utah: Debbie Smith, 17 (disappeared; her body was found two months later)
• Unspecified date and location: An unidentified victim (her body was found alongside that of Carol L. Valenzuela)
• Notes:

• Minutes before his execution, Bundy was questioned about unsolved murders in New Jersey, Illinois, Texas, and Miami, Florida. Though he denied involvement in any of the cases, Bundy previously stated that he didn't want to talk about certain murders he committed, leaving the cases still open.
• After his capture, Bundy was suspected of committing the so-called Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders, in which at least seven female hitchhikers were all murdered in Sonoma County and Santa Rosa in 1972 and 1973. Bundy had spent some time in neighboring Marin County, but was ruled out by a Sonoma County detective. In addition, it was proven that he was Washington on the dates of some of the victims' disappearances.
• 
  

FINALLY

At 7:06 a.m. on January 24, 1989, Bundy was executed by electric chair. 

His last words were "I'd like you to give my love to my family and friends." In May of 2012, John Henry Browne, who defended Bundy during his final trial, claimed in a memoir describing his conversations with Bundy that he claimed to have killed over 100 people and that his first victim had been a man.

Scary....

TED PLAYING THE BLAME GAME

Hours before his execution, Ted Bundy conducts his last interview with Dr James Dobson and this is what he says:

"I’ve met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence just like me. And without exception, without question, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography."

“Well-meaning, decent people will condemn the behavior of a Ted Bundy, while they’re walking past a magazine rack full of the very kinds of things that send young kids down the road to be Ted Bundys.” 

“There lots of other kids playing in streets around this country today who are going to be dead tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day and month, because other young people are reading the kinds of things and seeing the kinds of things that are available in the media today.”

“We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere. And there will be more of your children dead tomorrow.” 

In his interview he seems to blame his deviant ways on pornography, but then again, he he was an avid republican..

DEATH OF AN INNOCENT

From the day in 1996 when JonBenet was found dead in the basement of her home in Boulder, Colorado, the Boulder police and a large proportion of the world's media believed that her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, were responsible for her death.

Prior to the murder of their daughter, John and Patsy Ramsey's life seemed almost ideal. Patsy, a former beauty queen, was married to a successful businessman. They had moved to Boulder where John ran a computer company that he had started in his garage, in 1991. The Ramseys readily adapted to their new life in Colorado and made many new friends. They built a large house in an elite suburb, and entertained often. Their last party in Boulder, just three days before the murder, was particularly happy. Over a hundred guests were present at a Christmas function. The Ramseys believed that they had good reason to celebrate. Patsy had warded off a recurrance of ovarian cancer and John had been voted Boulder's "businessman of the year."

According to the Ramseys' testimony, they drove home the few blocks from a party at a friend's house on Christmas night. JonBenet had fallen asleep in the car so they carried her up the stairs to her room and put her to bed at 9:30 p.m. Shortly after, Patsy and John went to bed, as they planned to get up early to prepare for a trip to their holiday home on Lake Michigan.

The next day, Patsy woke just after 5:00 a.m. and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. On the staircase, she found a two-and-a-half page note that said that JonBenet had been kidnapped by a "small foreign faction" and was being held for a ransom of $118,000. She was to be exchanged for the money the next day. The letter warned that if the money was not delivered, the child would be executed. Patsy yelled to John as she ran back up the stairs and opened the door to JonBenet's room. Finding she wasn't there, they made the decision to phone the police. The 911 dispatcher recorded Patsy's call at 5:25 a.m. The police arrived at the house seven minutes later.

The uniformed police officers that attended were openly suspicious from the start. The Ramseys, treating the ransom demand seriously, were already taking steps to raise the ransom money. The note said that the kidnappers would call John Ramsey but no call came.

It was while the police were waiting for the call that they made several critical mistakes. They did not conduct a proper search of the house, the area was not sealed off and friends were allowed to walk in and out at their leisure. No moves were made to protect any forensic evidence. The scale of their mistakes became apparent later that afternoon when a detective asked Fleet White, a friend of the Ramseys, to take John and search the house for "anything unusual." They started in the basement. Later, during the documentary Who Killed JonBenet?, made by Channel Four in London, John Ramsey describes what they found:

"As I was walking through the basement, I opened the door to a room and knew immediately that I'd found her because there was a white blanket — her eyes were closed, I feared the worse but yet — I'd found her."

While the Ramseys went to stay with friends, their home became a major crime scene. As this was the only murder in Boulder that year, the investigating police had little experience in that type of crime, with very few of them having conducted a murder investigation at all. Regardless, they immediately assumed the Ramseys were guilty. The fact that JonBenet had been found in her own home by her father was considered highly suspicious. By the time her body had been taken from the house that evening, some of their suspicions had been passed to a local journalist.By December 28, various local news sources made it clear to their readers that the Ramseys were the principal suspects in the case. While the police made few comments regarding any evidence they had to implicate the parents, the media began to cite their own "evidence." The first "clue" they focused on was the supposed lack of footprints in the snow surrounding the house, which suggested that someone inside was responsible. Later the media admitted that this opinion was based on an official report from a policeman at the scene who noted: — "Strange, no footprints." The next item was also gleaned from a police report. It stated that there were allegedly no signs of forced entry.

The real murder....

Linda Pugh Hoffman

http://jonbenetramsey.pbworks.com/w/page/11682529/Worked%20for%20Ramsey%20Family

DEATH OF AN INNOCENT

Linda Hoffmann-Pugh
Chapter 1

Who killed JonBenet Ramsey? How did she die? Those are the questions most Americans want answered. And I can answer them. In fact, I am one of only three people who knows the answer to the terrible question: "Who killed JonBenet Ramsey?" And who are the other two people who know the answer? John and Patsy Ramsey, the parents of JonBenet Ramsey And there is a reason why we know who killed JonBenet. Unlike other authors who have written books about the case before us, we were actually part of the Ramsey household. Right up until the day JonBenet died.

But I also know who killed JonBenet Ramsey because I saw John and Patsy Ramsey in their private, unguarded moments. And because I took care of JonBenet as if she were my own child. But now, because the police have failed miserably in solving the mystery of JonBenet's death, I feel that it is finally time for me to come forward and tell my story. It is a frightening story with a terrible secret.

The secret is this: I have no mouth and I must scream. That's right. I have no mouth and I must scream! I have no mouth and yet I must scream the name of JonBenet's killer at the top of my lungs to the rest of the world. Try to imagine what it is like to know who killed JonBenet Ramsey, and yet have no one to listen to you, or help you do anything about it. That is part of the terrible secret. No one will help me! Not the police. Not the district attorney. Not even a federal judge. And yet I know who killed JonBenet Ramsey, just as surely as if I had been there in that dark, awful wine cellar with her and witnessed her murder. And I will tell you what happened on that dreadful Christmas night. If you will listen. But before I can do that, I must briefly tell you about the only two other people who know who murdered JonBenet. They are John and Patsy Ramsey.

While working for the Ramsey family as a housekeeper, I was able to see the interaction between John and Patsy. In the fourteen months I was there, they never once showed the slightest affection for one another. I never once saw them embrace. I never once saw them hold hands, I never once saw them a kiss, or hug, or use words or terms of endearment, or speak to one another with any warmth or tenderness. Not once. Not ever! In fact, I don't think I've ever been around a married couple who looked so uncomfortable together. Or a couple who were as cold to one another, as these two.

There were times when I would not have been surprised to come to work and find that John and Patsy Ramsey had filed for divorce. On one occasion, while I was working around the Ramsey house, a conversation Patsy Ramsey had with me only confirmed my suspicions that there was "trouble in paradise" in the Ramsey marriage. Patsy confided to me that she did not enjoy having sexual relations (especially oral sex) with John. After beating around the bush, Patsy finally asked me for help. Did I have any suggestions? She wanted to enjoy sex with John, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Especially not oral sex. Was there anything Patsy could do to keep her from thinking about his penis in her mouth and gagging on it? Well, was there? Patsy appeared desperate. Was there anything she could do about the salty sour taste of John's penis, and the pubic hair that would stick in her teeth? I was astonished. As a mother of six children, I had never run into that problem. Quite the contrary.

Before answering Patsy, I took a deep breath, stunned by the completely unexpected nature of Patsy's confession, thought for a minute, and then offered her the only advice a grandmother of ten children could give. Patsy, I told her, keep thinking about how much you love John and how this is just another way of showing him your love. Make love to his penis as if you were making love to the man. What else could I say. Either you love the guy or you don't. But Patsy's unhappiness and fear of John's penis did not end there. Sometime after Patsy's confession, I came upon her sobbing in the kitchen. When I asked her what was wrong, she explained that she had just spent the night crying her eyes out because John had yelled at her the day before about her being a lousy homemaker and cook. Clearly, there was more to John's anger than an uncooked meal or an unmade bed.

I suspected that the real reason behind John's outburst probably had more to do with his unsucked penis than his uncooked pot roast. Remarkably, Patsy seemed genuinely upset by his criticism and she was more emotional than I think I have ever seen her. Later, when appearing before the Boulder grand jury investigating the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, I spoke at length about the trouble I thought the Ramsey marriage was experiencing. I told the grand jury that in my opinion, based on my personal observations while working for the them, I could honestly say that the Ramseys did not appear to be a happily married couple. On the contrary, they seemed held together, like lots of other unhappy marriages, by their children. Without their son Burke, and their daughter JonBenet, it is my belief that John and Patsy would have divorced many years ago.

I also told the grand jury that while Patsy could be kind and even thoughtful, she was one of the strangest people I have ever met. By way of example, I told the grand jury that while cleaning out and organizing her vast number of purses - one of my tasks every Friday - Patsy took me aside and explained that she had gone to her local church, had members of her congregation pray over her, and the next day found that doctors had declared her miraculously "cured" of stage-four ovarian cancer.

But that wasn't all. Patsy also had visions. She confided in me that John's deceased daughter from his first marriage appeared before her to tell her that an angel was coming to cure her of cancer. Patsy believed her dead step-daughter's message was true and that the angel sent her cancer into remission, along with the help of the parishioner's of her church who had prayed over her.

But that still wasn't all. One of the ways in which Patsy Ramsey would communicate with me was through handwritten notes, which she would leave for me with instructions for various duties around the house that needed my attention. In the fourteen month period that I worked for the Ramseys, I was left several dozen handwritten notes by Patsy Ramsey. I am quite familiar with her handwriting, and I believe I can recognize it with very little difficulty. I told the grand jury that since leaving the employ of the Ramseys, I had had occasion to see a copy of the ransom note found at the scene of JonBenet Ramsey's murder. It was heartbreaking for me to admit that the handwriting in the ransom note looked very much like the handwriting Patsy Ramsey used in writing her notes to me.

By way of example, Patsy made her letter "a"s very distinctively, and she would use accents over words like JonBenet and attach, and often used initialing of words in combination, to name just a few of her many unique handwriting characteristics. Because I once felt very close to Patsy Ramsey, and regarded her with almost as much affection as a member of my immediate family, it has been hard for me to admit that I am now certain that the handwriting in the ransom note looks to me as if it was made by one and the same person. Patsy Ramsey.

That is why I am convinced Patsy killed and then covered up the death of her daughter. She alone is responsible. John may have helped her to hide her crime because he had no choice, especially since she could have pointed the finger of guilt at him if he had resisted. Perhaps I am being too cryptic. So let me tell you how I believe JonBenet was murdered. If I were speaking to Patsy Ramsey right now, this is what I would say to her: You were spent and exhausted, weren't you? The holidays do that to people. At the party on December twenty-third you appeared a little out of sorts, perhaps because there were twenty people in the house with another twenty on the way. It was five in the afternoon, and I was on my way out the door, leaving you without help. So it's okay if you dipped deeply into the Beringer Chardonnay, your favorite wine that you kept in the walk-in refrigerator, just off the kitchen.

Holidays can be depressing. I don't blame you for being down. Your big four-oh birthday was less than a week away, you had dealt with ovarian cancer for years, and your beauty queen looks were fading. Miss West Virginia of 1977 had become a middle-aged matron. You loved JonBenet, but she was a handful, wetting the bed night after night. She was driving you crazy. Christmas Day wasn't quiet or peaceful, either. There was pressure, lots of pressure and I wasn't there to smooth out the rough edges for you. Sure, it was picture perfect, snow on the ground, and your home was a decorator's dream. I remember helping to decorate the artifical Christmas trees, one for nearly every room in the house. Giant candy canes bordered both sides of the walk. But there were homes to visit, open houses that had to be dropped in and dropped out of, and you were expected to gather up Burke and JonBenet and have them ready to fly out at daybreak to Michigan where there was going to be a second Christmas at your lakefront vacation house. John would hire the pilot, but you were the one who had to pack and organize and get the kids dressed.

So you were weary that night, who wouldn't be? John was no help. He did what he always did - swallowed a couple of melatonin capsules and fell into a deep sleep. He wouldn't have heard a cannon go off it was next to the bed. You were still wearing the red sweater and black velvet trousers when you put JonBenet to bed Christmas night. Surprisingly - for someone who has a hundred dresses and prides herself with never wearing the same outfit twice - you were wearing that same costume when the police arrived the next day.

JonBenet wet the bed again that night, didn't she? She woke up and told you about it before you were even undressed and you simply "lost it." You took her into the bathroom. It was the same destination you always took JonBenet when it was time to punish her for bedwetting. You forget that I saw you take here there so many times before, shutting the door tightly behind you, so her screams could not be heard. Except this time there was "an accident," wasn't there? You picked up the long, black flashlight you had brought with you, and you swung it. You swung it first at her crotch and then next at her head. Maybe you meant to scare her and maybe you didn't mean to kill her, but you did.

At first you thought you had knocked her out, but then she wasn't breathing, and you felt for a pulse, but there was none. What to do? What to do? Well, someone else must have done this, since it certainly couldn't have been you. Right? After all, you were always a model parent. Right? At least you hoped people thought so. All of those Tom Clancy novels were suddenly flashing through your mind as JonBenet's body lay before you. What would a clever mystery writer have his antagonist do? Think! They sure wouldn't have the villain lie down and take the rap for an accident. A bash in the head, after all, was too suspicious. A parent could do that. But what if JonBenet was slowly strangled, exotically, with, of all things, a garrote? So you broke off one of your paint brushes, took the white nylon cord, and twisted it around her neck. She might have still been revived, but you didn't know it. You just pulled the cord tight around her neck until it was red. I remember just such a cord wrapped in just such a way around a box in the basement next to where her body was found. I remember a lot Patsy.

You kept trying to make it an exotic crime scene, didn't you? You even taped your daughter's wrists and her mouth shut, cutting the tape with a small Swiss army knife that would later be found beside her body the next day. I remember that knife. Burke had walked around the house whittling with it a month before, and I told you I put it up at the top of the linen closet near JonBenet's bedroom when I confiscated it from him. Only you knew and John knew the exact location of that hideaway in the linen closet. After you finished taping JonBenet's mouth, you carried her downstairs and hid her body in the basement inside a small hidden room - the "wine room" you called it, even though there was never any wine stored there. You then wrapped her in a favorite white blanket of hers, which you took from the dryer, except her Barbie nightgown was stuck to it because you never did have the sense to throw in a static cling strip with the wash. So you laid the nightie next to her.

You had stored the plastic Christmas trees there, in that "wine cellar." Strange, isn't it? I had worked for you for nearly a year and I didn't even know that room existed until you had me get those trees out of there. An intruder wouldn't have found that place. Not in a million years. Only you, or John, would know it location. Your house was a 22-room rabbit warren and maze that even my husband once got lost in when he was doing some work for you. What to do next? Well, a ransom note might be nice. It would explain why JonBenet was suddenly missing. But you forgot one thing. The handwriting and language of the note were all yours. I can hear your "voice" in the note. The word "hence," for example, was in your Christmas cards and letters and a word you liked to use in conversation. The phrase "use that good Southern common sense" is what you kidded John about, since he was anything but Southern, having been born and raised in Michigan; the phrase "fat cat" is what your mother, Nedra, used to call you after you and John became rich. The ransom demand asked that the money be put in an attach, with a proper accent mark over the last e in attach. I remember how careful you always were to put the proper accent mark over the e in the second syllable of JonBenet's name. The ransom note even ended with the initials SBTC. Do you remember how fond you were of using initials as abbreviations for all sorts of expressions?

Preparing the crime scene and writing the ransom note must have been time consuming and exhausting. You were up all night before you "found" the ransom note just before six a.m in the morning. You didn't even have time to change your clothes from the day before. You began screaming as soon as John had awakened and he didn't even know what had happened when you called the police. John didn't know what had happened to JonBenet when he found the body hidden in the basement. When did you tell him?

SOMEONE IS GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER..