JonBenet: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation
Written by Steve Thomas and Donald A. Davis
Narrated by Paul Boehmer
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Here, Thomas raises these and many other provocative questions: How was the investigation botched from the beginning, and why did police so carelessly allow the crime scene to be tampered with? Why were John and Patsy Ramsey protected from early questioning and any lie-detector tests, even though their stories and behavior were erratic, suspicious and inconsistent? Why was crucial evidence ignored, why were certain key witnesses unquestioned by detectives, and why were the Ramseys privy to sensitive information about the case and even police reports?
Steve Thomas
Born in Toronto, Steve graduated from Etobicoke Collegiate and went to study composition and arranging at Humber College. Steve has also provided musical direction for over 100 productions throughout the United States and Canada, including Theatre Aquarius, the Elgin Theatre, Lighthouse Festival, Drayton Festival Theatres, Vancouver Playhouse, Charlottetown Festival, Showboat Festival, Sunshine Festival, Muskoka Festival, Stage West, Theatre Brockville, Canada’s Wonderland, and Theatre Sheridan. Steve has been on the faculty of the Sheridan Institute’s Music Theatre program for over fifteen years.
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Reviews for JonBenet
106 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Steve Thomas was undoubtedly a passionate and committed detective in the JonBenet Ramsey case. However, it is this same passion and commitment that blinds him to all the realities of the case. Though he’d have you believe otherwise—he really doth protest too much—the failure to solve this case lies squarely at the feet of a bungling, incompetent Boulder Police Department. From the second Officer French pulled up in a marked police car to the Ramsey house on the morning of December 26, 1996, this case was sabotaged by ineptitude. One can’t help but wonder how things might have turned out if BPD officers had carried out their civil obligations with competence. That they did not speaks to larger issues in law enforcement that America confronts still in the 2020–24 years later.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The tone of the author is so abrasive that it’s hard to keep listening. The honest fact is the police did not contain the original scene to any professional standard. It was botched from the beginning, evidence was lost, facts were all jumbled. The authors’ desire for ‘old school’ police tactics of threats, and ‘the proper way to get a confession’ are infuriating. He is contemptuous of any opinion other than his own, and mentions that fact often. Are the Ramseys guilty? Probably. I don’t think he misrepresented too much. His continual disgust for ‘Team Ramsey’ is disturbing. People DO NOT NEED TO INCRIMINATE THEMSELVES, that’s 5th amendment. People can get a lawyer and not answer police inquiries. Interesting point, he was really angry that the Ramsey house had surveillance cameras that caught police activity (in their own house), but police secretive graveside surveillance was not a big deal. Politics is always a factor, police were out played, it was all badly done.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This happened down the street. I’ve always wondered. There’s stuff here I’d never heard before. But the constant dose of anger put me off. A cooler delivery would have been more appreciated.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great book. Could have done without the swearing, f word and taking God's name in vain. It seems pretty clear it was one of the 3 Ramseys or them allowing someone in the house. Thomas never seemed to explore that option.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fascinating insight but I felt the underlying story got bogged down by the politics of it all. I understand they were necessary to describe what was happening but I felt it could been a lot less detailed than what it was
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent insight. Would highly recommend. Hopefully her killer will be revealed soon.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boulder DA office was a joke! I really hope things are changed now. The case about this girls is so sad and has to be solved some day soon.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There is something compelling about reading a true-crime story from one's home town. I was in Boulder for my first year in college the year JonBenet died, though thankfully I was too immersed in trying to pass my 2nd semester physics class to worry much about following this case when it started. Almost 20 years later I finally read a whole book on this murder drama, and having read lots of crime genre novels recently, I was amazed at how little the investigation into JonBenet's murder followed basic murder investigation procedures. The crime scene was never secured, the primary witnesses/suspects were never really required to answer questions that seem obviously vital to the case, and rather than discovering who killed the girl, this case opened up Boulder's dysfunctional and inexperienced crime investigation and prosecution systems to ridicule and international scrutiny.
I was really not impressed with the author's attitude towards Boulder and Boulder's local culture, and in his attitude I could see a glimmer of what is now making police so dangerous to the people they are meant to serve and protect. Most of the time Boulder's kinder, gentler police culture worked to support a creative, safe environment that resembles some European towns far more than it resembles most of the US. But, considering how unprofessional and inefficient this system turned out to be when faced with a major murder investigation, I can see why Thomas was so frustrated with Boulder's police and criminal justice system.
Having read this book, I have my own theory (doesn't everyone?) as to who killed JonBenet- I suspect that her brother Burke caused her head injury and maybe some of her strangulation injuries as well, and that the rest was their mother's attempts at covering up the crime and protecting the boy. If that is what happened I can understand easily why the parents would refuse to really help with the investigation, and why the crime scene was so badly contaminated and compromised by JonBenet's family. I doubt that enough clear evidence exists now to prove that I'm wrong, though.
In any case, I enjoyed this book more than I expected to, even with Thomas's unpleasant attitude towards Boulder. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5JonBenet: Inside the Murder Investigation. Not sure what to say about this one. According to the book, the failures of this particular investigation are good examples of a) why inexperienced officers should not be allowed at murder scenes; b) why written policy of how to investigate doesn't matter if it isn't followed; c) that ineffective communication between officers and a DA office can tank a case; d) how important intuition is to investigation, but that it doesn't mean anything if there isn't evidence to make the case; and e) that politics can overcome investigations.