together—they looked so cute playing on the monkey bars.
That August, JonBenét entered kindergarten and Patsy kept volunteering. At the same time she was heading up an event for the University Women’s Club. JonBenét seemed resentful that her father traveled so much. Not really angry, just sad. She really liked him a lot.
Our kids started playing together, and they becameclose friends. JonBenét would come to our house to play, and I would drive Megan over there. Megan also really liked Burke. He was into computer games. That’s how I got to see more of Patsy—twenty minutes here, thirty minutes there.
One day Megan told me she wanted to enter a beauty pageant. She’d learned about them from JonBenét. She liked the clothes, and she had been impressed by the crowns. I had to explain that everybody makes choices and that pageants were not something we were choosing to do. As soon as I told her that JonBenét had to sing and dance in front of a whole bunch of people during the competition, Megan’s desire disappeared.
Patsy was very positive about pageants. She’d talk about the skills they give you—the poise, the self-confidence, and can-do attitude that stay with you for life.
The Ramseys lived a very lavish life. They went to the Olympics. Took vacations in Michigan and traveled all over. I wondered what JonBenét’s life would be like when she grew up.
The day before Christmas, JonBenét was at our house playing with Megan. The kids were talking about Santa, getting all excited. I asked JonBenét if she had visited Santa Claus yet. She said, “Oh, Santa was at our Christmas party the other night.” Megan had seen Santa at the Pearl Street Mall, so we talked about that.
Then JonBenét said, “Santa Claus promised that he would make a secret visit after Christmas.”
I thought she was confused. “Christmas is tonight,” I told her. “And Santa will be coming tonight.”
“No, no,” JonBenét insisted. “He said this would be after Christmas. And it’s a secret.”
—Barbara Kostanick
By midmorning, December 27, reporters were canvassing the Ramseys’ neighborhood. Almost everyone they talked to said the Ramseys were extraordinary people who enjoyed a lifestyle far more affluent than that of their friends and neighbors. They had moved to Boulder from Atlanta in 1991. They owned a vacation place in Michigan and a boat John Ramsey had built. Patsy was a former Miss West Virginia. What struck most of the reporters was how little the people who knew the Ramseys best were willing to say. One local reporter knew John and Barbara Fernie through their church, but the Fernies told him nothing. The Ramseys themselves were incommunicado. Their close friends told the press that they were grieving.
Another local reporter visited St. John’s Episcopal Church, which was located at 14th Street and Pine in downtown Boulder. He’d been married there, and Rol Hoverstock knew his daughter. He was welcomed to sit with his friends, the leaders of the congregation, just outside the pastor’s office, but they wouldn’t tell him anything. The reporters felt that this silence was creating a poor impression of JonBenét’s parents. What were they hiding?
After Detectives Patterson and Idler concluded their interview with him around noon, Fleet White drove over to the Fernies’ house to stay with John and Patsy. Later, at around 4:00 P . M ., he went to the office of Michael Bynum, Ramsey’s corporate attorney, to talk to him about the situation.
Meanwhile, at police headquarters, Commander Eller was meeting with officers in the detective division to compile a list of possible suspects. The previous day they had put together a list of John Ramsey’s employees and business associates. Brainstorming, they added to the list several housekeepers, acquaintances, and friends of the Ramseys as well as relatives and others—like baby-sitters—who’d hadclose contact with JonBenét.
John Ramsey’s
That August, JonBenét entered kindergarten and Patsy kept volunteering. At the same time she was heading up an event for the University Women’s Club. JonBenét seemed resentful that her father traveled so much. Not really angry, just sad. She really liked him a lot.
Our kids started playing together, and they becameclose friends. JonBenét would come to our house to play, and I would drive Megan over there. Megan also really liked Burke. He was into computer games. That’s how I got to see more of Patsy—twenty minutes here, thirty minutes there.
One day Megan told me she wanted to enter a beauty pageant. She’d learned about them from JonBenét. She liked the clothes, and she had been impressed by the crowns. I had to explain that everybody makes choices and that pageants were not something we were choosing to do. As soon as I told her that JonBenét had to sing and dance in front of a whole bunch of people during the competition, Megan’s desire disappeared.
Patsy was very positive about pageants. She’d talk about the skills they give you—the poise, the self-confidence, and can-do attitude that stay with you for life.
The Ramseys lived a very lavish life. They went to the Olympics. Took vacations in Michigan and traveled all over. I wondered what JonBenét’s life would be like when she grew up.
The day before Christmas, JonBenét was at our house playing with Megan. The kids were talking about Santa, getting all excited. I asked JonBenét if she had visited Santa Claus yet. She said, “Oh, Santa was at our Christmas party the other night.” Megan had seen Santa at the Pearl Street Mall, so we talked about that.
Then JonBenét said, “Santa Claus promised that he would make a secret visit after Christmas.”
I thought she was confused. “Christmas is tonight,” I told her. “And Santa will be coming tonight.”
“No, no,” JonBenét insisted. “He said this would be after Christmas. And it’s a secret.”
—Barbara Kostanick
By midmorning, December 27, reporters were canvassing the Ramseys’ neighborhood. Almost everyone they talked to said the Ramseys were extraordinary people who enjoyed a lifestyle far more affluent than that of their friends and neighbors. They had moved to Boulder from Atlanta in 1991. They owned a vacation place in Michigan and a boat John Ramsey had built. Patsy was a former Miss West Virginia. What struck most of the reporters was how little the people who knew the Ramseys best were willing to say. One local reporter knew John and Barbara Fernie through their church, but the Fernies told him nothing. The Ramseys themselves were incommunicado. Their close friends told the press that they were grieving.
Another local reporter visited St. John’s Episcopal Church, which was located at 14th Street and Pine in downtown Boulder. He’d been married there, and Rol Hoverstock knew his daughter. He was welcomed to sit with his friends, the leaders of the congregation, just outside the pastor’s office, but they wouldn’t tell him anything. The reporters felt that this silence was creating a poor impression of JonBenét’s parents. What were they hiding?
After Detectives Patterson and Idler concluded their interview with him around noon, Fleet White drove over to the Fernies’ house to stay with John and Patsy. Later, at around 4:00 P . M ., he went to the office of Michael Bynum, Ramsey’s corporate attorney, to talk to him about the situation.
Meanwhile, at police headquarters, Commander Eller was meeting with officers in the detective division to compile a list of possible suspects. The previous day they had put together a list of John Ramsey’s employees and business associates. Brainstorming, they added to the list several housekeepers, acquaintances, and friends of the Ramseys as well as relatives and others—like baby-sitters—who’d hadclose contact with JonBenét.
John Ramsey’s
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