Small Foreign Faction

Okay, I know I am way behind on my JonBenet Cold Case blogs. Sufficeth to say, I am ashamed but I am back now with a vengeance. I am picking up from where I left off in my last JB post except this will be focusing on the ransom note. Here is the last post in case you missed it. Since a lot of people are as obsessed with the JonBenet case as I am, I plan on making it an ongoing thing, maybe making a seperate blog solely dedicated to this. We’ll see. I’m just gonna take it one day at a time. I’m still getting the kinks out of this one so please bear with me and my little website.

Before we start, you should take good long look at the ransom note. Here it is the original in all it’s 2 1/2 page glory. This is the longest ransom note in history and the best clue to solving this case.

 Mr. Ramsey Listen carefully! We are a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction. We do respect your bussiness [sic] but not the country that it serves. At this time we have your daughter in our posession [sic]. She is safe and unharmed and if you want her to see 1997, you must follow our instructions to the letter. You will withdraw $118,000.00 from your account. $100,000 will be in $100 bills and the remaining $18,000 in $20 bills. Make sure that you bring an adequate size attache to the bank. When you get home you will put the money in a brown paper bag. I will call you between 8 and 10 am tomorrow to instruct you on delivery. The delivery will be exhausting so I advise you to be rested. If we monitor you getting the money early, we might call you early to arrange an earlier delivery of the money and hence a [sic] earlier delivery pick-up of your daughter. Any deviation of my instructions will result in the immediate execution of your daughter. You will also be denied her remains for proper burial. The two gentlemen watching over your daughter do ^notparticularly like you so I advise you not to provoke them. Speaking to anyone about your situation, such as Police, F.B.I., etc., will result in your daughter being beheaded. If we catch you talking to a stray dog, she dies. If you alert bank authorities, she dies. If the money is in any way marked or tampered with, she dies. You will be scanned for electronic devices and if any are found, she dies. You can try to deceive us but be warned that we are familiar with law enforcement countermeasures and tactics. You stand a 99% chance of killing your daughter if you try to out smart [sic] us. Follow our instructions and you stand a 100% chance of getting her back. You and your family are under constant scrutiny as well as the authorities. Don’t try to grow a brain John. You are not the only fat cat around so don’t think that killing will be difficult. Don’t underestimate us John. Use that good southern common sense of yours. It is up to you now John! Victory! S.B.T.C

A few things about the letter come to mind just by looking at it. The letter is very lengthy for someone who just wants money. The author of the note obviously had the time to write out a 3 page note and were was afraid of being discovered. If it really were someone breaking and entering they would have brought the note with them and would have stated their purpose very briefly. I know if I had just entered someone’s home illegally, I would trying to get the hell out as soon as possible. The killer wrote the note inside the house. We know this. We know this since the pad and black felt-tip pen used to write the note were located inside the house. The beginning of a practice note was found discarded in the trash can and bleed-through in the tablet itself so we know it was the same pad. What intruder brings a practice note upon breaking and entering? We know it was the same black felt-tip pen used to write the ransom letter that was found neatly in a cup next to the phone.

Extensive investigation was done on what types of black felt-tip pens were sold where and the probability of that specific type writing the note being the same kind in the house next to the phone are very slim. You would not believe how many types of black felt-tip pens there are and the research done to track down a specific pen for a specific purpose. My eyes are now open. Unsurprisingly, the conclusion was that it was the same pen. So now, we have the pen & writing pad in the house along with a starter note.

Now, let’s get into some of the details in the letter.

• We see after the initial warning to Mr. Ramsey that they’ve identified themselves as a small foreign faction. I am an American living in Germany and I have never identified myself as a foreigner even though I am. Even if I did call myself such, and I decided to break into a German house, I would certainly try to shift the blame elsewhere, certainly not back to the foreigner which is me. The whole point is not to get caught isn’t it? Unless you’re really going for a moment here.
• If you’ll notice, the writer started to write that “we don’t respect your business” and crossed out the “don’t”. Certainly if you have such a grudge against someone that you will bludgeon their child to death, the answer is clear – you either respect them or don’t. I have no idea what was going on in the author’s mind to think that was a good idea.
• The ransom note asks for $118,000 in exchange for JonBenet. John Ramsey was worth millions and the person who penned the note could have asked for a lot more and would have if it had been a legitimate kidnapping. Also, the sum requested is significant because it was the exact sum of his bonus and I believe a Bible scripture was tied to it but honestly, I would have to research it a little more.
• The writer instructs the Ramseys to be waiting between 8-10am to instruct them on how to make the swap for JB but as we know, the call never came. JB’s parents didn’t seem fazed when the time specified came and went which I find odd.
• The letter also states for John to be rested before the delivery. It has been my experience that men do not talk like this to one another and being female, I think a woman wrote the letter.
• One thing I always notice about this letter is “the delivery will be exhausting” part. To me, that sounds too much like giving birth and it is, indeed, exhausting. I think the writer was a mom, specifically, JonBenet’s mom and it came out subconsciously. That’s just my opinion.
• A few things stand out here when the note says “The two gentlemen watching over your daughter do ^notparticularly like you so I advise you not to provoke them.”  I believe that watching over means that JonBenet was already dead so instead of ‘watching’, it became ‘watching over’. Again we have the mistake of saying the men watching over JonBenet like John, then a ‘not’ is inserted to indicate otherwise. How could you make a mistake like this? It’s easy when it’s not sincere.
• The note says that the Ramseys are under constant scrutiny but then state that if they are caught going to authorities, she will be beheaded. This indicates that there is a time where the Ramseys are not under constant surveillance.
• At the end of the note “Mr. Ramsey” has simply become John. It’s sort of like an accent slipping unaware. The letter was supposedly from a foreign faction but as the letter got underway, the writer forgot about it and called him what they normally would have – John.
• Towards the end, the letter states “Use that good southern common sense of yours.” Why would the letter even state that? Patsy is the one from the South, not John. I admit I am clueless here.
• I notice the word attache was used and spelled correctly, whereas, ‘business’ and ‘possession’ were spelled incorrectly, so i.f they were trying to appear uneducated to throw everybody off, it was a FAIL.
• Not once in the whole note is JonBenet’s called by her name, indicating that they couldn’t come to terms with what had happened yet, just that they had to act and act quickly prompting the letter.
• The note ends with “Victory! SBTC”  There are so many theories as to what this could mean. Some say it stands for Subic Bay Training Center in Thailand where John Ramsey was stationed in the Navy back in the 60′s. But with the Victory before it, it doesn’t make any sense. “Victory! Saved By the Cross” makes a lot more sense to me. In Jesus dying on the cross, we have victory over death.

There are similarities between the JonBenet note and the ransom note in 1986 movie Ruthless People:

Mr. Stone,

Listen very carefully !!
We have kidnapped your wife. We have no qualms about killing and will do so at the slightest provocation. Do you understand? I don’t like repeating myself. Do you understand? You are to obtain a new black American Tourister brief case, model #8104. Do you understand? In it you will place five hundred thousand dollars in unmarked non-consequential one hundred dollar bills. Do you understand? Monday morning at eleven you will proceed with case in hand to Hope Street Plaza and wait for a phone to ring. You will receive further instructions then. Do you understand? You will be watched at all phases of execution. If anyone is with you or if action is not carried out to our complete satisfaction it will be considered an infraction to the rules and your wife will be killed. Do you understand? If you notify the police, your wife will be killed. If you notify the media, she will be killed. If you deviate from our instructions in anyway, she will be killed. Do you understand?

This sounds awfully familiar. I think the writer needed some quick ideas and subconciously resorted to movies he/she had watched. People do all sorts of things out of desperation and, yes, the writer was desperate.

I believe it was written by someone using the opposite hand that they normally write with in order to disguise themself. Many analysts think that Patsy wrote the letter. Here is the real note and Patsy Ramsey’s right-handed note side by side. Take a look and draw your own conclusions. Notice the use of the word ‘hence.’ Who the hell says ‘hence’? Patsy, that’s who. In her Christmas card she states “Had there been no birth of Christ, there would be no hope of eternal life, and, hence, no hope of ever being with our loved ones again.” Let’s not forget, people have their own style of writing and no amount of covering up can change subconscious clues. I liken the letter to someone who talks too much to proclaim their innocence, all the while doing the opposite. We’ve all been there. Whether we like it or not, when we write, we leave our own signature whether we mean to or not. The author hoped to deceive with the letter but you really can’t outsmart human nature, can you?

This was just my opinion about the letter. Glean from it whatever you wish. Of course, there will be people who disagree with me and that’s okay. I will wrap it up here for now. Til next time