Patsy Ramsey

Patricia Ann Ramsey (née Paugh; December 29, 1956 – June 24, 2006) was the mother of JonBenét Ramsey, a 6-year-old who was found dead in her family's home in Boulder, Colorado, on December 26, 1996. Patsy claimed to have woken up and found a ransom note, and then called 911 after being unable to find her daughter. Her daughter's body was later found hidden in the home.

In 1998 the Grand Jury voted to charge Patsy and John Ramsey with child abuse resulting in death and accessory to first degree murder. The Boulder District Attorney's office refused to take the case to trial.

Early Life
Patsy Ramsey was born in Gilbert, West Virginia. Her parents, Nedra and Don Paugh, raised Patsy and her sisters in a devoutly Christian household. Patsy and her sisters competed in beauty pageants. She won the Miss West Virginia Pageant at age 20 in 1977.

In 1994 Patsy was diagnosed with Stage-4 ovarian cancer. Patsy Ramsey told police in 1998 that she had suffered panic attacks because of her cancer diagnosis. John said "I have never seen her as scared as she was" ... "It was a tough time for her; very tough."

Patsy Ramey believed God miraculously cured her cancer.

It was not the doctors that run the place; it's the clerks. And so we started making friends with the clerks and then we got into the system.

Personality
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By all accounts, Patsy Ramsey was deeply anxious about her own mortality. According to John, Patsy "did not know how long she had left". In his Australian radio interview, John Ramsey said the reason Patsy had pushed Jonbenet so hard to do so many things (including "grown up" things like pageants) was because she did not expect to live to see Jonbenet grow up.

Involvement in the Investigation
Patsy Ramsey was the one who called 911. She immediately called family friends. When they arrived she was reportedly "lying on the floor" in distress. She was described as crying throughout the morning. Sitting in the sunroom with a saucepan because she felt she was going to vomit. When the body was found she exclaimed to Jesus

Her doctor arrived and she was described as too unwell to speak to police. Patsy Ramsey was heavily drugged.

During the months of non-cooperation, Patsy seemed to display some willingness to speak to police on a few occasions. It is unclear if these were genuine.

First Version


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Second Version
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Suspicion of Patsy Ramsey
"The district attorney and his top prosecutor, two police chiefs, and a large number of cops, although so at odds on some points that they almost came to blows, all agreed on one thing—that probable cause existed to arrest Patsy Ramsey in connection with the death of her daughter."

- Steve Thomas

The circumstances of the body's discovery, the inconsistent nature of Patsy's story, the apparent similarities between her handwriting and the ransom note, the almost exclusive use of her household possessions in the commission of the crime, the presence of her clothing fibers on the murder weapon and other items used in the crime, and the testimony of some who knew Patsy, have led some investigators to suspect Patsy Ramsey of involvement in her daughter's death.

See the Theories Page for a listing of PDI ("Patsy Did It") theories.

Evidence Potentially Implicating Patsy Ramsey

 * The presence of fibers from the jacket she wore on the night of the killing [...]
 * The use of Patsy's paintbrush
 * The use of Patsy's notepad and the presence of five of her fingerprints on that notepad.
 * The use of underwear which Patsy had bought for a relative and was intending to gift-wrap for that relative.
 * Patsy's claim to have discovered the ransom note while nobody was looking
 * Patsy's changing story about the underwear, the red turtleneck, the discovery of the ransom note [...]
 * Several handwriting analysts have expressed that they believe Patsy wrote the ransom note, and not even the two analysts hired by her defense team were prepared to eliminate her.
 * Testimony of former housekeeper Linda Hoffmann-Pugh
 * The presence of Patsy's fingerprint on the bowl of pineapple.
 * The presence of two of Patsy's palm prints on the wine cellar door.
 * The apparent placement of the ransom note on the spiral staircase--a location where Patsy used to leave notes for her housekeeper--rather than in a more prominent place in the home such as the main staircase.
 * The fact that Patsy hang up on the 911 call.
 * Some consider statements made during the 911 call such as "we have a kidnapping" and calling herself "the mother" to be an indication that Patsy was lying.
 * Patsy's distraught and traumatized behavior on December 26
 * Patsy's unprovoked utterances to police that she did not kill her daughter.
 * The fact that she did not search the house for her missing daughter.

After the Murder
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