>If someone wanted to get to him they could have.

Well yeah, if someone wanted to kill John Ramsey they could have, you are right. Shot dead by a sniper/hit man with a silencer. Quick. Not traceable. Possibly a 4"x 4"article in the local news section of the paper, a brief mention on the Boulder late night news, "local businessman shot dead-police have no clue". The family grieves privately for a while and they eventually move on, probably back to Georgia. NOBODY hears anything about this ANYMORE.

>I don't really buy that they attacked JBR to get back at him.

One of the motives of this crime is not just to "get"John but to point out John and Patsy's faults to the whole world. One of the motives for this is to make them suffer in the public eye. John wouldn't have suffered much if he was wacked. Maybe a few terrible painfull moments and then....gone.
His family would have suffered, sure. Yet, wives expect their spouses to die someday. Adults expect to die someday. But nobody expects to see their child murdered, and then get blamed for it.

Watch "Richochet"again and watch the bad guy complain at the end, "It's not fair...you should suffer for ever"(or something like that ).