including the Ramseys and the police....so it could be what it is---a note meant to strike terror in the Ramseys so they wouldn't call the police, and they would come up with the money. If the perp did not intend to kill JBR, the whole plan may have been abandoned after that, and the phone call would never come. If a crook bungles a robbery, do we say it's really something else because he wasn't successful? Or a bungled robbery attempt? Could be the case here---the critical time in a kidnapping according to one report is around the first 20 minutes---the time when the victim might get away---the time when the victim may get killed, because of the adrenalin rushing through the perp's body.