The two elements are obvious. The improper $ SIGN and the 8 itself is tilted and is flat at top and bottom.The $ SIGN is IMO a Shepards STAFF and a snake coiled around it. We can see an example of theis in the medical-staff of aesculapius.
We can understand this as to Moses staff tuning into a snake.
The 8 offers a far more important expresssion! The 8 in the Ramsey note is a HOUR GLASS & is tilted to the 11th hour position. Understand this as not a communication message to the Ramseys not the police, but to Muslims who have been trained in camps to deciphor such images.
New Testament 20: 1-16 "....at the last possible time; just before it is too late."
The 11th hour CALL to JIHAD by the Prophets of Islam.
Remember, this is back in 1996.