Searching For A Killer

Lesley Stahl: Good evening and welcome to 48 Hours Investigates, I'm Lesley Stahl. Tonight we've got
something remarkable for you. If you're like most Americans, you probably think that John and Patsy
Ramsey are hiding something in the murder of their daughter, JonBenét. In fact, in a new poll for 48
Hours Investigates, 52 percent say they believe one or both parents were involved in the murder in
some way. Erin Moriarty reports the results of our exclusive investigation that could change your mind.

Part 1 - Under Suspicion

John Ramsey: "She was the spark plug of our family because of this zest that she had, she just kept
things alive and hopping. It's not the same without her."

Patsy Ramsey: "Why is it so hard for people to understand that we loved this child with everything in
our being?" We would never touch a hair on the head of one of our children. I mean it just is
inconceivable to me."

(Background shots from the funeral)

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) Their faces are instantly recognizable, but John and Patsy Ramsey are
famous in a way no one would want.

(Cemetery and JonBenét's grave and headstone shown in background)

Although they have never publicly been called suspects or charged with the 1996 death of their
daughter, JonBenét, they are resigned to a painful reality.

(Background shots of the 1997 vigil for JonBenét in Boulder Colorado)

John Ramsey: "We could find the killer tomorrow, he could be arrested, convicted and you know, jailed,
and there'd still be 20 per cent of the population would think that we had something to do with it"

(Background shots of the Ramsey home in Boulder as it looks today, surrounded by a black wrought
iron fence)

Erin Moriarty: "48 Hours investigates is taking a fresh look at the Ramsey case. You will hear about
new evidence and new leads. We will also tell you the Ramseys' personal story and what they think
happen here in their Boulder, Colorado home on Christmas night nearly six years ago."

(Background of June 1998 police interrogation tapes)

(Voice Over of Patsy Ramsey and John Ramsey from separate 1998 police interrogation tapes)

Detective Tom Haney: (June 1998 police interrogation tape - interviewed by Haney/DeMuth) "Okay,
and again...."

John Ramsey: (June 1998 police interrogation tape - interviewed by Smit/Kane) "She screamed my
name and ....."

Erin Moriarty: "We will also show tonight something that has never been seen publicly - video tapes of
the police interrogation of both John and Patsy Ramsey."

Patsy Ramsey: (June 1998 police interrogation tape - interviewed by Haney/DeMuth) "I didn't do it....
John Ramsey didn't do it and we didn't have a clue of anybody who did do it."

Erin Moriarty: "But first the Ramseys today. In a rare interview, they agreed to completely unrestricted
discussion of the case."

Erin Moriarty: "Did your daughter have a bedwetting incident that night? Did you get up, did you get
angry and did you hurt her?"

Patsy Ramsey: "No I did not."

Erin Moriarty: "What is your reaction when you know that many people think that's what you did?"

Patsy Ramsey: "They are wrong, I don't know what else to say. How else do you say no except no?
No means no."

(Patsy Ramsey playing with dog, Molly, in yard)

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) Over the last several months we have spent a great deal of time with the
Ramseys, these favorite villains of the tabloids.

(Program showing background shots of John Ramsey struggling to turn a jeep around in a yard)

John Ramsey: (In jeep) "These big old tires make this hard to turn"

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) "And have seen them in a way few others have"

(Background shots of movers packing furniture in Ramseys' Atlanta home)

John Ramsey: (In garage holding fishing tackle box) "Fishing box, that hasn't been used in a long time."

(Background shots of Patsy packing items in kitchen)

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) On this day just this past summer...."

John Ramsey: (In garage holding flight bag) "flight bag"

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) : " John and Patsy Ramsey are moving."

Patsy Ramsey: "Life has never been the same and it has basically ruined us financially and emotionally
and everything else so we're scaling back."

Patsy Ramsey: (Carrying box out of house) "My wedding dress"

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) : "They are selling their million dollar home in Atlanta and moving to a
smaller townhouse just down the road."

(John playing with Molly in empty living room)

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) : "John Ramsey, once the head of a billion dollar software company hasn't
worked for four years while Patsy has quite literally been fighting for her life."

Patsy Ramsey: (with her paintings) "This is my self portrait. Here's my broken heart, my tears."

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) : "In a rear unguarded moment........"

Patsy Ramsey: "I thought I would paint during my cancer treatment but I was just so sick I couldn't do
it."

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) "Without her makeup, without her wig, without even her eyebrows drawn
in, you can clearly see the damage left by the return of her cancer."

Erin Moriarty: "How did you find out?"

Patsy Ramsey: "I was back in February for my annual checkup"

(Patsy playing with dog, Molly.)

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) "Nine years ago Patsy learned she had stage four ovarian cancer. She
made what she hoped was a full recovery but earlier this year she again went through debilitating
chemotherapy."

Erin Moriarty: "You lost your hair...."

Patsy Ramsey: "Yes. Its growing back. My eyebrows are growing back. It all comes out but you now
what, it's a very little thing to worry about."

(Images of JonBenét's body being carried from the Boulder house)

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) "In fact Patsy Ramsey has much bigger concerns. Almost from the
moment the body of their six year old daughter, JonBenét was discovered, Boulder police believed John
and Patsy killed their daughter and then staged a kidnapping complete with a rambling two and a half
page ransom note to cover it up."

John Ramsey: "They've never investigated this case other than to investigate the family. They have
never investigated this case."

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) "Even though a Boulder grand jury in 1999 located all the evidence decided
not to indict the Ramsey's, and while police say they haven't ruled out other theories, to this day the
Ramseys remain the prime suspects, as you will see in this video tape obtained exclusively by 48
Hours."

Lin Wood: (November 26, 2001 10:29 civil case deposition of Mark Beckner) "You have not classified
any individual as a suspect."

Mark Beckner: (November 26, 2001 10:29 civil case deposition) "Publicly, correct."

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) "While testifying under oath in a civil case just this last November, Boulder
Police Chief Mark Beckner admitted what had never before said publicly."

Mark Beckner: (November 26, 2001 10:29 civil case deposition) "Internally, John and Patsy are
considered suspects."

Lin Wood: (November 26, 2001 10:29 civil case deposition of Mark Beckner) "Both of them."

Mark Beckner: (November 26, 2001 10:29 civil case deposition) "Yes"

Lin Wood: (November 26, 2001 10:29 civil case deposition of Mark Beckner) "Are considered to have
probably been involved in the death of their daughter."

Mark Beckner: (November 26, 2001 10:29 civil case deposition) "Probability, yes"

Erin Moriarty: "Why do you think you remain probably the prime suspects in the eyes of the Boulder
Police?"

Patsy Ramsey: "I asked Mark Beckner that. I came closer to him in the face than I am to you, Erin,
and I said, 'Tell me what it is that makes you think I killed my beautiful, precious child?' and he said
'well, well, it's just a lot of little things.' I think he really doesn't know."

(images from the funeral)

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) "But because police didn't have enough evidence, sources within the
investigation tell 48 hours, the police tried to psychologically break the Ramseys hoping one or both
would confess."

John Ramsey: "It was a strategy that was put in place to bring immense pressure on us to break us."

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) "That strategy by some in the department, claims John Ramsey, included a
relentless campaign of leaks, mostly to the nations tabloids, that had a devastated effect on the public
opinion."

Lin Wood: "They convinced the public of guilt."

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) "Lin Wood is John and Patsy Ramsey's attorney"

(tabloid magazine covers and printing presses)

Lin Wood: "You couldn't go to buy groceries for your family without passing headlines that said John
Ramsey had molested his first daughter. Absolutely false. Headlines that John and Patsy Ramsey were
pornographers. Absolutely false. Headlines that they were devil worshipers. Absolutely false."

(police removing evidence from the Boulder house)

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) "The Ramseys believe that the Boulder Police still to this day continue to
ignore evidence pointing to other suspects.

John Ramsey: "It's frustrating; it's disappointing. It makes me angry."

Erin Moriarty: "You say it makes you angry but you don't seem angry. Do you think that also hurt you
in the eyes of the public?"

John Ramsey: "Well, we're not soap opera actors. I mean, I suppose if I was an actor I could act really
angry, but I'm not, that's who I am. That's what you see and I'm angry (slapping one fist into palm of
other hand) This is angry for me."

(Images from the 1997 vigil for JonBenét at the Boulder house)

Erin Moriarty: (Voice Over) "Angry because John Ramsey says because a killer or killers remain free."

John Ramsey: "What I do know is that we didn't kill our daughter so let's look at the rest of the picture
guys."

to commercial

The dog stole the show - - Molly was Patsy's birthday gift last year - - she was tiny then, bigger now. And the MOUTH on that thing! Thinks she is a big fierce creature to be feared. She grabbed the leg of my jeans and tried to drag me across the room.

The Ramseys are obviously not "broke' by the standards many of us live by - - but they certainly don't have the riches they once had. Downsizing has, for them, become a way of life.