Unknown vehicles: An unknown party parked in a blue van across the street from the Ramsey residence Dec. 24. An unknown Jaguar was seen in the area during a Christmas party at a friend's home Dec. 25.

I wonder if anyone ever found out whose cars these were?

In DOI, John wrote about a strange car that he saw next door, I believe, on Christmas morning.

"The note says the kidnappers will be watching. Maybe I can catch them looking at us. I race upstarirs and find a pair of binoculars. I start looking up and down the street.
There's a strange vehicle in the alley behind the Barnhills', I note.
After several minutes of watching the vehicle, nothing happens so I finally go back downstairs. The phone rings. Everyone freezes as I slowly pick up the receiver."
(It was Rod Westmoreland, his banker.)

You think he would be brave enough to be in the neighborhood in the morning with her dead body in the basement and NOT be brave enough to take her from the home the night before? Maybe, but it dosen't seem likely to me.

I think the killer was in the house pretending to be a friend.

Lou Smit thinks the killer tried to get her out the window and failed, was afraid to go through the door because he saw the alarm was activated.

I think he didn't take her out because he didn't have a place to take her - - the basement was safe from prying eyes - - safer than the streets of Boulder.

Only SickPuppy knows for sure.

I think he may have planned to hide her body in the suitcase, only it didn't work.

You're right, only sick puppy knows for sure and so far he's not talking.

I have gone in and out that basement window myself - not so hard.

But you can't put something in the windowwwell and climb over it and out - - and you can't get in the window well and turn around and grab something off the basement floor and pull it in the window well with you. Just doesn't work.

It was very cold that night---how far away would the perp have gone on foot?

So....if the perp was on foot--how does that change the kidnapping scenario? Particularly if he had no place to go. Perhaps the note was done as part of the fantasy----and to also create a diversion, if someone started coming down the stairs while he was still in the house.

If it was a real kidnapping attempt, once the victim was dead, he may have thought it was all over---many have thought the same thing--why wouldn't the perp?

Put yourself in an intruder’s shoes for a minute. If you wanted to break into a house,you would first want to make sure that you could get in undetected. You would do that by first checking the exterior of the house for signs that the house was alarm protected. Although alarm systems vary, virtually all home security systems incorporate exterior signs claiming that the house is alarm protected. Just about everyone knows that, including the bad guys. I read somewhere that there were some alarm signs on the exterior of the Ramsey house.

I don’t think an intruder would wait to get into the house before checking for the security system. He would look for the exterior signs. Assuming he saw these exterior signs on the Ramsey home before attempting his break-in, why even make the attempt when there were other upscale and unoccupied houses in the neighborhood? Unless, of course, the intruder knew the Ramseys never activated the alarm, or was familiar with the alarm system and knew it could be overcome. An other alternative, of course, is that there was no intruder.

Until I see definitive evidence to contrary, I prefer to believe there was an intruder. Based on the intruder’s apparent disregard for the alarm system and his penchant for movies, I believe he is a young guy who was in the house before, not so much as an invited friend but more like a service emnployee. I read where the Ramseys often entertained. Maybe some of their parties were catered, and maybe one of the employees was a sick dude who felt slighted because he had to serve one of the “fat cats” he hated so much. Silly, maybe, but, at this stage of the investigation, I think this theory is just as sound as saying the Ramseys did it.

He wrote the note because he was bored, fantasizing, had time to kill…
He didn’t remove jbr because he couldn’t get her through the window, she wouldn’t fit in the suitcase, there were people in the street…
He panicked when she screamed and…

He started out with one plan and changed it mid-stream due to some unforeseen circumstance.

I prefer a paradigm that tries to explain the known ‘facts’ as part of an intentional and, on the surface, at the moment of action, fully realized plan. There were no mistakes, errors of judgment or last minute alterations. The fact that the killer has been able to escape discovery and suspicion (as far as we can tell) for so long supports this paradigm. Not only has he escaped discovery and suspicion for an extended period of time many could not even be convinced of his existence. There was no intruder.

Are you saying without an intruder, mistakes, errors of judgment or last minute alterations that JonBenet's mother, father, or brother without motive, thought up all this puzzling evidence and did this elaborate murder? In the next line you say the killer has been able to escape suspicion? Wouldn't that nuke this paradigm since they have all been under major suspicion for years?

hmmmmm, maybe you need to reread what i've said because i haven't written anything close to your interpretation. i am saying a)there was an intruder and b)there were no mistakes, errors of judgment or last minute alterations committed by the intruder

That depends on the type of alarm system in place. In my house, I have only the doors armed. However, I also have motion detectors that will detect movement of anyone entering through my basement or first floor windows.

From reading Smit's theory, I think he believes the intruder selected the basement window because he saw that it did not have a sticker on it indicating that it was alarm protected. If that is the case, the intruder either: (1) knew that Ramsey's alarm system was not activated or did not incorporate motion detectors; or(2) disregarded the risk of setting off the security alarm, and was just plain lucky that the system was not activated by the Ramseys.

If the security system was an issue to the perp, then that wouldn't that rule out someone that had intimate knowledge of the Ramseys day to day living habits? An insider that knew they didn't set the alarm?

He went into the house prepared. He had a plan.

Even if you believe that he botched his plan in one way or another, he still went into the house prepared for something, he had something in mind, he had a plan. If criminal success can be measured in terms of ‘getting away with it,’ then this crime was a huge success (so far). A fluke? Convergence? or something else… ?

Maybe the killer knew in advance how he was going to gain access to the house?

Maybe he already knew what to expect?

it would seem reasonable, considering thte above that he already knew how and where he was going to enter the house and what risks were involved. after all, he had a plan.