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T A B L E+T A L K
What is it about men that makes them so much more violent than women? Join the "Men and Violence: Nature or Nurture" thread in Science and Health.

D A I L Y+Q U O T E
Tori Spelling's little rascals

R E C E N T L Y
Armchair warriors for Zion?
By Jonathan Broder
From the comfort of their homes, wealthy U.S. Jews are helping to destroy the Middle East peace process
(10/16/97)
The next Vietnam war?
By Thi Lam
A peasant revolt threatens the communist regime
(10/15/97)
Spaced out
By David Beers
It's time to grow up and ground the astronauts
(10/14/97)
Exile on dirt road
By Lyn Duff
The U.S. is deporting young drug offenders to "homelands" they have never seen
(10/13/97)
Dragonslayer
By Jonathan Broder
Why Ralph Nader is gunning for Bill Gates
(10/10/97)
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C O N T I N U E D

3. The Ramseys refused to cooperate with police, hired attorneys and went on CNN to cry their innocence.
This is the Ramseys-protest-too-much theory. But since when was calling an attorney evidence of guilt? Any competent attorney would have advised the Ramseys that they would be the immediate prime suspects, because most child murders are committed by parents or relatives. Being told to be wary of the police would seem to be quite sound legal advice. Going on CNN was bizarre, not to mention a ghastly PR failure. But, despite the National Enquirer "experts'" supposed detection of falsehoods in John Ramsey's voice, it proves absolutely nothing. Vanity Fair found it shockingly significant that Ramsey told CNN, "I don't know if it was an attack on me, on my company ..." Well, Ramsey is in the software business, which may politely be described as cutthroat. He may suffer from the egocentric delusions that are fairly common among self-made men. But that is hardly proof he murdered his daughter.
4. Crucial forensic evidence was apparently removed or erased from the crime scene, or was compromised when Ramsey picked up JonBenet's body.
Cops have been known to bungle evidence -- anyone remember the O.J. trial? -- in the most extraordinary ways. And if it was the killer's work, how does that point ineluctably to John Ramsey? Is he the only one in the state of Colorado who might have read any number of detective novels and police procedurals that provide advanced courses in forensic cover-ups? As for picking up his daughter's body, with no police officer around to tell him not to, maybe it was the action of a shocked, grieving father. Unless of course, as Vanity Fair insists, the man has no heart.
5. The handwriting on the note.
The only suspect, according to a handwriting analyst, whose writing was in any way similar to the ransom note was Patsy Ramsey. And the note contained a phrase she had been heard to speak: "Use that good, Southern common sense of yours." First of all, the comparisons are inconclusive, at best. Second of all, handwriting analysis (as Seymour Hersh will mournfully tell you about the fake Marilyn Monroe-JFK letters) is often about as accurate as farting at the moon. But if it was Patsy Ramsey spending hours at the crime scene after the murder painfully composing the "ransom note," then what was John Ramsey doing? Covering for his wife, as presumably he has been ever since? Or is it the other way around? Why one would cover for the other, however, is not clear. These are not poor people without means of their own. And if anything, obtaining sole possession of their joint means might be ample reason to turn the other over to the cops.
6. Sick parents exploited, abused and psychologically destroyed their too-beautiful child.
Even before she was murdered, goes the media wisdom, JonBenet was figuratively dead, her childhood sacrificed on the altar of her parents' deviant desires. Specifically, the tabloids have suggested that JonBenet was murdered either by accident, in the course of a sex game gone awry or in a panic, brought on by fear she would expose her parent-abuser. The current issue of Globe says that Patsy killed JonBenet in a rage over her bed-wetting (there were urine stains on the underwear of the victim) and that John is merely covering up for her.
In the classic study of such killings, Philip J. Resnick's "Child Murder by Parents: A Psychiatric Review of Filicide," such "accidents" accounted for 12 percent of Resnick's 131 cases. But most of them happened when the killer was in a sudden rage over something the child did (or was seen as having done). JonBenet was garroted -- the autopsy report notes the "deep furrow" on her neck -- which does not suggest a spontaneous assault. While it doesn't rule out a deliberate murder, it is very rare for a husband and wife to collude in such a crime. Resnick notes "scattered reports where both husband and wife planned the murder ... usually because they could see no way out of their poverty." Does that sound like the Ramseys?
What it comes down to is this: The Ramseys are being accused of an abomination less on the basis of evidence than on our censorious expectations about what parents should be. The Ramseys do not weep enough. They dressed up their little girl like a grown-up -- like a whore. They made her perform for strangers. They wanted her to be a paperback version of themselves. By destroying what is left of the Ramsey family, we can persuade ourselves that they inhabit another world, one that the rest of us of course renounce.
But that doesn't make the Ramseys killers. Sure, there are troubling aspects to the case. If it was an outsider, where are the footprints? What are we to make of Patsy Ramsey's broken paintbrush? Still, I would rather be wrong about their guilt later than wrong about their presumption of innocence now. And I won't believe they are guilty until I see much better evidence than the unexamined bits and pieces and groundless suppositions thrown at us by a blitheringly incompetent police department and a sensation-seeking press corps.
SALON | Oct. 17, 1997
Mark Hunter, a staff writer for the American, an international weekly, has written for Salon about the French National Front and the mystery surrounding the explosion of TWA Flight 800.
Who killed the "child beauty queen"? Join the debate in Table Talk.

T A B L E+T A L K What is it about men that makes them so much more violent than women? Join the "Men and Violence: Nature or Nurture" thread in Science and Health. D A I L Y+Q U O T E Tori Spelling's little rascals R E C E N T L Y Armchair warriors for Zion? By Jonathan Broder From the comfort of their homes, wealthy U.S. Jews are helping to destroy the Middle East peace process (10/16/97) The next Vietnam war? By Thi Lam A peasant revolt threatens the communist regime (10/15/97) Spaced out By David Beers It's time to grow up and ground the astronauts (10/14/97) Exile on dirt road By Lyn Duff The U.S. is deporting young drug offenders to "homelands" they have never seen (10/13/97) Dragonslayer By Jonathan Broder Why Ralph Nader is gunning for Bill Gates (10/10/97) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		C O N T I N U E D 3. The Ramseys refused to cooperate with police, hired attorneys and went on CNN to cry their innocence. This is the Ramseys-protest-too-much theory. But since when was calling an attorney evidence of guilt? Any competent attorney would have advised the Ramseys that they would be the immediate prime suspects, because most child murders are committed by parents or relatives. Being told to be wary of the police would seem to be quite sound legal advice. Going on CNN was bizarre, not to mention a ghastly PR failure. But, despite the National Enquirer "experts'" supposed detection of falsehoods in John Ramsey's voice, it proves absolutely nothing. Vanity Fair found it shockingly significant that Ramsey told CNN, "I don't know if it was an attack on me, on my company ..." Well, Ramsey is in the software business, which may politely be described as cutthroat. He may suffer from the egocentric delusions that are fairly common among self-made men. But that is hardly proof he murdered his daughter. 4. Crucial forensic evidence was apparently removed or erased from the crime scene, or was compromised when Ramsey picked up JonBenet's body. Cops have been known to bungle evidence -- anyone remember the O.J. trial? -- in the most extraordinary ways. And if it was the killer's work, how does that point ineluctably to John Ramsey? Is he the only one in the state of Colorado who might have read any number of detective novels and police procedurals that provide advanced courses in forensic cover-ups? As for picking up his daughter's body, with no police officer around to tell him not to, maybe it was the action of a shocked, grieving father. Unless of course, as Vanity Fair insists, the man has no heart. 5. The handwriting on the note. The only suspect, according to a handwriting analyst, whose writing was in any way similar to the ransom note was Patsy Ramsey. And the note contained a phrase she had been heard to speak: "Use that good, Southern common sense of yours." First of all, the comparisons are inconclusive, at best. Second of all, handwriting analysis (as Seymour Hersh will mournfully tell you about the fake Marilyn Monroe-JFK letters) is often about as accurate as farting at the moon. But if it was Patsy Ramsey spending hours at the crime scene after the murder painfully composing the "ransom note," then what was John Ramsey doing? Covering for his wife, as presumably he has been ever since? Or is it the other way around? Why one would cover for the other, however, is not clear. These are not poor people without means of their own. And if anything, obtaining sole possession of their joint means might be ample reason to turn the other over to the cops. 6. Sick parents exploited, abused and psychologically destroyed their too-beautiful child. Even before she was murdered, goes the media wisdom, JonBenet was figuratively dead, her childhood sacrificed on the altar of her parents' deviant desires. Specifically, the tabloids have suggested that JonBenet was murdered either by accident, in the course of a sex game gone awry or in a panic, brought on by fear she would expose her parent-abuser. The current issue of Globe says that Patsy killed JonBenet in a rage over her bed-wetting (there were urine stains on the underwear of the victim) and that John is merely covering up for her. In the classic study of such killings, Philip J. Resnick's "Child Murder by Parents: A Psychiatric Review of Filicide," such "accidents" accounted for 12 percent of Resnick's 131 cases. But most of them happened when the killer was in a sudden rage over something the child did (or was seen as having done). JonBenet was garroted -- the autopsy report notes the "deep furrow" on her neck -- which does not suggest a spontaneous assault. While it doesn't rule out a deliberate murder, it is very rare for a husband and wife to collude in such a crime. Resnick notes "scattered reports where both husband and wife planned the murder ... usually because they could see no way out of their poverty." Does that sound like the Ramseys? What it comes down to is this: The Ramseys are being accused of an abomination less on the basis of evidence than on our censorious expectations about what parents should be. The Ramseys do not weep enough. They dressed up their little girl like a grown-up -- like a whore. They made her perform for strangers. They wanted her to be a paperback version of themselves. By destroying what is left of the Ramsey family, we can persuade ourselves that they inhabit another world, one that the rest of us of course renounce. But that doesn't make the Ramseys killers. Sure, there are troubling aspects to the case. If it was an outsider, where are the footprints? What are we to make of Patsy Ramsey's broken paintbrush? Still, I would rather be wrong about their guilt later than wrong about their presumption of innocence now. And I won't believe they are guilty until I see much better evidence than the unexamined bits and pieces and groundless suppositions thrown at us by a blitheringly incompetent police department and a sensation-seeking press corps. SALON \| Oct. 17, 1997 Mark Hunter, a staff writer for the American, an international weekly, has written for Salon about the French National Front and the mystery surrounding the explosion of TWA Flight 800. Who killed the "child beauty queen"? Join the debate in Table Talk.