The Jon Benet Ramsey murder is one of the many unsolved cases which troubled the nation for many years. In 1996, six- year- old Jon Benet Patricia Ramsey was murdered in her home in Boulder, Colorado. Her body was found in the basement in which she had been struck on the head and strangled. The Colorado police primarily suspected Jon Benet’s parents and her brother but were completely cleared in 2008. However, in 2010, Colorado police re-opened the investigation and as new developments arise, the investigation was focused on the ransom note which was unusually long and which demands $118,000, the exact amount of Mr. Ramsey’s annual bonus. The amount is relatively small for the Ramseys being a wealthy family and the knowledge of the writer for such amount in their account is peculiar. The degree of suspicion grew more intense when an entire draft of the ransom note and the legal pad where the final note was written was found in the house together with Patsy’s handwriting samples which bore the same style on the note. A number of document examiners and handwriting analysts believed that Patsy Ramsey, Jon Benet’s mother, was responsible for writing the ransom note in which these pieces of evidence are enough to explain why Mrs. Patsy Ramsey cannot be ruled out as the author of the ransom note. According to Gideon Epstein’s findings, a forensic document examiner, he was 100% certain that Patsy Ramsey was the author of the ransom note stating that the note bears a poor line quality writing which indicates a disguise of the writer’s true handwriting habits. These findings were supported by other certified document examiners like David Liebman. His report revealed 90-95% of similarity on Patsy’s handwriting samples indicating that the writer of the ransom note is the same writer as the author of the samples in which the consistencies of Patsy’s handwritings and the ransom note is far beyond concurrence. Tom Miller, a graphological expert also shared the same conclusion in his affidavit that the handwriting of the ransom note is probably that of Patsy Ramsey. His comparison between the exemplars and the ransom note were based on eight categories:
Disguised Writing
The ransom note bears faltering lines and rough lettering due to the use of opposite hand which indicates disguised writing. However, the writer unconsciously failed to identify the characteristics of her own handwriting traits which was not eliminated and eventually formed a strong evidence of Patsy Ramsey’s handwriting habits.
Shape
The ransom note bears shapes that provide examples of Patsy’s handwriting in which an abundance of similar incidence of her handwriting habits are found in the exemplars. On the note, the horizontal loop on the top of the “R” for Ramsey bears an overhang to the left of the down stroke in which the same overhang was also found in the exemplars. The curves in the letter “S” and the squeezing of cups in the “W” are all prominently appearing on the ransom note and the exemplars.
Size
An estimated size of Patsy’s handwriting was obtained through calculation of the reduced size of the snapshot of the exemplars in which Patsy’s natural handwriting in the exemplar matches with that of the ransom note.
Slant
Patsy’s printed vertical A slant on the exemplar is also found on the “ll” for the word “carefully” on the ransom note.
Baseline
As seen on the exemplars, Patsy has the tendency to place letters above the printed rule. This habit also occurs frequently in the ransom note in which the vertical line on the left side of the letter “h” does not come all the way down to the baseline which also occurs on the letter “F” on the exemplar.
Continuity
Similar connecting strokes and distances between letters, words and lines are found in both the ransom note and the exemplars. Frequent squeezing of letters together to the extent of touching each other is visible on “n” and “b” for “JonBenet” on the exemplars and the “N” and “a” for “Nationals” on the ransom note.
Arrangement
Similarities on the right hand borders where writing can be seen until the end of the page are visible on both the note and the exemplars.
Speed and Pressure
The ransom note indicates slow writing due to its faltering lines, rough formation of letters, hesitations and patching which is the result of the use of opposite hand which should indicate greater pressure.
Works Cited:
“Independent Confirmation of the Handwriting Analysis”. Forums for Justice. September 25, 2009. Web. July 22, 2013.
http://www.forumsforjustice.org/forums/showthread.php?p=115065
“Jon Benet Ramsey Case: Grand Jury Voted To Indict Parents, But Boulder DA Refused To Prosecute”. Huff Post Denver. January 31, 2013. Web. July 22, 2013.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/27/jonbenet-ramsey-case-grand-jury-indictment-alex-hunter_n_2562007.html
“Patsy Ramsey as RN Author”. PB Works. Web. July 22, 2013.
http://jonbenetramsey.pbworks.com/w/page/11682496/Patsy%20Ramsey%20as%20RN%20Author
“The Hoffman Files: David Liebman Handwriting Analysis”. The Internet Subculture. November 26, 1997. Web. July 22, 2013.
http://www.acandyrose.com/11261997davidliebmananalysis.htm
“The Hoffman Files: Tom Miller Handwriting Analysis” The Internet Subculture. November 3, 1997. Web. July 22, 2013
http://www.acandyrose.com/11031997tommilleranalysis.htm
