Stephen Singular joins us today to discuss the updated version of his book, Presumed Guilty: An Investigation of the JonBenet Ramsey Case, the Media, and the Culture of Pornography. We begin by laying out what happened on December 25-26, from the 911 call to the discovery of JonBenet’s body several hours later. Stephen describes his personal relationship with the case and his involvement. Stephen and I then dive into the one aspect of the case that was been virtually ignored by most who look into it: pedophilia and child pornography. Stephen explains how Boulder, Colorado has long had a history of child pornography and in child exploitation. We discuss how the pageant world that JonBenet was involved in attracted a very unsavory and dangerous group of individuals. Stephen discusses how this world interacted with many people on the periphery of the Ramsey family and the murder of JonBenet. We talk about pageant photographer Randy Simons bizarre and inappropriate behavior after the murder, and how he may have known more about what had happened that night then he would have people believe. Stephen discusses the numerous pedophiles and child pornographers that were seemingly protected by the Boulder authorities before and after JonBenet’s murder. Stephen and I also discuss the mysterious poems that emerged that seemed to describe not only the murder, but the cover-up and those who may have been involved or knew of it.
Through out the interview Stephen reiterates the point that everyone involved in the case seemed to know that there was more than meets the eye. That the case was not as it seemed and was intended not to be solved. He lays out the theory that JonBenet’s murder and her parents cover-up are two separate but related aspects of the crime. We also talk about the partial release of the original grand jury report that substantiates this notion. The two of us also bring up an overlooked and important clue in the murder: JonBenet telling multiple people that she was going to have a secret meeting with Santa after Christmas.There is a lot of information in this episode so we will be having Stephen back on to discuss and elaborate more on the case.
Show Notes:
Porkins Policy Review 
Comments
Pearse, thanks for this enlightening, if soul-crushing episode. Thanks for the shout out homie, but in retrospect I am relieved you didn’t ask some of my questions because I really feel out of depth now. Please do have Stephen back, however, as there is A TON of harrowing depth in his words.
In regards to the Boulder Grand Jury, did Stephen ever speak to Evan Ravitz? Apparently he submitted evidence to the BGJ that pointed to exactly what Stephen spoke to. Did he ever meet Ravitz? Does he have any information on what that evidence was?
I think ultimately his conclusion is correct regarding the murder, but his timeline of the event itself was a bit hard to believe, to me. I think there is a bit more nuance to the situation than the Ramsey’s allowing their daughter to go to a molestation session on Christmas either, without more cracks showing in the evidentiary veneer of the way the body was found and the reactions of the Ramsey’s. If you listen to Patsy Ramsey’s phone call-ins that doesn’t seem rehearsed or staged in any way. It sounds like a woman in extreme strife and fear. It’s John Ramsey who is acting the strangest. The one factor in the case that I want to hear Mr. Singular’s take on is if John attempted to charter a flight to Atlanta that afternoon and had to be convinced by lawyers/police not to go through with that. That might be conflation but if not- what does that imply for his knowledge and emotional reaction to the crime in the presence of others?
Now the thing that gets me into more nuance about Stephen’s theory is that, by all commonly accepted notions JonBenet is put to bed by Patsy at 8ish and the ransom note is found at 5am, cops are called- etc.
So, while there is the report of of a neighbor hearing a little girl screaming at 3am, there is no reports of cars coming back and forth, heated arguments, etc.
But somehow the idea of a forced intruder hiding in the basement doesn’t quite work either. How does a random pedo killer burglar know so many intimate details about John Ramsey, and what is with the extremely long, detailed (with doodles) ransom note. It’s too specific and detailed to be a shallow red herring.
So what am I proposing, right? What’s my theory?
Okay look at Stephen’s hypothesis. It’s a fucked up power boys club of wealthy dudes who, as fucked up as it is to consider, molest children, as well as producing and distributing child pornography. It’s a criminal enterprise based on power and secrecy. You can’t fuck that chain up by exposing it, and more importantly you can’t fuck up that chain by killing what, god help us, was a young girl treated like a goddamn rare commodity. How fucking sick and sad is that? The crime couldn’t have been an accident. It was a terribly brutal strangulation, the blow to the head, and the likely use of a stun gun on her. Truly awful, truly deliberate. It couldn’t have been an accident.
So suppose that, through Boulder elite society, being the owner of a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, a daughter in pageants, a big ole house in Colorado, etc this guy finds that, basically, pimping his daughter out to these creeps gain’s him status and by the end of that fiscal year his company has a record return.
So maybe someone says hey we need your daughter for this party, you give her sleeping medication and in the night we’ll take her, you’ll get your money, and we’ll have her back by breakfast she won’t remember a thing. And that’s fucked up, that’s evil, that’s disgusting- but you’re John Ramsey, a fledgeling member of the Military Industrial Complex, and nothing “serious has happened before” (Jesus Christ…) so you say Yes.
And that night you and your family go to sleep early, you wait and listen as your superior or his goons grab your daughter, or you wait til everyone is asleep and you hand her over yourself. But either way, the “normal” thing turns into a personal, awful murder, and instead of your daughter being returned in to her bed she’s left in the basement. That’s the thing that always got me, if either you’re the Ramsey’s or a psycho killer, why leave the body there. It’s Boulder, you can disappear a body anywhere. What better plan than if you want to make a girl disappear than to kidnap and hide the body. That’s what the Lindberg plan was, right? But it wasn’t a simple kidnapping, the child was returned dead, as Mr. Singular said, but he didn’t have knowledge of the act until he actually saw the body. Then, it’s my conjecture, he instantly knew it was a person that he, despite the Lockheed Martin and pull he had locally, he could not have that person in chains immediately because he had to have been higher on the food chain than Ramsey. His boss, someone who wanted to make a point. Otherwise if it was a lower class child pornographer he would’ve ended up disappeared in a ditch with a bullet in his head.
It had to’ve been a message to John Ramsey, it was too personal.
Thanks for the thought provoking radio Pearse, it’s an honor to be a supporter on Patreon. No one does these stories with such depth of intellect and ethics.
Cheers
Josh Brookshire
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