look around before stepping out of the van, Monster moved to the trash can behind the Barnhill residence and deposited the “evidence” of the crime into the container.
Several moments later, the van moved off through the alley, and the trash can slowly receded from view as Monster turned the corner at the next block. Smiling, he turned to his partner:
“It never hurts to have a patsy ready to take the fall for you…”
The misleading clues left behind by the members of the foreign faction were confusing and puzzling, and ultimately sent some investigators flying away on the tails of wild geese.
“I didn’t – I couldn’t read the whole thing. I had just gotten up. We were on our, it was the day after Christmas, and we were going to go visiting, and it was quite early in the morning and I had got dressed and was on my way to the kitchen to make some coffee. And we have a back staircase from the bedroom areas, and I always come down that staircase, and I am usually the first one down.
And the note was lying across – three pages – across the run of one of the stair treads and it was kind of dimly lit. It was just very early in the morning and I started to read it, and it was addressed to John.
It said ‘“Mr. Ramsey.”’ And it said, ‘“We have your daughter.”’ And I, you know, it just, it just wasn’t registering. And I, I may have gotten through another sentence. I can’t. ‘“We have your daughter.”’ And I don’t know if I got any further than that.
And I immediately ran back upstairs and pushed open her door and she was not in her bed and I screamed for John.”
—Patsy Ramsey’s description of finding the ransom note during the CNN interview aired January 1, 1997.
Photo 1 - Ramsey Home 755 15 th Street Boulder, Colorado/ Source: Boulder PD Case Files
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Chapter Three
Kidnapped
I t was nearing shift change at the Boulder County Regional Communications Center in the early morning hours of December 26, 1996. Having worked most of the holidays, dispatcher Kimberly Archuleta was looking forward to spending the next few days off with her teenage son.
Dayshift relief dispatchers were coming into the center, receiving their briefing on the night’s events when the light of a 911 phone console lit up at Archuleta’s station at 0552 hours. She took the call, and immediately sensed the urgency of the hysterical voice of a female on the line.
A hush came over the center, and co-workers turned their attention to Archuleta as she repeated the words of the 911 caller: A six year old girl had been kidnapped.
Text of 911 Call
Patsy Ramsey: (Inaudible) police
Archuleta: (Inaudible)
Patsy Ramsey: Seven fifty-five Fifteenth Street.
Archuleta: What’s going on there, Ma’am?
Patsy Ramsey: We have a kidnapping…Hurry, please.
Archuleta: Explain to me what’s going on, Okay?
Patsy Ramsey: There we have…There’s a note left and our daughter’s gone.
Archuleta: A note was left and your daughter is gone?
Patsy Ramsey: Yes
Archuleta: How old is your daughter?
Patsy Ramsey: She’s six years old…she’s blond…six years old.
Archuleta: How long ago was this?
Patsy Ramsey: I don’t know. I just found the note and my daughter/s (inaudible)
Archuleta: Does it say who took her?
Patsy Ramsey: What?
Archuleta: Does it say who took her?
Patsy Ramsey: No…I don’t know it’s there…there’s a ransom note here.
Archuleta: It’s a ransom note?
Patsy Ramsey: It says SBTC Victory…Please.
Archuleta: Okay, what’s your name? Are you…
Patsy Ramsey: Patsy Ramsey. I’m the mother. Oh my God, please…
Archuleta: I’m…Okay, I’m sending an officer over, Okay?
Patsy Ramsey: Please.
Archuleta: Do you know how long she’s been gone?
Patsy Ramsey: No, I don’t. Please, we just got up and she’s not here. Oh my God, please.
Archuleta: Okay.
Patsy Ramsey: Please send somebody.
Archuleta: I am, honey.
Patsy Ramsey: Please.
Archuleta: Take a deep breath
London Casey, Ana W. Fawkes