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Patsy Ramsey never lost faith

She died knowing suspect was sought, arrest was coming

Lisa Ryckman, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 17, 2006 at midnight

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She survived cancer. She survived murder. She survived constant suspicion and public attack.

Patsy Ramsey survived it all, her friends say, because of her deep faith and unwavering belief that her daughter's killer would be found.

And she died knowing that an arrest was coming.

"Doesn't that just break your heart? That they were persecuted for 10 years?" said Mary Justice, a longtime friend of Patsy's from Atlanta. "I think she had such a strong faith in God, that kept her going and kept the whole family going."

"It's been a long time coming," said Jayne Kloster, another family friend in Atlanta. "It's shocking - but not surprising. We always knew she was innocent. Never doubted it."

Both John and Patsy Ramsey were under suspicion shortly after JonBenet's murder, but most of the public attention - and hostility - was directed at Patsy Ramsey.

The focus frustrated them both because they believed it pushed the investigation off track and kept it there.

"The Boulder police knew from January 1997 on that it wasn't the Ramseys because the DNA did not match," said family friend Susan Stine, of Boulder.

"They couldn't stand up and admit they were wrong. And that's just a sad commentary on the Boulder police and on some people who just want to think the worst about others."

The Ramseys vented in television interviews and in a book, but Boulder police treated them as suspects - except for a moment during two days of interviews four years after JonBenet's death when she was being questioned by Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner.

"It was the first time anyone in authority in the police department spoke to me as the mother of a murdered child," Patsy told the Rocky Mountain News after the interviews.

"I was happy to be there. I thought it was going to be something about other leads. But it was just apparent pretty soon that it was all about me."

Patsy Ramsey may have been victimized, but she was never a victim, say people who knew her. Outgoing, outspoken, strong, smart and funny - those are the words they use to describe her. She had to be all those things to cope with the loss of her daughter.

"Every day, you open your eyes for the first time, and the pain starts all over again. I don't ever expect to not feel that," Patsy told the News during an interview at the Ramsey's Atlanta home in 2000. "I live for the day when I will run to her, and she will run into my arms."

She took solace in the people who supported them, strangers who recognized them and took the time to tell them that they believed in their innocence.

"I'll tell you, when you're down, and things are going bad, God will just throw an angel into your life," Patsy told the News.

In 1993, she was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. Aggressive chemotherapy brought the disease into remission, but in recent years, it returned. Patsy Ramsey died on June 24.

"Everything she did she did with a tremendous amount of passion and commitment and love," Justice said. "She had such a strong faith and knew God would take care of her and show in the end that they were not involved, and they loved their daughter like other parents do.

"Why couldn't this have happened while she was alive?"

Authorities indicated that Patsy was told before her death that a suspect was being pursued.

Her sister, Pam Paugh, said in an interview on the Fox network Wednesday night that Patsy did not reveal that knowledge to her, although both Patsy and John were kept up to date on the investigation.

"Patsy was secure in the knowledge that they were very, very close," she said. "All she kept saying was, 'I know that someday it will come to fruition,' and here we are."

"God sees the big picture," Patsy told the News in 2000. "Why is it that JonBenet's name is known around this world?

"You can darn well guarantee that the minute I walk through the pearly gates, I'm going to say, 'Why did this happen? Please tell me now.'

"You have to step out of it and look at it from an eternal perspective. Or you can't stand it."