Once judged himself, Ramsey warns against speculation

Lisa Ryckman, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 19, 2006 at midnight

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Conclusions. Judgments. Speculation.

John and Patsy Ramsey were the target of all three during the 10 years since the death of their daughter, JonBenet. But Ramsey advised the public this week not to do the same to John Mark Karr, the 41-year-old teacher arrested in connection with JonBenet's murder.

Ramsey has been there. He knows that people can sometimes be very hateful. He also knows that sometimes, they can be very wrong.

"Being Richard Jewelled," Patsy Ramsey's sister, Pam Paugh, calls it - a reference to the security guard falsely accused of bombing Olympic Park during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, five months before JonBenet's murder.

It's no coincidence that Lin Wood, the Atlanta lawyer who represented Jewell, later became the Ramsey's attorney.

"We don't want to rush to any judgments," Paugh said. "Whether the guy confessed and is crazy or is actually our guy. If not, I hope we find out swiftly and get him the help he needs. If he is, we're just going to have to be patient."

Still, patience can wear thin after 10 difficult years of accusations. Paugh clearly recalls the day she believes the finger-pointing began: Dec. 28, 1996 - two days after JonBenet's body was found.

Crime scene evidence, all neatly bagged and tagged, still littered the floor of the Ramseys' Boulder home that day. As Paugh stood there, she wondered aloud who could have killed her niece.

She remembers a police officer in the room looking her straight in the eye. "Your sister and brother-in-law killed this child," he said.

Paugh thought he was joking.

"They hadn't even looked at the evidence yet," she said. "They had decided early on that they were going to string up Patsy or John, together or separately, for this crime. Yes, absolutely look at the parents, but do a parallel investigation into other possibilities. They never went there. They had made up their minds."

So had much of the media. Since Karr's arrest, Paugh says some journalists have called this week to apologize for their rush to judgment - an indication, perhaps, that they're now rushing to judge Karr.

Frustration with the investigation wore on Patsy Ramsey, who died June 24 after a 13-year battle with ovarian cancer. The disease would go into remission then recur periodically, Paugh said, bringing another round of chemotherapy. Over the years, the recurrences came more quickly, until there was virtually no remission at all.

"I don't blame the (constant stress) for Patsy's death," Paugh said. "But it took a toll on her body."

In those last few months, Patsy Ramsey escaped through her art. She painted sunflowers, sailboats, a row of beach cabanas, all in vibrant colors - scenes from Charlevoix, Mich., the resort town where the Ramseys had lived since 2003.

After her death, a group of friends created the Patsy P. Ramsey Ovarian Cancer Foundation in her honor, to promote education and research and help pay for costly treatment for those who can't afford it.

Now the sales of limited edition prints of her paintings help raise money for the foundation. Paugh and her younger sister manage the sales of the artwork.

That will keep them busy while they wait for the latest phase of the investigation to unfold. Their older sister would want them to be patient; Paugh says Patsy Ramsey always believed that the real story would eventually come out.

"They've beaten us down, and they think they've licked us," she once told her sister. "But we've stood on the truth. And we're still standing."

Patsy's artwork

The sale of Patsy Ramsey's artwork benefits the Patsy P. Ramsey Ovarian Cancer Foundation.

• Online: www.patsyramsey foundation.org

• Send donations to Regina Orlick, chairman; c/o Robert B. Hoffman; Certified Public Accountants; 108 Michigan Ave.; Charlevoix, MI 49720

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