John Mello
Appearances
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
This was a monster that killed our daughter. And the police think that it's you.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
On the morning of December 26, the minutes ticked by as the Ramseys waited to hear from the kidnapper.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
The police had prepped me on how to respond in a phone call, and it's very important to hear JonBenet's voice.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Arndt didn't have extensive homicide experience managing a kidnapping and what was about to unfold. This was likely pretty overwhelming for one lone police officer.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Oh, I don't know for sure, but I really thought I could get JonBenet back if I kept my wits about me. You know, there was a pile of envelopes that had come through our front door slot. I was looking for another communication for the kidnapper. She should've been doing that.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
I knew instantly, instantly what I'd found. I'd found my daughter. She was lying on a white blanket. The blanket was wrapped around her. Her hands were tied above her head. She had tape over her mouth. I... Immediately knelt down over her, felt her cheek, took the tape off immediately off her mouth. I tried to untie the cord that was around her arms. I couldn't get the knot untied.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Picked her up, and I ran upstairs and laid her on the floor and still had a hope that she was alive.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Linda Arndt's ability to look in someone's eyes and determine they were a killer is a remarkable talent.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
She said, yeah, I saw it in John's eyes. I knew he was guilty. That was the detective that was there that morning.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Patsy was being kept out of the room, and I didn't want Patsy to see JonBenet laying there like that.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
She was a beautiful child of God. We knew she was special. We knew she was gonna make a difference. We certainly didn't expect it to be this way. And yet, here's a child who is known literally around the world. So she did become special.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
JonBenet Ramsey was violated and murdered in a horrific way. Many injuries to this little girl's body. The x-ray of her skull shows a massive fracture.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
But the ultimate cause of her death was strangulation with something called a garrote.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
News outlets from around the world had descended upon Boulder and were just hiding in trees and bushes and digging through our trash, following me around town. I mean, it was war.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
You also have to remember the OJ Simpson case had wrapped up. The 24-hour news cycle, their content had dried up. And so along came the Ramsey family, and we fit right into that slot.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
The pageant folders came out and that made it more juicy.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
And that was just something that Patsy and JonBenet had fun with. JonBenet never participated in a, what I would call a beauty contest. She participated in a talent show.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
And there were even fibers on the backside of the duct tape that had been on JonBenet's mouth from Patsy's clothing.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
My father, myself, we all marched into that police station, gave blood, we gave hair, we gave fingerprints. The thing that really stuck with me is two detectives hand me their business cards, and one says, narcotics officer, and the other says, auto theft. And I bury my head into my hands, because I knew at that point we were in a bad spot.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
I had JonBenet bless my life for six years, and she really was a blessing. Just an amazing little kid. She was daddy's girl. She was daddy's girl, big time. Do you allow yourself to think, what if this hadn't happened? I don't. I did run into one of her little friends on the street who was now, you know, 30 and an adult, and that was a little bit of a jolt.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Well, I don't recall that our lawyers told us that at the time. We said, you know, yeah, we want to keep working with you, but can't you come here? We can't go out. Patsy was in bed. Patsy was barely able to move. We were perfectly willing and anxious to work with the police to find the killer. We had a higher priority at that point, and that was to bury our daughter.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
On New Year's Eve, JonBenet was laid to rest just outside Atlanta, Georgia.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
We flew back to Atlanta to bury JonBenet. Atlanta being our home. Atlanta being where my oldest sister Beth is buried.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
I think, wow, that could have been JonBenet. She's still my little girl. That's the picture I have in my head when I think of her.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
There's someone out there. Some people thought it was odd they were talking to the public rather than to the police.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
We did it reluctantly and at the insistence of some friends who could see that we were being painted as guilty.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Starting from the beginning of this case, we, the media, lapped up what the Boulder Police Department wanted to tell us about what they were doing in the JonBenet Ramsey case.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Well, that's absurd. This was done by a terrible person. The garrote was deeply embedded in JonBenet's throat. Her hands were tightly bound. I couldn't get the knot untied. I tried to get it untied even before I brought her upstairs. And to say that we accidentally murdered our daughter and then staged this is nonsense.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
There's been a number of old, old cold cases solved using this genealogy research.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
And it's like, well, I get it. That's what you were told over and over again.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Yes, I do. Because the killer has never been pursued. An objective... Wide investigation hasn't taken place. The parents have been focused on it. That's all that's been done. I think it's solvable. I really believe it's solvable given today's technology. There are a lot of people in this country who hope that crime is solved in your lifetime.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
I do want to get the truth out there. Was it an accident? Was it intentional? Premeditated?
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
I just need some specifics from the police. Are you doing this? Are you doing this? Now, new interviews. They targeted you, John. They wanted to hurt you. And they did that by killing your daughter. What you've never heard before from Patsy Ramsey.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
One simple reason, the police have refused help that was offered. They had no experience. They didn't have a homicide department.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
She loved to sing and dance and perform. It was a natural for her.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Legendary guy. And he said, I follow the evidence. I have got to follow the evidence. Doesn't matter what my opinion is, what I might think. I follow the evidence. And he did. And that takes a lot of discipline.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Denver police called and offered two experienced homicide detectives to come work at Boulder under their direction, full time. They turned it down.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Oh yeah, I have no doubt. I've been told by experienced homicide detectives over the years, this is not a hard case to solve, but they needed to be on it immediately.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Detective Lou Smith was like, whoa, while you're pouring water all over the intruder theory, you're not revealing that you have unidentified DNA, and it doesn't match anybody in the Ramsey family.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
The Ramseys finally sit down with the police for three days of videotaped interrogations in June 1998, a year and a half after JonBenet's murder.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
We were there for as long as they wanted, would have stayed for two weeks had they wanted. The myth that we didn't cooperate is nonsense.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
No doubt. And we could have the killer confessed, arrested, in prison, and there'd still be 5 to 10 percent of the population that, yeah, it was the father, or yeah, it was the mother.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
The interrogation tapes are intriguing to watch as there's a lot of raw emotion shown by both John and Patsy Ramsey. But the bottom line is both John and Patsy deny that anyone in their family killed JonBenet. And there was nothing revealed that allowed for charges to be brought against them.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
There was enormous pressure on District Attorney Alex Hunter to call for a grand jury and it took him almost two years to actually call one. I think it was the media pressure and pressure from the police that forced him to make that call.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Webb told us that the grand jury spent most of their time focused on two main issues. First, who wrote that ransom note?
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
A grand jury doesn't decide guilt or innocence the way a regular jury does. The grand jury is only there to decide whether or not there's probable cause to charge the suspects with a crime.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
In 2008, the then district attorney for Boulder, Mary Lacey, decided to do a new round of DNA testing on JonBenet's pajama leggings.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
That's a pretty big development. You've got DNA now in three places that doesn't match anybody in the Ramsey family. That's a pretty clear indication that somebody else was there, and nobody knows whose DNA it is.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
We're certainly grateful for an acknowledgement that we are innocent, that this was an intruder, which of course we've always maintained.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Somebody told me in the police world, they said the most dangerous thing is a police department that's made up their mind. And that's really what happened in our case.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
John Ramsey was the CEO of a computer services company. He'd suffered tragedy before when his 22-year-old daughter Beth died in a car accident. In 1980, he married his new wife, Patsy.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
I'm John Ramsey. I had the opportunity to visit Lou a week before he died. Remarkably, during that time together, Lou talked a lot about the case. He hadn't given up. He never, never, never gave up.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Boulder police said that while the two cases had some similarities, they found no definitive connection.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
And then Alex Hunter, the Boulder County District Attorney, speaks directly to the killer.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Investigators finally felt they had a real break in the case with John Mark Carr. He famously claimed he was with JonBenet when she died.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
I think it's imperative that we investigate every credible suspect that's been provided.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
You know, no, I don't. And this is a very dark, evil person. I don't know anybody like that.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
My name is John Andrew Ramsey, JonBenet's half brother. JonBenet was just an energetic and fun kid.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Lou Smith's family, dedicated to keeping the case moving forward, continues to work on whittling down a list they presented to law enforcement in 2020.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
That technique has solved some old, old dead cold cases. That's what we're asking the police to do.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
What will be your message to the Boulder Police Department today? Look, just tell us, are you using one of these very cutting-edge labs to do additional DNA testing? If you are doing additional DNA testing, that's all I need to know.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
The family has not lost the will to fight and the will to find the killer. If we can find the killer, then the next generation doesn't have to live with that trauma and the unknown and the speculation. If we leverage the evidence, we follow the facts, we will find this killer.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
My dad certainly suffered a tremendous amount, but I think he's focused on life today and enjoying life with his family and grandkids, and he's remarried.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
She knew she was loved. I mean, we told her that every day. Somebody asked me once, what would you say to JonBenet if you could? I would tell her, I'm sorry, I didn't protect you. You know, I had JonBenet bless my life for six years. And she really was a blessing.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
There was plenty to celebrate that Christmas of 1996. Patsy had been battling ovarian cancer and was finally in remission. On Christmas morning, the family opened presents in their home.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
We were going to leave early the next morning for a trip to our summer cottage in Michigan. So we came home, set the alarm, and went to sleep.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Take me back to that day. I was shaving or getting dressed, and I heard Patsy scream. And we called the police immediately.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
We called friends for help at that point. Your daughter is gone. Desperate. She's in the hands of a madman.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Well, it was awful. First of all, we didn't know whether the kidnapper was going to call that day because the note said, I will call you tomorrow. Get plenty of rest. I was deathly afraid that tomorrow was, in fact, the 27th.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
People were making toast in the kitchen. And yes, a kidnapping is a crime scene, but we were so focused on getting JonBenet back. That was the task.
20/20
Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Well, that was one of the theories that I came up with, that it was close to the net amount I'd received that year as a bonus. 118 means something to the killer. We know that. We believe that. Whether it's tied to my bonus or something only the killer knows, we don't know.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
I met her at a cigar shop. We just became friends. She was, you know, very intelligent, very, very beautiful, very fun, you know, to be around. We just hit it off as people, you know, in general.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
No, no, I was married. No, no, I just liked talking to people. And throughout my life, most of my closest friends have been females. So it's just, I just, you know, easier to look at. But no, no, not at all. It just kind of evolved later.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
It is to most people. Yeah, no, we planned her. She was born phenomenal. And things were pretty good at the beginning, you know, with all that.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
My daughter had come to me complaining about her mom and Brad Post. She said they made me sleep in the same bed with them and all these things. I was just like, this is not right. So I went to the Greenville County Sheriff's Department and I filed a complaint.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
It's just a hell of a lot of effort to create something so theatrical and intentional and rage-filled to send a message.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
I have great fear for my daughter's safety, and I always have. So why do you think I left the country?
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
I watched her entire life, her mother be a horrific human being, provided evidence to everybody. And some people believe it, some people don't.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
I made certain that my custody order was written in such a way that there were no restrictions, that I do not have to have permission to leave, that the mother just has zero, absolutely no custody.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
The family court in Venice I'm not trying to sound the way it's going to sound, but they were all women. And her mom came and put on a very good show with the tears and the whole thing. And then they decided to let her go that night.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
No, no, no, I did not. No, I had them from years back. And of course my intention was when I get to the States in this custody case, judge needs to see her background. If you're in a custody case and you have photographic and internet evidence that the person in the custody case with you is prostituting online, you want the judge to see that. Yeah, I would absolutely was gonna use that.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
No. Of course not. No. It's not my style. You know what I mean? It's just, it's, no.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
I was walking with my daughter down Main Street, and we were just a couple of weeks away from moving full-time to Italy, and he was playing piano on the street. And so he finished, and he said hello to her, and she said, and she says, do you know Claire de Lune? And he played Claire de Lune, and it was fantastic. And then days later, he was in a different location by Falls Park playing.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
And we chatted quite a while and exchanged contact information. And that was it. And then we left not long after that.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
I was unbelievably sad and distraught. And I reached out to him and I told him what was going on because he was just like, oh my God, not your little girl.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
There's just no way. The guy's heart is as big as the moon. And what would his motive be?
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
I go, come to Italy. I go, I got a recording. I could use you. So he came and we rehearsed a lot and spent a lot of time together. He's just a really very well-educated, very articulate, very fun, kind person. And we just really hit it off.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
Had he ever met Christina? Not once. How would he ever have an occasion to meet her?
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
They had the text of me saying, you know, to Zach, I got a private phone or something or, you know, use it, harass, whatever kind of thing. But his response was, no, I'm not going to get in trouble for you.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
Okay, yeah, I know. I know that's what they're thinking. It was two musicians discussing the music project he was working on. Simple as that. That's what it is.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
Yes, I did. I wanted different people, such as the Grand Ad Litem, to have access to this information that clearly demonstrated that Christina Parcell was a danger to children and her own daughter.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
Yes, I did. I needed to do something to save her, and yet feeling this incredible reluctance to do the one thing that I knew would save her because of how terrible I knew it would be to do it.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
I laid my bike down in the driveway. I took a bunch of roses. And I walked up to the door and I rang the doorbell.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
A woman came to the front. So I told her that I had a delivery for Lutina Purcell, her sister. And she told me that Lutina wasn't home. So I handed her the roses. and I took the revolver out and I pointed it at her and I told her to be quiet and to go back into the house. She began to try to fight back and during this period of time the roses had dropped and the petals and stems had scattered.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
So I pulled out the knife I was wearing and I just kept striking her and striking her until finally we fell on the floor and I stopped striking her when she stopped struggling.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
I looked in a mirror before I left and I saw that she had scratched my face in the struggle. And of course I realized that this could leave DNA. So I used the paint thinner to try to clean her hands. I do smell something.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
As soon as I left the house, I felt the most enormous wave of relief wash over me because I knew from that moment on to be safe from the sexual abuse that her mother was perpetrating on her. And there is proof to that, that the state is hiding from you.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
I told him, John, there's no amount of money that would ever tempt me to do something like this. The only way I would ever consider taking action like this is if I was absolutely convinced that his daughter was not only in danger, but that the only way to rescue her from that danger would be to take Christina Purcell's wife.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
Two years I've been here, did everything, DNA, fingerprints. You know, they talked about the telephone and the messages. There's nothing there.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
Yeah, yeah. That's it. I'm caught up in it. All I did was try to do the right thing.
20/20
The Rose Petal Murder
And her response was, who did it? I have great fear for my daughter's safety. Why do you think I left the country? There's been a custody battle.
20/20
The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
Two years I've been here. They arrested me for harassment from the mailings two years ago. Did everything, DNA, fingerprints. There's no there there, you know? Okay, well, he must have sent Zach Hughes a crap load of money. Well, where's that? Wasn't in any of Zach's accounts. They talked about the telephone and the messages. They've got it open. There's nothing there.
20/20
The After Show: The Rose Petal Murder
Yeah, yeah. But that's it. I'm caught up in it. All I did was try to do the right thing.