Cold Case Murder Mysteries · Cold Case Murder Mysteries

JonBenet Ramsey Part I: The 911 Call

·34 min·2 clips

Kimberly Archuleta later said, "That's been the hardest call I ever took."

Ryan Krause reopens an infamous case, but he keeps the lens narrow. This is not the whole Ramsey story yet. It is the first call, the first note, and the first report to emergency services, all pinned to December 26, 1996. Patsy Ramsey calls 911 from the Boulder home, frantic and short of breath, saying six-year-old JonBenet has been kidnapped. The ransom note is nearby, placed by the host at the base of a spiral stairwell near the kitchen. Kimberly Archuleta, working the overnight shift and close to clocking out, takes the call. From there, the episode gets picky in the way true-crime listeners either love or cannot stand. Krause keeps circling Patsy's words: how she describes her daughter, how little of the note she shares, and how the name JonBenet seems to float without the practical details an abducted child would need. His argument is blunt. If JonBenet is alive and outside the house, strangers need identifying information. If she is dead inside the house, police will find a six-year-old girl there. The ransom note creates another problem for him. If it warned against contacting law enforcement, why beg police to come right away? Discretion would make more sense if the threat were believed, because an open call could put the child at risk. The monologue treats sequence, omission, repetition, and panic as one pattern, then leaves the rest for the next installment.

As heard by us

A close read of the Ramsey 911 call that treats every word as evidence.

Cold Case Murder Mysteries returns to the JonBenet Ramsey case by focusing on the call Patsy Ramsey made at about 5:52 a.m. on December 26, 1996, after reporting that her daughter had been kidnapped from the family home in Boulder.

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Why you'd press play

You want a slow, theory-heavy take on the Ramsey call.

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