Crime Scene Notes - Basement

1. The victim's body was found on the floor of the windowless room, aka 'the wine cellar'. She was wrapped in a white blanket 'papoose like' with one of her pink bBarbie nightgowns folded up and lying next to her on the white blanket. Her wrist were loosely tied together with nylon cording, and a ligature of the same cording was drawn tightly around her neck, deeply embedded in the neck. The body was in full rigor and police noted a distinct odor of death. The ligature was fashioned with cording, a slip-knot and wooden handle. Approximately 17" of cording extended from the slip knot to the handle where the cord was bound with an intricate knot. The handle had been made by breaking one of Patsy's large paintbrushes into thirds and using the middle third. Green chips of paint from the paintbrush handle were found on the victim's chin and wooden shards were found in and near the paint tote. The brush end of the broke paintbrush was found in the tote. The small end was missing. Brown cotton fibers were found on the paintbrush shards. The cording, the black duct tape that covered the victim's mouth and her vaginal area had red fibers similar to those in Patsy Ramsey's dress were also found in the tote but none of the interwoven black fibers of the same dress were found. Investigators also found dog hairs, perhaps from a wolf dog hybrid breed. A single beaver hair and a male caucasian torso hair, probably a pubic hair which remains unsourced. A heart shape (some think a large capital G) was drawn in red ink on the victim's palm.

1. A urine stain presumed to be the victim's was found near the door to the windowless room in the carpet. It is also presumed that the victim voided her bladder when strangled to death near this location, perhaps also indicating that the victim had not recently emptied her bladder.

2. Patsy's paint tote, used in her various art classes at the University and normally kept in the Butler's Pantry, was found on the floor just outside the windowless room.

3. A round metal duct providing combustion air to the gas fired furnace and water heater was mounted in the basement window frame. A neighbor, Melanie Stanton, later reported that she had been awakened by a child's horrible scream sometime between midnight and 2:00am. She then had awakened her husband and listened at their opened bedroom window for other sounds that might indicate what had transpired. Shortly thereafter Mr. Stanton heard a metal-clanking-against-concrete sound from the direction of the Ramsey house. It is not certain what caused the sound but some have speculated that it was made by the dropping of the metal grate back onto its frameor the metal bat being thrown against the north side of the house and falling on the concrete ledge found just around the NE corner near the front door.

4. The light switch to the windowless room was located on the far side of the door jam at "shoulder height".

6. Approximate locaton of the bare incandescent light bulb that illuminated the area between the windowless room and the furnace room, and a bulb that illuminated the area at the bottom of the stairway.

7. Fleet White, about 6'4" tall stood at the threshold of the windowless room that morning when he searched the basement without entering or turning on the light. It is likely his body blocked most of what light there was from the bulb behind him. Likewise, there was no indirect sunlight entering the basement window of the furnace room as the sun had not yet risen; the sun had already set beyond the Flatirons. Later that afternoon, a 5'8" tall John Ramsey entered the room, turned on the light, and discovered his daughter's body. It is likely that his body did not block much of the incandescant light or direct sunlight bound him as he entered the room, and that is why he saw the white blanket and fleet white had not

8. The partial print of the Hi-Tec boot was found on the fast-growing mold covering much of the concrete floor next to the body and next to a fall leaf similar to those found in the window well on the opposite side of the basement.

9. A duffel bag of unknown origin was found stuffed in the space between the window of the room and the blocked-off window well that previously was filled in during the expansion of the house to the rear.

10. A wooden plaque for the Subic Bay Naval Center was found in the closet. Investigators theorized that the SBTC of the Ransom Note stood for 'Subic Bay Training Center' although it was never officially known by that name.

11. The middle window section of this 3-part window had a broken pane on it. John stated that some months previous he had been locked out of the house and had broken the pane to unlock the window and enter the basement. He thought the pane had been replaced but there was no evidence that this had ever been done. Lou Smit pointed out that there was no alarm warning posted on this window making it a likely entry point for an intruder. A suitcase was found directly under the middle broken window. On his search of the basement Fleet White admitted that he had rotated it perpendicular to the wall from its original position parallel to it. Police noticed a small bit of glass on its top. Detective Lou Smit believed the crime scene photos show evidence of a partial footprint there as well, although the police disagree.

12. The debris of the window well had been disturbed in the middle portion and some of this same type of debris was found on the floor directly underneath the window. Several packing peanuts were found at the bottom of the well.

13. Scuff marks were found on the wall beneath the window; it could not be detemined when these marks had been made.

14. An existing winddow well which had been boarded up and filled in previously

15. A chair was found in front of the door to the train room; how that came to be, and what that meant, remains a mystery. Officer French and Fleet White had been through the basement earlier and may have pushed the chair aside to access other other areas in the basement.

16. A few packing peanuts were found in the hobby/craft room and in the train room. A single peanut was found just outside the windowless room. These were most likely tracked into the middle of the house, but by whom? Several persons had walked through the basement that morning.

17. Male DNA that did not match any Ramsey family member was found under the victim's nails and in blood spots found in her panties. The DNA has been entered into the CODIS Database but remains unsourced.

18. An unsourced partial palm print was found on the door knob. Some claim that this was matched to Melinda, John's older daughter. That seems unlikely as she was not a frequent visitor in the home while many other friends and family members had been in and out of the room in the preceeding months.

19. The crawl space was sealed off with boards that appear to be removable. It is unlikely that LE removed the boards to see what if anything was behind them.

20. A small sewage pump to lift the waste from basement plumbing fixtures up to the gravity main in the alley, between the victim's body and the door was a recessed floor safe near the wall on the opposite side of the room. A fireplace poker was found on the floor.

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Crime Scene Notes - Basement