JonBenet Ransom Note Refers to ‘Small Foreign Faction’

The ransom note for JonBenet Ramsey, published in full Wednesday for the first time, shows the writer purporting to represent “a small foreign faction” and threatening to kill the girl for “any deviation from our instructions.”

The text of the 2 1/2-page note was published in the Rocky Mountain News, which said it obtained it from an advance copy of the next issue of Vanity Fair magazine. The Denver Post also published excerpts of the note, and both papers said law enforcement officials had confirmed its validity.

Six-year-old JonBenet’s body was discovered in the basement of her home the day after Christmas, eight hours after her mother, Patricia, said she found the note. The little beauty pageant champion, whose father, John, is a millionaire businessman, had been beaten and strangled. Police have made no arrests.

Based on handwriting analysis, investigators have ruled out John Ramsey as a writer of the note, but not Patricia Ramsey.

Published reports have described various aspects of the note, including that it was purportedly from a foreign group and that it asked for $118,000.

The only known copies were in the hands of the Boulder district attorney’s office, the police department and the Ramseys’ lawyers. All denied providing the note to Vanity Fair. The magazine article also quotes police as saying Patricia Ramsey gave conflicting accounts of the morning the note was found, and Ramsey attorney Hal Haddon called it “tabloid trash.”

“Any deviation of my instructions will result in the immediate execution of your daughter,” the note said. “You will also be denied her remains for proper burial.

“Speaking to anyone about your situation such as police or F.B.I. will result in your daughter being beheaded. If we catch you talking to a stray dog, she dies. If you alert bank authorities, she dies. If the money is in anyway marked or tamper with, she dies. You will be scanned for electronic devices and if any are found, she dies.”