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Ransom note author was likely female, sources say

Camera Staff Writer

March 8, 1997

The practice ransom note discovered in JonBenet Ramsey's home has characteristics of female handwriting, sources close to the murder investigation said Friday.

"Parts of the way it was written look more like a woman's writing than a man's," a source said. "But there will never be a definite way to tell because some men write like women, and some women write like men."

Officials declined to confirm the report.

"From the beginning, we have not provided information on the results of tests, and we are not going to change that stance at this point," said Boulder city spokeswoman Leslie Aaholm.

Police began gathering handwriting samples from the Ramseys, friends and others after John Ramsey, JonBenet's father, and a friend discovered the 6-year-old girl strangled in the basement of the Ramseys' Boulder home Dec. 26. About eight hours before, in the early morning, Patsy Ramsey, the child's mother, had found a three-page, handwritten ransom note demanding $118,000 and called authorities.

Soon after, investigators also discovered in the home a "practice" version of the note.

Since the slaying, the couple have furnished hair, blood, fingerprint and handwriting samples, said Pat Korten, the family's media consultant.

Patsy Ramsey provided a third handwriting sample to the Boulder Police Department on Feb. 28, Korten said. Investigators "had difficultly obtaining satisfactory samples" from the former Miss West Virginia because she apparently has taken medication since her daughter's death, according to city spokesman Kelvin McNeill.

McNeill said he does not know the type of medication Patsy Ramsey has used.

Drugs such as Valium, however, may dramatically affect handwriting samples, said Christina Kelley, a forensic document examiner with the Lakewood Police Department and a retired federal document examiner.

"Any kind of tranquilizer or other medications can depress the neuromuscular function to the point where it dulls the actual activity of writing," Kelley said.

"It doesn't mean that it makes the writing so that you can't identify any characteristics, but the writing wouldn't be truly representative of the person's normal, natural handwriting. It's like a contaminated sample, so you wouldn't want to base any reliable, scientific examination on it."

Life-altering incidents, such as the death of a family member or friend, may influence handwriting samples as well, Kelley said.

"The goal is to try to capture in an exemplar the typical handwriting habits of a person, and if you have a significant, traumatic event, it can make you so distraught that you're not capable of writing," Kelley said. "You cannot write in a normal sense."

Such occurrences also may hinder determining the writer's gender, Kelley added.

"Women tend to make their writing look a little bit better as far as form, quality and readability go," she said. "When you read it, you can make out all the letter forms, and the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed. That's because women tend to be more detail-oriented and pay more attention to this type of thing."

In contrast, males may write more informally, Kelley said.

"Men usually are not overly concerned with what the writing looks like," she said. "They just write, and they're not generally thinking about how they're writing it."

Nevertheless, certain writing qualities do not necessarily indicate a female or a male author, Kelley noted.

"There are some men who are detail-oriented and will pay attention to their writing, so these male and female writing stereotypes are not always applicable in every situation," she said.

In other developments Friday, officials confirmed a Boulder police detective flew to Charlevoix, Mich., for a second time and executed a search warrant at the Ramseys' summer home. Aaholm would not reveal when the search occurred. Detectives first searched the home in early January.

"There is a very good chance they went back (to Michigan) to get a handwriting sample of Patsy's before she took medication," a source said.