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On Christmas Eve 1996, in the small city of Boulder, Colorado, a six-year-old girl, JonBenet Ramsey, was cruelly murdered. The details of the killing, involving slow strangling by garrote and a massive blow to the girl's skull, were exceptionally gruesome; sexual abuse was part of the crime. A pretty child, she had won some celebrity in child beauty pageants. After the murder, the contest-videos were frequently broadcast by the media. The case became a cause celehre; whether its notoriety was based on concern over child abuse or for the gratification of voyeuristic curiosity remains debatable. But the Ramsey case became a media event, flooding the airwaves and inspiring numerous publications. The child of wealthy and influential parents, hers was a fascinating and heartrending case. Yet for all the publicity, JonBenet's murderers were never found. No one was indicted; no one ever will be.
Like all media affairs—the OJ Simpson trial was a notorious example—the Ramsey case became politically charged. While an unconvincing ransom note was found at the scene of the girl's disappearance, the body was discovered on Christmas Day within the Ramsey residence. By choosing which piece of evidence to emphasize, commentators fall into two major groups: pro-Ramsey and anti-Ramsey, suspecting either the parents or an “outside” group. Focusing hard on the evidence, liberal observers spotlight factual indications implicating the parents. Working with a priori assumptions about how such things do not happen within families (read: wealthy white Christian families), conservative commentators rule out the Ramseys by ignoring physical and psychological indications, and fasten on “outside” conspirators. The Ramseys themselves, wealthy and media-savvy, have manipulated much of the “information.” Astoundingly, John Ramsey recently ran for Congress; he did lose, however.
Directly countering the drift of much of the Ramsey-evidence, Walter A. Davis, a critic who has written on literature, phil