Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [80]
At the time of her interview with Detective Harmer, Savage gave the police a writing sample. In September she would be asked to give them palm prints and fingerprints. She complied.
I first met the Ramseys in 1991, when Take a Break, a professional sitting service, called me. JonBenét was seven months old.
Two years later, in 1993, Patsy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and I went to work full-time for the Ramseys. It was a really hard time for Patsy. Nedra came to help, because Patsy had to be isolated from the family. She couldn’t risk catching a cold or flu while she was in treatment.
I traveled with the family to Atlanta to take care of JonBenét and Burke. Patsy was open with everyone. Even if you just worked for her, she treated you like a friend. She made you feel comfortable. Nedra was different. She was the boss and you were the servant. In Atlanta I saw Patsy’s pageant crowns. They were displayed in her parents’ house, with pictures of her and her trophies.
JonBenét was a happy child, never really grouchy. She never fretted like some kids do when they aren’t getting constant attention. Burke was quiet and self-entertaining. He liked learning to fly airplanes with his computer games.
When Patsy’s cancer had passed, she wanted to make up for all the time she’d lost with the children. They were a busy family, always on a schedule, but their children were on a different schedule from other kids. Patsy and John used to pick up and fly off to here and there. Not what the average Joe Blow did.
John was gone a lot. It’s hard to be a style-A family when your dad is gone all the time. I think they were used to it. They accepted it. Patsy stayed home and read a lot, and she’d go to church every Sunday with the kids. The following year, JonBenét went to preschool. That’s when I stopped working for them.
In 1996, Priscilla White called and asked me to watch the kids again. They were having a surprise birthday party for Patsy. I hid out in a car down the block until Patsy’s friends picked her up. By then, JonBenét had changed a lot. She was taller and thinner and her hair was colored. I didn’t know about her pageants until that night, when I saw all her trophies.
Then Patsy called me on December 1, the night of the Access Graphics Christmas party. She wanted me to sit with JonBenét and Burke. Patsy told me to make sure JonBenét kept her hair in rollers overnight. She had a pageant the next day. Now tell me—what kid wants to sleep in rollers?
While we were watching TV in her parents’ room, JonBenét put one of her crowns on my head. Then she started doing my makeup. She thought it was funny.
When I came home from working at the mall on December 26, I turned on the evening news. They were talking about a child’s body being found in Boulder, but they didn’t mention any names. Then my friend called and said that on her station, they said the dead child was JonBenét Ramsey.
My scalp tingled and the hair stood up on the back of my neck. I got really upset. Cried. Then my parents told me that Priscilla White had called but didn’t leave a message. When I called her back, she told me it was true. I couldn’t think of any explanation for what had happened.
—Suzanne Savage
Charles Elbot, the principal of JonBenét’s school, called Susan Stine and Roxy Walker, two close friends of Patsy’s, whose children also attended High Peaks Elementary School. Elbot wanted them to get a message to Patsy and John: “Let’s get Burke back to school as soon as possible so he can have a normal school experience.”
Through their friends, the Ramseys expressed serious concern about the school’s security, even though the police had assured the principal that the buildings were safe. The Ramseys had hired a security firm in Denver, which suggested that someone should be with Burke at all times. That wasn’t appropriate during school hours, Elbot said, because it would send the wrong message to the other kids. A compromise would have to be found.
Toward the end of January, Patsy and John, their