Burke Ramsey on Dr. Phil
Burke Ramsey was on Dr. Phil last week, and yet again yesterday. He was quite an interesting person to watch speak. He seemed to have a permanent smile on his face as he talked about his late sister, JonBenet Ramsey, who as every knows, was murdered. It was odd and uncomfortable to watch, wasn’t it?
Dr. Phil attributed Burke’s smile to nerves. I suspect there are several other reasons why Burke smiled that need to be explored before we can conclude it was simply nerves. Burke smiled in interviews with the police and at the funeral of JonBenet, but there are scenes where he is followed by cameras and he is not smiling, which I found revealing.
Dr. Phil’s show seemed to heavily support that the Ramsey’s were cleared and innocent, but on CBS Monday and Tuesday night, top-experts looked at the case piece by piece in a show titled The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey. I thought they did the best job of any show that looked at the Ramsey case.
The experts on this show clearly identified why the D.A. should have never “cleared” the Ramseys. I was flabbergasted back when I read the Ramseys were cleared by D.A. Mary Lacy in 2009.
Read my thoughts from 2009 here.
The CBS show also gave us many reasons why we need to look more closely at Burke–some of which were discussed and some of it wasn’t but was evident. I wish I could have been on that panel to discuss what I saw! I had many things to say that were never said! Please know I am working to get myself in a public forum where I can bring my analysis back to you (send some luck, too, please!).
In the end, the CBS show’s experts concluded that it was highly likely that Burke Ramsey was downstairs eating pineapple when JonBenet could have reached into the bowl for a piece to eat it, and Burke lashed out at her and hit her with the flashlight.
There was only one problem with their hypothesis: the pineapple was already in her small intestine–not her mouth, throat or stomach, which means the pineapple was not eaten at the time of the murder, but likely hours before.
So while I haven’t changed my original opinion about the Ramseys (I don’t trust them and never have), I do have more questions and think Burke did not do himself any favors going into the media like he did. His interviews past and present were very revealing and eye-opening, and for me, they DO NOT take him off the “whodunnit” list.
The blow to the head was not immediately fatal–the pineapple could have been digested as she lay unconscious. I beleive that Burke did it–his fingerprints were on the bowl and the glass and both children were downstairs since JB ate a piece of pineapple and the parents deny serving pineapple. Burke’s demeanor on Dr. Phil was FREAKISH and disturbing. Also his smearing of his fecal matter on the wall, on candy that JB got for Christmas, and a “grapefruit-sized” ball of feces in JB’s bed is very, very disturbing. There was something very wrong going on in that family.
Came to the comments to write exactly what you just did. There was a gap in time between when she was hit on the head and when she was ultimately strangled of about an hour and a half. This would give plenty of time for pineapple to make its way into the digestive tract.
Although Burke smiled constantly, sometimes he positively BEAMED.
I believe he got a kick out of being the “smartest person in the room”–certainly the only one who really knows what happened (in my opinion). It seemed to embolden him and make him even more thrilled to pull one over on Dr Phil and the entire viewing audience.
I also didn’t feel that Dr Phil was entirely genuine when he made the case that Burke was not the guy. It almost seemed as though it was something he had agreed to say in order to get the interview in the first place?? I don’t know how to analyze his statements, but something didn’t sit well with me. How could Dr Phil be so sure that it wasn’t Burke? I felt it was more of a general feeling that children shouldn’t be tried for crimes than a particular feeling about THIS CASE if that makes sense. In other words, in my opinion, Dr Phil was making a general political statement in defense of Burke (because of his age) than a specific statement about what Burke had done when he was nine.
Dr, Phil always acts like he’s a tough interviewer, but appears to back peddle and give them an out. I would believe the CBS group any day over him.
From the intermittent shows I’ve watched over the years, it really seems to depend upon the person he’s interviewing and what the situation is. There are a lot of people he doesn’t give an out to.
Him being a professional, there are times when it’s appropriate to and times where it’s not. It has to be weighed against the over all therapeutic value over the long haul, but then again, real therapy can’t take place on a TV show. Real therapy takes a lot of time and investment, so it’s a lot harder to determine where the line gets drawn in a forum like this show.
Remember that it’s all about ratings, lol.
In this instance, I have an issue with Dr. Phil being called an “expert” as he was not acting in the capacity of a counselor, but as a TV talk show host. So as a professional talk show host, his behavior may be VERY different from what it would be when he puts on his “Doctor Hat”.
Also keep in mind that Phil (for I refuse to refer to him as “Dr”) retains the same attorney as both John and Burke Ramsey – L. Lin Wood.
working for dcf and dealing with lots of troubled kids – spreading fecal matter is a sign of sexual abuse. I really feel like John Ramsey needs to be investigated too.
If the allegation that she was frequently seen by her pediatrician for UTIs is true, I suspect it was a result of Burke’s scatological issues. He left feces in her room, the bed, and likely in the tub she bathed in. It has long been considered by some as “proof positive” that she had been sexually molested over a long period of time. I am not at all convinced.
Thank you for posting about this Eyes, watching Burke is extremely uncomfortable for me. I did not expect to feel so disturbed by his statements and I wish you could have been on that panel.
So glad you’re looking for a public forum, Eyes–I miss your thoughts!
I would like to know your thoughts on Amanda Knox as she begins her latest endeavour the Netflix film. It has been revealed one of the producers has been convinced of her innocence for years and edited the film accordingly.
That isn’t surprising. Hers is one of those cases that people have always been very emotionally biased on.
Eyes, Im so glad you wrote about this interview, thank you! I found Burke’s smile uncomfortable but I figured Dr. Phil is better at reading people than me. I’m so curious to know what about those scenes where Burke was followed by cameras and not smiling were revealing to you? Did his nervous smiling seem like a put on to you?
I wonder why they are pushing so hard to clear themselves in the media now? Are they just trying to get ahead of all the shows coming out?
I just saw that Kyron Horman’s stepmom was interviewed on Dr. Phil today, I hope you get to watch and can share your thoughts with us!
Well, he’s not acting creepy at all…
LOL
It’s a shame that because of the Ramsey’s need to keep Burke’s (likely) actions that night a secret, he will probably never get the help that he clearly needs.
The investigation was hampered, leaving the investigators feeling that all the work they did was for nothing. I wonder if they were able to conclusively rule out any other mode of entry into the house other than the basement window, or if they basically stopped ruling out other entry possibilities once they noticed the basement window.
The Ramseys have stated that early in the investigation they felt that Boulder authorities were looking at them as the suspects with tunnel vision, therefore they curtailed their compliance with authorities in order to protect themselves. If that was the case, and I had the financial resources the Ramseys did, I would hire the best investigators money could buy and I would not quit until I had all the answers and justice was served.
It also strikes me as sickening the actual step by step process the Ramseys would have had to go through to “set the scene” for their murdered child’s body. Imagine carrying your daughter to the basement, leaving her on the floor, tying her in ropes with special nautical knots (did John sail in his spare time?), putting tape on her mouth, and possibly even doing something to her genitals to give the appearance of a sexual crime. I don’t have children, but just the thought makes me ill.
They had a boat, according to the CBS special.
I have worked with young people with high functioning Autism (Asperger’s Syndrome) for many years. I believe this may well explain much of Burke’s socially awkward behavior, as seen on Dr. Phil. His struggle to maintain eye contact is painful to watch, as he seems to stare. That is also noticeable in the family picture above. His inappropriate smile and laughter may also be suggestive of an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. However, this has nothing to do with whether he was involved in his sister’s murder. I just thought it was interesting.
I have a theory about the pineapple:
JonBenet was put to bed when the Ramseys got home from the party-based on what the Ramseys have said. I am guessing Burke was still awake and wound up. To get him to settle down Patsy says he can have a snack and makes him the pineapple and tea. JonBenet was not fully asleep, hears people talking, wakes up and comes in the kitchen just as he’s about to eat it and she steals a piece either before he had any or he’d only had a bite or two. (That bowl was pretty full.) They squabble and Patsy says ‘that’s it, both of you go get your PJs on and go to bed! No snacks!’ Patsy puts the pineapple in the fridge.
An hour or so later Burke still can’t sleep and maybe he’s resenting that JonBenet ruined his snacktime. He sneaks back downstairs and takes the bowl back out and starts eating it. His sister hears him get up, comes downstairs, sees him eating the pineapple she reaches for a second piece or maybe even just the sight of her getting in his business again infuriates him or maybe she says she’s gonna tell — whatever the case he snaps and brains her with the flashlight.
My theory is that she did take a piece but earlier on and it was a source of contention. Because he sure was feigning ignorance about what was in that bowl when the investigator asked him what it was when it was pretty obvious that it was pineapple.
I love your blog, but I really thought you were going to break down the explanations and explain what you saw. You’re hinting that Burke is guilty but you should explain like you normally do. Your site is too good for you to hide your amazing gift, thanks.
Smiling as he did does not indicate guilt. I sometimes smile when I’m angry with somebody or talking about a traumatic incident that elicits an extremely vulnerable reaction in me, in an effort to disguise the depth of my feelings, to protect myself emotionally, and/or to avoid conflict and calm myself down. Perhaps Burke regresses back to the age he was when Jon Benet died when he remembers it. That trauma is no doubt frozen in his mind forever, entrenched in his brain with the little-boy feelings that he felt at the time. And/or his reaction, facial expressions could have been embarrassment, maybe he just wants to live his life in obscurity and is embarrassed about being implicated and his family’s deepest scars and worst moments were over-exposed on front pages of trashy tabloids for years, decades even, with his face front and center, under big black headlines pointing the finger at him and his family. Or maybe his smile is really a grimace, which can look like a smile sometimes, you see it when somebody is lifting something too heavy for them, or in extreme pain. This is just my two-cents and I would love to hear your rebuttal to my arguments. 🙂 Watching this interview again and thinking maybe the smile was because he feels intimidated by Dr. Phil himself and is showing passivity, he wants to be believed, he wants to be liked, he doesn’t want to be seen as the threat that some people seem to think he is.