On Christmas day of 1996, John and Patricia Ramsey celebrated as they always did with lots of gifts for the children and visits to the homes of friends and family. They were having a great year; John Ramsey's company Access Graphics reached its first one billion dollars in revenues, and Patricia Ramsey was recovering from ovarian cancer. Their children, Burke and JonBenet Ramsey, were happy and outgoing. In 1996, JonBenet had been a crowned the title of America's "Tiny Little Miss" and the year before was "Little Miss Colorado." Neighbors described JonBenet as a "young and elegant child" (Bellamy). That year would end sadly for the Ramseys with the death of their little girl.
The day after Christmas, the Ramsey family was to leave for vacation to their second home in Michigan. The next morning, instead of waking up to Mrs. Ramsey saying that breakfast was ready, Mr. Ramsey woke to this wife screaming that JonBenet had been kidnapped. Mrs. Ramsey told the police that she walked down the back stairs to the kitchen where she found a three-page ransom note. The note had been written by a "small foreign faction" that demanded $118,000 for the safe return of JonBenet. As soon as Mrs. Ramsey read the ransom note, she ran to JonBenet's bedroom to look for her daughter, who was not there. Mrs. Ramsey then called the Boulder County Police Department. Rick French and Karl Veitch were the first to arrive at the Ramsey home at 755 15th St. The "kidnappers" said that they would call between 8am and 10am that day. The Ramseys were already taking steps to raise the ransom money, and everyone was waiting for the call that never came. .
While waiting for the call from the kidnappers, the Boulder County Police made several critical mistakes. First, they did not do a "proper search of the house, the area was not sealed off, and friends were allowed to walk in and out at their leisure" (Bellamy). Moreover, the officers made no move to protect any forensic evidence in or around the home.