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How did Patsy Ramsey die? What happened to JonBenet’s mom

How did Patsy Ramsey die? What happened to JonBenet’s mom

In the following years The murder of JonBenét Ramseyher mother, Patricia “Patsy” Ramsey, fought to track down her daughter’s killer – and always vehemently denied accusations that she and her husband, John Ramseyhad anything to do with JonBenét’s murder.

Ramsey also talked about her belief that she will one day be reunited with her deceased daughter.

“We have to know and have faith in our faith that we will see JonBenét again,” Patsy Ramsey said on “Larry King live” in 2000. “She is in Heaven with our Heavenly Father and one day… we will be there with her and we live for that day. That’s what drives us.”

Ramsey died in 2006 of ovarian cancer, but she remains an active presence in the new Netflix documentary “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey,” which features extensive archival interviews with Patsy Ramsey, her husband and others associated with the case.

The director of the three-episode series, Joe Berlinger, says he is convinced that Patsy Ramsey is not guilty of the murder of her daughter.

“It defies logic to think Patsy could have done this,” he tells TODAY.com.

He adds that based on the details in JonBenét’s autopsybelieves that only a skilled assassin could have inflicted the injuries that JonBenét suffered.

John and Patsy Ramsey, parents of JonBenet Ramsey, hold a sign offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of their daughter's murderer.
In May 1997, John and Patsy Ramsey held a sign offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of their daughter’s murderer.Helen H. Richardson/Denver Post via Getty Images

“Does anyone really think that Patsy Ramsey had the presence of mind to torture her daughter like that with a device that is quite difficult to make?” he says, referring to a device called a garrote that the official said the child was used to strangle autopsy.

“The autopsy itself shows that it could not have been done by anyone other than a knowledgeable and deeply concerned person who knew how to do it,” he says.

He adds that he created the documentary in part in hopes of finding justice for John Ramsey, the late Patsy Ramsey and the rest of JonBenét’s family.

“As a (true crime) content creator, I always ask myself… are we just wallowing in other people’s misery, or is there an element of social justice in telling this story?” says. “For me, the element of social justice is: let’s find out once and for all who the killer is. This family deserves this knowledge.”

He also shares his belief that although the Ramseys were never convicted of murder, he believed they were “wrongfully convicted in the court of public opinion.”

“I can’t think of any other family that has experienced as much brutality from the American media and justice system as this family,” he says.

Read on to learn more about what happened to JonBenét Ramsey’s mother, Patsy Ramsey, and what she has said about her daughter over the years.

What happened to Patsy Ramsey?

Patsy Ramsey died at the age of 49 from ovarian cancer on June 24, 2006.

According to her, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1993 and was in remission for about nine years before the cancer returned three years before her death. NBC News.

Patsy Ramsey died at her father’s home near Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband John Ramsey by her side. She was buried in a grave next to her daughter in Marietta, Georgia.

In the documentary, John Ramsey opened up about his wife’s “devastating” cancer recurrence and explains that after trying to treat her disease, her doctor ultimately recommended palliative care.

The murder of JonBenet Ramsey
John and Patsy Ramsey spoke to the media in Colorado on May 1, 1997, approximately four months after JonBenét’s death. Helen H. Richardson/Denver Post via Getty Images

“We weren’t ready for this. I wanted her to keep fighting, she wanted to keep fighting. And then there came a point when I was convinced that it was hopeless and, in accordance with the doctor’s recommendation, I decided to discontinue the treatment,” he said.

– I didn’t tell Patsy. The cancer had spread to her brain so she wasn’t a normal person anymore, so she didn’t know we had given up,” he continued. “And she asked, ‘When is my next procedure?’ and in my heart I knew there was no further treatment. It was difficult.”

For years before her death, Patsy Ramsey determinedly tried to identify her daughter’s killer.

Lou Smit, a police detective who had long argued that JonBenét was murdered by an intruder, not the Ramseys, once shared with him the last words of Patsy Ramsey.

“The last words she said to me were, ‘Lou, I don’t have much time left. Please catch this guy before I die,” he said in a recording of an interview included in the documentary.

In a clip shared in a documentary from a 2006 performance New Hope Church TelevisionPatsy Ramsey shared her belief that she would be reunited with JonBenét after her death along with her stepdaughter Beth, who died in a 1992 car accident.

“I don’t know how long I will live. But I know that when I am absent in my body, I will be at home with the Lord, JonBenét and Beth, and my mother, who is no longer alive,” she said. “You know, all the cool people are starting to show up there, so it’s going to be a great reunion.”

In the documentary, John Ramsey shared his belief that his late wife already knows what happened to JonBenét.

“We were asked, ‘You know, it’s really a shame that Patsy died without knowing who killed her baby.’ I think he knows it now,” he said.

“I’ll see Patsy again. I have no doubt,” he continued. “I don’t know how it will work or how it will happen. It’s beyond my little brain to comprehend, but I believe it’s a reality for us humans.”

What did Patsy Ramsey say about her daughter?

Patsy Ramsey has always maintained that neither she nor her husband were involved in JonBenét’s murder and insisted that her daughter’s killer be found.

She denied allegations that she killed JonBenét in a fit of rage after her daughter wet the bed.

“Does anyone really think I would kill my child because he wet the bed?” Ramsey said in 1999 Interview with CBS News. “I mean, I survived stage four cancer. In the grand scheme of things, bedwetting is not important.”

Ramsey also criticized the way law enforcement handled the case of her daughter’s murder.

“The police, who were there on the morning of December 26 and collected evidence, have a lot of tangible evidence. They did a good job collecting evidence. We have fibers. We have DNA. We have a lot of evidence,” she said during an appearance on “Larry King Live” in 2000. “The problem was that they didn’t take the evidence back then to where it could lead.”

She also told King that, in hindsight, she and her husband “should never have moved to Boulder, Colorado.”

“I mean, if you want to come back… But you can’t do that,” she said. “We have to start with what we have now. We have to move on. We have to try to find this killer and get him off the streets.

In 2000, John and Patsy Ramsey co-wrote a book about their daughter’s murder and its aftermath titled “The Death of Innocence: The Untold Story of the JonBenet Murder and How Its Exploitation Threatened the Pursuit of Truth.”

In the book, Patsy Ramsey defended her daughter’s involvement in beauty pageants, saying that JonBenét had begged her to enter. Ramsey, who also competed in beauty pageants, said she bonded with her daughter through the experience.

“I decided if she liked doing it, I’d see if I could do it. “I always worried that my cancer would come back, so I was glad to find an activity we could have fun doing together,” she wrote in the book.

“The mother-daughter experience was going to be a treasure for me, now more than ever,” she continued. “If God had taken me before she was an adult, I reasoned, I could have left her these memories.”

After her daughter’s death, Ramsey shared her appreciation for those who hung angels on the tree over JonBenét’s grave.

“Everyone misses her,” she said on “Larry King Live” in 2000. “She was just a little angel herself. So I think it’s fitting that all the angels that started appearing in the dogwood tree over her grave. “