Casting JonBenet

Hello? Hello.

My name's Hannah, and I'm auditioning for the role of JonBenet Ramsey.

Do you know who killed JonBenet Ramsey?

All units, 755 15th Street. Possible 207.

Copy. Kidnapping?

That's what they said.

All right, do you want me to do a test, or are you good?

Hello, I'm Amy Dowd, and I'm auditioning for the role of Patsy Ramsey.

My name is Teresa, and I'm auditioning for the role of Patsy Ramsey.

As far as acting goes, I'm not a professional actress.

I have been in pageants.

In 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985.

I'm normally typecast as the loving mother,

and then also as... a bitch.

Usually Mom, or the friend, is what I've played.

A wife.

Okay, so I just brought a couple of my pageant pictures.

Again, this was two years ago with the Mrs. Colorado pageant

and the one thing I have quite in common with Patsy is,

both of us are not the really thin girls. We're a little bit heavier.

So this was when I was in New York,

and, um,

it was 19... 88, I believe this was taken.

I noticed that you had some of the other women who are auditioning for Patsy

wearing the red top,

but for me, it's the pearls that make who Patsy was.

In every interview she did, she always had the pearls on.

So when I was researching her I made sure that the pearls were on.

She always wore these kind of earrings.

I didn't have one with a pearl in it,

but these were really close to what she was wearing.

And she always wore the open collar shirt and the jacket.

This is very close to what she wore on Larry King.

My mom lives up Flagstaff Road,

which is, if you've ever been up Flagstaff,

it starts out as Baseline Road.

So to come down the mountain and go into town,

unless you cut off at 9th Street, you literally drove by 15th Street,

and that's where the Ramsey house is located.

It was a media circus.

It was the biggest thing to really happen to Boulder in a very long time.

Definitely, we'd never had a murder,

especially of that... caliber that I could remember.

I actually drove up to the house the day after the murder,

'cause I live not that far,

and just sat there, and I cried.

I said a little prayer for the child.

Some of my voice students knew JonBenet,

and they were devastated and sad.

As an actress,

I would really draw on my experience as a mother,

and I've been through an awful lot with my son.

And just thinking about the things I've been through,

in that he's older.

He's been in the Marine Corps, and some of the experiences are...

I have personal experience with murder.

My brother was murdered in Colorado Springs,

so my parents actually met with the Ramseys several times,

because they had that in common.

And there was so much speculation. So much.

And everybody pointed their finger at Patsy.

Did you say he was reading with me?

Police.

755, 15th Street.

We have a kidnapping. Hurry, please!

A note is left and your daughter's gone?

- Yes. - How old is your daughter, ma'am?

She's six years old. She's blonde. She's six years old.

Six years old.

How long ago was this?

I don't know. I just got the note, and my daughter's gone.

- Okay, what's your name? - What?

- Please. - Okay, calm down.

- Please send someone to help me. Hurry. - Ma'am...

- Morning. - Yeah, Merry Christmas.

So you want my name and then the part?

- Yeah. - There we are. Thank you.

Hi, I'm Hack Hyland.

Hi, I'm Gary Foster. I'm auditioning for the part of John Ramsey.

Hi, my name is Ed Hickok. I'm auditioning for the role of John Ramsey.

I'm a husband, times 30 years tomorrow,

a father of three,

a psychologist in private practice,

and a felon, because of fighting the IRS.

And it was while I was cooling my heels at the federal prison camp

that I decided that when I got out, that I wanted to try my hand at acting.

Yeah, it's a paid theater. It was with Theatre Or.

It was called My Mother's Jewish Lesbian Wiccan Wedding.

It was the regional premiere.

I get Nick Nolte. I get Jeff Bridges.

I get a young... What's his name? Kris Kristofferson.

If you want to change, like, if you wanted to dye my hair,

or shave my head for a wig...

I don't care what you want to do. I don't have a problem with it.

I'm trying to remember. '96, I believe, wasn't it?

When she died, I think.

Six years old in 1996.

Let me see where I was in '96. Boy!

Actually, I was selling cars in Utah.

I mean, I hope that doesn't hurt my chances here, but...

I had just moved here literally weeks before,

and I was working out in what would end up being my ex-brother-in-law's gym.

I was personal training in his facility.

And I remember, it was just a big stir.

I mean, it was on the news constantly,

and everybody was talking about it.

Tragic story. Horrible.

John's company was in Boulder.

The woman I was dating at the time worked directly for John.

In fact, she was in line to be his successor.

And he relied on her heavily,

so I was with her the night of the murder,

and I was effectively her alibi,

but they also did hair and samples from her,

because, you know, she had something to gain by John's loss.

But she was cleared, and I knew that 'cause I was with her.

He is a confident businessman.

He's an intelligent guy. He's got a good education.

He's at the top of his game.

He owns a small company that even owns a private airplane.

John Ramsey was a very successful man.

And I respect that.

He seemed always straightforward and honest in the interviews that I saw.

I envied him at the time,

because he was the CEO of a very successful company

and I was trying to make my way up the ladder,

so I thought he was... I thought he had it all.

It's the morning of the 26th. December 26th.

And they find the ransom note,

"We have your daughter. Don't call the police."

And they... they called the police.

It was after the police investigated the house,

and then John Ramsey and...

was it the police, were searching the house?

So him and his friend walked down the basement,

and they went through the train room 'cause he was big into trains,

and that's when they opened the door to the wine cellar

and saw her covered in her favorite white blanket.

And go.

Good day, my name is RJ Clay,

and I'm here auditioning for the part of the police chief,

but if I fit any other part perfectly, I would be willing to take that as well.

So I'm a Denver policeman.

I've been a police officer since 1994.

I'm actually a meat manager for King Soopers,

which is a grocery store chain out here in Colorado.

Well, I'm currently a fugitive recovery agent.

I run a small service out of Longmont, Colorado.

And for a night job, I am a sex educator.

I do a lot of corporate gigs, barbecues,

and I'm a big wedding guy,

'cause I actually will interview the bride and groom

and I'll write a song just for them, play it at their ceremony.

A normal flogger, you use the handle as a counterbalance,

and you can swing.

Right?

A poi flogger is designed to be used with two hands,

and these are designed to florentine,

which is a way to give light sensation.

But it takes a little coordination. I don't know if I can do this sitting.

And it gives a very light sensation.

Hand me the rainbow-colored handle. Yeah, with the... just one of 'em.

So I got interested in this particular case

because it occurred when I was a police officer in Chicago.

And we used the investigation techniques from the Boulder Police Department

as a "how not to" for our cadets.

As a matter of fact, we used it last night to debrief an incident that we had,

where a couple of skinheads stabbed each other.

Well, first of all,

they didn't keep track of people coming and going through the house.

Virtually anybody who wanted to walk in that house after the crime

was allowed to.

So the evidence was compromised in all sorts of ways.

And the ransom note.

I read that and...

it's incredible.

It's incredible that nobody's been charged with anything on that.

It seems to me like... it was pretty clear.

Well, the first thing, right away, is,

it was a three-page ransom note that was handwritten.

And most people are in a hurry when they're doing a crime.

They're not going to sit down after murdering some young little girl.

First of all, they go out and find the paper and the pen

they thought was from inside the home.

So they're not going to sit there and write a three-page handwritten letter,

thinking out all this fun stuff that's in the letter.

If you're a criminal wanting to do an in-and-out kind of kidnapping,

who takes the time to write out two and a half pages of a ransom note?

That's a little ridiculous.

They say, "We are a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction."

I don't know what that means

and I don't think, to this day, the police know what that means.

It almost seems like, in places, it shows concern.

I mean, in certain places, they're really nasty.

They say, "We're going to behead her. We'll kill her."

But in other places, they say things like,

"Make sure to bring along a big enough attaché."

And in one spot they said, "Make sure you're rested,

because it's going to be an arduous sort of procedure

to get her back."