Exactly when did JonBenet Ramsey's death become a major news story?

January 3, 2024 9:02 PM

When someone asks me "what was the first major news story you remember", my default answer is Princess Diana's death (I'm in my early 30s). I remember exactly where I was and my parents having to explain what happened. However, I remember the early media coverage of JonBenet Ramsey's death very well (which scared me as a child, especially since she was so close to me in age). Yet it couldn't have been a national news story on Christmas Day 1996. When did the story gain traction in the news (national and worldwide) and become a "household name"?
posted by Seeking Direction to Society & Culture (11 answers total)

Google has a newspaper archive you can search within a custom date range, e.g. 12/24/1996 - 12/31/1996. The story appears to have been syndicated nationwide within a couple of days. What gaining traction could mean probably varies, but I imagine if you move the date window like a week at a time you may be able to see it appearing in larger venues and/or more and more places.
posted by Wobbuffet at 9:26 PM on January 3, 2024

Looking at the online archive for Los Angeles Times [via my public library access], the story got a very brief mention when JonBenet was found, another brief mention about funeral service [Jan. 1] and then more coverage when authorities prepared to question the parents [story on Jan. 7].

Also at that time, Jan 7, the LA Times had coverage by staff writer rather than the AP.

On Jan 13, 1997, the LA Times ran a staff written feature on the case published on the front of the "Life & Style" section as well as another on child beauty pageants.

Citations below.


"Police Setting Up Interviews With Slain Girl's Parents"
byline of Associated Press
Los Angeles Times (1996-); Jan 6, 1997; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
pg. A10

"Slain Girl's Parents Set Conditions for Police Talk"
A Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times (1996-); Jan 7, 1997; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
pg. A8

"THE Death OF A Little Girl"
LOUIS SAHAGUN TIMES STAFF WRITER.  Los Angeles Times (1996-); Los Angeles, Calif. 13 Jan 1997: E1.

"Looking Sexy Way Beyond Their Years" by Frerking, Beth
Los Angeles Times (1996-); Jan 13, 1997; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
pg. E1
posted by calgirl at 11:28 PM on January 3, 2024

Ramsey was subject of a front-page story on People Magazine, Jan 20th 1997 edition. People is a weekly magazine, so according to my source, that means it would have appeared on newsstands around Jan 13-14.

So, depending on what you mean by "major news story," the date it became that couldn't possibly be later than Jan 13-14, 1997.
posted by flug at 12:01 AM on January 4, 2024

On January 1, 1997, CNN did an interview with Ramsey's parents, where Patricia Ramsey famously said 'there is a killer on the loose.'

On January 3, 1997, Boulder investigators announced that the ransom note appears to be torn from a tablet inside the house.
posted by box at 4:56 AM on January 4, 2024

My recollection was that it became a hot news item in early January, I guess after JonBenet's "glamor photos" began to circulate.
posted by SPrintF at 6:50 AM on January 4, 2024

“Perfect Murder, Perfect Town”, by Lawrence Schiller, has a particular focus on the impact of the media on the case and how it was used by the Ramseys in particular.
posted by Bourbonesque at 7:06 AM on January 4, 2024

If you feel like you were too young to remember January 1997, do keep in mind that the news coverage of her was kept alive for SOOOO long in the news. She was brought up probably every 6 months, and on every anniversary, so even if you didn't hear the first instance, you'd have heard it many times after that.
posted by hydra77 at 7:07 AM on January 4, 2024

I grew up in Boulder and this happened my senior year of high school. It was a major news story immediately in Colorado, I remember seeing the initial story on the evening news and thinking Jonbenet was my age based on the photo they ran and being shocked when she wasn’t. It was front page in the Daily Camera because this was so unusual for Boulder at the time. At the store I worked at it was a hot topic of conversation during the post-Christmas return rush. It didn’t die down for a long time, even as I was preparing to leave for college 8 months later there was something in the paper or tv news almost daily, and when I went to school in Indiana and mentioned I was from Boulder, Jonbenet was one of the first things people would bring up.
posted by Fuego at 8:40 AM on January 4, 2024

If you were a kid at the time did you accompany your parents to the grocery store or Walmart? This story was in the tabloids forever.
posted by aetg at 10:08 AM on January 4, 2024

It actually happened on Christmas 1996, but blew up in the news directly after and then just never went away ever. Late January was probably when I became really aware of it. I think I'm about 10 years older than you (I was a teen at the time and a young adult when Diana died) and I remember JonBenet coverage just being sort of background noise--on the news, on the tabloids, in pop culture. I remember feeling really sorry for her, but also feeling like the press just seized on it in a way that was so disproportionate and ghoulish. If you had asked me before I saw this post, I would have said that it happened in like 1999 because the press was still going hard on it even three years later.
posted by Nibbly Fang at 5:27 PM on January 4, 2024

Thank you everyone. So I guess it did indeed make the national news in early '97...and is thus probably the first major news story I remember.

hydra77: That's a good question, but no, my earliest memories are probably from sometime in '93/'94. But they are innocent early childhood memories, not memories of news stories. I do, however, remember asking my grandparents who they were going to vote for in the '96 election.

aetg: Yes.
posted by Seeking Direction at 8:46 PM on January 4, 2024