Ten years ago today, the lifeless body of a little girl was found in the dark basement of her home.
Within a day, it seemed as if the whole world knew of JonBenét Ramsey. The endless rolls of pageant footage, her parents’ curious behavior, the upscale home, the bumbling cops – it all created the perfect tabloid news story to feed the burgeoning 24-hour cable news business, those supermarket tabs and, yes, daily newspapers.
JonBenét became an almost mythic figure, and has been literally obsessed over in a seamy online underworld that this year even produced wannabe killer John Mark Karr.
But JonBenét, away from the headlines, was really just a little girl whose end came too violently and too quickly.
And thousands of children like her have gone missing, or have been killed in the meantime, with nary a word said. Remember Aaroné Thompson, the young Aurora girl who seemed to have vanished without anyone knowing for months? The one-year anniversary of her disappearance passed last month with little mention, while JonBenét’s father, John Ramsey, inexplicably appeared this month on Barbara Walters’ Ten Most Fascinating People of 2006 list.
JonBenét’s killer has never been found, and judging from the Karr charade earlier this year, it would seem authorities are no closer to finding the killer now than they were in 1996.
So today ought to be a day to remember JonBenét as her friends remembered her – without makeup and without the lavish gowns. And to remember all of the other children who left without fanfare, but are deeply missed by someone.
