Kriti Mehrotra
With Netflix’s ‘Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey’ living up to its title in every way, we get a documentary series that can only be considered utterly puzzling. That’s because it revisits the unsolved 1996 homicide of 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey in her own home, only for it to give rise to several theories as well as controversies in a way no one ever expected. Amongst them is actually one that stemmed from then Boulder Police Detective Willian Steven “Steve” Thomas, who publicly pointed fingers at the young girl’s mother, Patsy Ramsey.
Steve Thomas Initially Wanted to Follow in His Family’s Footsteps
Steve was just a young boy growing up in the streets of Colorado when he first developed a keen interest in serving his nation as well as his people thanks to family, only for it to continue expanding as the years passed. After all, with most of his uncles serving in the US Navy, he decided as a young boy that this was the path he wanted to follow for himself, too, just for things to soon change. While his passion for helping people never waivered, his ambitions did change when he came across a police officer while in high school whose experience inspired him.
Therefore, not long after completing his education, he decided to enroll in the police academy and soon ended up in the Boulder Police Department as a patrol officer. It was then that he proved his mettle by doing his job well every single day, which gradually earned him a promotion to the narcotics unit – in fact, he was a narcotics specialist when he was assigned to the JonBenét case. Many have since asserted his lack of experience may have affected the way the investigations panned out, considering the case still remains unsolved, but the police department always backed him.
Steve Thomas Believes JonBenét Died at the Hands of Her Mother
According to Steve’s own records, the police leaked several details as well as lies regarding the Ramsey family to get them to talk after they lawyered up upon learning they were considered suspects in their daughter’s murder. However, he believes the law enforcement had the right to follow this tactic as they wanted the truth to come out and for the young girl to get peace. But alas, this only backfired on them in 2001 when the family filed a civil lawsuit against them on the grounds of defamation, with Patsy Ramsey being one of the primary defendants. That’s because Steve publicly called her a killer.
Despite the fact that Steve had resigned from the Police Department in 1998, upon learning of the prosecutors’ initial decision not to file any charges against the Ramsey family, he continued to be public about his experiences. In fact, in his 2001 book ‘JonBenét: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation,’ he asserted he believes it was actually Patsy who accidentally killed her daughter in a fit of rage. According to his accounts, he thinks the mother of two lost her cool at around 1 or 2 am following a long Christmas day when JonBenét had a toileting incident on her bed — as in, she peed on her bed in her sleep.
As per Steve’s beliefs, Patsy ended up hurting JonBenét in the bathroom, leading the young girl to hit her head on the cold bathtub and pass away, with John being a witness. However, the little girl’s autopsy kind of negates his theory as it asserts she was still alive when a cord with a broken wooden paint brush was bound to her neck, resulting in her cause of death being asphyxiation. He also could never explain the finding of sexual assault. Therefore, the lawsuit against him was ultimately settled out of court, meaning we do not know the precise details of it or what panned out in their negotiations.
Steve Thomas Now Leads a Quiet Life
While Steve has preferred to lead a quiet life well away from the spotlight ever since his decision to step away from the police department, it has been reported that he has since taken up carpentry. In fact, records suggest he currently owns his own carpentry business in Colorado, where he has the support of his loving family at every step of the way. As per reports, he still believes his theory, but he has chosen largely to keep it to himself, which is why he reportedly didn’t even respond to any messages about being interviewed for this original production.
Read More: Lou Smit: How Did The Retired Detective Die?
