#tcorginal

JonBenet Patricia Ramsey

August 6th, 1990 - December 25th, 1996

The Ramsey family went to Atlanta to celebrate Thanksgiving 1996, which would become JonBenet's last. JonBenet spent the day surrounded by family and friends and prepared her own side-dish of homemade “jelly roll-ups” to share.

Irene Willis, John Ramsey’s former mother-in-law, fondly remembered that day. During a 1997 interview, she recounted a memory of JonBenet wearing a Christmas sweater that was slightly too big, with the sleeves draping over her hands, as she excitedly ran around with her cousins. Amid the holiday chaos, JonBenet found a moment to cuddle up to her. A guest captured this moment, and for Irene, that photo symbolized JonBenet's true spirit.

JonBenet Patricia Ramsey August 6th, 1990 - December 25, 1996

“Your smiling face is there; in pictures that remind them of your full and happy life, regardless of how short it was. You have not been forgotten or pushed out of sight, a memory too painful to acknowledge each day. Instead, you are everywhere I look.

You grin in a snowsuit, your cheeks rosy and warm. You stand in a pose, thrilled to dress up like a big girl, like your mom, whom you adore. You drive the pontoon boat on a blue sky day with your golden arms wet from the spray. All of this reminds me of how lucky you were.”

"She would follow me all over the yard, finding something to do wherever I was working. I was happy to talk with her and would answer her questions about anything and everything. All topics you'd call natural science seemed to interest her...

That same week in September, the needles were falling off the pine trees and the sap had started to drip. 'Why do trees do that?' she asked.

I wasn't certain I knew exactly, but I tried to explain - scientifically. 'The sun helps pull the sap up from the trunk to the leaves.’ Then I compared the sap to human blood, said the sap carries nourishment to the whole tree. Anyone could see she was excited to learn these things...

I never once saw her in makeup or costumes, never spotted her wearing anything but jumpers or jeans, or shorts and T-shirts. I'd heard she was Little Miss Colorado, and I asked her if she was excited about winning.

Jaycee Lee Dugard was only eleven years old when she was kidnapped in South Lake Tahoe, California while walking to a school bus stop. That day, June 10, 1991, would change her family’s life forever. Through the years they never gave up hope that their precious child would someday return to them. Terry Probyn, Jaycee’s mother, worked tirelessly to keep her daughter’s face and name in the public eye. She began a group called “Jaycee’s Hope”, and created shirts, buttons, jewelry, and other items that people could purchase. All of the funds raised went to producing more posters and other materials to maintain interest in the case.

For eighteen years Jaycee Dugard remained in captivity by Phillip and Nancy Garrido. They kept the young girl in a backyard shack, where she was repeatedly raped and tormented. The Garridos did everything they could to keep Jaycee isolated from the outside world. They constantly told her that her family did not love her and did not want to look for her. Throughout the harrowing ordeal, Jaycee became deeply fearful and depressed. Still, she held out hope that one day on she would be reunited with her family. On March 28th, 2006 Jaycee wrote down a list that she titled “My Dreams for the Future”. Number one on the list was “See Mom”.

In her 2012 memoir, “A Stolen Life”, Jaycee Dugard wrote about how the moon was a special part of the relationship between her and her mother. They would sit together on the porch swing to watch the moon rise up in the night sky. During the years she was kidnapped, Jaycee had a difficult time looking at the moon. It would break her heart all over again. Terry, however, could not look away. She used the moon to talk through to her daughter, hoping that Jaycee would somehow hear it. One night in late August, 2009 Terry was looking outside at a particularly bright, full moon. She spoke to Jaycee again, asking where she was. When Jaycee later heard this story, she was awestruck; she remembered that night too. It was one of those rare occasions where she was allowed to be outside. The moon was so beautiful that Jaycee could not look away. She stood in place for several minutes, just looking at the moon. The next day Terry Probyn received the phone she had been waiting nearly two decades for. Jaycee had been found, and she was alive.

On August 26th, 2009 Jaycee finally got back her freedom. She was attending a parole meeting with her kidnappers, as well as her two daughters that she had given birth to while in captivity. At the parole meeting, Jaycee presented as Philip Garrido’s niece, using the name Alyssa. Investigators did not believe the story. At the police station Garrido eventually revealed the young woman’s true identity, and confessed to the kidnapping and rape. Once she was safe, an FBI agent connected Jaycee to her mother through the phone. They were finally able to speak to each other after eighteen years.