Patsy Ramsey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Patricia Ann "Patsy" Ramsey (née Paugh) (December 29, 1956 — June 24, 2006), was the mother of JonBenét Ramsey, a 6-year-old American beauty pageant contestant who was murdered in her Boulder, Colorado home on December 26, 1996.
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[edit] Biography
Ramsey was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia to Donald Ray Paugh and Nedra Ellen Ann Rymer.[1] She graduated from Parkersburg High School in 1975, and went on to attend West Virginia University, from which she graduated with a B.A. in journalism in 1978. While in college, Patsy was a member of Alpha Xi Delta Sorority, and won the Miss West Virginia beauty title in 1977. Her sister Pamela also won the Miss West Virginia title in 1980.
Patsy married John Ramsey on November 5 1980. Their son, Burke, was born on January 27 1987. Patsy gave birth to her second child, JonBenét, on August 6 1990 in Atlanta. Patsy moved with her family to Colorado in 1991.
After the mysterious murder of JonBenét in the family's Boulder home in December of 1996, Boulder law enforcement officials declared that Patsy and her husband were "under an umbrella of suspicion" [1] due to their possible involvement in the crime. John and Patsy Ramsey spent the next ten years defending themselves against the allegations by insisting that an intruder killed their daughter. In this murder case, as of 2006 no charges have ever been filed against anyone.
A character based on Patsy Ramsey was portrayed in an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent. The character was named Beth Harner and portrayed by Liza Minnelli.
[edit] Death
Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer age 49 on June 24 2006, with which she was diagnosed in 1993 and which had been in remission at the time of her daughter's murder. In 2003, she suffered a relapse of her previous ovarian cancer.[2] She is interred next to her daughter at Saint James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia. Ramsey passed away less than two months before Boulder law enforcement officials announced their plans to arrest John Mark Karr, a former elementary school teacher who falsely confessed to the murder [3]).
