JonBonet Ramsey Television Special

The dad's name is Jon Bennett Ramsey and he named his daughter "JonBenet?" And it's pronounced ""zhoun-buh-NAY"?

Norm was more knowledgeable on the players in this scandal back when it was unfolding on television live. The information above was about all I knew, and I did pretty well ignoring it all.

There was the very recent, two episode special on primetime. It was two episodes, right? From the thirty or so awkward minutes of the second episode I saw, I found myself confused. What was so difficult back in 1996 or whenever it was? This was a "Bones" episode, or any other number of police procedural.

This girl's older brother bashed her head in and the family covered it up. That's what the evidence they discussed in my abbreviated viewing said.

Of course I'm not an investigator or police detective. And, in a specific sense, I'm of one type of scientific disposition. I'm the type of scientist that will, when seeing a monkey elegantly and casually do an action, make note of it. When, in very quick succession, I see the monkey do the same elegant and casual action as part of their daily business, I then assume that this action is part of their normal routine, and try to envision the previous actions that lead to its development.

A different kind of scientific disposition would never make the intellectual leap from brief (even if repeated) witnessing of an event to that being a regular thing.

So when someone like me watches the interview with the older brother in the first days after the murder, it's striking how he responds to the various details. That footage is pretty wild, and I never knew it existed.

I also didn't know that the grand jury (whose records are usually to be sealed) recommended to indict both the father and mother for conspiracy to cover up, but not to indict either for murder. Well. It sounded like they had the evidence and pieces they needed to make their recommendation.

And while there is no statute of limitations on murder charges, there are Colorado laws regarding how young a person can be and be charged with felonious decision making: ten years old and up. The boy was only nine at the time, so even now he can't be charged.

But he sure is raising a stink about the specials. It sounds like he's planning on suing whatever channel upon which it aired.