Ghislaine Maxwell And JonBenét Ramsey Photo: Is Jeffrey Epstein's Associate Connected To Her Unsolved Murder?
Maxwell is in jail awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Youtube JonBenét Ramsey was discovered dead in her family's basement in 1996. She was only 6 years old. In the nearly 25 years since her death, investigators shave never been able to discover what actually happened to the child pageant star.
Now the internet has gotten interested in her case again after a photo of JonBenét resurfaced showing the child smiling into the camera, next to a woman who looks shockingly like sex trafficking suspect Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell was a longtime romantic and business associate of Jeffrey Epstein and she was arrested early this month on charges of sex trafficking related to Epstein's sex abuse crimes.
Neither Maxwell's representatives nor spokespeople for the Ramsey family have commented on the photo so far. However, just a little research shows that Maxwell had some ties to Denver, Colorado, where the Ramseys lived and that's enough to keep the rumors and conspiracy theories going.
Is Ghislaine Maxwell in the last photo of JonBenét Ramsey?
What is the photo all about?
The photo in question shows JonBenét Ramsey smiling into a camera, with her hair and make-up done, likely for one of the pageants she participated in during her short life. It may actually be the last photo taken of her, though her family has not confirmed that. Next to her, in partial profile, is a woman who looks a lot like indicted sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. The woman in the photo had the same signature dark pixie cut as Maxwell and the shape of the nose looks very similar.
The photo is allegedly from 1996, a few months before Ramsey was found dead in her parents' basement. Investigators, both police and private firms hired by the Ramseys search for answers in the child's death for years but the case was never solved.
An unidentified woman stands beside JonBenét Ramsey.
Could Ghislaine Maxwell have known the Ramseys?
Given that Maxwell has long been accused of procuring underage girls for her boyfriend and business associated Jeffrey Epstein, who allegedly ran a sex trafficking operation, the idea of Maxwell being anywhere near JonBenét Ramsey sets off alarm bells. The notion that the child was killed to cover up some sort of abuse has been a common theory of the infamous case since JonBenét died.
Maxwell, who was born in England, was indeed living in the United States in 1996, though she was based in New York at the time. And a search of old photos shows that she did have her signature pixie cut at that time as does the woman in the picture. So superficially, it is possible that Maxwell in standing next to Ramsey in the picture.
However, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that that Ramseys knew Maxwell. She was part of a social scene that was more associated with New York City and London than with the upper crust of Denver where the Ramseys lived.
There is one odd connection between Maxwell and the Ramsey family, though.
The one thing that internet sleuths have unearthed is that Maxwell and John Ramsey shared a law firm. Both were represented by Denver firm Haddon, Morgan, and Foreman. That makes sense for the Ramseys, as Denver residents, though it's less logical for Maxwell. However, Maxwell is currently represented by Laura Mwenniger, an attorney from that firm. Menninger has been with the Haddon, Morgan, and Foreman since 2012, well after the Ramsey case. Patsy Ramsey, JonBenét's mother, died in 2006. Her father, John Ramsey left Colorado and moved to Michigan. It's not known if he maintains a professional relationship with the law firm any longer.
There is one other possibility.
Some folks online have pointed out that the photo looks like someone else as well: JonBenét's mother Patsy Ramsey. Patsy also had a short haircut and dark hair at the time. It's honestly much more likely that JonBenét was standing next to her mother than to Ghislaine Maxwell, though it makes for a very juicy conspiracy theory.
A photo of Patsy Ramsey and her children JonBenét and Burke.
Maxwell and Epstein reportedly targeted teenagers, not young children.
Maxwell is currently awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges stemming from the accusations that she procured underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein died in jail last year after being arrested on similar charges. He was infamous for providing underage girls to his friends for sexual purposes, even flying famous and powerful men to his private island for sex parties. He himself abused the girls as well and Maxwell is alleged to have participated in sexually abusing the girls.
The information about Epstein and Maxwell so far hasn't implicated them in trafficking girls younger than teens. JonBenét Ramsey was 6 years old, much younger than the known victims of Epstein and Maxwell.
People always suspected abuse in the Ramsey case.
The unexplained death of a child always elicits suspicions that there was something sinister going on before the death. In the case of JonBenét Ramsey, that was heightened by the child's physical appearance. Many photos of her were from her performances in child beauty pageant, where she wore full makeup and her hair was styled more like a young adult than a grade-schooler. Investigators looked at her family as suspects in the case and there were theories that there was abuse, either physical or sexual, in the family. Nothing was ever proven but her autopsy showed injuries to the genital region. Her brother, Burke, denies that she was ever abused.
What's really going on?
With all the rumors about sex crimes that surround both the Maxwell and Ramsey cases, it's easy to make the leap to thinking that the two cases are connected. Maybe the Ramseys knew Epstein and Maxwell and they helped one another commit or cover up crimes. But at this time, there is no clear evidence connecting these cases. There is just one photo with a woman who looks a bit like Maxwell standing next to JonBenét Ramsey.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. She is the creator of the blog FeminXer and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.