Patsy Ramsey
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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 on December 26, 1996.
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, she was a member of Alpha Xi Delta Sorority. She won the Miss West Virginia beauty title in 1977; her sister Pamela won the same title three years later.
Ramsey 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. The family moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1991.
After the mysterious murder of JonBenét in the family's home in December 1996, Boulder law enforcement officials declared that Patsy and her husband were "under an umbrella of suspicion" [2] due to their possible involvement in the crime. The couple spent the next ten years defending themselves against the allegations by insisting that an intruder killed their daughter. As of 2008, no charges have ever been filed against anyone for the murder.
Ramsey died of ovarian cancer on June 24, 2006. She had been diagnosed in 1993 but the cancer was in remission at the time of her daughter's murder. In 2003, she suffered a relapse [3]. She 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 [4]. She is interred next to her daughter at Saint James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia.
Ramsey was portrayed by Marg Helgenberger in the 2000 miniseries Perfect Murder, Perfect Town. Beth Harner, a character based on her, was portrayed by Liza Minnelli in an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent.
