“The Fat Cats”

Who are “The Fat Cats?”

Part 1 – The Ransom Note

I will now show you more clues from the ransom note that points to Rod Westmoreland as being the author of the note. The lines came towards the end of the notes, the time in the notes when the author began getting emotional and was trying to show John that this is personal. Those lines were……

“You are not the only fat cat around so don’t think that killing will be difficult”

With this statement the author of the ransom notes tells us a couple of things about himself. He tells us that he knows John well enough to know that John Ramsey is not only rich, but John’s wealth has somehow gone to his head and that John may consider himself some kind of “fat cat”. And also more importantly, it also tells us that the author of the note, the killer of Jonbenet Ramsey, considers himself a “fat cat” somewhere near the level of John Ramsey.

In the summer of 2001, the Jonbenet Ramsey 5 year anniversary was quickly approaching. An arrest had not been made, and at that time I was convinced that Patsy Ramsey had committed this crime. I had based my opinion on basically what I saw in the media, and the scant few pieces of evidence that I saw on t.v. I just figured, the ransom note was written in the home, Jonbenet was killed in the home and the body was found in the home. Patsy Ramsey did not look to believable on t.v. It was xmas night, who kills on xmas night, is what I asked myself. Shouldn’t they be home with their family? I could not believe that an arrest had not been made yet. That was when I decided to set out to see if I just may be wrong about Patsy Ramsey. And I quickly found out that I was dead wrong about Patsy. I can only describe it as heaven sent. God, My interest in solving crimes, and the Internet is how I was able to solve this crime.

One day when I was at work, on lunch of course, I decided to pull up the ransom note on the internet and see if I could see anything in it that would not only eliminate Patsy Ramsey, but women all together. I was looking for a man word if there is any such thing. I just knew, that I would know it when I saw it. I put myself into Patsy Ramsey’s shoes and pretended that I was her, writing this note after allegedly killing my daughter. I decided to pull the top of the screen down towards the bottom of the screen in order to only expose about 1 line at a time of the ransom note. I wanted to concentrate 1 line at a time. It took me literally 5 minutes to see what I was looking for and more! And here is the line, and I have to admit that it was a minor clue at the time….

“Make sure that you bring an adequate size attache to the bank”

I found the use of the word “bring” in that sentence unusual. Because If I were Patsy Ramsey, and I was writing the note, I surely would have used the word “take” instead of “bring”. For atleast two reasons; The first being, you would want to portray yourself as being on the outside looking in on the crime. If you give away your position by saying “bring” and letting everyone know that you’ll be waiting for John when he gets to the bank, it could make it easier for you to get caught. Secondly, the ransom note is written in the house meaning, the attache is most likely in the house somewhere close by. Even more reason to use the word “take” instead of “bring”. This author is comfortable using the word “bring”. I thought to myself, maybe a banker wrote the note since he will already be there. And that is when I decided to read the ransom notes again, as if I were a disgruntled banker friend of John’s writing them. And that is when I began to see many clues that pointed directly to a banker friend being involved……

“You will withdraw $118,000.00 from your account $100,000 will be in $100 bills and the remaining $18,000 in $20 bills.”

The author of the ransom note begins the most important part of the ransom note, which is the body, by saying “You will withdraw $118, 000.00 from your account”. Classic banker lingo. He goes on to use the words “bills” twice. Says “remaining”.Notice that the author uses a decimal point when writing the amount of “$118,000.00 dollars. If one is thinking in terms of hundreds of thousands of dollars, then why use a decimal which represents cents? A banker uses decimal points in his everyday life. And why does the money have to come from John’s account? This statement tells us something about the author, and that is he has an interest in John’s bank “account”. Why can’t John, get the money from his safe, or from a friend? Why does it specifically have to come from John’s “account”? Is it because he wanted to be in control of the transaction? To insure that John was “following the instructions to a t”. That’s what I thought. More evidence of a banker friend.

And then these lines……

“If we monitor you getting the money early, we might call you early to arrange an earlier delivery of the money”

The author now tells us something else about himself. He now tells us that he will know if John gets the money early, because he says, “If we monitor you getting the money early, we might call you early to arrange an earlier pick up of your daughter. ” So that’s an important clue, because again he says that if he monitors John getting the money early, he will know when to call him early, he doesn’t want to call John to soon before John gets the money and have to keep calling him back. He wants it to run smoothly. I also figured at the time that the only person who could truly monitor the transaction and know if John really got the money early would have to be inside the bank, in the middle of the transaction. Because even if you are the killer, and you know what bank John will go to and “monitor” go into the bank. You won’t necessarily know if John actually got the money. He may have run into some difficulties in obtaining it at that time.

Then there were other words in the ransom note that showed me that this was personal. The purpose of this note being written, was more than just about a ransom. The money was deifinitely the secondary motive at the least. And the author tells us something else about himself in this following paragraph. He tells us that he is angry at John about something. Because in the beginning of the ransom note, the author begins calm, cool and collected. He began by calling John Ramsey, Mr. Ramsey. Trying to give the impression that they were not familiar with each other personally. Then by the end of the note, after all of his anger and emotions have come out, he is so angry that it makes him come out of character, and show everyone especially John that yes this is personal. ….

“Don’t try to grow a brain John. You are not the only fat cat around so don’t think that killing will be difficult. Don’t underestimate us John. Use that good southern common sense of yours. It is up to you now John!”

So at this point I was sure a banker friend had written the ransom note and most likely killed Jonbenet. I just needed to find out his name. I had theorized at that time, that John Ramsey, the guy with the mulit-billion dollar business, who was all in the local newspapers, most likely had a banker who was also probably close to him in Boulder, Co. Most likely a bank manager at his local bank. I thought that he wanted John to come through him, that is why he told him to get the money from his “account”. Another question the banker theory could logically answer was how could the author of the ransom note know about the xmas bonus amount that John Ramsey received that year of $118,000 that was the same amount on the ransom note ? A banker friend could easily find out. And for nearly 5 years, that was my theory. Until I read John and Patsy Ramsey’s book the “Death of Innocents”. I read the book last November 2005, and when I did it, it finally showed me the name of the banker friend I was looking for. But it was not a local banker in Boulder, CO at all. He was actually John Ramsey’s financial manager/friend from Atlanta, GA. One would think that if I wanted to determine who committed this crime, John and Patsy’s book should have been the first thing that I read. But it was one of the last, 5 years later. I can’t say why it happened that way, but I can say I’m glad that it did. Because it gave me 5 years to learn the case and all of the evidence and clues. And the Ramsey book was just the nail in the coffin for me as to who committed this crime. This is the way I determined this banker’s name by reading John and Patsey Ramsey’s book “the Death of Innocense”

The following are direct quotes from the book “Death of Innocense”…

John is describing what he did to arrange getting the ransom note shortly after reading the ransom note;

“I call my banker friend Rod Westmoreland in Atlanta two arrange the ransom money and discover that he has left for his parents home in Tupelo, Mississippi. I get through to his assistant at Atlanta’s Merrill Lynch office. I’m thankful that today is a work day. I quickly explain what has happened, and she says she’ll get in touch with Rod right away”.” The phone rings. Everyone freezes as I slowly pick up the receiver”.”Hello, I answer tentatively. John, this is Rod. We’ve arranged for u to have a credit line of $118,000 dollars on your Visa card. You can go to a local bank and get the money as a cash advance”. “John Fernie has been in contact with the president of a local bank, a personal friend of his, and is working to get the ransom money ready. John (Fernie not Ramsey) goes to the bank with my credit card to get the cash”.

Those lines blew up my theory of the killer being a local banker in Boulder, CO. Because he never arranged to get the money by just going to his local bank and walking into the doors to meet with his local bank manager who also happened to be his friend. He had to call another banker friend of his in Atlanta, GA who just so happened to not be home on xmas day, to arrange to get the money. So while that information did blow up one part of my theory, it actually helped me to see what was really going on here. And it showed me the name of the specific banker friend that was involved in the transaction that day. And that was Rod Westmoreland. Now, if Rod Westmoreland is our killer who most likely wrote the ransom note, let’s try to determine what we know about Rod Westmoreland and his actions before, during and after the crime. As stated earlier, one of the first things I find out about him, is that he is not at home in Atlanta, GA on the day of the crime. Another thing we learn, which is very important, is that he is 1 of the 2 known participants in the plot, or exchange of the money and Jonbenet as laid out in the ransom note. There are only 3 known participants in the plot itself, if you follow the ransom note. For instance, In the ransom note, the kidnapper(s) wanted John Ramsey, to get money from his “account” and give it to the kidnapper(s). In exchange for his daughter. Now, the participants in that plot is John Ramsey, The person John had to go through to get the money, who we now know is Rod Westmoreland, and the Kidnapper(s). One of the first rules of investigations is to “follow the money trail”. Even if Rod Westmoreland is innocent of this very public crime. I believe that his name should be more publicly known. Just for history sake, so the public gets the story straight on what actually occured that day. I have heard just about everyone else’s name in this case named as a possible suspect. Even Santa Clause for goodness sake. Then why am I the only person talking about Rod Westmoreland and the role that he played in this crime. If this were a movie, he would have played a major supporting role in it, before, during, and after the crime.

This is just hours after the crime, as Rod Westmoreland comes to town, from where ever he was at….

“Rod Westmoreland, my good friend who had helped raise the ransom money, arrived from Atlanta, I was grateful to see him. Over the twenty years I had known Rod, He had always come to my aid when I needed him. For him to leave Atlanta during the Christmas season, and during a busy time of the year for him professionally was no small sacrifice. He started questioning the police, hammering away on what I wanted to know”.

We just learn something else about Rod Westmoreland from John Ramsey himself, that Rod Westmoreland being there in Boulder, CO, “was no small sacrifice”. So Rod apparenty had gone above and beyond to be there on scene, just hours after the crime in Boulder. And notice the very first thing he apparently does, when walking through the door, “questioning the police, hammering away on what I wanted to know”.

“Rod asks the police”, “How many of you are on the case right now?” Rod pressed. “Well there’s eight of us.”Rod pressed further. “Well, where are the rest of them?” Actually a couple are on vacation. .and a few are sick, “the detective answered”. “Let me put it another way, “Rod bore down. ” Exactly how many are working on solving this problem right now?” Your telling me that you only have two or three at most working on the case?” Rod glared at the man. “Something like that, ” the detective admitted. “The F.B.I. ? Rod asked again. “We only have to call them the detective explained.”

Personally, I find that behavior odd by Rod Westmoreland, a person who has just supposedly arrived on the crime scene from out of town, would naturally need some time to soak up all of these strange clues and would also need time to determine if the police were doing a good or bad job of investigating. Police can investigate in funny ways sometimes. There could be 1 officer in the room but 30 behind the scenes investigating. So common sense would say, take some time to see what the clues are and how the police are reacting to them. Especially since, all of the initial clues in the beginning indicated that someone in the house committed this crime. Namely one of his friends in the Ramsey family. Note written in the home, Jonbenet killed in the home, body found in the home. So what’s his rush to judgement for? And in all of this, I believe we learn something else about Rod Westmoreland. Through my research over the years, I learn that Rod Westmoreland actually has a wife. I did learn her name but I won’t reveal it now. John Ramsey’s book never mentions here arriving on the crime scene with Rod Westmoreland. So I believe we learn that he showed up on the crime scene alone, without his wife.

Now that I had determined who I believed to be the killer, I wanted to keep learning more about the case, and as much about this individual as I could. And the best way was my original way, the internet. I will now try to show you in as many ways as possible, how the clues in this case continues to point to 1 person, and he is Rod Westmoreland, John Ramsey’s financial manager/friend. And how much more sense my theory makes than any other theories that has ever been made publicly.

I believe that the most important piece of evidence found at the crime scene was the ransom note. Not the DNA. Because the DNA could be explained away if the killer was close to the family, and Jonbenet. The DNA could have gotten there innocently. There is nothing innocent about the ransom note. And again, the note is not just about a ransom, it wants to tell a story also. To let John know that this is personal. And it comes from within the killer. Just as the DNA takes us into the killer’s cells and molecules. The ransom note takes us into the killer’s heart and mind. One of the best things that I like about the ransom note is that it can help an amateur detective like myself, eliminate whole pools of possible suspects. For instance, We may not all agree on who the possible suspect in this case is. But there is one thing that I’m sure is unanimous. And that is, who ever killed Jonbenet Ramsey, had to come from 1 of the following pools of possible suspects.

The Immediate Family
The Extended Family- Including In- laws.
Business Associates- Whether at work or at home and anywhere in between.
Friends- Old and new, close and not so close.
Strangers – Or crimes of opportunity.

The Boulder DA claims that John Mark Karr sexually assaulted and killed Jonbenet Ramsey. Since the author of the ransom note wants to tell a story, I will use the ransom note as a guide and compare The Boulder DA’s suspect John Karr against my suspect Rod Westmoreland, and I will let the public Judge for themselves who’s theory makes more sense and who’s suspect would make the strongest suspect.

John Mark Karr – Would be considered a Stranger. He Does not know the family personally, and the Ramsey’s do not know John Karr personally.

Rod Westmoreland – Would be considered a Friend and or Business Associate. Rod Westmoreland does know the Ramsey’s intimately, and the house intimately, so he is a Friend first, and a Business Associate secondly because he does business with John by being his financial manager.

Using one of the most important pieces of evidence left at the crime scene, the ransom note, I will eliminate the very first pool of suspects, and that will be Strangers or Crimes of Opportunity. I have already made my feelings known as to how intimately this killer had to have known this family and their house. As I stated before, the ransom note tells us, that this was personal, no matter how much the author attempted to hide it in the beginning of the ransom note. This killer was no stranger. Thus eliminating Strangers or Crimes of Opportunity.

That leaves…

Immediate Family

Extended Family

Business Associate

Friend

Now I am going to eliminate the Immediate Family and the Extended Family . If for the sake of this argument that the ransom note is real, and the author really wanted that money, then this is how we eliminate the Immediate Family. It wouldn’t be physically possible for anyone in the home that day, the Immediate Family, to pull this crime off and get away with it. They can’t be in two places at one time. They can’t be at home with the police. Because the first thing they did was to call the police. And then at the same time out somewhere else at the bank watching. So that eliminates the Immediate Family.

And the last and final pools of possible suspect that I was able to eliminate, was the Extended Family. And the way that I was able to eliminate them, was the same way I was able to eliminate everyone else on the planet, besides just 1 person, as being the author of the ransom note, AT THE TIME, that it was written. And I like to call it the “Kidnapper(s) Mistake” or Rod Westmoreland’s big omission.

The author of the ransom notes want to give the impression that he already knows where John does his banking and will be there waiting for John Ramsey to arrive, so he can “monitor” John getting the money so the kidnapper’s will know when to call John early. One problem with that plot is that the author of the note, never feels the need to tell John Ramsey in the ransom note what specific bank branch to go to in order to “monitor” John “getting the money early”. And to add to that confusion, as we learned from the previous excerpts from the Ramsey’s book, the money was set up on John’s Visa card as a cash advance. So John could have picked the money up at any bank he wanted to. Including the one closest to his house. Furthermore, the person who eventually went to pick up the ransom money was John Fernie, not John Ramsey, as Fernie took Ramsey’s Visa card to the bank to get the money. This author seemed more concerned about John’s “account” than he was of John’s “bank”. With all of those known facts, the only person on the planet, who could have said on Dec 25 at the time the ransom note was written, that they “will know when John gets the money early”, without ever telling John Ramsey in the ransom notes which specific bank branch to go to, is Rod Westmoreland. Because he wouldn’t have to tell John which bank to go to because he knows he will learn by phone later. John Ramsey probably didn’t even know what bank he would be picking the money up at the time he first read the ransom note, because as we learned from the Ramsey book, the money was eventually picked up at a friend of a friend of John Ramsey’s bank, who just happened to be at the house at the time, not at John Ramsey’s usual bank. Another important thing that Rod Westmoreland would learn from the phone call from John Ramsey, is if John Ramsey is following the instructions in the ransom note. The ransom note tells John “not to notify anyone of his situation”, including “bank authorities”. So if John Ramsey calls his friend of 20 years who also happens to be his financial manager, and never mentions to him that Jonbenet has been kidnapped then, he can assume that he John may not have called the police either.

The only two pools of possible suspects that I was not able to conclusively eliminate were;

Friends

Business Associates

And there are things in the ransom note that says it could be a Business Associate. Lines such as “we respect your business”.

Rod Westmoreland is not only a close Friend but he is also considered a Business Associate, because he is on John Ramsey’s payroll, as John’s financial manager.

I have now shown you, by “Process of Elimination” how you are able to eliminate pools of possible suspects by using the ransom as your guide. I also showed you how you can see in the ransom note some of the unconscious mistakes the author made, including the biggest mistake which exposed Rod Westmoreland as being the only person on the planet as being the author of the note at the time that it was written.

I will now show you more clues from the ransom note that points to Rod Westmoreland as being the author of the note. The lines came towards the end of the notes,the time in the notes when the author began getting emotional and was trying to show John that this is personal. Those lines were……

“You are not the only fat cat around so don’t think that killing will be difficult”

Because if he tells John Ramsey that John is “not the only fat cat around”, that must mean that the writer also considers himself somewhat of a “fat cat”. My suspicions about those lines and the connection between Rod Westmoreland and the use of the word “fat cat” in the ransom notes were validated when I came across the actual transcripts, of the taped interview that John Ramsey, gave to the police. And here is what they revealed. ..

1998 June 25, 26, 27 – Taped interrogation interview of John Ramsey by Lou Smit and Michael Kane in Colorado.

Michael Kane: “There are these phrases in (the ransom note) here that seem to have some kind of Hollywood connection? What do you think about that?”

John Ramsey: “…There are these phrases that came out later, “You must grow a brain”… and “other fat cats here,’or something like that.”

Michael Kane: “Your not the only fat cat around.”

John Ramsey: “…Well, ‘Grow a brain, fat cats’ We’d heard them before.”

“John recalled a reception given after Jonbenet’s funeral in Atlanta by his wealthy stockbroker and friend, Rod Westmoreland.”

John Ramsey: “My friends were around me, consoling me and trying to give me advice. And to be a part of that group-its the Atlanta fat cats.”

We now learn from John Ramsey, that Rod Westmoreland considers himself a “fat cat”, an “Atlanta fat cat”.

The author of the note also says…

“Use that good southern common sense of yours”

I found this comment to be unusual considering the situation. This writer is in Colorado, in another person’s home, committing a crime, and during all of this, he is in the presence of mind to be thinking of the “South”. The writer actual is paying a compliment to the “south”, by saying that “good southern common sense”. John Ramsey lived in the south, but he is not a “southerner”. He was originally from Michigan. So why would this author knowingly want to take the time to pay a compliment to the south? I believe it is because the author is from the south. Atlanta to be exact. An “Atlanta fat cat”. That is about one of the few clues that points to both John Karr and Rod Westmoreland in this case. And that is, they both have lived in Altanta at one time or another. But regardless, the fact that the author of the ransom note wants to pay a compliment to the south and that Rod Westmoreland is from the south, is just more evidence in my opinion of Rod Westmoreland’s involvement.

At this point in my opinion, the only difference between Rod Westmoreland’s guilt or innocents, is just a matter of hours. Did he really arrive in Boulder at the time that he says he did? Or was he already in Boulder prior to when he says he was, committing this crime? Because all of the other clues seem to point to him as being the strongest suspect. Once I finally determined Rod Westmoreland’s name, which would have been in November of 2005, I immediately sent Professor Michael Tracey a series of emails detailing my concerns about Rod Westmoreland. And he did respond to all of them, but didn’t say much. But what he did say was that he would forward the information to Detective Lou Smit, and I thanked him for it. Unknown to me at that time, but known to me now, is that Professor Tracey had other ideas of his own as to who the killer was, because he had already been talking with John Karr for the past 3 years. So he had plans, and he had a book to coincide with the arrest. And at this point I really doubt if he ever forwarded my information to the police. Which is why I also sent numerous emails to the Boulder DA expressing my concerns about Rod Westmoreland. They only responded with a general email that they send everyone, and never asked me 1 question about my theory.