JonBenét Patricia Ramsey (August 6, 1990 – December 26, 1996) was a
six-year-old girl found murdered in the basement of her parents' home
in Boulder, Colorado, nearly eight hours after she was reported
missing. The case drew attention throughout the United States when no
suspect was charged and suspicions turned to possible family
involvement. The tantalizing clues of the case inspired numerous books
and articles that attempt to solve the mystery. Many details of the
case, including her parents' wealth, her apparently violent death, and
the fact that JonBenét had frequently been entered in beauty contests,
enhanced public interest in the case.

The results of the autopsy revealed that JonBenét was killed by
strangulation and a skull fracture. A garrotte made from a length of
nylon cord and the handle of a paintbrush had been used to strangle
her; her skull had suffered severe blunt trauma; she likely was
sexually assaulted either digitally or with a paintbrush, but there
was no evidence of rape. The official cause of death was asphyxia due
to strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma. The brush end
of the paint brush was found in a tub of Patsy Ramsey's art supplies,
but the top third never was located despite extensive searching of the
house by law enforcement in subsequent days.[2] Experts noted that the
construction of the garrotte required a special knowledge of knots.
Autopsy also revealed that the child had eaten pineapple only a few
hours before the murder, of which her mother claimed to be unaware;
some medical experts[citation needed] believe this could have happened
in the afternoon before the Ramseys went to a party given by their
close friends, Fleet and Priscilla White, whereas others say[citation
needed] it must have been after the Ramseys came home (even though the
parents claimed she had fallen asleep in the car and remained asleep
while put to bed). The latter theory is most plausible, since
photographs of the home, taken the day JonBenét's body was found, show
a bowl of pineapple on the kitchen table with a spoon in it. Neither
Patsy nor John remembers putting this bowl on the table nor feeding it
to JonBenét.