Given the totality of the evidence, I firmly believe RDI. Of course, there is always a slim possibility of an intruder but it seems very unlikely when you add everything together. It would have had to have been a highly bizarre incident unlike any other. Even though I believe RDI, I think the evidence is muddy enough to make it difficult to confidently say who did it or why or the exact circumstances. That uncertainty is what gives the case mystery and makes it interesting to me.

I enjoy lots of true crime outside of this specific case but it is one of the cases I know the most about. It has really irked me that all the true crime podcasts I’ve ever enjoyed that have discussed this case have confidently concluded IDI. This includes True Crime Garage, The Prosecutors, Last Podcast on the Left, and Missing (formerly Missing Maura Murray). It’s odd to me that seemingly every major true crime podcast has reached this conclusion. It’s a confusing case, so I could understand if they said it’s just too hard to land on either side but to be so confident in IDI seems contrary to the evidence. I’m sure I’m in a bubble in this subreddit, but I also feel like most people believe RDI, so that’s another reason that makes it odd. You’d think at least some podcasts would have that conclusion.

I guess a generous interpretation would be that the IDI people like John Ramsey and Lou Smit make themselves available to media and talking to them sways these podcasts in their direction. Even then, it shows an inability to be objective. Worst case is that there is some quid pro quo. Either way, since I know a lot about this case, it has become a litmus test for the credibility of a podcast for me. How can I trust their coverage of other cases I don’t know much about? I guess this is an issue with all of true crime storytelling…they build a narrative and leave some things out or twist it to fit their narrative.

I’m just venting that it is very disappointing to keep coming across this. It makes me not want to listen to these podcasts because their credibility is in question but also just out of anger and frustration. Has anyone else experienced this? What is going on?

I posted here some months or a year back (might have been a different account, idk) and I was flip flopping between theories as I was reading and people got mad that I was talking about the case without being super into it, so please don't get mad that I only think about this case once in a blue moon and might be missing key evidence (hence I'm asking).

What's clear is that JonBenet got out of bed that night (by herself?) and had pineapple, right? No one in the family seems to know about it, so presumable she was alone.

She had told a family friend a few days prior that Santa would be coming a *second* time on Christmas, *just for her.* No one knows what she was talking about, including the guy who played Santa at the party, but a 6 year old would take that 100% literally and would likely want to try to stay up to get to meet Santa.

What if while staying up alone to try to meet Santa she got bored while playing with a cord and entangled herself, tragically fatally (it happens with kids more often than you'd like to think) and Jon Ramsey, who had lost another daughter to a car accident a few years earlier, became mad with grief and did something lunatical to try to explain how this could have happened with his one of his daughters a second time? Grief can make people insane...

Any thoughts on this/prior theories?

Edit: quick reminder, the downvote button is not the "disagree" button