JonBenét Ramsey Murder Suspect: Convicted Pedophile Pens Jailhouse Confessions About Murdering Beauty Pageant Queen
A convicted pedophile claimed he murdered JonBenét Ramsey in a series of jailhouse letters about his love for the slain child beauty pageant queen, RadarOnline.com has learned.
JonBenét was just 6 years old when her body was discovered in the basement of her family's Boulder, Colorado, home on December 26, 1996.
While the child beauty queen's case captivated headlines, no arrests have ever been made in connection to JonBenét's murder. However, Gary Oliva has been on former high school friend Michael Vail's radar as a suspect since the night JonBenét was killed.
Vail told The U.S. Sun that a little after midnight on the day of JonBenét's murder, he received a distressing call from Oliva. Vail claimed his old high school friend was crying and told him he "hurt a little girl."
Vail said when he saw the news hours later, he immediately went to the Boulder Police Department about the eerie call. Despite the circumstances, Vail said he did not receive a response from BPD for three months.
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Four years later, Oliva was arrested for trespassing on the University of Boulder campus. Police discovered Oliva had several items related to JonBenét on him, as well as a taser gun.
Oliva was arrested again in 2016 for possession of child pornography. While behind bars, Vail attempted to pry a confession out of his friend and began writing to him. Oliva responded with letters that detailed his love for JonBenét, claiming her murder was an accident. He also provided ultra-realistic drawings of the child.
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"I never loved anyone like I did JonBenét and yet I let her slip and her head bashed in half and I watched her die," Oliva wrote in one letter to Vail. "It was an accident. Please believe me. She was not like the other kids."
In another letter, Oliva claimed he had "killed so many children" that he "lost track."
"When I met JonBenét she took away that horrible craving to kill kids that you know me for. She changed me into a new person. But it's okay. I've killed so many children I've lost track," read Oliva's letter to Vail.
Oliva was known to frequent the immediate area near the Ramsey home, including a church that sat 13 addresses away. Vail claimed Oliva had a history of breaking into buildings, stealing art supplies, and was fascinated with learning intricate knots — all of which were observed in JonBenét's murder.
Vail said he had "goosebumps" when he saw the garrote used to kill the child, which was fastened with her mother's paint brushes and a rope.
"When I look at some of Gary's art collages he did at high school, he was fascinated with knots - complicated knots," Vail said. "It blew my mind when I saw the knots and when I saw the garrote my heart just sank."