Kidnapping?

Legal Definition. Under Colorado law, kidnapping is defined as follows: 

KIDNAPPING, FIRST-DEGREE

- First-degree kidnapping is committed when a person who seeks concessions to release the person either a) forcibly seizes and carries any person from one place to another, b) entices or persuades any person to go from one place to another, or c) imprisons or forcibly secretes any person. (C.R.S. 18-3-301)

KIDNAPPING, SECOND-DEGREE

- Second-degree kidnapping is committed in either of two ways: knowingly seizing and carrying any person from one place to another, or, taking or enticing a child with the intent to keep the child from the child's parents. or to sell or trade the child. (C.R.S. 18-3-302.

JBR "Kidnapped" Legally Speaking

Thus, technically speaking, JBR was the victim of a first-degree kidnapping even though she was merely carried or forced to go from one part of the house to another and no ransom was ever collected. Arguably, even if she willingly went to the basement with a "friendly" intruder, the RN presumably would have been used as evidence of an effort to seek a concession for release even if its actual purpose was merely to divert authorities and/or buy time to escape.

The Ransom Note

RN Not "Planted" Evidence

The note itself exists, and in that sense is "genuine." No one has argued it was "planted" by law enforcement, for example. But a contentious issue is whether when written, the note was intended to actually secure a ransom amount from the Ramseys, regardless of what might have happened in the aftermath.

Would Timing of RN Matter? 

This is connected to, but irrevocably bound to, the question of whether the note was written before or after JBR was killed. As the Comparison to Other Famous RN's shows, there are historical examples of notes used successfully to secure ransoms even in cases where the kidnap victims were killed both before and after the notes were written. Thus, the fact that JBR was found dead cannot itself be taken as definitive proof that the

RN not genuine

Does Failure to Try and Collect Ransom Matter? Likewise, there have been apparently genuine ransom notes written in which the perp, due to possible incompetence or some unknown motive, failed to attempt to retrieve an offered ransom amount. Thus, the failure to call "tomorrow" with further instructions for ransom delivery cannot be taken as definitive proof that the RN was not genuine at the time it was written.

Motivations for "Fake" RN

Many potential motivations have been offered for crafting a "fake" note: a) as part of a "cover-up" to divert authorities from how/why JBR died; b) as a "hidden message" to law enforcement or criminal profilers such as Robert Ressler or John Douglas; c) as a "mind game" that gave the killer satisfaction over expressing his/her control over the Ramseys; or d) as a deliberate effort to frame the Ramseys.

Odd Ransom Amount Raises Questions.

Taken at face value, the RN seeks $118,000; but because of the odd and paltry amount relative to what the Ramsey's could have paid, it is presumed by many that the note shouldn't be taken seriously, i.e., that it is "staging" and the perp never intended to collect a ransom. So the issue is what other aspects of the note suggest it was genuine?

Explicit Instructions

The RN mirrors other "genuine" ransom notes in which ransoms were actually paid or attempted to be paid to perps who fully intended their notes to produce such a result. 

1. The precise form of the ransom amount is specified in terms of number and denomination of bills desired;
2. The container in which the ransom amount is to be delivered is specified; 
3. The method of contacting or being contacted by kidnapper is specified;
4. There are admonitions not to contact LE, with severe consequences articulated for non-compliance.
5. There are assurances that victim will be returned safely.

Obviously the above characteristics of the RN are not dispositive

since in any fake RN, the writer also would be seeking to replicate the form and style of RNs as they understand them (either as "students" of past crimes via movies or reading, OR by simply imagining what a kidnapper might "need" to say; we already know that this perp apparently was well-familiar with recent "ransom" movies, so there's no need to posit that the individual had ever read "classic" RNs such as in the Lindbergh or Loeb cases). But one could say that this note was far more detailed than it "needed" to be. Had it left out certain elements such as the denomination of bills requested, this fact would not have led LE to automatically conclude the note was "obviously" fake.

So. was the "excess" detail because the perp really hoped for a ransom delivery and was doing all possible to ensure nothing inadvertently went wrong; or does it reflect a fake RN writer bending over backward to appear genuine? Short of a confession, there's probably no way of determining the answer to the question with certainty given the evidence in hand.

BPD Took RN Seriously

Even though "everybody knows" the RN was "fake" because we now have 20:20 hindsight of a body being found, in real time LE did take the note very seriously. If the note were "obviously" fake, the police presumably would have undertaken a much more thorough and diligent effort to search the house, thereby shortcutting the many hours of waiting that ensued. Likewise, the police presumably never would have wasted resources on setting up genuine phone taps and monitoring for hours. If their intent was merely to "entrap" the Ramseys by seeing how they would react, that could have been done much less expensively. But all this suggests that the RN was sufficiently credible that it could not be easily differentiated from a genuine RN.

FBI Did Not Take RN Seriously...

The Forensic Linguistics Institute has posted an analysis of the RN's contents, concluding that it is not a genuine ransom note.