JonBenét Ramsey's Photographer Indicted On Child Porn Charges, Downloaded 'Concerning' Images
Earlier this month, Randall DeWitt Simons, an Oregon man who reportedly had once served as JonBenét Ramsey's photographer months before her 1996 murder, was indicted on child pornography charges.
According The Register-Guard, on July 2, Simons was taken into custody after Springfield police had executed a search warrant on June 27. Police were initially made aware of Simons' behavior back in July 2018 when an A&W restaurant employee notified them that someone had been using their WiFi to download "inappropriate and concerning images."
Eventually, police traced the activity back to Simons, who lived in close proximity to the restaurant. They were able to do so by utilizing a special software program in order to see him log into the WiFi and then tracked the activity back to his residence. Upon searching his property, four laptops, three camcorders, two bags of writable discs, and six cameras were discovered.
According to the outlet, Simons had previously been arrested for walking down a street in Lincoln County, Colorado, naked less than two years after Ramsey's murder. Following the indecent exposure arrest, Simons was held in jail and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
He divulged to police upon apprehension that he was a child photographer, which prompted them to contact parents of local children to see if their kids had ever been shot by Simons or left alone with him.
While Simons, 66, has never been declared a suspect in 6-year-old Ramsey's death, he had garnered quite a bit of attention in regards to the case. In 1997, he sold "a portfolio of JonBenét glamour pictures" that he took of the child to a photo agency, which fetched $7,500, according to The AP. He would later say that the only reason he did that was to bring attention to the unsolved case.
According to Daily Mail, in July 1995, Simons had taken the photos close to the Ramsey home in Boulder, Colorado, while her mother, Patsy Ramsey, was present.
Pamela Griffin, the pageant seamstress who is said to have introduced Simons to the Ramsey family, said she has been telling police for decades that he should be a top suspect in the still-unsolved case.
Griffin said she changed her mind about her former friend's innocence when years later she came across a photo that Simons had taken of her daughter holding a kite. "I believe the nylon rope it was attached to was the same type as that used in the garrote to kill JonBenét. I went to the police," she said, per Daily Mail.
It is also said that Simons did not have an alibi for the night of the murder and "didn't want Lynda, his wife at the time, to find out where he had been."
The Lane County indictment alleges 15 counts of second-degree encouraging child sex abuse. Simons, was arraigned last week and has entered not guilty pleas to all counts. His next court apperance is scheduled for Aug. 7 for a pre-trial conference.
- MOST POPULAR IN Offbeat
