Entertainment

How Pamela Griffin Is Connected To JonBenét Ramsey

The story surrounding the horrifying murder of JonBenét Ramsey is anything but complete. Even 20 years later, it isn't clear who is responsible for the death of the six-year-old pageant competitor from Boulder, Colorado. In the years after the murder, it seemed that everyone connected to the Ramsey family ended up on television as the news media continued to dive into the story and turn this small-town murder into a national story. One such person was Pamela Griffin, but who was she, and how did she fit into the Ramsey case?

The case captured the nation's eye after JonBenét's death in 1996. The longer the case remained unsolved, the more attention people started paying to the situation. Because of the search for answers, everyone close to the Ramsey family suddenly fell into the spotlight. Among these people was Pam Griffen, a neighbor and friend to the Ramsey family. She was also perhaps most notable for designing JonBenét's pageant outfits, according to Deadline.

Pamela Griffin is featured in the upcoming Investigation Discovery docuseries JonBenét: An American Murder Mystery, which is one of many television series premiering this fall to revisit the case 20 years later. While the special will refresh modern audiences on Griffin's beliefs regarding the case, this is hardly the first time she has been brought up in relation to the Ramseys. In an interview with The Independent only a month after JonBenét's death, Griffin talked about the young girl's journey into the pageant world saying, "Certain children just have a pageant look." Griffin provided insight into the pageant world that the Ramsey family had become so enveloped in, and also showed The Independent reporter some of the pageant clothes she'd made including "a $750 miniature ball gown, made of satin with French lace, beaded with pearl, rhinestone and aurora borealis crystals."

Before she designed dresses, however, Griffin was a nurse. As Newsweek reported, Griffin's experience as a nurse allowed her to tend to Patsy shortly after JonBenét's death when Patsy allegedly began experiencing symptoms of dehydration. She was also seemingly delirious, Griffin claimed. Newsweek reported that Griffin remembered this alleged exchange, "Patsy reached up and touched Pam's face. 'Couldn't you fix this for me?' she asked. Pam thought she was delirious. It was as if Patsy were asking her to fix a ripped seam."

Although there are many books about the case, Griffin is only a passing mention. However, when looking at the people involved in the aftermath, it's likely that few were as helpful to the Ramsey family as Griffin. JonBenét: An American Murder Mystery will provide her first public statements in over a decade, and her comments will surely provide an interesting perspective.