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The Ramseys' Former Landscaper Speaks On JonBenet

by Andi O'Rourke

A new documentary is out nearly 20 years after the shocking death of JonBenet Ramsey, a six-year-old beauty pageant star, and the investigators on the case interview some people who were involved in the Ramseys lives at the time. Just who is Brian Scott, the Ramsey's former landscaper? He made an appearance on the new documentary, The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey, and offered his thoughts on the family at the center of this shocking crime.

Scott, then 27, was interviewed by law enforcement authorities following the murder of JonBenet. A graduate of the University of Colorado-Boulder, he had been working for the Ramsey family for roughly 18 months when Ramsey was found, deceased, in her basement. In the new docuseries, Scott is unclear about when he was hired by the family, saying, "It might have been '94. That summer. Patsy Ramsey gave me the job." However, according to information published in Lawrence Schiller's 1999 book on the case, Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, Scott told Det. Linda Arendt that he started working for the family during the summer of 1995.

The night that JonBenet disappeared, Scott's alibi was that he had spent Christmas evening at the apartment of Ann Preston, his girlfriend at the time. Scott recounted to detectives that he had stayed at her place from 10:30 to roughly midnight, before going home. He did give a sample of his hair and saliva to law enforcement on February 24, 1997, almost two months after Ramsey was found, but was ruled out as a suspect.

When asked about his interactions with the Ramsey family, Scott offered some some additional details, like the fact that he didn't see JonBenet's father, John Ramsey often; only "once a season, maybe," and that he didn't run into Burke, JonBenet's "more introverted" elder brother, a lot either. He does mention being in more frequent contact with JonBenet and her mother, former beauty queen Patsy Ramsey, who passed away from ovarian cancer in 2006.

"I did remember seeing her practicing the violin, and Patsy was out talking to me, and I think she went back and checked in and said you have to keep practicing, don’t put that down.” Scott also recalled that JonBenet enjoyed playing in piled of leaves during the fall.

"JonBenet would come out, and she would off and be playing relatively close to where I would be working. One of the things that stands out is raking leaves in the fall. I had all the leaves in a pile, and she wanted to jump in them." He also offered his own thoughts on why she enjoyed playing in the leaves while he was working: "It reminded her of time she spent with her dad. She seemed like a normal kid who just likes to play and misses her father, I remember that."

Image: The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey/CBS (1)