A Little Girl Killed in a Beauty Pageant

When 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was bludgeoned to death in her family’s basement on December 26, 1996, she became one of the country’s highest-profile unsolved murder cases. In the aftermath, a child beauty pageant world that had existed for decades was suddenly thrust into the national spotlight and subjected to intense scrutiny. Pageant families found themselves being hounded by reporters and insulted by strangers. Newcomers were scared away, enrollment dropped, and the world of child beauty contests was condemned, even demonized.

Twenty years after JonBenet’s death, the case continues to generate ghoulish hysteria, with conspiracy theories and a long list of suspects ranging from her parents to a mystery intruder. While her parents have not been charged, their involvement in the pageant scene has raised questions about whether they were exploiting a vulnerable child.

The world of child beauty contests is not as strange as it might seem to outsiders. In fact, it is fairly common in many states and communities. Children whose parents want them to compete often start participating at a very young age, sometimes even as infants. The competitions themselves are not sexy, but they do involve elaborate makeup and costumes, including tiaras and crowns.

At one point in the 1980s, JonBenet, who was named America’s Royale Miss and Little Miss Charlevoix, won five pageant titles, People reports. Her mother Patsy was an active participant in child beauty pageants and had once aspired to be a pageant director.