Miss America Contestant Regrets Everything After She Wins, Then She Vanished

There she is! Miss America! Wait. She isn't here? Where could she be? That was the major question at the 1937 Miss America pageant when the woman of the hour mysteriously disappeared. No one was sure if she vanished on her own accord, or was the victim of nefarious circumstances. But when the truth finally came out, it was the biggest scandal to ever hit the pageant world.

Amusement Park Trip

Bette Cooper was only involved in the pageant by happenstance. When the 17-year-old left her house in Hackettstown, New Jersey, on a fateful summer day in 1937 for Bertrand Island Amusement Park, she could only think about how much fun she was going to have.

Miss Bertrand Island

While walking around the park, Bette and her friends spotted a sign calling for contestants for the “Miss Bertrand Island” beauty pageant, happening that day. Thinking, what the heck, Bette signed up to compete.

Unlikely Winner

It was all supposed to be for laughs, but low and behold, Better Cooper was a natural! She surprised everyone, including herself, by winning the title. Though there was a bit of a snag, another prize beyond bragging rights, that made her stomach drop.

Miss America

As Miss Bertram Island, Bette Cooper was automatically entered into another contest that was way more competitive — the Miss America pageant. It was too late to turn back now, and she still had to break the news to her parents.

Parents Didn't Approve.

Bette's parents weren't thrilled by the idea of their daughter entering the pageant world. Beauty contests clashed with their religious beliefs, and it was a lot of pressure to put on the young teen's shoulders.

Doubted Her Chances

But ultimately, they figured her chance of winning was too much of a long shot for Bette’s world to turn upside down by overnight fame. After all, she was up against incredibly seasoned pageant girls. What could go wrong?

Assigned An Escort

The Cooper family took it as a vacation opportunity and made their way to the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City. Bette was a bundle of nerves until she met her assigned personal escort, 23-year-old Louis "Lou" Off.

Shirley Temple Quality

Bette and Lou had hearts in their eyes from the moment they met, which made her relaxed enough to breeze through each pageant category. Her small-town charm, sweet singing voice, and golden curls drew comparisons to Shirley Temple. Everyone adored her.

The Ultimatum

On the eve of the pageant's grand conclusion, Bette and Lou went out to dinner, where they discussed the possibility of her snatching the crown. She didn't think she stood a chance of winning, but if she did, Lou wasn't going to stick around.

Forget About Louis

In 1971 book There She Is: The Life and Times of Miss America, Louis Off remembered his blunt response, “I just want to let you know now that if you do win, you can forget about me, because I don’t want anything to do with it. The last thing in the world I want is publicity.” 

Excelling Without Trying

Sadly, Bette was a publicity magnet. Her performance of the song “When the Poppies Bloom Again” for the talent portion wowed the crowd. Then there was the evening gown portion, where she looked every bit the stoic beauty. To Bette and Louis' disappointment, her chances of winning weren't as laughable anymore.

Crowned Miss America

With her newfound love on the line, Bette Cooper went off to the pageant finals where she learned her fate. In a mighty underdog victory, Better Cooper was crowned Miss America 1937.

False Reports

A local newspaper printed a blurb about her win: "The new Miss America has aspirations for a theatrical career. Her first choice is the screen, the stage second, and in a pinch would accept a radio future.” Though, surprisingly, that wasn’t Bette’s dream at all.

Bette Panics

Instead of celebrating her win, Bette retreated to her hotel room. The realization that her life had suddenly changed forever was crashing down on her and she was panicked. Bette’s father was at a loss oh how to console her, so he called up her recent ex, Louis Off.

Escape

With her parents' permission, Louis sneaked Bette out of the hotel under the cover of darkness. They climbed in a boat and puttered off to hide from the fervor of press conferences and interviews, waiting onboard only a short ride away from the pier at Atlantic City.

Missing Miss America

The next day everyone gathered at the Steel Pier for the official reveal of the year’s Miss America winner. The crowd and pageant officials waited for the young woman of honor, and they kept on waiting because Bette Cooper was a no show.

Frantic Search

When it dawned on people that Miss America was not running late, panic set in. Bette Cooper was declared missing and people jumped to drastic conclusions, like kidnapping. They combed the area searching for her, though no one noticed the little boat where she sat in hiding.

Sneaking Back Home

At nightfall, Louis and Bette docked the boat without detection. They transferred over to a car and set off to Hackettstown to bring Bette back home. She wasn't interested in fulfilling the duties of Miss America, she just wanted a normal life.

Out Of The Spotlight

Louis and Bette said their goodbyes and never reconnected again. Both went on to marry and live lives out of the spotlight, though, Bette couldn't run away from her title entirely. Officials tracked her down and reminded her that Miss America wasn't an empty title.

Beauty Queen Curse

They convinced Bette to complete a few of her Miss America duties, but when those were finished, she swore off life in the limelight. Nowadays, however, evading fame — or infamy — isn't as easy as it once was, so, when decades after Bette another young beauty queen was the center of a horrible scandal, the public was paying very close attention.

JonBenét Ramsey

That scandal was the murder of 6-year-old beauty pageant queen JonBenét Ramsey. From the start of the troubled investigation, authorities cast a critical eye on the Ramsey family. Parents John and Patricia, and even JonBenét's older brother, Burke, were all subject to massive public scrutiny. Decades later, Burke Ramsey is finally acting on rumors — and his moves are controversial, to say the least.

Middle-Class Dream

In the winter of 1996, the Ramseys were an upper-middle-class family living in Boulder. Patriarch John was the president of a computer system company, and mother Patricia was a loving caregiver to her two children: Burke, aged 9, and JonBenét, aged 6.

Beauty Pageant Prodigy

JonBenét wasn't your average six year-old; although she participated in all kindergartner activities, she was also an accomplished beauty pageant contestant who'd won multiple titles, including Little Miss Colorado and National Tiny Miss Beauty.

Letter On The Stairs

Everything was peaceful within the Ramsey household that year until the early morning of December 26th, when Patricia awoke to notice an odd letter resting on the staircase. She bent down to pick it up.

Ransom Note

While reading the note, Patsy was horrified to realize that it was actually a handwritten ransom letter. Whoever penned it was claiming to have taken her little girl! Even scarier, the writer was demanding $118,000 in order to get her back.

Calling The Cops

Although the letter specified not to contact any cops or authorities, Patsy did just that, calling 9-1-1 at 5:52 am. Police cars showed up at their address on 749 15th street, below, within minutes.

Strange Details

Right away, observers noticed something was seriously awry with the ransom request. First of all, John remarked that $118,000 was the exact amount of money he'd received as a bonus that year. Could this be a coworker seeking to get money out of him?

Religious Connection?

Authorities also pondered another significance behind the strangely specific number; perhaps it was referring to Psalm 118, which dictates "O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever." Was this a religiously motivated crime?

Clear House

Upon searching the house, investigators found nothing. Therefore, considering it to be a kidnapping, the only room they cordoned off as an evidence site was JonBenét's bedroom. Friends and family came over to comfort the distraught family, thus contaminating the entire crime scene.

Agreed To Pay

Without any clue as to who had taken JonBenét or where she was, John Ramsey agreed to pay the ransom amount. However, the hours passed, and as they waited for a call, nobody ended up coming to claim the money.

Another Search

This is when a detective had the idea to ask John and a family friend, Fleet White, to search the house again in an effort to see if anything was amiss. Even the tiniest detail could be crucial.

Finding JonBenét

So JonBenét's father went down to the basement. He opened a door that the family usually kept latched, only to make a horrifying discovery: his young daughter's body, bound and covered in a blanket. She was dead.

Unexpected Backlash

Overcome with grief and devastation, John Ramsey carried his child's body upstairs. The shattered father never could have anticipated the storm of unspeakable accusations that would soon be levied against him.

Instant Suspects

The Ramsey parents were immediately placed under intense scrutiny, suspected by investigators for the seemingly staged note, lack of forced entry, and their apparent reluctance to cooperate with detectives. Patricia had an explanation for the latter accusation, however..

Wasted Resources

Patricia alleged that the reason she and her husband were hesitant to assist in the investigation against them was because they desperately wanted resources instead to be directed externally, towards the actual killer.

Never Indicted

However, while the Ramseys were never formally indicted rumors flew defaming them and alleging their involvement in their daughter's early demise. Patricia Ramsey died in 2006, two years before the couple received a formal apology from Boulder County.

Looking At Burke

One person who'd never even been considered a formal subject by the state was still reeling from the trauma of false accusations. That person was Burke Ramsey, JonBenét's older brother, who'd been only nine years old at the time of her death.

Accidental Homicide

For years many unsubstantiated theories floated around surrounding Burke. Most stipulated that the boy had hit his sister with a hard object, not intending to kill her, and then either he or his parents had written the strange ransom note in an attempt to cover up the crime.

Suing For Defamation

Between 1999 and 2000 Burke Ramsey sued a number of publications including media outlets and tabloids for defamation of his name. After this, no one dared to accuse him of being the killer...until a 2016 CBS special aired that did just that.

Cruel Trick

This final slandering of his name in the face of such a profound personal tragedy was too much for Burke, and he filed a formal lawsuit against CBS, alleging that rather than seeking the truth, all they wanted was "to accomplish their goals of achieving ratings and profits."

Settling The Case

After decades of silence on the subject, Burke finally gave a single interview in a last-ditch attempt to exonerate himself. Now, finally, the lawsuit has been settled "amicably." The exact dollar amount has not been released, but the initial lawsuit sought upwards of $750 million in damages.

Stop The Rumors

Lin Wood, the Ramseys' attorney, said, "It is now my professional and personal wish for this family that they no longer suffer the pain of false accusations in the future. I sincerely hope the CBS case is my last lawsuit for these fine clients and friends."

Not Over

But the people still weren't ready to let the case go cold. In 2016 private detective Ollie Gray announced that he had made a major breakthrough in the investigation. Having initially been hired by John and Patsy themselves to track down JonBenet’s killer, Gray continued to work on the case even after his arrangement with the Ramseys had come to an end.

New Lead

According to Gray, a Boulder man named Michael Helgoth, who was 26 at the time, was responsible for JonBenet’s death. Key to this theory is the testimony of John Kenady, a man who worked at the Helgoth family’s junkyard. Apparently, Kenady had heard Helgoth discussing a great financial deal – as well as pondering what it would “be like to crack a human skull” – in the lead-up to the murder.

Rejected Tip

And although Kenady claims to have attempted to relay his suspicions to the police, Gray believes that they did not listen to what he had to say. “I got the distinct feeling that the Boulder police had absolutely no interest in anything that took away from their theory that John and Patsy Ramsey killed their daughter,” Gray told InTouch in 2016.

Missing Confession

Additionally, Kenady claims that somewhere a tape exists which contains Helgoth’s confession. But sadly the full truth may never be known. In February 1997 Helgoth was found dead in his home. And although it appeared to have been a suicide, Gray believes Helgoth was murdered by accomplices who were afraid that he would talk.

Dead End

At any rate, Gray is still holding out hope that one day the crime will finally be solved. “If they could find out who killed Helgoth,” he continued, “it could lead police to his accomplices in her murder.” So, will justice ever catch up with whoever so cold-bloodedly ended the life of JonBenet Ramsey? In such a high-profile case, we can only speculate as to what twists and turns might still be in store.

Still A Puzzle

JonBenét Ramsey's death has become a topic of fascination for true crime fanatics, being endlessly debated across online forums. No one can work out the puzzle, though the same can be said for many of the world's most infamous crimes.