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ABC's 20/20 season 47 episode 11 chronicles the murder of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey. The episode is set to be released on December 13, 2024, titled Forever Young: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? It will follow the investigation that took place, adding new perspectives to a case that happened nearly three decades ago.
JonBenét Ramsey was found murdered in the basement of her house at 755 15th Street in Boulder, Colorado, on December 26, 1996. Her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, woke up after Christmas night to find an anonymous letter.
When they came downstairs, John discovered the body of their daughter, who had sustained fatal injuries. The Boulder police department was unprepared for this tragic murder, and eventually, all the suspicions were directed toward the parents. However, after decades of investigation, the police were unable to gather enough evidence to prove the parents were guilty.
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Suspicions were raised against numerous people, but the police found no concrete evidence to reveal the true identity of the unknown murderer, who sneaked into the house on Christmas night.
The cold case of JonBenét Ramsey explained
What is the story of JonBenét Ramsey
JonBenét was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on August 6, 1990. She was the younger daughter of John and Patsy Ramsey's two children and had a sibling named Burke. Her father was the president of a computer graphics company named Access Graphics. Patsy, John's second wife, was a former beauty model who won the title of Miss West Virginia in 1977.
Even when JonBenét Ramsey was a little child, Pasty started enrolling her in numerous child modeling shows, which won her titles, including America's Royale Miss, Little Miss Colorado, and National Tiny Miss Beauty. The child was very popular in the neighborhood, and as per investigators, this could be a major part that had contributed to the murder.
What happened on the night of Christmas 1996
As per a Daily News article, one of the neighbors of the Ramsey residence, Scott Gibson, revealed that while looking at the house from his window, he saw the kitchen lights getting turned on, he saw the kitchen lights turn on and then dim. Another neighbor named Melody Stanton stated that she was awakened from her sleep by the sound of a child screaming from their house.
JonBenét's mother, Patsy, handed over a two-and-a-half-page ransom letter to the investigators when they arrived at the scene in the morning. The letter was sent by a small foreign faction and was directed toward John Ramsey, asking him for a sum of $ 118,000 in exchange for his daughter. John provided shocking details to the investigators, saying that the ransom amount was the same as what he had received as a bonus on Christmas the previous year.
There were no visible signs of someone breaking into the house, which directed all the suspicions towards the parents. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation doubted that the crime was staged, with the ransom note written by Patsy Ramsey. As per a New York Times article, the letter was written with a pen and pages from the Ramsey residence.
Investigation of the murder of JonBenét Ramsey
Patsy was the first person who called the 911 emergency around 8:00 am EST in the morning. As per a Newsweek Article, Officer Rick French, one of the two police officers, went to open the basement door, which was protected with an additional wooden latch. Inside the room, he found the dead body of JonBenét Ramsey, and the case turned more complex as there were no other exits for a stranger to come inside.
The body of JonBenét clearly indicated that the child was subjected to abuse before her death. Her mouth was covered with duct tape, while both her neck and wrists were strangled with a nylon cord. A white blanket was covered around her torso.
According to JonBenét Ramsey's autopsy report, she had a fractured skull and was forcefully strangled to death. The official cause of her death was declared as Asphyxia with craniocerebral trauma, which prevented the supply of enough oxygen to the body. As per ABC, though the child was not r*ped, she was se*ually abused. A paintbrush was used to damage her vaginal area, which was then wiped up with a cloth.
Progress in the investigation
According to CBS, investigators found a mixed blood sample at the murder scene in December 2003, which contained DNA from a stranger. The samples of all Ramsey family members were taken and put under supervision. However, none of these matched. When the case came under the jurisdiction of the FBI, they ran the DNA through their data system, but none of them had a match to it. This brought the case to another dead end.
By September 15, 1998, a grand jury was set to charge the Ramseys for the case. However, the Boulder County District Attorney's office could not find any concrete evidence. On July 9, 2009, with the advancement of touch DNA analysis, the Ramsey family members were finally declared innocent.
JonBenét Ramsey's murder case was reopened
A year later, in October 2010, the Boulder police reopened JonBenét Ramsey's case. The investigators interviewed new people with the hope of bringing different aspects to the case. The police started using the latest advancements in DNA analysis but failed to gather any new information.
Patsy Ramsey passed away on June 24, 2006, due to ovarian cancer at the age of 49. Mark Beckner, the former chief of the Boulder Police Department, said that the investigation should concentrate more on the unknown trace of DNA found from the crime scene rather than blaming the parents.
The Ramsey family filed defamation lawsuits
After the death of JonBenét, John and Patsy Ramsey had to go through numerous news interviews and television appearances, which often forced them to answer uncomfortable questions revolving around their departed daughter. Additionally, a bunch of news articles were published on the murder case, which contained disturbing elements.
In 1999, the Ramseys sued Star magazine for printing disturbing content about their son. As per the Denver News Channel, a defamation suit was filed by the Ramseys and their family members in 2001 against the authors and publishers of the book titled JonBenét: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation, published in the same year.
In 2016, during the CBS television documentary titled The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey, Werber Spitz, a forensic pathologist, accused Burke Ramsey of homicide. He was only just nine years old at the time of his sister's murder. On October 6, 2016, Burke's lawyers filed a lawsuit against Spitz, and then on December 28, 2016, he filed a civil lawsuit against CBS, which was settled by January 2019.
New advancements in the investigation of JonBenét Ramsey's murderer
On November 25, 2024, Netflix released a three-part docu-series titled Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey, which chronicled the search for the murderer of JonBenét Ramsey. Bringing his own introspection into the case, director Joe Berlinger commented that the blame directed towards the Ramsey family was completely a false narrative.
Berlinger revealed that John Ramsey is still involved in finding the murderer of his daughter. The 80-year-old man still demands the Boulder Police Department use more advanced DNA technology to solve the case.
The series also delves deep into the personal tapes provided by Colorado Springs detective Lou Smit and Boulder district attorney Alex Hunter regarding the case. The murder of JonBenét Ramsey remains a cold case 28 years after the incident, despite years of intense scrutiny and investigation.
Check our other articles for more details on the murder of JonBenét Ramsey Murder.
