JonBenét Ramsey’s father says advances in DNA technology can help solve daughter’s cold case murder

Nearly 28 years after his daughter’s murder, John Ramsey is still asking police to continue the investigation using the newest breakthroughs in DNA technology to finally solve the cold case.

John Ramsey has never given up the hope of finding out exactly what happened to his child after she went ‘missing’ on December 26, 1996, with the parents finding a random note – before discovering her lifeless body in a small room in the basement hours later.

As police all over the country are using sophisticated DNA tech to solve crimes, John is hoping that the mystery DNA found under JonBenét’s ‘nails and in her underwear’ can finally reveal the identity of her killer.

“There’s been a number of old, old cold cases solved using this genealogy research,” John Ramsey said. “Let’s do a reverse family tree and see if he (the killer) had a relative living in Boulder in 1996. That’s what we’re asking the police to do.”

Once the prime suspect himself, John Ramsey and his late wife Patsy were exonerated years ago, though much of the public still holds on to resentment towards them thanks to the 90s tabloid treatment the killing of a 6-year-old pageant star would get.

He recently allowed himself to be interviewed for a Netflix documentary about the case, in which he admitted that he’s still petitioning the police department to handle the investigation and use more sophisticated DNA testing methods.

The Netflix doc Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? was released yesterday, November 25.

Two years ago, John Ramsey publicly supported an online petition asking Colorado’s governor to intervene in the investigation into her death by putting an outside agency in charge of DNA testing in the case.

Advanced DNA analysis is available now, and has been used often recently to solve cold cases. Just a few weeks ago in Oregon, police arrested a man they believe killed another man 40 years ago in Indiana, matching DNA evidence taken at the scene four decades ago to DNA on a freshly discarded cigarette.

Since the FBI created a Combined DNA Index System, an F.B.I. database of DNA profiles from biological evidence found at crime scenes, numerous police departments have been able to piece together cases that have long been without a lead. John Ramsey is hoping the state can take advantage of this technology to finally analyze the DNA mix found on the little girl.

The 6-year-old was found dead in the basement of her family’s Boulder home on Dec. 26, 1996, bludgeoned and strangled, several hours after her mother called 911 to say her daughter was missing and a ransom note for the exact amount of John’s recent raise had been left behind. Her death was ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever charged in the case.

Boulder police have been working closely with state investigators on “future DNA advancements,” the department said in a statement addressing the anniversary of JonBenet’s death in 2022.

“As the Department continues to use new technology to enhance the investigation, it is actively reviewing genetic DNA testing processes to see if those can be applied to this case moving forward,” it said.

A police spokesperson, Dionne Waugh, said she could not comment further because the investigation is still “active and ongoing.”

Police said in the statement that investigators have analyzed nearly 1,000 DNA samples during the Ramsey investigation. They have also received, reviewed, or investigated more than 21,016 tips, letters, and emails. The department said detectives have traveled to 19 states to interview or speak with more than 1,000 people in connection with the case.

Tests in 2008 on newly discovered DNA on JonBenét’s clothing pointed to the involvement of an “unexplained third party” in her slaying and not her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, or their son, Burke.

That led former district attorney Mary Lacy to clear the Ramseys of any involvement, two years after Patsy Ramsey died of cancer, calling the couple “victims of this crime.”

The police department was criticized for its initial handling of the investigation into the death of JonBenét, with many rumors that it was law enforcement planting tabloid stories and driving the investigation towards the parents, missing out on clues left by the murderer.

The details of the crime and video footage of JonBenet from the pageants propelled the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the United States, unleashing a series of true-crime books and TV specials that continue to this day.

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