The father of JonBenét Ramsey, the six-year-old beauty queen found strangled to death in the basement of her family home in Colorado, believes there is evidence in the case that has never been subjected to DNA testing.
John Ramsey, now 80, said DNA analysis of these samples could finally reveal the identity of his daughter’s killer nearly 30 years later.
It came as he repeated calls for new “state-of-the-art” laboratories to re-analyze DNA found in previous tests.
The young Miss Colorado was found abandoned on a pile of clothes with a twenty-centimeter fracture in her skull and a fragmented paintbrush stuck in her neck with a club in December 1996.
Speaking on NewsNation, Ramsey said: “We want evidence that has been previously tested and has never been tested.” We believe there are some that have never been tested.
‘We want one of the cutting-edge laboratories that exist to take samples of that again. I don’t think the government has the technology to do it yet. An Othram Labs, Bode Labs, they are really cutting-edge laboratories.
‘Bode did the original tests in 1997. They obtained unidentified male DNA, still unidentified.
‘That was a real problem for the police, because they had already decided that we were the murderers. Like, “how do we explain this unidentified DNA?” And for a long time they tried to find an innocent explanation.’
It comes as Geraldo Rivera apologized for the damage his 1997 mock trial caused after he found JonBenét’s family guilty of her death in the basement of her home in Boulder, Colorado.
The body of six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét was found in her home in Boulder, Colorado, on December 26, 1996.
NewsNation’s Geraldo Rivera apologized for the damage his 1997 mock trial caused after he found JonBenét’s family guilty of her death in the basement of her home in Boulder, Colorado.
John Ramsey, now 80, believes analysis of DNA samples in “state-of-the-art” laboratories could finally reveal the identity of his daughter’s killer.
The trial features in the new Netflix documentary, ‘Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey’, which explores the mistakes made by police in the investigation.
Rivera told Ramsey during last night’s interview: ‘I deeply apologize for what you and your family have suffered’ in reference to their special. However, he added that “mock trials and moot courts…are unprecedented.”
No one has ever caught JonBenét’s killer; The murder has haunted investigators and captivated the public imagination for nearly three decades.
While initial suspicions centered on his family (father John, mother Patsy and brother Burke), DNA testing excluded them as suspects in 1997 and they were formally exonerated in 2008.
And although an interagency working group was created in 2023, progress has been slow.
Ramsey continued: ‘We’ve criticized police for 28 years for not accepting help (from the feds).
“This case could have been solved a long time ago if the police had not immediately focused on Patsy and me.
“You know, we accepted that and told them, ‘Look, okay, well, we understand we’re in the house, so we’re suspects, but don’t stop there,’ and they did.”
Child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey is seen in 1996, the year of her death.
John and Patsy Ramsey are shown meeting with reporters on Thursday, May 1, 1997.
In the photo, the Ramsey family seen together in December 1993.
An explosive confession by a police source has also given investigators new hope of finally solving the 28-year-old mystery.
“We played the case from the beginning and now, with new blood, we can finally fix it,” a law enforcement source told the New York Post.
The surprising statement came as newly appointed Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn redoubled his efforts to solve the case.
Redfearn, who took office in early 2024, has made solving the murder a top priority.
“He wants it resolved and not registered,” said a department source. He is allocating officers and resources to solve the murder, which has been a black mark for Boulder police.
‘I’m not sure what it will take to get it wide open, but it looks like it’s within reach. We hope 2025; This is our year,” added the researcher.
Ramsey had long argued that Boulder police had been unwilling to collaborate with outside experts who could bring new perspectives to the case.
“They need to accept the help that is offered to them,” said Ramsey, now 80. ‘There is a new police chief brought in from outside. I hope he accepts help so this can be resolved.’
Ramsey urged police to dig deeper into crime scene samples and “sort through the DNA we have today and make more sense of it.”
The young Miss Colorado was found abandoned on a pile of clothes with a twenty-centimeter fracture in her skull and a fragmented paintbrush stuck in her neck with a club in December 1996.
The case is one of the highest-profile mysteries in the US and remains an unsolved case, but there is now renewed interest following the release of a new Netflix documentary.
JonBenet Ramsey’s grave in Marietta, Georgia, pictured.
He demanded that the police finally take samples of five or six items that were taken from the crime scene but have never been analyzed.
He said he wants items that have been analyzed to be resampled due to advances in technology and then compared to the public genealogy database for a possible match, as has been done in many other unsolved cases.
In fact, the authorities have sent several elements for DNA testing to resume, but so far no significant progress has been made.
DNA evidence in the case has long been problematic, and Boulder police have been heavily criticized for mishandling the investigation.
In 2015, former Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner admitted on a Reddit forum that crime scene evidence may have been mishandled.
“The crime scene was not handled properly and this subsequently affected the investigation,” he said.
A member of the department defended its efforts, rejecting accusations of negligence.
“The claim that there is viable evidence and leads that we are not pursuing (including DNA testing) is completely false,” Chief Redfearn said.