“We have a kidnapping.” On the night of December 25 to 26, 1996, it was with this sentence that the “JonBenét” affair began in the United States. In Boudler, Colorado, precisely. At 5:52 a.m., Patsy Ramsey called 911, the emergency number, in a panic. Her 6-year-old daughter, JonBenét, known for winning numerous children’s beauty pageants, is missing. She explains having found a two and a half page letter, demanding $118,000 in ransom. Without this amount, the kidnappers threaten to behead the child.
Eight hours later, the girl’s body was found in the basement of the family home by John, her father. Her wrists are bound, she has duct tape over her mouth and there are marks of violent blows on her head. The autopsy reveals that she died of strangulation. “Blood and abrasions were found in the girl’s vaginal area and she was struck in the head violently enough to cause bleeding and an 8.5mm wound to the head,” the report states.
A lack of evidence and parents as the main suspects
Arriving quickly on site after Patsy Ramsey’s call, the police found no trace of a break-in at their home. As recalled The Independent, the case having initially been treated as a kidnapping and not as a murder, only the girl’s room was placed under seal. Many people came in and out of the Ramsey home between the time JonBenét was reported missing and the discovery of her body. Potential evidence was then destroyed. John Ramsey also carried his child’s corpse when he discovered it, unknowingly contaminating other clues.
As depicted in the documentary Cast JonBenét, from Netflix, the first suspicions of the police in Boulder – a city of 100,000 inhabitants which has “never known a murder” – are directed towards the child’s mother, herself a former beauty queen. Investigators point to disturbing elements. Starting with this “very long” ransom, written by hand, with a sheet of paper and a pen that were in the Ramsey house. Then, the very precise amount corresponds exactly to John Ramsey’s Christmas bonus. The couple’s behavior with the police casts doubt on their responsibilities, particularly because they gave an interview with CNNon January 1, 1997, assuring that there was a “killer on the loose” while they refused to be questioned by the police.
Apologies after accusations
For years, the family of the young victim will be in the sights of investigators. In 1998, a grand jury voted to indict the parents for “child abuse resulting in death and complicity to a crime,” the Daily Camera Boudler. But no indictment was issued due to lack of evidence in the case. It was not until 2007 – a year after Pasty Ramsey’s death from ovarian cancer – that their name was completely cleared.
A police report then revealed that the DNA taken from drops of blood found on the girl’s underwear came from an unknown man. In 2008, prosecutor Mary Lacy apologized to the family. JonBenét’s brother Burke, aged 9 at the time, was also suspected of having killed his sister, by hitting her in the head with an object.
Confessions of child criminals
Two months after the death of JonBenét’s mother, John Mark Karr, 41, was arrested in Thailand for child molestation. He told investigators that he was the perpetrator of the girl’s crime, specifying that he had drugged her then sexually assaulted her before killing her. But his DNA did not match the samples found at the crime scene. As recalled CNN, he has since been exonerated.
In 2019, another man, imprisoned for child pornography, confessed to the murder of the mini miss. Gary Oliva claims in a letter written to one of his former high school classmates to have killed JonBenét “by accident”, reports the Daily Mail at the time. He too was exonerated thanks to his DNA.
The investigation relaunched more than twenty after the events
In December 2021, on the 25th anniversary of the death of little Ramsey, the city of Boulder publishes a press release in which it specifies that more than 1,500 pieces of evidence have been processed and 1,000 DNA samples have been analyzed since 1996. The police department specifies that it “actively uses new technologies to improve the investigation” and regularly verifies the DNA matches.
A year later, the Boulder police and prosecutor announced that they will now consult the “Colorado cold case review team”, the cold case team, to help advance the investigation. The Boulder services already work with the FBI, the CBI (California Bureau of Investigation) and the Colorado Department of Public Safety. In this new communicated, they assure that the detectives investigated “more than 21,000 tips, letters and emails”. “We traveled to nineteen states to interview or speak with more than 1,000 people,” the authorities insist.
“This crime has left a void in the hearts of many people and we will never stop investigating until we find JonBenét’s killer,” Police Chief Maris Herold said in the latest statement released in line.