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JonBenét Ramsey was tragically murdered at just 6 years old. Her body was discovered in the afternoon hours the day after Christmas in 1996, several hours after she had been reported missing. The nation was captivated by the case, but the identity of her killer remains unsolved. With Netflix’s docuseries Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? hitting the streamer on November 25, 2024, interest in her murder has risen once again.
JonBenet’s Brother Burke Ramsey Faced Suspicion Despite Never Being a Suspect
Burke Ramsey was only 9 years old at the time of JonBenét’s death and police ruled him out after collecting DNA samples and conducting multiple interviews. Authorities have consistently maintained that Burke was never a suspect. However, internet sleuths still speculated that he killed his younger sister. Burke has largely stayed out of the spotlight, but in 2016, he made a rare appearance on the Dr. Phil show.
“I know people think I did it; that my parents did it. I know that we were suspects,” Burke told Dr. Phil at the time.
When the television doctor accused him of being “unbothered’ by his sister’s death, he explained, “Yeah, well, I can tell you guys I was very emotional with the attorneys. I would just randomly cry out of nowhere. I guess it’s a combination of sitting in there with this weird guy that I never talked to before and asking me all these personal questions, it’s a combination of that and just kind of … at some point, you have to move on. I’m not saying I moved on then. It might have been kind of the other end. I didn’t really get it. You have to stop crying at some point, I guess.”
A Grand Jury Sought to Indict JonBenét Ramsey’s Parents
Along with Burke, JonBenét’s parents, Patsy and John Ramsey, were put under a microscope by both the public and investigators after the murder. A Grand Jury voted to indict John and Patsy three years after the murder in 1999 on charges of child abuse resulting in death and being accessories to a crime. In a previous documentary, John claimed that the Boulder, Colorado, police department “believed” he and Patsy, who died from ovarian cancer in 2006, “were the killers.”
“We absolutely felt like we were the victims of a lynch mob led by the media,” John confessed.
While they were later cleared of any crime, John told People in November 2024 that he had come to grips with some people still believing he killed his daughter.
“Once your reputation is tarnished, rightly or wrongly, it never goes back to pure white,” John told the outlet on November 24, 2024. “That’s just life. And it doesn’t bother me. I mean, we were so overwhelmed by kind people and caring people, and that 5 percent or 10 percent is irrelevant, and I’m not worried about it.”
Who Is John Mark Karr?
In 2006, a man named John Mark Karr was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, after he confessed to killing JonBenét.
“I loved JonBenét,” John Mark said during a press conference at the time. “I was with JonBenét when she died; she died accidentally.”
However, after authorities began to take a closer look at John Mark’s confession, it quickly became clear that none of it was true. Family members claimed that he was in Atlanta at the time of the murder and there was a lack of evidence that would place John Mark at the crime scene. A week and a half after his arrest, prosecutors dropped the case.
‘Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?’ Criticizes the Boulder Police Department
The docuseries includes three episodes and “scrutinizes the missteps of law enforcement and the media, highlighting the relatively straightforward measures that could potentially solve this haunting mystery,” according to the synopsis from Netflix. “As the series unfolds, it poses a critical question: Will Colorado authorities finally take the necessary actions to bring JonBenét Ramsey’s killer to justice and offer her family the peace they’ve long sought?”
John has previously said that Boulder authorities were reluctant to help with the case, even though new technology might give some answers to the crime.
“We’re begging the police to engage. There are cutting edge DNA labs that want to help and who believe they can move the case forward,” John told People in a November 2024 interview. “The chief of police is in charge. Nobody can come in and help him with solving a crime unless he asks for help. We’re not asking them to do anything weird. Just do your job. Test the DNA.”
English (US) ·