BOULDER, Colo. — JonBenét Ramsey's father told Denver7 he plans to discuss new DNA technology with Boulder's police chief in the new year in hopes of cracking the investigation into his daughter's death.
It's been 28 years since the 6-year-old girl was found dead inside her Boulder home the day after Christmas. Her case remains unsolved but recently garnered new attention following a Netflix docu-series released in November.
“In my mind, she’s still my 6-year-old little girl,” said John Ramsey, JonBenét's father. “She was a spark of energy. She was very extroverted [and] loved to perform. And I was worried she was going to grow up and run off to Hollywood. That’s not gonna be good.”
However, JonBenét never got the chance to grow up. The 6-year-old girl was reported missing from her Boulder home on the morning of Dec. 26, 1996. Her mother, Patsy Ramsey, said she discovered a ransom note demanding $118,000 in exchange for JonBenét’s safe return. John found his daughter’s body in the basement several hours after they called 911.
The little girl was sexually assaulted and brutally killed, investigators said.
The Boulder Police Department has been criticized – including by a former BPD chief who joined the department nine months after the murder – for botching the initial handling of the investigation. Most recently, the Netflix docu-series alleged the department made mistakes during the investigation and was holding but not pursuing key evidence – claims Boulder PD has refuted.
John, Patsy, and JonBenét’s 9-year-old brother, Burke, eventually became suspects. In 2008 — two years after Patsy died from ovarian cancer — then-district attorney Mary Lacy said DNA in the case had a genetic profile belonging to an unidentified male and did not belong to anyone in the family.
“Their objective was to charge Patsy and I. From day one, that was the answer,” John said. “Their whole case against us was [that] we didn’t act right that morning."
He also claimed the media played a role in spreading "false information" about his daughter's death.
Retired Colorado Springs police detective Lou Smit was eventually asked by the Boulder County District Attorney's Office to work the case as a special investigator but later resigned after he was convinced the Ramseys were not involved.
“He said, 'This is a DNA case. This will be solved by DNA,'" John Ramsey said, "and I think that’s correct today given it’s been 28 years with no really credible lead."
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Twenty-eight years later, John said he is still fighting to find JonBenét’s killer. He said he is asking Boulder PD to test and re-test several items found at the scene that day.
“All we know — and we may be wrong — there were a number of items taken from the scene [and] sent to a DNA lab for testing," he told Denver7. "A number of those items were returned untested. The garrote, a suitcase found under the window that looked to me like a step to get out of the upward basement window."
"I think it can be solved if we take advantage of the latest technology that’s out there now. The thing baffling to me is, why wouldn’t you do this?"
JonBenét's father wants the department to use genetic genealogy, a technology that emerged in 2018 when the Golden State Killer was arrested.
“That’s when we started using investigative genetic genealogy widely on these types of violent crimes. Now we can use second, third, fourth, fifth cousins to reverse engineer the identity of this individual,” said CeCe Moore, chief genetic genealogist at Parabon NanoLabs. “It just wasn’t something that was available to investigators on JonBenét’s case until 2018.”
While Moore isn’t involved in JonBenét’s case, she said people are always emailing her about it. She’s also provided expert insight on the case many times.
“I’m confident that if they had viable DNA evidence for investigative genetic genealogy, they are already doing that analysis with someone else or will be. I just don’t believe Boulder police wouldn’t like to get this solved because they get so much pressure from the public,” said Moore.
Moore said there are a lot of factors that come into play when it comes to using this technique on really old cases.
“That means we have to go back to the original DNA sample or biological evidence and re-analyze that from scratch,” said Moore. “If they don’t have any DNA left, or I’ve heard they have a very small amount, then there’s a risk of having that sent to an outside lab and consumed and not coming up with an answer.”
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In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, in November, Boulder PD said in part, “The assertion that there is viable evidence and leads we are not pursuing—to include DNA testing—is completely false.”
Denver7 asked John if he agreed with the statement made by Boulder PD.
“Well, it’s different from what [Chief Redfearn] told me personally," he said. "The last time he commented on that personally to me was probably two months ago. He said we don’t think DNA technology is there yet to be used, which I absolutely disagree with."
Denver7 asked Moore if she thinks now is the time to go ahead and test the DNA using investigative genetic genealogy if that hasn’t been done yet.
“I do think now is probably the time to move forward, but they have to be very, very careful where they send that remaining DNA sample, and they need to look very carefully at the experience of the lab and the team they send it to,” she said. “If they do have a sample, I am very confident [the killer] will be eventually identified.”
John said he’s optimistic about Chief Redfearn.
“I’m wildly encouraged by the fact that he’s new, he’s from the outside. He’s not tainted by the culture that was there before,” John Ramsey said.
John told Denver7 he believes 2025 could be the year his daughter’s case is solved.
“I do. I sorta do. The Boulder police appear to be working with the FBI now,” John said. “And if they will do the DNA testing, and use the genealogy research tool, I think there’s better than a 50/50 chance we can identify the killer.”
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In Dec. 2023, the Colorado Cold Case Review Team completed a year-long analysis of the JonBenét case. The team digitized all evidence and created a searchable database with tips, interviews, and nearly 2,500 pieces of evidence. Boulder police said the recommendations won’t be made public to preserve the integrity of the investigation.
“I offered to meet with the Cold Case Review Board if they wanted me to meet with them, but they didn’t,” John told Denver7.
John said he won’t stop the fight until he knows investigators have tried everything they can to find the person responsible.
“We knew she was going to be special,” said John. “At the end of the day, [if] they do [the testing] and we come up empty-handed, I’m going to say thank you for trying.”
Boulder PD confirmed with Denver7 that officials plan to meet with the Ramsey family in 2025. John said a date has not yet been set.
A Boulder police spokesperson said they're unable to give any interviews or comment on specifics of the case due to it being an open and ongoing investigation.
John said he’s also working to see the passage of the Homicide Victim’s Family Rights Act, which would allow a murder victim’s family to request a review of the victim’s case if the murder was committed more than three years prior.
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