JonBenet Ramsey’s family want ‘weapon’ DNA tested to solve murder mystery

The half-brother of murdered beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey has called on police to embrace technology that could solve the case in “hours”.

The half-brother of JonBenet Ramsey frequently shares articles of cold cases solved by forensic genealogy in the city where the six-year-old beauty queen was killed.

It’s part of the Ramsey family’s latest push to solve one of America’s most notorious unsolved murders, The Sun reports.

JonBenet was a beauty pageant queen who was found dead in the basement of her family’s Boulder, Colorado, home on December 26, 1996.

John Andrew Ramsey, JonBenet’s half-brother, has been relentlessly tweeting directly at the Boulder police, prosecutors and state officials.

The social media posts are often attached with links to news stories about how small traces of DNA solved a decades-old cold case.

On July 12, Mr Ramsey tweeted a San Francisco Chronicle story about how traces of DNA on a rope led to an arrest in a 30-year-old murder.

“They pulled his #DNA from the rope. Test the goddamn garrote @boulderpolice @DADoughertyCO #jonbenet,” he tweeted.

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JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in 1996 when she was just six years old. Picture: Dateline

‘Best opportunity to solve this case’

Mr Ramsey told The Sun in previous interviews that Boulder police and prosecutors haven’t had any interactions with him, his dad or anyone in his family.

The police have declined The Sun’s multiple interview requests and have said nothing outside of statements on the anniversary of JonBenet’s murder.

In May, police issued a statement after JonBenet’s father started an online petition that called on the governor to take the case out of Boulder police’s hands.

“The best opportunity to solve this case is right now, today. But the window is closing fast. The clock is working against us,” Mr Ramsey told The Sun in a previous interview.

They pulled his #DNA from the rope. Test the goddamn garrote @boulderpolice@DADoughertyCO#jonbenethttps://t.co/BES7OAK9Zi

— John Andrew Ramsey (@JRamsey_Truth) July 12, 2022

Quite the opposite. @boulderpolice have turned down offers of assistance from experienced homicide detectives, DNA experts and outside agencies. What are you afraid of?

— John Andrew Ramsey (@JRamsey_Truth) May 22, 2022

C’mon y’all. #LouSmit called it in 2001. We need fresh eyes and a push to actually find #jonbenets killer. @boulderpolice don't have the heart to get the job done. This case can be solved. #polispic.twitter.com/b6sQASkd4Q

— John Andrew Ramsey (@JRamsey_Truth) May 12, 2022

“My dad pursued to get outside homicide investigating for years back in the ’90s. The petition is taking a private effort public. Everyone sees cold cases getting solved every day with new DNA technology and that’s what we want.

“This case garners a lot of emotion, and there’s value to having an unbiased, outside investigator with fresh eyes and fresh perspective and no baggage come in and look at this case.

“The lead investigator is someone who was at the house in 1996. That’s not a positive for this case.”

‘Tech exists to end cold case backlog’

Othram, a Texas-based lab, is the only private criminal genealogy lab in the US and a leader in the rapidly advancing DNA technology.

Kristen Mittelman, Othram’s chief business development officer, told The Sun in a March interview that the company has “the most advanced lab in the country”.

JonBenet’s half-brother tweeted, ‘Test the damn garotte’ – referring to the rope used to strangle the six-year-old. Picture: Boulder Police Department

“We have the technology to solve more cold cases but not the funding,” she said.

It costs about $US5000 to solve a case, according to Ms Mittelman, and more time is spent on writing the briefs and raising the funds using DNAsolves.com.

“The science isn’t the limiting part anymore. That’s what’s exciting,” she said.

“We have the technology to clear cold case backlogs across the country.

“It’s not a science fiction movie. It’s a reality. People won’t have to wait decades to get answers.”

‘Solved in a matter of hours’

CeCe Moore, Parabon’s chief forensic genealogist and one of the most respected voices in the field, told The Sun during a December 2021 interview that she thinks the JonBenet case can be solved in “as little as hours”.

John Andrew Ramsey has been pushing for law enforcement to use DNA advances to solve the murder of his sister. Picture: Investigation Discovery

“I think it’s absolutely a solvable case if [Boulder police] has any DNA samples remaining,” Ms Moore said.

“If the killer is of European ancestry, it might be identified in as little as hours.”

Colorado Governor Jared Polis did not respond to request for comment about whether he will use his executive powers to hand the investigation over to an outside law enforcement agency.

The last statement his office made on this topic was in May, after the online petition picked up steam.

The office will “look into how the state can assist in using new technology to further investigate this cold case and to identify JonBenet Ramsey’s killer and bring him or her to justice.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as JonBenet Ramsey’s family want ‘weapon’ DNA tested to solve murder mystery