Story behind America’s biggest unsolved murder
It remains one of the biggest unsolved cases in American history and now a new documentary is set to spark yet another conversation.
It remains one of the biggest unsolved cases in American history and now a new documentary is set to spark yet another conversation.
Beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was just six years old when her family reported her missing inside their Colorado home on December 26, 1996.
The family had discovered a ransom note demanding $118,000 (AU $181,385) inside their home for her safe return. But, later, she was found in the basement by her father John.
She had been brutally beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled to death.
It remains one of the United States’ most talked about unsolved crimes. Now, it is the subject of a Netflix documentary: Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey.
The 911 call and ransom note
At first, investigators believed that JonBenét had been kidnapped. This was due to the ransom note. The note claimed to be from “a group of individuals representing a small foreign faction”. The note said the little girl was safe but if they “wanted her to see 1997” the family would follow instructions.
The family — dad John, mother Patsy and nine-year-old Burke — would withdraw $100,000 in $100 bills and the remaining in $20 bills.
It set alarm bells off as that was the exact amount John had received as a bonus at work. Patsy had called police after she discovered the note. She sounded frantic on the call. She said they “have a kidnapping”.
The 911 operator tried to get more information out of Patsy, who said the ransom note was from “SBTC. Victory”.
She kept saying “please”, “oh my god” and begging police to hurry. The line then went muffled. The rest of what happened on the audio has been highly debated. The ransom note itself raised even more questions, including why the note specified that amount of money.
Jeff Kithcart, a retired detective from Boulder, said in the documentary: “I was going through the notebook that contained Patsy’s handwriting, and I came across an entire sheet of paper in the notebook still attached with what appeared to be the initial ransom note.
“It said, ‘Mr.’ and then like, maybe, the initial vertical stroke of an ‘R.’ It could have been the first draft of what had appeared to me to be the possible ransom note.
“I was shocked to find that. It appeared that the ransom note was written from that notebook in the Ramsey household.”
No one has ever been identified as the note writer or charged.
JonBenet’s body found
Eight hours after Patsy made the 911 phone call, John found his daughter’s body in the basement. Not knowing she was dead, he pulled duct tape off her mouth and tossed it on a blanket. He then brought her upstairs.
At the time, police thought it was a legitimate kidnapping. So they let the family stay. But this led to evidence being contaminated. Police later said there were things in the investigation they “wished they’d done differently”.
The Family
A media spotlight was quickly shone on the case. This was in part to JonBenét’s pageant history. Some believed it “attracted a predator”. Allegations began to swirl about the family. It forced John to speak out at a press conference just a month after the family’s first formal interviews with police.
“Let me address it very directly: I did not kill my daughter JonBenét,” John said in May, 1997.
“There have been innuendos that she had been or was sexually molested. I can tell you that those were the most hurtful innuendos to us as a family. They are totally false. JonBenét and I had a very close relationship. I will miss her dearly the rest of my life.”
At this time the family were providing police with whatever they asked. This included DNA, and credit card records.
In December that year, Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner said the couple were under an “umbrella of suspicion”. They remained there for more than a decade. Even Burke, who was just nine years old when his sister was brutally killed, has been labelled a suspect by media and the public. He sued CBS, who aired a documentary in 2016, for defamation. He settled three years later for an undisclosed amount. But, he was seeking $250 million in compensatory damages and no less than $500 million in punitive damages. His father has always staunchly defended him.
The comment by Mr Beckner led to John and Patsy declining a second interview. They said they wouldn’t help police unless officers allowed them to review evidence in the case.
A grand jury was convened in 1999. But, no charges were laid due to lack of evidence. It came out in 2013 that the grand jury did vote to indict John and Patsy on charges of child abuse resulting in death, according to Boulder Daily Camera.
But, in 2008, Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy said no one in the family was considered a suspect. A formal apology was sent to John. This was due to new DNA that pointed to an “unexplained third party”. Patsy never lived to see this day. She died in June 2006 from ovarian cancer.
John Mark Karr arrest
Just months after Patsy died of cancer, a 41-year-old teacher was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
Karr had previously lived in California with his wife. But he left after he was charged with five counts of possessing child pornography.
He claimed he loved JonBenét. The American teacher allegedly said he drugged JonBenét and then sexually assaulted her. Karr claimed her death was an accident.
In diary entries, he claimed he “watched her eyes slowly closing”, according to Yahoo.
But, DNA evidence eventually proved he had nothing to do with her death. The man also couldn’t provide new details about what happened.
Cold Case Review
In November 2022, Boulder Police Department announced a partnership with the Colorado Cold Case Review team. It resulted in a lengthy list of recommendations. Files include more than 21,000 tips. There were over 1000 interviews across two foreign countries and 17 US states.
There were 40,000 reports, samples from 200 people — including DNA. Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said multiple suspects have been identified over the years. Around this time, John advocated for a petition asking the state’s governor to get DNA tested by an outside agency. He claimed some evidence was never prepared for testing, and other items needed to be retested.
Documentary
The documentary released by Netflix on November 25 focused on the “media circus” and the “extreme mishandling” by police in the case. It asserts this is why the family still has no answers. John Ramsey appears in the three-part series. However, Burke does not.
JonBenét’s father was not paid for his input. He also asked for no editorial input, and no questions were off limits.
Joe Berlinger, who is behind the documentary, told the New York Post: “I am firmly convinced that the Ramsey family is innocent.
“And I am also firmly convinced that this case can be solved, if the Boulder Police Department finally does what it’s supposed to do.”
He said DNA testing has advanced significantly since 1996.
Mr Berlinger said all suspects need to be put back on the table and then eliminated with DNA evidence.
What is happening in the case now?
Every year, the Boulder Police Department shares an update on the case. Usually, this happens in December. But the increased attention has prompted them to speak earlier.
“The killing of JonBenet was an unspeakable crime and this tragedy has never left our hearts,” Chief Redfearn said in a statement.
“We are committed to following up on every lead and we are continuing to work with DNA experts and our law enforcement partners around the country until this tragic case is solved. “This investigation will always be a priority for the Boulder Police Department.”
He said the commitment to finding out what happened to the little girl has never wavered,
The statement said that assertions there are leads and evidence they aren’t pursuing is “completely false”. It also said that it was the police department and not the Colorado Bureau of Investigation that convened the Cold Case Review Panel.
Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact detectives at BouldersMostWanted@bouldercolorado.gov.
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