 "A lone protestor is recorded by a television cameraman outside the Boulder County courthouse as the grand jurors in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case were meeting, October 12, 1999. File Image/Reuters")
In December 1996, the horrifying murder of 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey shook the United States to its core.
The gruesome details of her death, combined with her status as a child beauty queen, made it one of the most notorious cold cases in American history.
Decades later, Netflix’s three-part documentary series, Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey, revisits this infamous mystery with new perspectives, hoping to uncover the truth behind this unsolved crime.
What happened in 1996?
JonBenét Ramsey, crowned titles such as Little Miss Colorado and America’s Royale Miss, was a local celebrity in Boulder, Colorado. On December 25, 1996, she and her family returned from a Christmas dinner at a friend’s house.
Patsy Ramsey, JonBenét’s mother, tucked her into bed, never imagining the nightmare that would unfold the following morning.
At dawn on December 26, Patsy found a chilling ransom note on the staircase demanding $118,000 — the exact amount her husband, John Ramsey, had recently received as a bonus from his employer, Access Graphics.
Believing JonBenét had been kidnapped, Patsy immediately called 911. Hours later, her body was found in the basement of the family home by her father.
“JonBenét was there. I saw her immediately,” John Ramsey told CNN in 2016. “And it was a rush of relief. I thought, ‘God, I found my child.’ And then I pretty quickly realized that she may not be alive.”
JonBenét had been strangled with a garrote fashioned from a broken paintbrush and suffered a severe 8.5-inch skull fracture.
The coroner reported evidence of possible sexual assault. Despite the gruesome circumstances, questions lingered — why was there a ransom note if JonBenét’s body was never removed from the home?
How was the investigation misdirected?
From the onset, law enforcement faced criticism for their mishandling of the case. Former Colorado police chief Mark Beckner later admitted that initial errors — including failure to secure the crime scene and allowing friends to freely enter the Ramsey home — compromised crucial evidence.
John Ramsey echoed this frustration: “We knew they were totally focused on Patsy and I, and we were aghast,” he told CNN. “But I said to them, ‘OK, great. Let’s work through that and then don’t stop there.’ Well, they did stop there. And our big frustration with the police all along has been that they’ve refused help from the outside that could have helped.”
Forensic testing revealed DNA from an unknown male on JonBenét’s clothing, excluding her parents and brother Burke as suspects.
In 2008, Boulder County’s district attorney formally cleared the Ramseys of any involvement in their daughter’s murder, citing these findings. However, for years, the family endured public suspicion and media scrutiny.
So who killed JonBenét Ramsey?
Over nearly three decades, the case has yielded over 21,000 tips, interviews with more than 1,000 individuals, and countless theories. In 1999, a grand jury voted to indict John and Patsy Ramsey for child abuse resulting in death, but then-District Attorney Alex Hunter declined to press charges, citing insufficient evidence.
Only one arrest has been made: in 2006, John Mark Karr, a teacher in Thailand, falsely confessed to the murder. DNA testing later cleared him.
“Whoever committed this offense must have pulled down her long johns — but then they pulled them back up,” forensic scientist Angela Williamson told CNN. DNA evidence from both JonBenét’s underwear and long johns pointed to the same unidentified male.
The Boulder Police Department insists they remain committed to solving the case. In 2023, they convened a Cold Case Review Team to explore advanced DNA technology and investigative techniques.
“The assertion that there is viable evidence and leads we are not pursuing — to include DNA testing — is completely false,” Boulder police said.
Documentary Director Joe Berlinger expressed hope that investigative genetic genealogy — a method used to solve cases like the Golden State Killer — might finally identify JonBenét’s killer.
Patsy Ramsey succumbed to ovarian cancer in 2006, never seeing her name cleared. Today, John Ramsey, 80, continues to advocate for justice.
“This has not gone away from our lives for 28 years,” he said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever watched any of the broadcasts that I’ve participated in over the years … it’s hard to watch that stuff,” he told CNN.
With inputs from agencies