“Test the DNA”: JonBenét Ramsey’s Father Pleads for Action Nearly 30 Years After Daughter’s Murder
“We’re begging the police to engage,” the 80-year-old tells *PEOPLE*. “There are cutting-edge DNA labs that want to help and who believe they can move the case forward.”
Ramsey accuses the Boulder Police Department of stonewalling external efforts to examine key evidence, including genetic material on the garrote used to strangle his 6-year-old daughter and other items from the crime scene. “We’re not asking them to do anything weird,” Ramsey emphasizes. “Just do your job. Test the DNA.”
JonBenét was found dead in her family’s Boulder, Colorado, home on December 26, 1996. Alongside her body in a rarely used basement room was a chilling handwritten ransom note. Despite the brutality of the crime—JonBenét was sexually assaulted and suffered both strangulation and a blow to the skull—her parents, John and the late Patsy Ramsey, became prime suspects. Their then-9-year-old son Burke was also scrutinized.
Reflecting on the early days of the investigation, Ramsey recalls his disbelief at the police’s focus on his family. “We assumed that the police would show some level of discernment and wisdom and say, ‘Yeah, well, this is crazy, to think [we] murdered our child.’ Well, they never did. They made that decision on day one and tried desperately to prove it.”
A new three-part Netflix docuseries, *Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?*, streaming November 25, delves into the case’s enduring mysteries. Ramsey hopes the series will reignite public interest in solving the crime and put pressure on authorities to accept help from advanced DNA labs.
According to Ramsey, key items of evidence remain untested or were analyzed using outdated methods. “Of the items sent to labs in the beginning, six or seven of them were returned untested,” he reveals. “We don’t know why they were not tested, but they were not tested. The garrote used to strangle JonBenét and a number of items just were sent back.”
Ramsey advocates for the use of genetic genealogy, a technology that has cracked numerous cold cases in recent years. However, he says the process requires a specific format of DNA samples, which has yet to be obtained. “That’s why we’ve been advocating more testing be done by one or two of these very cutting-edge labs,” he explains.
The evidence in question includes the garrote, the ransom note, and a suitcase found beneath an open basement window where some theorize the killer may have entered and exited the home.
Despite decades of frustration, Ramsey remains hopeful. “If it stays in the hands of the Boulder Police, it will not be solved, period,” he tells *PEOPLE*. “If they accept help, all the help that’s out there, that’s available and offered, it will be solved. Yes, I believe it will be solved.”
Ramsey’s wife Patsy passed away in 2006, and neither she, John, nor Burke were ever charged in connection with JonBenét’s murder. Nearly three decades later, Ramsey continues to push for justice, refusing to let the case fade into obscurity.
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