JonBenét Ramsey’s murder in the basement of her family’s Colorado home occurred nearly 30 years ago.
Patsy Ramsey discovered a ransom note on the morning of December 26, 1996, demanding $118,000 in payment for the return of her 6-year-old daughter, JonBenét.
Hours later, after reporting her missing to police and having detectives investigate the property, John Bennett Ramsey discovered his daughter dead in their basement, with a garrote (a sort of portable ligature) around her neck.
An autopsy report found that she had been sexually abused, and her death was caused by strangling and a blow to the head.
No one has ever been charged in JonBenét’s death, but her parents faced years of “umbrella of suspicion” from the police and heavy media scrutiny, thanks in part to the toddler’s minor public prominence as a beauty pageant competitor.
Netflix’s Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? explores whether the spotlight on John and Patsy, who died in 2006, detracted from solving the case.
The three-part docuseries, which began on November 25, examines the alleged mistakes police made when the toddler was first reported missing. It also details additional potential suspects who have been questioned by detectives, as well as DNA evidence that John claims has yet to be tested.
“We are begging the police to intervene,” he told PEOPLE in November. “There are cutting-edge DNA labs that want to help and who believe they can move the case forward.”
So, whatever happened to JonBenét Ramsey? Here’s all you need to know about the toddler’s unsolved murder and why authorities have struggled to locate her killer.
What happened to JonBenét Ramsey?
Patsy called the Boulder Police Department on December 26, 1996, at 5:52 a.m., to report her missing daughter. She discovered a ransom note on the stairs leading to their kitchen, written by an alleged kidnapper and demanding $118,000 by 10 a.m. or JonBenét would die. The sum required was close to what John had previously received as a bonus.
Two officers were promptly sent to the location. During the initial search of the Ramsey house, they did not find the youngster and instead shut up JonBenét’s room. Police allegedly let Patsy and John to invite friends over, which Cold Case claims may have polluted the crime scene.
When no one contacted at 10 a.m. to collect the ransom, retired detective Linda Arndt directed John to investigate the premises for anything “unusual.”
Who found JonBenét Ramsey’s body?
In Cold Case, John stated that when he and a friend checked the basement, they discovered an open and broken window with a suitcase underneath it. He said that the item “shouldn’t have been there.”
Soon after, John discovered JonBenét’s body in the room where the children stored their train sets. She was tied up and had duct tape over her lips. John quickly removed the tape and carried her upstairs, where officials confirmed that she had died.
Allowing the missing child’s father to investigate the house on his own, which may have resulted in him tampering with potential evidence after he discovered her death, is another claimed blunder by the Boulder Police Department, according to Cold Case.
Who were the suspects in JonBenét Ramsey’s murder?
The discovery of a ransom letter appeared to support the assumption that JonBenét was murdered by an intruder. Over the years, various names have been proposed.
Michael Helgoth, who had boots that appeared to match a print discovered at the site, was one possible intruder. Police first investigated Helgoth, but after he committed suicide in 1997, detectives turned their attention elsewhere.
Ollie Gray, a private investigator hired by John and Patsy, suspected Helgoth’s family may have a taped confession to the crime.
In 2006, John Mark Karr, also known as Alexis Reich, confessed to the murder, claiming that he was with JonBenét when she died and that “her death was an accident.” However, the assertion was disputed when Karr’s relatives stated that they were with him around Christmas 1996. His DNA did not match that found on JonBenét’s clothing.
Another prospective intruder was Bill McReynolds, who had previously worked as Santa Claus and had lately visited the Ramsey residence. The man’s daughter had also been kidnapped decades previously, but he was never officially considered a suspect.
Cold Case also features Gary Howard Oliva, a former suspect who was identified as a person of interest on 48 Hours Investigates. He never admitted to the killing, although he did serve eight years in prison for child pornography and was apprehended in 2000 with a photo of JonBenét.
John told PEOPLE in November 2024 that he believes authorities should investigate a masked burglar who raped a 12-year-old girl in Boulder nine months after JonBenét’s death.
The girl’s mother chased the assailant away, and he was never caught — but John feels he may “easily have been the same person” who murdered his daughter. The girl went to the same dance studio as JonBenét.
“The police blew it off as, ‘No, it’s not the same,'” John replied. “I believe the manner of operation was identical. I suspect the killer was in the house when we arrived home and waited until we went to bed.”
The DNA evidence recovered on JonBenét’s garments has yet to match anyone the police have questioned.
Were JonBenét Ramsey’s parents suspects in her murder?
Early in the investigation, police regarded John and Patsy as being under “an umbrella of suspicion”. Patsy was accused of murdering her daughter over a bedwetting incident in a 2000 book authored by former detective Steve Thomas, and Arndt said on Good Morning America in 1999 that she had a “nonverbal exchange” with John after he discovered JonBenét that led her to assume he was the murderer.
Following their daughter’s murder, the former couple engaged lawyers, subsequently claiming they were unfairly pursued by the police and media.
In 1999, a grand jury determined that John and Patsy had “unlawfully, knowingly, recklessly, and feloniously permit[ted] a child to be unreasonably placed in a situation which posed a threat of injury to the child’s life or health,” but the prosecutor declined to pursue a case against JonBenét’s parents due to a lack of evidence.
In 2008, two years after Patsy died of ovarian cancer, Mary Lacy, the district attorney at the time, wrote to John to inform him that he, Patsy, and Burke had all been cleared of involvement by DNA. However, District Attorney Stan Garnett later told PEOPLE that “I didn’t feel the exoneration was warranted based on the state of the evidence and the complexity of the case.”
Burke, who was nine years old at the time of JonBenét’s murder, was never considered a suspect by Boulder police. However, a 2016 CBS docuseries proposed the possibility that he smacked his sister in the head with a flashlight. Burke sued CBS for $750 million to “redress the permanent damage” to his “reputation resulting from defendants’ false accusations that he killed his sister.”
NPR reported in 2019 that the slander lawsuit had been settled.
Why is JonBenét Ramsey’s murder still unsolved?
JonBenét’s murder has yet to be solved, but her father believes it could be.
John told PEOPLE that “six or seven” forensic items, including the garrote used to strangle the toddler, had still to be DNA-tested. He wants the Boulder Police Department to transfer the material to labs that use genetic genealogy and other modern DNA techniques, which he believes will yield results.
“If it stays in the hands of the Boulder Police, it will not be solved, period,” John told me. “If they accept all of the help that is available and offered, the problem will be resolved. “Yes, I believe it will be resolved.”
He continued, “We’re not asking them to do anything unusual. Simply do your job. “Test the DNA.