Police deny staying on evidence of JonBenét Ramsey’s murder following Netflix documentary

Amid renewed interest in the murder of JonBenét Ramsey sparked in part by a new Netflix documentary, police in Boulder, Colo., denied what they said this week was conclusive evidence that led to the 1996 slaying of a six-year-old girl. pursuers.

JonBenét Ramsey, a beauty pageant contestant, was found dead in the basement of her family’s home in the college town of Boulder the day after Christmas in 1996. Her body was found hours after her mother called 911 to report her daughter missing. the ransom note was left behind. Details of the crime and video footage of JonBenét competing in tournaments have made the case one of the highest mysteries in the United States.

The police comments came as part of their annual briefing on the investigation, a month before the 28th anniversary of his murder. Police said they released it early because of the increased attention to the case, apparently referring to the three-part Netflix series. Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey.

In a video statement, Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said the department welcomes news reports and documentaries about the killing of JonBenét, who was 34 years old this year, as a way to generate new leads. He said the department is committed to solving the case, but needs to be careful who it cooperates with in the investigation to prevent future prosecutions.

“What I can tell you is that we have successfully identified a number of people as suspects over the years and we continue to be open-minded about what is happening as we investigate the tips that come to the investigators,” he said.

Cold case is updated with a new doc

The Netflix documentary focuses on the mistakes made by the police and the “media circus” surrounding the case.

JonBenét was strangled and strangled. His death was ruled a homicide, but no one was ever prosecuted.

The police have been heavily criticized for their reckless handling of the early investigation into his death as there were suspicions that his family was responsible for this. However, the prosecution cleared his parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, and his brother Burke in 2008 based on new DNA evidence from JonBenét’s clothes that pointed to the involvement of an “unspecified third party” in his murder.

Former District Attorney Mary Lacy’s announcement came two years after Patsy Ramsey died of cancer. Lacy called the Ramseys “victims of this crime.”

John Ramsey continued to speak for this case to be solved.

In 2022, he supported an online petition asking the governor of Colorado to intervene in the investigation by placing the outside agency in charge of DNA testing on the case. In the Netflix documentary, he said that he has been advocating for many things that have not yet been prepared for DNA testing to be tested and other things to be tested again. He said the results should be included in the genealogy.

In recent years, investigators have found suspects in unsolved cases by comparing DNA profiles from crime scenes with DNA test results shared online by people researching their family trees.

In 2021, the police said in their annual report that DNA had not yet been determined to help solve the case, and in 2022 they noted that some of the evidence could be “consumed” if DNA testing were done on it.

Last year, police said they had called in a team of outside experts to review the investigation to provide recommendations and see if new technology or forensic tests could produce new leads. In a recent update, Redfearn said the review had ended but police were continuing to work and examine a “long list of recommendations” from the panel.