2024 Netflix documentary about JonBenet Ramsey sparks a wave of fresh tips in the investigation.
The reaction has been incredible. Since the release of Netflix's documentary Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey less than a month ago, investigators have received over 100 new tips regarding the notorious 1996 murder of 6-year-old pageant star JonBenét Ramsey in her Boulder, Colorado home.
“The next move is to decide which ones are credible and which ones are not,” a Boulder Police Department source told the New York Post. “But we’re looking at every single tip and deciding if it can help us solve the case. It’s a priority here.”One unexpected piece of advice took everyone by surprise: a startling revelation.
“Based on all this publicity, recently I got a letter from a lady saying, ‘My ex-husband’s the killer, and I’ve kept this inside for as long as I can — please, please call me,”
jonbenet ramsey
John Ramsey, who discovered his daughter’s brutally beaten and strangled body in their basement that tragic morning, recently shared that he received no response when he called a certain number, which he has since passed on to a private investigator. After experiencing what many consider a flawed investigation by the Boulder Police, who primarily targeted the child’s parents as suspects, and enduring 28 years of unfruitful leads, Jon Benét’s family has come to manage their expectations regarding new information. Instead, they concentrate on the evidence collected from the crime scene long ago.
“The family has not lost the will to fight,” John’s son John David has said of finding justice. “If we leverage the evidence and follow the facts, we will find this killer.”
Missed Clues in the JonBenét Ramsey Case
The most compelling evidence consists of DNA from at least one unidentified male, discovered beneath her fingernails and in her underwear. Subsequent tests revealed that this DNA did not correspond to any member of the Ramsey family, and it was documented in an official police report 20 days following the murder.
“They kept that secret from the media and the district attorney for months,” John explained, adding that authorities were convinced that he or Patsy killed their daughter, despite lack of any prior evidence of abuse.
“I grew up with him, he raised me, and I saw him raise JonBenét, and I don’t understand why they don’t believe me, that he is the most caring father in the world,” John’s daughter Melinda has tearfully insisted. “He has never, ever abused us in any way.”
Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter also had doubts about the Ramseys' guilt. In March 1997, he persuaded seasoned homicide detective Lou Smit to come out of retirement to help solve the case. Smit quickly focused on the DNA and other vital evidence from the crime scene, proposing what is now referred to as the “intruder theory,” which suggests that an outsider entered the home and murdered the young girl. Additionally, Smit discovered a clue that he felt had been overlooked by others. After weeks of investigation and experimentation, he theorized that the marks found on JonBenét’s back were caused by a stun gun.
“You can’t throw a piece of evidence like that away,” he said, authorities, however, continued to express skepticism and frustration, leading to Smit's resignation from the official investigation in 1998. Despite this setback, he persevered. In 2006, as Patsy Ramsey faced her final moments, Smit assured her that he would carry on the search for answers. Before passing away in 2010, he documented eight hours of video detailing his theory, created an extensive database, and provided his daughter with a spreadsheet that identified around 20 potential suspects.
“In the end, Lou believed that DNA would someday solve this case,” his friends and family said on a GoFundMe set up to fulfill his dying wish of finding the killer. “We are confident that the killer’s name is on that spreadsheet.”
Timeline: JonBenét Ramsey Timeline
Several names have already been crossed off the list. Thanks to DNA evidence, those ruled out include convicted sex offender Gary Oliva, who has expressed an obsession with JonBenét but denies any involvement in her death; former schoolteacher John Mark Karr, who once claimed to have committed the murder; junkyard worker Michael Helgoth, who took his own life two months after JonBenét's passing; and Randy Simons, a photographer who captured images of JonBenét and is currently incarcerated on child pornography charges (he also denies killing her).
A New Lead in the Case
There remains one unidentified suspect. In September 1997, a 12-year-old girl who attended the same dance school as JonBenét was sexually assaulted, and her father suspects that the two cases might be linked.
“My feeling is he hid inside the house,” the victim’s father told 48 Hours. “The first thing that occurred to us was that it was the parallel to the Ramsey case because it was exactly the same situation.” John agrees: “It could very well be the same guy, and yet the police blew it off.”
The current police chief, Stephen Redfearn, has emphasized that they have thoroughly investigated every possible lead.
“The assertion that there is viable evidence and leads we are not pursuing — to include DNA testing — is completely false,” he wrote on X. “This investigation will always be a priority for the Boulder Police Department.” John is meeting with Redfearn in January 2025 to lobby for more testing.
“We want the evidence that has been previously tested — and we think there is some that has never been tested — to be resampled by a cutting-edge lab,” he has said, in hopes that the information can be entered into a genealogy database, which is how Joseph James DeAngelo was identified as the Golden State Killer in 2018, 32 years after his last known crime. “I believe if we do that, there’s a really good chance we can solve it.”
Netflix's Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey has reignited interest in the infamous 1996 murder, with over 100 new tips emerging. Investigators are hopeful that advancements in DNA testing and genealogy databases could finally provide answers. The Ramsey family remains determined to uncover the truth and bring JonBenét's killer to justice.
