JonBenet Ramsey’s father John claims Colorado police officer said they are ‘just waiting' for him to die
John Ramsey, father of slain 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, continues to keep pressure on police nearly 28 years later, even though he says police are eager for him to stop asking questions.
JonBenet was found beaten and strangled to death with a garrote around her neck in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado, the day after Christmas in 1996. Boulder authorities initially pointed fingers at John Ramsey and his late wife, Patsy Ramsey, as suspects based on probable cause, but they were ultimately excluded.
"We heard, reliably, that one of the members of the police department — I don't know who — told a journalist, 'We're just waiting for John Ramsey to die,'" Ramsey, 80, told Fox News Digital in a May 31 interview at CrimeCon, a true-crime convention, hosted in Nashville over the weekend. "And the implication is: then pressure will be off, and all this will go away."
"It's just disgusting, but it's not out of character at all," he added.
Paula Woodward, an investigative journalist and author who has been covering JonBenet's murder since the 1990s, also confirmed hearing about this statement from a BPD officer during a panel with Ramsey at CrimeCon 2024.
"Not only have we communicated with the Ramsey family that we have never stopped working to solve this horrible crime and bring justice to JonBenet, but I also regularly communicate with John to give updates or progress reports and answer questions he has and this has never come up," Interim Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Ramsey says he's not going anywhere regardless.
"I'm not going to die. Well, I'm going to be around for good while," Ramsey told Fox News Digital, adding that his son, John Andrew Ramsey, will "take over" for him when he is no longer around. "He's very passionate about getting this resolved, and, I'm grateful for that," the elder Ramsey said.
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Twenty-eight years since JonBenet's murder, John continues to push for the Boulder Police Department to allow an independent forensic genetic genealogy company to conduct DNA testing on the existing items in his daughter's case, including a pair of JonBenet's underwear that tested positive for traces of an unknown male's DNA in 1997. He also wants BPD to hand the case over to the FBI.
An autopsy conducted in 1996 revealed that JonBenet died of strangulation and a blow to the head. The Boulder City Medical Examiner reported an 8 1/2-inch fracture on her skull.
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When Woodward submitted a public records request to determine which evidentiary items had been tested for DNA, she learned that several significant items were never analyzed, including the garrote found around JonBenet's neck, a ransom note found in the Ramsey house on the morning of the murder, a suitcase found in the basement that authorities believe the killer used to escape out a window, an unknown flashlight found on the Ramsey family's kitchen counter the morning of the murder, and unknown rope found in her brother Burke Ramsey's room that day, Woodward said at CrimeCon.
Ramsey is afraid BPD may have lost some items that could have been tested for DNA evidence over the years.
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"As far as we know, these items have never been tested," Ramsey said. "They were taken from the crime scene as possible evidence. We want them tested, and we want them tested by an outside lab for DNA sampling. To my knowledge, that's never happened."
Ramsey said it's up to the police chief to decide whether to bring in an independent testing firm. There have been five police chiefs at BPD since JonBenet was killed.
He is also pushing for states to enact the federal Homicide Victims' Families' Rights Act so that homicide victims' family members can take action against police departments if their cases go unsolved since homicides are prosecuted on a state level.
In 1997, the Boulder County District Attorney asked famed Colorado detective Lou Smit, who had boasted more than 200 solved homicide cases, to assist with the JonBenet case. Smit died in 2010, but he had created a case file for JonBenet and a list of hundreds of names of potential suspects prior to his death.
"On his deathbed, [Smit] said, 'Don't forget this name, John.' I visited the hospital just days before he died. He said, 'Don't forget this name.' So there was one person he was very interested in," Ramsey said.
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Smit also said the "case will be solved by DNA, period," Ramsey said.
Two years ago, Ramsey sent a letter and a petition with more than 30,000 signatures to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis' office asking him to allow an independent firm to conduct forensic genetic genealogy testing on evidence in his daughter's case. Once the letter was published, the governor told local media that he is "still optimistic" the case can be solved.
"I can say one thing: the killer of JonBenet Ramsey should not rest easily, because I am still optimistic that he or she will be apprehended with technology that exists today and five years or in 10 years," the governor told CBS Denver in 2022.
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BPD announced in 2022 that it would be consulting the Colorado Cold Case Review Team for help with the Ramsey case.
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Also following the release of the petition, BPD issued a statement saying authorities have "digitized all evidence" to create a searchable database that includes thousands of files of information, including more than 21,000 tips, a thousand interviews conducted across 17 states and two foreign countries and identification samples from 200 people. The files also contain nearly 2,500 pieces of evidence and about 40,000 reports, police said.
"DNA testing continues to be an investigative focal point. DNA testing was previously completed, but the science behind DNA testing continues to rapidly evolve. [BPD] is working with leading DNA experts from across the county [sic] to ensure the latest forensic techniques are used to analyze remaining DNA samples," BPD said in a December 2023 press release. "The evidence has been preserved and will continue to be ready for testing when there is proven and validated technology that can accurately test forensic samples consistent with the evidence available in this case."
Authorities are asking anyone with information related to the JonBenet investigation to contact 303-441-1974, BouldersMostWanted@bouldercolorado.gov or Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).