‘You won’t get over it’

The father of JonBenét Ramsey, a six-year-old girl found murdered in her Boulder, Colorado home in 1996, is speaking out ahead of the release of a new Netflix documentary that revisits the case that has captured the true crime- environment for more than two decades.

John Ramsey, 80, said he appeared on TODAY on November 11 to keep the pressure on police to continue searching for his daughter’s killer and in the hope that someone with information about the killing can come forward forth.

“I think it can be solved if the police accept help from outside their system,” he said. “That’s been the mistake for 25 years.”

Ramsey was joined by Joe Berlinger, the director of the upcoming Netflix docuseries “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey,” who also agreed that the case can be solved, citing items recovered from the crime scene to be tested for DNA for the first time, and other pieces that he thinks should be tested again.

“I don’t understand this institutional intransigence to resolve a case,” Berlinger said. “They need help. There are labs, private labs that can do this, that have offered help. It’s time to solve this case.”

“This is the most brutalized man, I think, in American history,” he continued, referring to John Ramsey. “Imagine losing your child the way that child was lost and being blamed by the media, largely because the police gave the press false stories or incomplete stories, and it was just a wildfire of wrongful accusation.”

The Boulder Police Department released a statement to NBC News ahead of the Nov. 25 release of the documentary.

“We continue to work with DNA experts and our law enforcement partners around the country until this tragic case is solved,” the department said.

The Boulder County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement to NBC News that it “continues to work with federal, state and local agencies to make progress.”

John Ramsey said that although he was offered the opportunity to watch the new Netflix series, he chose not to.

“I am doing this for the sake of my children and my grandchildren. This cloud over our family’s name must be lifted,” he said. “They need to be able to move on and close this chapter and move on with their lives. It’s hard for them.”

He added that he is doing what he can to clean up his family’s reputation for the sake of his children.

“Finding the killer is not going to change my life. I’ve lost JonBenét and it’s not going to bring JonBenét back. I want to close this chapter so we can be more rested and at peace,” he said. “I don’t want give up pushing the authorities to do their job before I see them doing their job, and that’s been the frustration for 25 years.”

John Ramsey said he hoped Stephen Redfearn, the new police chief of the Boulder Police Department, will be open to help from outside agencies to help solve the case.

“The new police chief seems like a good guy, (an) open communicator. All he has to do is open the door and let in all the help that is standing there waiting to help,” he said.

Nearly three decades after JonBenét Ramsey’s death, John Ramsey explained why he’s still looking for her killer.

“You don’t get over it. One mother described the loss of her child as a hole in her heart that won’t heal, and that’s a good description,” he said. “You’re different going forward. What we realized early on was that we needed to be stronger now than ever, for our other children who are still alive, this was a terrible tragedy for them, and for us too.”