Netflix’s ‘Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey’: Docuseries’ Biggest Revelation

On November 26, 2024By Littum

I’ve watched a number of JonBenét Ramsey specials over the years, and like many of those invested in the case, I hoped each would solve the unimaginable death of a 6-year-old in her Boulder, Colorado, home on Christmas Day. Like the previous documentaries, Netflix’s “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?” does not give us the answer we have been searching for in the 28 years since. But what the three-hour docu-series (now streaming) does extraordinarily well is show how wrong it was to suspect the child’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, or brother, Burke, who was only 9 at the time of his sister’s death.

“People hated the Ramseys,” says Paula Woodward, an investigative journalist who covered the case in the documentaries, “and it was because of the information that had come out about them that was wrong.”

In “Cold Case,” John Ramsey recalls being “followed everywhere by the media. We’d stay with friends, and within a day or two the house would just be surrounded by cameras and people banging on the door and the windows.”

Seeing John within the first few minutes of the premiere is almost startling. Now 80, his more prominent wrinkles and age spots are a chilling reminder of how long he’s been without answers—and how long his family has been under scrutiny. One in four people asked in a 1999 poll by Scripps Howard News Service believed that JonBenét’s mother, Patsy, killed her. Five percent suspected Burke, who denied participating in the “Cold Case,” producers said, citing his treatment of the media and “online Internet speculators.” In 2019, Burke received a undisclosed settlement from CBS following a defamation suit stemming from a 2016 special that framed the killing.

“You look back at pictures of 9-year-old Burke,” says John Andrew Ramsey, John Ramsey’s child from his first marriage, and “it’s just absolutely absurd to think, ‘Oh yeah, he could have killed his sister and redeemed this level of violence.”

Here are the most shocking things the Ramseys were exposed to, as presented by “Cold Case.”

‘The Geraldo Rivera Show’ mock trial sends Patsy to bed ‘for about two days’

A moment that will leave viewers stunned is revisiting a 1997 bogus trial conducted by Geraldo Rivera, then a syndicated daytime talk show host, to assess whether the Ramseys were responsible for their daughter’s death. A woman identified as a child abuse expert believes JonBenét had been “sexually stimulated” after watching a video recording.

“She picks up a saxophone and for the next minute and a half she masturbates with it,” says the supposed expert, grossly mischaracterizing the footage, which shows JonBenét pretending to play the instrument.

“I couldn’t believe what I heard,” Patsy responded in an earlier interview. (She died in 2006 of ovarian cancer.) “It’s sick for someone to allude to something so horrible; it just makes me sick.” After the televised “jury” implicated Patsy, “she just got off the hook,” she says. “I went to bed for about two days because I was just upset.”

John Ramsey: Police held DNA results exonerating family ‘secret’ for months

Investigators collected someone else’s DNA from JonBenét’s fingernails and her underwear. Ultimately, the documentaries question the validity of the DNA testing, but it had previously been established that neither Patsy, John, nor Burke matched it.

Some, like John Ramsey, express a belief that the police kept the results to themselves on purpose. “They were told in January by their lab, ‘We tested the DNA. There is unidentified male DNA, which excludes the parents and the son Burke,'” says Ramsey. “They kept that secret from the media and from the district attorney for months … because it contradicted their conclusion that we were the killers.”

A reporter says police ‘twisted’ facts given to the media

Journalist Woodward says the police “took these little bits of information, twisted them around and then gave them to these few media reporters who said, ‘Hey, I’ll take it.’

A March 1997 article in the Rocky Mountain News states that “the absence of tracks (in the snow) was among the first clues that led police to suspect family members.” But those interviewed say there was no snow on the back of the home that would have preserved footprints.

Lou Smit, an investigator hired by the Boulder district attorney to help with the case, expressed his frustration with Boulder Police in an audio recording. (He died in 2010.) “There are clearly signs of an intruder,” he says. “I say it over and over and over. Nobody wants to listen.”

And then there’s the ransom note. “Very early on there was (a) massive police leak that Patsy Ramsey had written the ransom note,” says Woodward. However, Bob Whitson, a former police official, says at least four experts concluded that Patsy did not write the note.

So who killed JonBenét Ramsey?

Episode 3 of the docuseries mentions a couple of potential suspects. But most of the episode explores the possibility that John Mark Karr, who fled the US after being accused of child pornography, was the culprit. He knew a grisly series of details about JonBenét and her death and claimed to have committed the murder. But Karr’s DNA doesn’t match what investigators have collected. (Mary Lacy, a former Boulder County district attorney, previously said “Mr. Karr’s family cooperated by presenting circumstantial evidence that Mr. Karr spent Christmas with his family in Atlanta.”)

John Ramsey, who suspects that something may be wrong with the DNA results, wants these samples retested. He also wants additional items collected from the scene to be tested for the first time. Then he would like these results to be cross-checked with available databases.

What does the Boulder Police Department say?

“The killing of JonBenét was an unspeakable crime, and this tragedy has never left our hearts,” Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said in a statement provided to USA TODAY by Public Information Officer Dionne Waugh. “We are committed to following up on all leads and we continue to work with DNA experts and our law enforcement partners around the country until this tragic case is solved.”

Citing the ongoing investigation, police declined further comment on “specific aspects” of the crime. They encourage those with helpful information to contact by email, [email protected] or by phone: (303) 441-1974.