‘It Will Be Fixed’ (Exclusive)

The long-awaited answer to the mystery surrounding JonBenét Ramsey’s murder in 1996 could already be in the hands of the police, says her father.

Police in Boulder, Colorado, just won’t give the OK to proceed with DNA testing of potential bomb evidence — genetic material left on the handmade garrote used to strangle his 6-year-old daughter and other items found at the crime scene. John Ramsey tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview.

“We’re asking the police to get involved,” says Ramsey, 80. “There are cutting-edge DNA labs that want to help and believe they can take the case forward.”

But in Boulder, he says, “The police chief is in charge. No one can come in and help him solve a crime unless he asks for help.”

“We’re not asking them to do anything weird,” says John. “Just do your job. Test the DNA.”

Ramsey opens up to PEOPLE in an exclusive interview ahead of the upcoming Netflix docuseries Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?, streams Monday, Nov. 25.

The three-part series examines one of the most high-profile, sensational murder cases of all time. It unfolded after John found his young beauty pageant queen daughter dead in a rarely used basement room in an upscale Boulder, Colorado neighborhood on the morning of December 26, 1996.

John and his late wife, Patsy, also found a chilling handwritten ransom note believed to have been left by the killer inside their home. Still, the dead girl’s parents were quickly suspected of the murder of JonBenét Ramsey, who was sexually assaulted and died of suffocation and a blow to the skull.

Their son, Burke, who was 9 at the time of his sister’s murder, also came under suspicion.

“We assumed the police would show some judgment and wisdom and say, ‘Yeah, it’s crazy to think (we) murdered our child,'” says John. “Well, they never did. They made that decision on day one and tried desperately to prove it.”

The three-part docu-series delves into what John Ramsey considers missteps by authorities when investigating JonBenét’s murder in an international media circus that only complicated matters.

John says he wants cutting-edge labs using genetic genealogy and other advanced DNA technology to crack the cold case by examining seven items from the crime scene that he says have never been tested or were examined using outdated methods.

“Of the items sent to labs in the beginning, six or seven of them were returned untested,” he says. “We don’t know why they weren’t tested, but they weren’t tested. The garrote used to choke JonBenét, and a number of items were just sent back.”

The evidence also includes the dramatic ransom note and a suitcase found under an open basement window where some believe the killer entered and left the home.

“But to do the latest stuff, this whole genealogy, they needed a different format of the sample. And that’s why we’ve been advocating for more testing to be done by one or two of these very cutting-edge labs to get a sample in the right format that they can use to do genealogy and tracing, basically .”

Neither John, Patricia nor Burke were ever charged in connection with the murder. Patsy died in 2006.

Nearly three decades after his daughter’s murder, Ramsey says he’s hopeful the killer will be found.

“If it’s in the hands of the Boulder Police, it’s not going to be solved, period,” he tells PEOPLE. “If they accept help, all the help that is out there, that is available and offered, will be solved. Yes, I believe it will be resolved.”

For more on John Ramsey’s fight to see JonBenét’s murder solved in his lifetime, subscribe to PEOPLE now or pick up the new issue of People, on newsstands next week.