The director of JonBenét Ramsey’s Netflix documentary reveals who he believes is behind the six-year-old beauty queen’s murder – and why her family is innocent

The director of Netflix’s new JonBenét Ramsey documentary has revealed why he believes the family of the murdered six-year-old is innocent – and who may be behind the mystery.

American documentarian Joe Berlinger opened up about his own thoughts on the 1996 Colorado killing after directing Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey, which takes aim at detectives for botching the investigation and the media for presenting the girl’s family as prime suspects.

The six-year-old beauty pageant princess was reported missing after her family found a ransom note demanding $118,000 for the child’s return at their Boulder home on December 26, 1996.

The child’s body was later found by her father in the basement of the family’s exclusive home, brutally beaten and strangled to death.

Speaking to New York Postsaid Joe: ‘I firmly believe that the Ramsey family are innocent. And I also firmly believe that this case can be solved if the Boulder Police Department finally does what it needs to do.’

He added that he believes all suspects should be ‘put back on the table’ as many ‘likely suspects’ were ruled out at the time due to the faulty DNA analysis.

But he acknowledged that even the Ramsey family should also be DNA tested again because they would be more than happy to help.

Bereaved father John Ramsey, 80, took part in the Netflix documentary in the hope it could find answers to his daughter’s murder case.

Joe said: ‘John Ramsey agreed to sit down with us, didn’t ask to be paid and wasn’t paid – we don’t pay our subjects – and didn’t ask for editorial input.

‘No question was off limits. To me, it’s an 80-year-old guy who … wants to get that case solved. It is simply inconceivable that the family had anything to do with this.’

Joe told the publication that he believes an intruder entered the home and murdered the little girl, calling it “a much more plausible scenario.”

JonBenét was found brutally beaten and strangled to death and it was ruled a murder, but no one was ever prosecuted and the case remains cold.

The details of the crime and video footage of JonBenét from her beauty pageants propelled the case into one of the highest profile mysteries in the United States.

She had been crowned Little Miss Colorado, Little Miss Charlevoix, Colorado State All-Star Kids Cover Girl and National Tiny Miss Beauty.

The mystery spawned a series of crime books and television specials.

The district attorney at the time of JonBenét’s death said her parents were under ‘an umbrella of suspicion’ early on.

Theorists have also questioned whether their son Burke, who was nine years old at the time of JonBenet’s death, accidentally killed his sister in a moment of rage and his parents covered it up.

But tests in 2008 on newly discovered DNA on her clothing pointed to the involvement of an ‘unexplained third party’ in her murder, and not her parents or Burke.

That prompted former District Attorney Mary Lacy to clear the Ramseys of any involvement, two years after mother Patsy died of ovarian cancer in 2006, calling the couple “victims of this crime.”

Investigators had identified other suspects and developed a theory of an intruder, or intruders, entering the home and killing the pageant princess.

Among the suspects was convicted pedophile Gary Oliva, who allegedly confessed to the murder.

Others included Ramsey’s housekeeper as well as the man who portrayed Santa at a holiday party the youngster attended.

Officials in 2006 announced that another suspect, John Mark Karr, had been arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.

He had allegedly told an American investigator that he drugged JonBenét and sexually assaulted her before accidentally killing her.

But prosecutors dropped the investigation after DNA tests failed to link him to the crime scene.

Investigations are underway. Boulder police and officials said in December 2021 that they had processed 1,500 pieces of evidence and analyzed nearly 1,000 DNA samples in their hunt for the killer.

Detectives have digitized all handwriting, fingerprint and shoeprint samples collected over the years and regularly check for DNA matches in hopes of solving the case.

But Father John has questioned whether they are doing their job properly. In May 2022, he called on an outside agency to take charge of DNA testing in the case.

The new series brings together archival footage of JonBenét happily walking around the family home and the frantic footage of mom Patsy’s 911 call declaring her “daughter is gone.”

The show, streaming from November 25, focuses on the police’s mistakes, including the failure to secure the house and the potential removal of evidence.

It features an interview with Burke, who describes the Ramseys as ‘just an ordinary family’ before that fateful Christmas.

The trailer shows father John, 80, recalling how the ‘unbelievable’ tragedy unfolded.

It also includes audio from someone involved in the case saying: ‘We’ve been excluding people for the wrong reasons.’

‘Everyone should be back on the table. You need to go deeper,’ says the person.

The show also investigates whether Patsy, herself a former beauty queen, made JonBenet a target for predators by encouraging her to dress up for her pageants.

She was buried in Marietta, Georgia, next to her mother and half-sister Elizabeth Ramsey, who died in a car accident in 1992.

Director Joe Berlinger says the series takes aim at those who ‘played armchair detective for three decades, often dispassionately pointing a finger at the very people who suffered such unimaginable loss.’

He added: ‘Through unprecedented access and an extensive multi-year investigation, we are revealing the deep flaws in how the case was initially handled, resulting in a sea of ​​conspiracy theories that nearly destroyed the Ramsey family for a second time.’

Dionne Waugh, a spokeswoman for the Boulder Police Department declined to comment on an ‘open and ongoing investigation.’ Anyone with information about the homicide should call the tip line at 303-441-1974, she said.

Shannon Carbone, a spokeswoman for the Boulder District Attorney’s office, said a recent case review had been “helpful” and that investigators were continuing to “make progress on this tragic case.”

“The overall goal is to look at the facts and evidence with fresh eyes and an open mind, armed with the latest developments in forensic science,” Carbone told DailyMail.com.