JonBenét Ramsey’s father says advances in DNA technology could help police solve daughter’s 1996 murder

The day after Christmas in 1996, John and Patsy Ramsey woke up to find their 6-year-old daughter, JonBenét, a child beauty queen, missing from the family’s Boulder, Colorado, home.

A handwritten ransom note demanding $118,000—John’s exact bonus that year—was found on the kitchen stairs. Seven hours later, John discovered his daughter’s lifeless body in a small room in the basement.

For decades, the case has captivated the nation.

Now, 28 years later, John Ramsey remains hopeful that his daughter’s killer will be caught. He believes new DNA technology can help police reinvestigate JonBenét’s murder, a case that attracted global attention.

JonBenet’s autopsy showed she had been sexually assaulted and strangled, and her skull was fractured. Unknown DNA was found under her fingernails and in her underwear.

The Ramseys quickly became suspects, although no evidence linked them to the crime.

The Ramseys have consistently maintained that they were not involved in JonBenet’s murder. However, it took the Boulder District Attorney’s Office 12 years to exonerate the Ramseys and their son, Burke.

As the weeks passed without any arrests in the case, a media frenzy began to build, fueled by nonstop tabloid photos of JonBenét competing in beauty pageants.

A number of suspects emerged, including a man named John Mark Karr, who confessed to the killing in 2006. However, his DNA did not match the evidence, so he was never charged. The case remained open.

To this day, John Ramsey believes his family is under a cloud because there are still people in the country who believe he and his late wife Patsy, who died in 2006, are responsible for JonBenét’s murder.

“There will still be 5 to 10% of the population who think, ‘yes, yes, it was the father, or yes, it was the mother,'” John said.

Despite the loss of his wife and daughter, John Ramsey remains steadfast. He has now remarried and finds solace in his children and grandchildren.

John is also working with director Joe Berlinger on a new documentary series streaming on Netflix titled “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?”

“We believe the crime can be solved,” Berlinger said. “We will push the Boulder police to do DNA testing.”

The documentary series reviews the early stages of the investigation. From the beginning, there were questions about the police’s handling of the investigation.

“Early on, they explored this crazy idea that the parents were responsible,” Berlinger said. “They get tunnel vision, so they don’t seek to explore all options.”

The crime scene is also under scrutiny as it was potentially contaminated, creating additional challenges, according to Berlinger.

People flowed through the house, moving from the kitchen to the living room.

The Boulder Police Department told “Nightline,” “We are dedicated to following up on every lead. We continue to work with DNA experts and our law enforcement partners across the country until this tragic case is solved. This investigation will always remain a priority for the Boulder Police Department.”

John Ramsey is convinced that advances in DNA technology can help identify his daughter’s killer.

“A number of old, old cold cases have been solved using this genealogy,” said John Ramsey. “Let’s do a reverse family tree and see if he (the killer) had a relative living in Boulder in 1996. That’s what we’re asking the police to do.”