John Ramsey has not stopped seeking answers since the untimely death of his daughter JonBenét Ramsey in 1996. Recently Ramsey attended CrimeCon where he made statements that he he hopes to utilize outside agencies to help process DNA found at the crime scene. As years go on it is his hope and likely all of Americas that with new technology new leads will develop and ultimately the final answer to who killed JonBenét Ramsey.
JonBenét was a successful child pagent queen, superseding her mother Patsy Ramsey’s success in pageantry. You could say she was even a little bit of a local celebrity that was loved by everyone. Due to her families prestige and wealth the family as a whole was very well known in the community. In December of 1996 in Boulder Colorado, JonBenét Ramsey was tragically found deceased in the basement of her family home. Her death was ruled a homicide and the case remains unsolved and open to this day. From the beginning the Boulder Police Department made significant investigative mistakes. A ransom note was left asking for $118,000 for their daughters safe return and also instructed the parents to not call the police. Patsy Ramsey immediately called law enforcement. Upon their arrival the police only tapped off JonBenét’s room causing the rest of the household to be subject to tampering which could have destroyed critical evidence. The Police conducted no formal interviews and instead allowed the Ramsey family to help search for their daughter. This lead to John Ramsey not only finding his daughters body in the basement, but he also carried his daughter upstairs to the police causing a disruption to the crime scene. From this point on the investigations rendered no successful leads. This comes to no surprise due to the tampering of evidence and messy investigative work. It seems as though the Boulder Police spent more time covering their own tracks than actually trying to solve JonBenét’s case.
John Ramsey attended the CrimeCon convention on April 29th 2022 in Las Vegas and learned about new ways to process DNA which can lead to solving older cases. Ramsey also spoke at CrimeCon to a crowd of approximately 4,000 which was reported being well received. Ramsey has announced his support for a petition to assign an independent agency to make decisions about testing the remaining DNA in the case instead of leaving those decisions to the Boulder Police Department. Due to state by state restrictions, the use of DNA has been surprisingly limited and restricted. Even with such limitations it seems that in JonBenét’s case the DNA that was discovered at the crime scene has not been used in the most effective manner.
Ramsey has always been critical of law enforcement working his daughters case and rightfully so. Ramsey has claimed that law enforcement has continued to “drop the ball” and be hesitant in using new technology. The Boulder Police Department has released statements ensuring the Ramsey family and the public that they have and are doing everything they can to solve the case. They claim to use only the most “state of the art” technology and that JonBenét’s case is not closed or cold; rather something they are continually and consistently working on. However, the Boulder Police Department has been suspiciously resistant to further testing the remaining DNA that they have.
The lack of leads and answers leaves not only the public but Ramsey to question if the Boulder Police is utilizing all the resources that they have and continuing to work on the case. We are seeing more and more people take issues such as crime and healthcare into their own hands due to being dissatisfied with the services being rendered. It is also not the case that people are being overly critical of Police Departments or healthcare or having unrealistic expectations. They are very justified situations where individuals are not getting the care or resolutions they need and deserve. This is part of a much larger systematic failure that is leaving people desperate and hopeless therefore feeling their only option is to do it themselves.
We can only imagine how Ramsey must feel and it is encouraging that he is still fighting for justice and seeking answers in anyway that he can. Keeping a cold case alive can be critical when hoping to solve it. Ramsey is also taking to different media outlets to continually give his personal updates on the case while also putting pressure on the Boulder Police Department to keep the case fresh. Ramsey has also stated that he gets a sense of comfort from the connections and support that he receives from the media and supporters. This is quite the turnaround for Ramsey as he has been open about how horrifying his experience has been with the media. After his daughters death the Ramseys name was slandered in the media with countless accusations of misinformation and defamation. The immediate Ramsey family was cleared of any wrong doing in the death of JonBenét but the media would continually try to disprove this without any real facts. It is positive to see that Ramsey is able to utilize the media to his advantage and get the support he needs and deserves.
It is clear that Ramsey is willing to go to any lengths solve his daughters case. While attending CrimeCon Ramsey also learned that several cold cases have been solved using new DNA technologies. This renders hope for not only future cases but Jonbenét’s. Do you think the Boulder Police Department dropped the ball? It is obvious the detective work was sloppy and therefore has effected the outcome of the case. We hope to see justice for JonBenét Ramsey and the Ramsey family soon.