Father of JonBenét Ramsey says police are waiting for him to die: ‘It’s just disgusting’
JonBenét Ramsey’s body was found in the basement of the Ramsey family home in Boulder, Colorado, the day after Christmas in 1996
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JonBenét Ramsey’s father claims that Colorado authorities are waiting for him to die so that the pressure is off them to solve the 6-year-old’s cold case murder.
But John Ramsey, 80, says he’s going to be around for a long time and will keep putting pressure on police to solve his daughter’s murder.
“I’m not going to die,” he told Fox News Digital during an interview at CrimeCon, a true crime convention, in Nashville on May 31. “Well, I’m going to be around for a good while.”
The 1996 killing of JonBenét, who would have turned 33 in August, has never been solved. It gained worldwide attention, spurring countless books, documentaries and theories.
Her body was found in the basement of the Ramsey family home in Boulder, Colorado, the day after Christmas in 1996. She had been beaten and strangled to death.
While her killer has never been caught, her family has never given up their search for justice. Ramsey said he attended CrimeCon to continue to tell JonBenét’s story.
“We heard, reliably, that one of the members of the police department — I don’t know who — told a journalist, ‘We’re just waiting for John Ramsey to die,’” Ramsey told Fox News Digital.
“And the implication is: then pressure will be off, and all this will go away,” he added. “It’s just disgusting, but it’s not out of character at all.”
Paula Woodward, an investigative journalist who has extensively covered JonBenét’s murder, joined the elder Ramsey for a panel at the true crime convention where she confirmed hearing about the police officer’s statement that authorities are waiting for Ramsey to die.
It’s believed that someone broke into the Ramsey home, struck JonBenét in the back of the head and strangled her. An autopsy determined that the child’s skull had been fractured. A garrote made from white rope and a broken paintbrush was found around her neck.
Ramsey and his late wife, Patsy Ramsey, were initially named suspects based on probable cause, but they were ultimately excluded.
Patsy died of cancer in 2006, the same year a teacher, John Mark Karr, confessed to murdering the child. However, he was cleared because his DNA did not match samples found at the scene.
At CrimeCon over the weekend, Ramsey told Fox News Digital that even after he’s gone, his son, John Andrew Ramsey, will “take over.”
“He’s very passionate about getting this resolved, and I’m grateful for that,” he added.
Ramsey continues to push for the Boulder Police Department to allow an independent forensic genetic genealogy company to conduct DNA testing on the existing items in the case.
In November 2022, Boulder police and district attorney issued a release about the “ongoing homicide investigation,” announcing it would be consulting with the Colorado Cold Case Review Team in 2023.
Boulder PD told The Independent in December 2023 that the “active investigation continues to receive assistance from federal, state, and local partners.”
But as Ramsey continues to push for answers, he’s worried police may have lost some items that could have been tested for DNA evidence over the years, he said during the CrimeCon panel with Woodward.
Woodward said that when she submitted a public records request about items in the case, she learned several were never analyzed.
Significant items included the garrote, the ransom note, a suitcase found in the basement that authorities believe the killer used to escape out a window, and unknown rope found in her brother Burke Ramsey’s room, Woodward said at CrimeCon.
“As far as we know, these items have never been tested,” Ramsey added.
“They were taken from the crime scene as possible evidence. We want them tested, and we want them tested by an outside lab for DNA sampling. To my knowledge, that’s never happened.”