Her father expressed his sincere hope that authorities are on the right route to ultimately solve her murder, which has been unresolved for nearly 30 years.
In December 1996, 6-year-old child beauty queen JonBen T. Ramsey was discovered murdered and battered in the basement of her family’s Boulder, Colorado, home.
Her murder captured the public’s attention and made headlines, but it hasn’t been solved for decades. Prior to the prosecutors’ 2008 letter of apology and declaration that they were not suspects, her brother and parents were under investigation in the case. Authorities identified an unidentified foreigner after discovering male DNA on the child’s body that did not belong to her family.
The 81-year-old father of JonBen, John Ramsey, stated that he is still committed to cracking her case.
He said he believed the case was in good hands for the first time in 28 years at his Monday meeting with the new Boulder police chief.
They simply wanted to talk about the case honestly. He told Stephanie Gosk of NBC, “I’m just very impressed with the caliber of the leadership now and that gave me great hope.”
“They kept that result secret from the DA, certainly from us,” he added, referring to the male DNA that had previously been kept out of the case’s district attorney’s office. The police had a difficulty because it contradicted their conclusion that the family was responsible for the murders.
The Netflix documentary “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBen t Ramsey,” which was published late last year and slammed Boulder police, focused on the DNA.
The police have seriously tarnished our family’s reputation. According to John Ramsey, the only way it will be largely repaired is if a killer is apprehended. In 2006, at the age of 49, JonBen’s mother, Patsy, passed away from cancer.
Boulder police chief Steve Redfearn responded to the documentary by saying the case is far from over and admitting the inquiry should have been handled more effectively all those years ago.
Our objective is to identify the murderer of JonBen T. Ramsey. In a video message at the time, Redfearn stated, “Our dedication to that has never wavered.”
Ramsey is optimistic that a break could come from forensic genetic genealogy, which has been used to solve other cold cases.
“That’s how we’re going to solve it,” he stated.