A cold case review team of outside investigators has made recommendations to the Boulder Police regarding the 27-year-old unsolved murder of JonBenet Ramsey, but there’s no indication that the case is any closer to being solved.

And Boulder Police aren’t saying when the meeting with those experts happened, only indicating that the team met “recently.” 

Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty said that investigators from the FBI, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and public and private labs looked at the 6-year-old’s homicide with “fresh eyes and an open mind.” 

New era of trust

JonBenet’s brother, John Andrew Ramsey, told The Denver Gazette that the cold case team development has been a long time coming.

“The Cold Case Review should be the beginning of a comprehensive effort to identify and capture JonBenet’s killer,” Ramsey said. “I applaud the work to date and trust the Boulder Police Department and DA Michael Dougherty to stop at nothing to find the killer of 6-year-old JonBenet. It can be done.”

It’s the first time in 27 years that JonBenet’s family has used the word “trust” when referring to the Boulder Police Department.

The department had been criticized in the past by JonBenet Ramsey’s father, John Ramsey, for being “incompetent” and suggested they were arrogant for refusing to ask for help on the case.

John Andrew Ramsey said that he and his father last met with Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold and Deputy Chief Stephen Redfearn to discuss the case in June 2023. 

The panel of what was described as “outside” experts made recommendations to the Boulder Police after the review, but “to preserve the integrity of the investigation, those specific recommendations will not be made public at this time,” according to the news release.

About the DNA

In the press release, Boulder police said DNA is still an investigative “focal point” and that investigators are working with leading DNA experts across the country to ensure that the latest techniques are considered.

A key sentence in the release alluded to unidentified DNA in the case, indicating that “the evidence has been preserved and will continue to be ready for testing when there is proven and validated technology that can accurately test forensic samples consistent with the evidence available in this case. Detectives are actively taking steps to prepare the evidence for testing when possible.”

The 6-year-old died the day after Christmas in 1996. She was found in a dark utility room in the basement by her father seven hours after her mother, Patsy Ramsey, found a ransom note and called 911. JonBenet had been strangled with a garrote made from a length of rope and a broken paintbrush handle. White cord was loosely tied around her wrists and black duct tape covered her mouth. Her favorite Barbie nightgown lay on the concrete floor nearby.

Later, the Boulder County coroner discovered an 8-inch crack in her skull.

DNA which was scraped from underneath the child’s fingernails and extracted from her clothing never matched anyone when compared to more than 20 million profiles in the FBI’s national Combined DNA Database System (CODIS). It also didn’t match her parents, family friends, and dozens of possible suspects including John Mark Karr — a man who confessed the crime and was retrieved from Thailand to have his cheek swabbed in 2006. 

DNA was tested on several pieces of evidence found in and around the crime scene including a blood stain on JonBenet’s panties, on the cord which was tied around her wrists, on the duct tape which covered her mouth, on the garrote used to strangle her and on the shoulders and hem of the Barbie nightgown found near her body. 

After 27 years, investigators have amassed a mountain of evidence.

Boulder Police said that with the help of the FBI, they have now digitized thousands of information files that include 40,000 reports with more than one million pages documenting the investigation. 

Over the years, there have been 21,000 tips, over 1,000 interviews which were conducted across 17 states and two foreign countries, and forensic samples from over 200 individuals, according to the BPD. That evidence includes DNA, fingerprints, handwriting and shoe prints.

A partial print from a HiTec shoe or boot was found in mold in the floor of the basement room where JonBenet’s body was discovered.

None of that evidence has never pointed to the girl’s killer.

In an earlier interview, Gov. Jared Polis’ office told the Denver Gazette that he asked for the Colorado Cold Case team to consult with the Boulder Police this year and added that he was hopeful that “this technology will be proven in a matter of months or a few short years, given rapid advancements in the field.” 

For JonBenet Ramsey’s family, renewed effort and conversation regarding her death is heartening.

“We are in a good position,” Ramsey said. “Now its time to finish the job.”