After two years of communicating by email and phone, Boulder police and the Boulder district attorney met face-to-face with JonBenet Ramsey’s father and brother Monday – leaving the slain 6-year-old’s family encouraged that the case is moving forward.

John Andrew Ramsey, John Ramsey’s oldest son, said one piece of information was divulged in the meeting that had not been made public before. 

DNA found in JonBenet’s underwear has not been tested using genealogical methods because technology is not yet sensitive enough to develop a profile. However, Boulder police constantly monitor the rapidly changing science for when that becomes a possibility.

“It’s not if but when,” said John Andrew Ramsey. 

Before now, no one except investigators knew if the mystery DNA had been tested for a genealogical profile. 

JonBenet Ramsey was first reported missing from her home in Boulder the morning of Dec. 26, 1996. Patsy Ramsey said she found a three-page ransom note, demanding $118,000 for the child’s safe return, on the bottom steps of a spiral staircase on the ground floor of the family’s upscale Boulder home near Chautauqua Park. Later that day, the child’s body was found in the basement by her father.

According to officials, the Boulder Police Department has investigated thousands of leads since then, including more than 21,000 tips, letters and emails. 

The Ramseys met with police for an hour at the Boulder police headquarters with Chief Stephen Redfearn, Deputy Chief Barry Hartkopp and 20th Judicial District Attorney Michael Dougherty, John Andrew Ramsey said.

A Boulder police spokesperson confirmed the meeting, saying that “Chief Redfearn and members of our Operations Division met with the family this week as the department has previously to share updates on the case.”

Because the 27-year-old case is still an active investigation, police declined to discuss specifics.

The DNA found in a drop of blood in JonBenet’s underwear is mixed with JonBenet’s blood and at least two other people’s. It has confounded investigators for years, but John Andrew Ramsey feels good about how quickly the science is being developed.

“It’s now a game of inches,” he said, noting that it’s unfair to expect an immediate development.

In a recent three-part Netflix documentary series on the case, John Ramsey urged police to move forward with genealogical DNA testing. The 81-year-old said last year that he felt the Boulder police were waiting for him to die. 

In a public update last November, Redfearn acknowledged that the investigation into JonBenet’s death is a priority.

“We are committed to following up on every lead and we are continuing to work with DNA experts and our law enforcement partners around the country.” 

This may sound like more of the same to many who have followed the case for nearly three decades. 

John Ramsey and John Andrew Ramsey met with former Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold and Redfearn on Jan. 20, 2023. Six months later, that group met with the addition of Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty.

John Ramsey has maintained that he and his wife, Patsy, are innocent of JonBenet’s death, but for years the couple were considered “under the umbrella of suspicion” for the crime.

John Andrew Ramsey has been here before, but technology was never this close before and he has a renewed faith in the Boulder police this time.

“For years, files were collecting dust in a storage room. Now I don’t think that they are,” he said. 

A Paramount television series starring Mellisa McCarthy as JonBenet’s mother, Patsy, and Clive Owens as John Ramsey now has a working title. A release date for “Unpeakable: The Murder of JonBenet Ramsey” will explore the relationship between two parents who thought they had done everything right for their children only to have their lives fall apart when one of them is murdered. A release date has not been announced.