DNA clears JonBenet Ramsey's family

BOULDER, Colo. - Citing new DNA tests, prosecutors on Wednesday cleared JonBenet Ramsey's parents and brother in the 1996 killing of the 6-year-old beauty queen and apologized to the family for casting the cloud of suspicion that hung over them for more than a decade.

Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy said the tests point to an "unexplained third party." She released a copy of a letter she sent to John Ramsey that said: "To the extent that we may have contributed in any way to the public perception that you might have been involved in this crime, I am deeply sorry."

For years after the slaying, tabloids and crime shows went after the couple. News reports also cast suspicion on JonBenet's older brother, Burke, who was 9 when his sister was killed. Lacy's predecessor as district attorney, Alex Hunter, said in 1997 that the parents were under an "umbrella of suspicion."

"No innocent person should have to endure such an extensive trial in the court of public opinion, especially when public officials have not had sufficient evidence to initiate a trial in a court of law," Lacy wrote.

Early in the investigation police found male DNA in a drop of blood on JonBenet's underwear and determined it was not from anyone in her family, but Lacy said they were unable to say who it came from and whether that person was "innocent or otherwise."

Then late last year, prosecutors turned over long underwear JonBenet was wearing to the Bode Technology Group near Washington, which used a new technique called "touch DNA" to find previously undetected DNA evidence.

Touch DNA involves scraping genetic material that could not otherwise be seen. Two samples were found on the sides of her long underwear, in an area where an attacker would have pulled them down.

The results, reported to prosecutors in March, indicated the newly discovered DNA matched the DNA found earlier, and was not from the Ramsey family. Lacy said the presence of the same male DNA in three places on the girl's clothing convinced investigators it belonged to JonBenet's killer, and had not been left accidentally by an innocent party.

"It is therefore the position of the Boulder District Attorney's Office that this profile belongs to the perpetrator of the homicide," she wrote.

Lacy declined to comment through a spokeswoman.

Lacy has previously expressed doubts that the parents were involved. In 2003, a federal judge handling a defamation lawsuit in Atlanta involving the Ramseys said evidence in the case was more consistent with the theory that an intruder killed JonBenet, not her parents, and Lacy said she agreed.

John Ramsey found his daughter's strangled and bludgeoned body in the basement of the family's home in Boulder on Dec. 26, 1996. Patsy Ramsey said she found a ransom note demanding $118,000 for her daughter.

John Ramsey, a software entrepreneur, has said in interviews he believes the case will be solved.

Patsy Ramsey died June 24, 2006, of ovarian cancer at the age of 49 in Atlanta, where the family moved after JonBenet's death.

"My first thought was obviously I wish Patsy Ramsey was here with us to be able to at least share vindication of her family," said L. Lin Wood, an attorney for the Ramsey family.

"There are many people in this country, if not around the world, that also owe John and Patsy Ramsey and Burke Ramsey (their son) an apology," he said.

Less than two months after Patsy Ramsey died, the case appeared to blow wide open with the arrest in Thailand of John Mark Karr, a sometime teacher obsessed with the little girl's slaying. Karr made bizarre, detailed confessions to the killing, but authorities said DNA evidence showed Karr did not commit the crime.

This is what happens when those who are supposed to be working for the public good, in this case police officers, get blinded by the limelight and the razzle dazzle of giving press conferences, innocent people's lives are damaged beyond repair. This is some real bullshit and if I was John Ramsey I'd be gettin' ready to own the City of Boulder.
[Edited 7/9/08 14:44pm]

SCNDLS said:

I'm usually not that cool about suing for revenge, but this is one of the instances where I say Damn Right! Those inconsiderate people deserve to have someone stick it to them.
[Edited 7/9/08 14:48pm]

It's amazing what the legal system and media can do to a person!

I've always said the same about OJ. Assuming he didn't do it (for the sake of argument) his life has been damn near ruined, not to mention all the time he spent in jail, only to be aquitted.

This is what happens when those who are supposed to be working for the public good, in this case police officers, get blinded by the limelight and the razzle dazzle of giving press conferences, innocent people's lives are damaged beyond repair. This is some real bullshit and if I was John Ramsey I'd be gettin' ready to own the City of Boulder.

SCNDLS said:

The problem with that is, the public didn't have to buy into it. We didn't have to eat what the media was feeing us.

But we wanted it. We wanted all the gory details. We wanted to snatch up all the tabloids that proclaimed the most outlandish "truths" surrounding the case. We wanted all the speculation surrounding the parents because we love stories that are more morbid than the norm. We wanted to pass severe judgement on the parents because of all the beauty pagent photos of the little girl in make up and fake smiles. We wanted it, and we helped cause it.

Byron said:

I completely agree that the public and the media jumped on that bus because those pics seemed pseudo-sexual which added to perversity of it all. But the Boulder police was driving that bus because they insinuated that it was an inside job from the start, illegally releasing information to put that stink on (implicate) the family. Remember the whole thing about them finding the notepad in the house that the ransom note was SUPPOSEDLY written on which SUPPOSEDLY proved that someone in the family was involved? Plus they were sooooo slow to consider someone outside of the family. Besides, the officers seemed to enjoy giving statements and press conferences. That's when I started looking at them sideways.

The releasing of info and/or evidence is definitely worrisome, although I do know that a lot of times it's done by the media thru "contacts" as well, and not necessarily a coordinated effort by the police department (although that definitely happens, too).

SCNDLS said:

The releasing of info and/or evidence is definitely worrisome, although I do know that a lot of times it's done by the media thru "contacts" as well, and not necessarily a coordinated effort by the police department (although that definitely happens, too).

The article said that the district attorney even said five years ago that she doubted the parents were responsible for Jon Benet's murder...but I guarantee you that didn't matter in the public's mind:

"(District Attorney) Lacy has previously expressed doubts that the parents were involved. In 2003, a federal judge handling a defamation lawsuit in Atlanta involving the Ramseys said evidence in the case was more consistent with the theory that an intruder killed JonBenet, not her parents, and Lacy said she agreed."

As for the police, there WAS indeed more than enough circumstantial evidence to include the Ramsey's as potential suspects, at least at the beginning: the pad of paper with the indentation of the ransom note on the top blank page...the fact that the father said he checked the entire house and couldn't find his daughter, then when the police show up Jon Benet is found in a room in the basement, pretty much in plain site...the amount in the ransom note being almost identical to either an amount the father had just received from his job as a bonus or an amount he was said to have owed (can't remember which one it was)...the fact that Jon Benet was apparently killed inside the house to begin with instead of removing her and taking her somewhere safer for the perpetrator (that's how crimes like this usually occur)...and of course the fact that the overwhelming majority of the time when a child her age is murdered it's usually by someone the child or the child's family knew. I mean a LOT of things pointed to keeping the Ramsey's on the "possible suspects" list.

Unfortunately through police leaks, a frenzied media and the public's insatiable desire for lurid stories and the gossip that accompanies them, the Ramsey's had to live as "guilty" for far too long in the public's eye. Lots of blame to go around in my eyes, not just the police are at fault.

Byron said:

The Autopsy photos and report has been online for a long while now - I spent many long nights reading the info and trying to piece things together

I found it accidently one night looking for a pic to post in one of Anx's threads

Byron said:

The Autopsy photos and report has been online for a long while now - I spent many long nights reading the info and trying to piece things together

I found it accidently one night looking for a pic to post in one of Anx's threads

Sure, lots of blame to go around and it makes perfect sense to view the family as suspects initially. But for the DA to make that statement 5 years ago, that's still 7 years of the family being viewed as the perps in this.

And I remember seeing numerous interviews with the parents criticizing the police for not following up on leads or pursuing other suspects as aggressively as they were going after them.

Like I said before yes the public and the media ate it up but how far would that have gone if the police didn't feed the frenzy with erroneous, inflammatory information?

I read the book the Ramsey family wrote a few years back. In fact it was such a good read, I read it twice! I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was not them, long ago. I am glad they have finally been cleared.

PaisleyPark5083 said:

I read a book called something like "The Cases That Still Haunt Us", and it had a section about this murder in it. The author was a well-known expert in crime scenes and profiling and things like that, and after reading his analysis I believed completely that the Ramsey's didn't commit the crime.