• A new Netflix documentary examines the JonBenét Ramsey murder case.

• Some surviving members of JonBenét’s family attended, but her brother Burke did not.

• Burke Ramsey had a difficult relationship with the media and was previously cleared as a suspect.

Burke Ramsey was 9 years old when his family came into the spotlight after his younger sister JonBenét Ramsey was found dead in their Boulder, Colorado, home on December 26, 1996.

The shocking and brutal nature of the murder (the six-year-old was found with a choking device called a garrote stuck in her throat; an autopsy later revealed her skull was fractured) sparked a media frenzy. The strange details of the still-unsolved murder — like the ransom note left behind that claimed JonBenét had been kidnapped and demanded $118,000 for her return, even though her body had been lying in the house the entire time — have fans from true crime buffs caused to waste the time that followed. For decades they have pored over the case and developed their own theories about what really happened.

Many came to believe that someone in the Ramsey family was responsible for JonBenét’s death; They were only officially acquitted as suspects in 2008. A new Netflix documentary series “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?” examines how flawed the initial investigation was and accuses the original Boulder investigators, along with the media, of unfairly casting suspicion on the family.

“I can’t think of another family that has been treated so unfairly by the media,” director Joe Berlinger told Business Insider in an interview ahead of the documentary’s premiere.

Burke Ramsey became (and remains) a particular target of suspicion among JonBenét theorists, but he did not participate in the new Netflix documentaries. Here’s what we know about Burke’s life since his sister’s murder and where he is today.

Theories that Burke Ramsey killed his sister JonBenét led to legal action

After JonBenét’s death, Burke and his parents moved back to Atlanta, where the family had lived before Boulder. While Patsy and John Ramsey continued to conduct interviews to combat suspicions against them and encourage authorities to further investigate the case, Burke, then a child, stayed out of the spotlight.

In 2008, the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office officially acquitted the Ramsey family (including Burke and Patsy, who had died two years earlier) of JonBenét’s murder after confirming with new tests that male DNA found on the child’s underwear was male didn’t agree with anyone in the family. Then-Prosecutor Mary Lacy also apologized in a letter to John Ramsey for the possibility that her office contributed to the “public perception that you may have been involved in this crime.”

The decision to publicly acquit the Ramsey family was controversial, and in the event of new DNA testing, as the Ramsey family and the Netflix documentaries are calling for, all previously acquitted suspects should be reexamined.

According to the Daily Camera, a Boulder newspaper, Burke was interviewed at least three times by investigators and reportedly appeared before the grand jury investigating the case in 1999. At the time, Boulder prosecutors said Burke was never a suspect. (As the Netflix doc reports, court documents unsealed in 2013 later revealed that the grand jury had voted to indict John and Patsy Ramsey on two counts each of child molestation, resulting in the death of JonBenét, even though then-prosecutor Alex Hunter agreed decided not to pursue the charges because he said the evidence was insufficient to prosecute.)

In September 2016, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the crime, CBS aired the docuseries “The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey.” In it, a group that included former FBI agents, a forensic scientist, and a forensic pathologist reassessed the evidence and theorized that Burke had probably accidentally killed JonBenét by hitting her over the head after eating a piece of pineapple had taken from his bowl that her parents had written the ransom note to cover up how JonBenét had died.

Burke’s lawyers later that year filed defamation suits against the network, the producers and the show’s hosts seeking $750 million; he had filed another lawsuit separately in October against one of the special counsel’s individual investigators. Both parties confirmed in January 2019 that the CBS lawsuit had been settled for an undisclosed amount.

Burke, then 29, portrayed Phil McGraw on the 2016 show “Dr. Phil” his first and so far only public interview, a few days before the CBS special aired. He admitted knowing that his family had been suspected of killing JonBenét and again denied that any of them were involved. He offered his own theory about the murder: that his sister had been killed by an intruder, probably someone who competed in JonBenét’s beauty pageants.

When asked why he finally decided to speak out, Burke said he wanted to honor his sister’s memory.

“I don’t want anyone to forget it,” he told McGraw.

Where is Burke Ramsey now?

Since “Dr. Phil” interview in 2016, Burke, now 37, is leading a private life again. Public records show he currently appears to be living in Michigan, where the Ramseys moved after leaving Atlanta.

John Ramsey told People in a 2012 interview that Burke worked as a software engineer. Speaking to ET after his interview with Burke, McGraw said Burke graduated from Purdue University in 2010 and works in the computer industry. At the time, Burke had a girlfriend, according to McGraw, but it is unclear whether he is currently in a relationship, married or has children.

“He’s a very private person, but he has a great career and a good relationship with his father,” McGraw told ET in 2016.

During the portion of the documentary recounting theories that Burke killed JonBenét, an on-screen text card explains that Burke declined to participate, “citing his treatment by the media and online web sleuths.”

Berlinger, the director of the new Netflix docuseries on the case, told TODAY that Burke is “doing well.”

He said the documentary team tried to reach Burke through John Ramsey and John Andrew Ramsey, who is John’s son and Burke’s half-brother. But according to Berlinger, Burke said he didn’t want to talk to them and they didn’t want to pressure him.

Both John and John Andrew were heavily involved in the documentaries. In an interview therein, John Andrew described allegations that his brother killed their sister as “absolutely absurd”.

Speaking to BI, Berlinger named Burke as the one person whose perspective he would have liked to take.

“I think he was treated so brutally too,” he said. “The theories against him are so incredulous.”

Read the original article on Business Insider