“Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey” on Netflix: The biggest reveal of the docuseries

I’ve watched a number of JonBenét Ramsey specials over the years and, like many of those invested in the case, hoped that each one would solve the unimaginable death of a six-year-old in her Boulder, Colorado, home on Christmas Day. Like those previous documentaries, Netflix’s “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?” doesn’t give us the answer we’ve been looking for in the 28 years since. But what the three-hour docuseries (now streaming) does exceptionally well is show how wrong it was to suspect the child’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, or brother Burke, who was just nine at the time of his sister’s death years old.

“People hated the Ramseys,” Paula Woodward, an investigative journalist who covered the case, says in the docuseries, “and that was because the information that was coming out about them was false.”

John Ramsey remembers being “hounded everywhere by the media” in “Cold Case.” We were staying with friends and within a day or two the house was just surrounded by cameras and people banging on doors and windows.”

Fact check:The murder of JonBenét Ramsey remains unsolved, years after the six-year-old’s death

Seeing John in the first few minutes of the premiere is almost astounding. Now 80, his more noticeable wrinkles and age spots serve as a harrowing reminder of how long he has been without an answer – and how long his family has been under scrutiny. One in four people surveyed in a 1999 Scripps Howard News Service poll believed JonBenét’s mother, Patsy, killed her. Five percent suspected Burke, who refused to take part in “Cold Case,” producers said, citing his treatment by the media and “online web sleuths.” In 2019, Burke received an undisclosed settlement from CBS after he was sued in a defamation lawsuit over a 2016 special that framed him for murder.

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“When you look at pictures of 9-year-old Burke,” says John Andrew Ramsey, John Ramsey’s child from his first marriage, “it’s just absolutely absurd to think, ‘Oh yeah, he could have killed his sister and given birth.’ this level of violence.’”

Here are the most shocking things the Ramseys faced, presented in Cold Case.

Mock trial on “The Geraldo Rivera Show” sends Patsy to bed “for like two days.”

One moment that will stun viewers is the replay of a 1997 mock trial conducted by then-syndicated daytime talk show host Geraldo Rivera to determine whether the Ramseys were responsible for their daughter’s death. A woman identified as a child abuse expert believes JonBenét was “sexually stimulated” after watching a videotaped performance.

“She picks up a saxophone and masturbates with it for the next minute and a half,” says the supposed expert, grossly mischaracterizing the footage of JonBenét pretending to play the instrument.

“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Patsy responded in a previous interview. (She died of ovarian cancer in 2006.) “It’s sickening when someone even remotely alludes to something so terrible; “It just makes me sick.” After the televised “jury” indicted Patsy, “she lost it,” she says. “I went to bed for like two days because I was just embarrassed.”

John Ramsey: Police kept DNA results that exonerated family ‘secret’ for months

Investigators collected another person’s DNA from JonBenét’s fingernails and her underwear. Ultimately, the docuseries calls into question the validity of the DNA testing, but it had previously been determined that neither Patsy, John, nor Burke matched the results.

Some, like John Ramsey, believe the police intentionally kept the results to themselves. “In January they were told by their lab, ‘We tested the DNA.’ “There is unidentified male DNA, which excludes the parents and son Burke,” Ramsey said. “They kept this secret from the media and the prosecutor for months … because it contradicted their conclusion that we were the murderers.”

A reporter says police have “twisted” the facts given to the media.

Journalist Woodward says police “took this little bit of information, twisted it, and then passed it on to these few media reporters who said, ‘Hey, I’m in on it.’

A March 1997 Rocky Mountain News article states that “the lack of tracks (in the snow) was among the first clues that led police to suspect family members.” But those interviewed say it was behind the house There was no snow to leave footprints on.

Lou Smit, an investigator hired by the Boulder district attorney to help with the case, expressed frustration with Boulder police in an audio recording. (He died in 2010.) “There is clear evidence of an intruder,” he says. “I say that over and over again. Nobody wants to listen.”

And then there is the ransom note. “Very early on, the police leaked massively that Patsy Ramsey had written the ransom note,” Woodward says. However, Bob Whitson, a former police officer, says at least four experts have concluded that Patsy did not write the note.

So who killed JonBenét Ramsey?

Episode 3 of the documentary names some potential suspects. But most of the episode explores the possibility that John Mark Karr, who fled the United States after being charged with child pornography, was the perpetrator. He knew an awful lot of details about JonBenét and her death and claimed to have committed the murder. But Karr’s DNA doesn’t match what investigators collected. (Mary Lacy, a former Boulder County district attorney, previously said, “Mr. Karr’s family cooperated by providing circumstantial evidence that Mr. Karr spent Christmas with his family in Atlanta.”)

John Ramsey, suspecting something is wrong with the DNA results, wants these samples retested. He also wants other items collected from the crime scene to be tested for the first time. He then wants these results to be compared with available databases.

What do Boulder police say?

“The murder of JonBenét was an unspeakable crime, and this tragedy has never left our hearts,” Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said in a statement provided to USA TODAY by Public Information Officer Dionne Waugh. “We are committed to pursuing every lead and will continue to work with DNA experts and our law enforcement partners across the country until this tragic case is solved.”

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