JonBenet Ramsey’s brother reveals twist in famous cold case in new interview
There is a fresh hope that the murder of JonBenet Ramsey can be re-investigated following the introduction of a new federal law in the United States.
The six-year-old beauty pageant queen was found murdered in her parents’ Boulder, Colorado home in 1996.
She was brutally assaulted and killed on Christmas night in the basement of her home.
For 25 years her case has remained unsolved, and local police have famously remained tight-lipped about the investigation.
Now JonBenet ’s half-brother, John Andrew Ramsey, has opened up about the potential of fresh eyes looking into JonBenet’s murder.
It comes after US President Joe Biden signed a new law allowing victims’ families to submit an application to essentially reopen cold cases.
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“I would want someone to look at the problem with fresh ideas”
Mr Ramsey, who was 23 at the time of his half sister’s murder, has told The US Sun in an interview that the Homicide Victims’ Families Rights Act provides “accountability and transparency”.
“We’re not the only family like this who face challenges where police are unwilling to share information,” Mr Ramsey said, “which is understandable after a couple years.
“It’s been 25 years. It’s time for Boulder police to talk.”
The law gives relatives of homicide victims the right to have their loved one’s federal case file reviewed and new people involved in a potential reinvestigation.
Mr Ramsey said he and his father had been pushing Colorado Governor Jared Polis to use his executive power to do something very similar, taking the case out of Boulder police’s hands and giving it to an outside agency.
“If I’m stuck on something, I would want someone to look at the problem with a clear set of eyes and fresh ideas,” Mr Ramsey said.
RELATED: JonBenet Ramsey’s brother: “I know people think I did it”
Volunteers want evidence re-tested
The interview comes as a team of volunteer investigators and a detective’s daughter continue to call for three crucial pieces of evidence in the JonBenét case to be re-tested with modern technology.
Cindy Smit-Marra, who is the daughter of late detective Lou Smit, is working in a team of 12 people to solve the cold case and continue the work of her father.
The well-known detective believed the pageant queen’s parents, John and Patsy, were innocent and was the first to introduce the “intruder theory”.
His family said he placed a photo of JonBenet in his wallet as a commitment to finding her killer, where it remained until the day he died.
Ms Smit-Marra, and the group of volunteers, believe the six-year-old pyjama pants, underwear and fingernails, need to be retested “under the specific format required to do forensic genealogy research.”
“The Ramseys’ didn’t do it, and this case can be solved using the DNA evidence the killer left at the crime scene,” they said, according to the US Sun.
The team has been using their own money, and donations through heir GoFundMe (which currently has $US45,800 or $AUD65,000 in donations) to test DNA and cross potential suspects’ names off the list.
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