The tragic death of 6-year-old child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey on December 25, 1996, was the horrible Christmas gift that keeps us enthralled year after year. Perhaps the most tragic, and frustrating, aspect of the cold case was the particularly violent cause of death: strangulation. And while strangulation was ultimately the cause of death, the gruesome autopsy report also lists “fracture of the right skull, contusions of right cerebral hemisphere, and subarachnoid and subdural hemorrhage” among other minor injuries, per the Denver Post. For such an intimate and terrible act, one would hope that some shred of evidence was left behind. However, as of 2024, the case remains unsolved.
What we do know is that Ramsey’s body was found in her family’s basement with a makeshift garrotte wrapped around her neck seven hours after she was reported missing via a 911 call made by her mother, Patsy Ramsey. A written ransom note was found in the house, which many believed to be written by Patsy, with her and her husband John Ramsey both initial suspects in the case. Unsealed documents later even showed that a grand jury wanted to indict the Ramseys for being accessories to a crime and for child abuse resulting in death. However, errors made in the investigation and a lack of evidence stalled the increasingly bizarre case, opening the door for a wide range of theories, competing opinions, and a revolving door of people in charge that has continued to this day. But in 2008, DNA evidence —evidence that many are still suspicious about, it should be said — ordered by a new District Attorney in charge of the case cleared both Patsy and John of any wrongdoing, leaving many to wonder who could have committed the murder.
The tragedy and attention grows every year
With Netflix’s highly anticipated JonBenet Ramsey documentary premiering on November 25, 2024, reopening old wounds and obsessions, audiences have once again started to comb through the details of the case, hoping for some bit of information that could put all of our wandering imaginations to rest. According to the City of Boulder’s website, their homicide investigation department has followed up on “21,016 tips, letters and emails and travel[ed] to 19 states to interview or speak with more than 1,000 individuals in connection to this crime.” They’ve done so all to try to find an answer that has eluded everyone, and enraptured the world, for decades.
The City of Boulder has always been vocal about its dedication to bringing JonBenet’s killer to justice. In November 2022, District Attorney Michael Dougherty released a statement updating the public on the progress of the case. “The murder of JonBenet Ramsey is a terrible tragedy and sparked years of unanswered questions and theories. Our office has successfully prosecuted other cold case homicides and many murder cases. In every one of those cases, it was the evidence that proved the defendant(s) guilty. Whether it is DNA or other evidence, more is needed to solve this murder,” he said. For the sake of everyone involved, particularly the Ramsey family, it would be a miracle if we could stop rehashing all of the same tragic details and finally solve the JonBenet Ramsey case.
