JonBenét Ramsey’s father, John Ramsey, has reportedly received a new tip from a woman claiming her ex-husband killed his six-year-old daughter in 1996. A recent Netflix docuseries reignited the case. John shared the lead with investigators but remains skeptical due to past disappointments, including false confessions and failed DNA matches.
Trigger warning: child murder, child abuse – Amid the release of Netflix’s new Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey three-part series, John said he received a letter that could point to yet another suspect in the case that has captivated the US for nearly three decades.
John, who was 53 years old when his daughter was murdered, reportedly said he immediately followed up on the tip but is yet to hear back from the mystery sender.
The now-81-year-old grieving father told The Daily Mail on Tuesday (December 17), nine days before the 28th anniversary of the killing: “Based on all this publicity, recently I got a letter from a lady saying, ‘My ex-husband’s the killer, and I’ve kept this inside for as long as I can – please, please call me.’”
JonBenét Ramsey’s father, John Ramsey, has reportedly received a new tip
‘We reached out to her, but she didn’t answer the phone, so I don’t know. We’ve shared at this point with a private investigator.”
John, who is the father to three other living children, revealed that any hope of new leads is welcome after almost 30 years of battling misconceptions and trying to prove his family’s innocence.
He told The Mail that solving the case is “not going to change my life at this point – I just turned 81 – but it’ll change my children’s lives, my grandchildren’s lives.”
“They need to have this cloud removed, clarified, and an answer. That’s why we’re pushing so hard to get an answer,” he added.
While the possibility of a new suspect may offer a new lead into the decades-long mystery, John remains skeptical as his hopes have been dashed in the past, The Mail reported.
False confessions have accumulated over the years, including from a man who gave the alias “David Cooper” and claimed he was responsible for JonBenét’s death in the early days of the investigation.
A woman claimed her ex-husband killed John’s six-year-old daughter in 1996
David Cooper first called the Ramseys’ pastor and “said he was JonBenét’s killer and wanted to turn himself in but wanted to talk to me first,” John told The Mail.
John, who lost another daughter, Beth Ramsey, to a tragic car accident in 1992, said: “I called him and talked to him for a while … and I was asking him questions.
“I was looking for information that maybe he had that nobody else would have [from] reading the newspapers or watching television.”
David Cooper seemed to mention items from the house that “were not in the news that I know of,” John said, adding that the caller might be a credible source.
Upon informing the police, John said authorities “were not interested in following up at all: Well, he wants to turn himself in? We’ll be here. Great.”
John recalled another phone call with the supposed killer: “He said, ‘Well, I want to bring my family with me, and it’s going to cost me $3,000 for airline tickets, and I don’t have any money. Can you send me the money?”
A recent Netflix docuseries reignited the case
“And I was going to do it, because I figured, well, who knows, it’s worth a shot.
“And I mentioned it before I did; I told our attorneys what was going on. They said, ‘Oh no, wait, hold on – do not send him money. This doesn’t smell right.
“And so I didn’t, and our investigators came back [and said], ‘Well, he’s a truck driver out of Louisiana, and he’s just trying to scam you out of some money. Forget it.”
“So that’s where it ended.”
John has remained visible in the media on purpose, a tactic he reportedly said has been used “to keep pressure on police, like, hey, we’re not going away.
“You’ve got to get your act together and do what you can do, what it’s possible to do, or we’re going to keep pounding on you.”
John shared the lead with investigators but remains skeptical due to past disappointments
Significant police turnover, advancements in DNA testing, and renewed public interest from the Netflix docuseries have given John hope for progress in solving JonBenét’s murder.
“Bureaucrats, politicians, are impacted by public pressure big time, and we sense that that’s happening,” he said.
On December 26, 1996, six-year-old JonBenét was found murdered in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder Police Department (BPD), based in Boulder, Colorado, USA, where JonBenét lived and was killed, released its annual update into the investigation one month early “due to the increased attention on this investigation.”
BPD Chief Steve Redfearn said in a statement the department posted on social media: “The killing of JonBenét was an unspeakable crime and this tragedy has never left our hearts.
“We are committed to following up on every lead and we are continuing to work with DNA experts and our law enforcement partners around the country until this tragic case is solved.”
The chief concluded: “The assertion that there is viable evidence and leads we are not pursuing – to include DNA testing – is completely false.”
On December 26, 1996, six-year-old JonBenét was found murdered in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado, hours after her mother, Patsy Ramsey, reported her missing with a ransom note.
The note was written on paper taken from Patsy’s notepad and demanded $118,000, the same amount John received for his Christmas bonus as president of Access Graphics.
The investigation has been plagued by controversy, including false confessions, such as from John Mark Karr
The case captivated global attention, as JonBenét was a former beauty queen and had entered into a series of child beauty pageants.
Initial suspicion fell on her parents and brother, Burke Ramsey, due to unusual circumstances and strained police relations, though the family was officially cleared in 2008 after DNA evidence excluded them.
The investigation has been plagued by controversy, including false confessions, such as from John Mark Karr, a teacher extradited from Thailand whose DNA did not match the crime scene.
Despite numerous suspects and advancements in DNA testing, the murder remains unsolved, leaving a legacy of media frenzy and public scrutiny.
According to Netflix’s new Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey, the crime scene had been left severely compromised, as a result of the police failing to secure the Ramsey’s house.
This led to potential evidence not promptly collected to eliminate the possibility of contamination.
JonBenét was a former beauty queen and had entered into a series of child beauty pageants
“Our big frustration almost from Day 1 is that we knew the police did not have the capacity or the capability or the experience to deal with this case,” John told CNN Tuesday.
The coroner who performed JonBenét’s autopsy found that she died from suffocation in conjunction with forcible trauma to her skull.
Moreover, JonBenét was found with a rope tightly placed around her neck. There was also evidence the six-year-old had been sexually assaulted.
“DNA needs to be retested,” a reader commented
