12 Crimes of Christmas - "TWENTY-NINE YEARS WITHOUT JUSTICE: THE JONBENÉT RAMSEY CASE TODAY - PART 3"

0:03 Caalaroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Reed Carter. Friday, December twenty sixth, twenty twenty five, twenty nine years ago today, John Ramsey found his daughter's body in the basement of their Boulder home. John Beney Patricia Ramsey, six years old, strangled and beaten on Christmas night. Over the past two days, we've covered the murder, the botched investigation, the umbrella of suspicion that descended on the Ramsey family, the evidence pointing inside the house and out, the grand jury that voted to indict, and the da who refused to sign. Today, what happened next and where we are now. Two thousand and six, John Mark Carr, an American teacher living in Thailand, contacted a journalism professor in Colorado. Said he'd been with John Benney when she died, confessed to her murder. He was arrested in Bangkok, extra to the United States. Media went berserk. Then his DNA came back didn't match his ex wife said he was in Alabama on Christmas nineteen ninety six, fifteen hundred miles from Boulder. Carr was released another dead end that same year, Patsy Ramsey died ovarian cancer.

1:20 She'd fought it since nineteen ninety three when into remission watched it come back. She was forty nine years old, buried in Marietta, Georgia, next to John Benay, still under that umbrella of suspicion. Two thousand and eight, New District Attorney Mary Lacey issued an unprecedented letter based on updated DNA analysis showing the same unknown male profile on John Bennet's underwear and long John's. Lacey publicly exonerated John Patsy and Burke Ramsey. No innocent person should have to endure such an extensive trial in the court of public opinion. Many prosecutors criticized the letter, said you can't exonerate someone who was never charged, said the DNA evidence wasn't that conclusive, but for John Ramsey it was vindication. Twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five, a Netflix documentary reignited interest. John Ramsey appeared at Crime Con twenty twenty five in Denver, pushing for new DNA testing. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is currently testing dozens of items, some retested with new technology, some never tested at all. Alex Hunter, the DA who refused to sign the indictment. Died last month at age eighty nine. Witnesses are dying, Evidence is degrading, Time is running out, but John Ramsey, now eighty one years old, still believes the case can be solved. Still believes familial genealogy DNA testing, the technology that caught the Golden State killer,

2:52 could identify John Bennet's murderer. I'm read Carter, this is celebrity trials today. Twenty five nine years without justice. The search for John Beney's killer continues. Part three of three. August two thousand and six, ten years after John Bennet's death. A bizarre twist that gave America false hope. John Mark Carr was a forty one year old American living in Thailand. Former teacher history of sexual interest in young girls, had been exchanging emails with a journalism professor named Michael Tracy, who was investigating the Ramsey case. In those emails, Carr made claims. Said he'd been communicating with Patsy Ramsey before her death, said he knew things about the murder that weren't public, said he was there when John Benay died.

3:44 Thy police arrested him in Bangkok on August sixteenth, two thousand and six. At his press conference, Carr told reporters, I loved John Beney and she died accidentally. The media exploded. After a decade of Noah arrests, Finally a suspect, a confession, someone to blame. Bolder authorities flew to Thailand brought Carr back to the United States on a commercial flight, first class, champagne and prawns, a surreal journey that became its own news story, but the case fell apart immediately. Carr said he'd drugged John Bennet. The autopsy showed no drugs in her system. Carr said he'd been with her for hours.

4:27 His timeline didn't match the evidence. Carr said, details that were already public nothing only the killer would know, and his DNA didn't match the unknown male profile from John Benet's underwear. The evidence that might identify the real killer excluded John Mark Carr completely. His ex wife, Laura came Forward, said she was certain Carr was with her in Alabama on Christmas night in nineteen ninety six, fifteen hundred miles from Boulder. She had no reason to protect him. He was her ex husband. She despised him, but the alibi held. Within two weeks, prosecutors declined to file charges. Car was released, returned to obscurity, another dead end in a case full of them. But the car fiasco did have one significant consequence.

5:15 It exposed how desperate everyone was for answers, police, prosecutors, media, public. After ten years, any confession seemed credible, any suspect seemed viable. The case had become an obsession, and it showed how little progress had been made. A decade after John Bennet's murder, Bolder police had no viable suspects, The investigation had stalled, the evidence was aging, witnesses were harder to find. The case that should have been solved in weeks had become America's most famous cold case. June twenty fourth, two thousand and six, two months before John Mark Carr's arrest, Patsy Ramsey died. She'd been battling ovarian cancer since nineteen ninety three, three years before John Benney was born, went into remission, watched the disease return, fought it for thirteen years. Patsy Ramsey was forty nine years old when she died. She'd spent the last decade of her life, defending herself, fighting the accusation that she'd killed her daughter, giving interviews, writing a book, living under that umbrella of suspicion, She never got to see her name cleared, died still suspected of murdering her child. Patsy was buried at Saint James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia. Same cemetery as John Beney, same cemetery as John's daughter Elizabeth, who died in that car

6:47 accident in nineteen ninety two. Three graves in a row, a family destroyed by tragedy. John Ramsey remarried in twenty eleven. His second wife, jan has supported his ongoing fight for justice, but he told reporters that Patsy's death just weeks before the car arrest was cruelly ironic. She didn't get to see any resolution. Two years after Patsy's death came the moment John had been waiting for. July ninth, two thousand and eight, New Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy issued a letter to John Ramsey. Based on advanced DNA testing, she was publicly clearing the Ramsey family. Here's what the new testing found using touch DNA technology that didn't exist. In nineteen ninety six, scientists analyzed the waistband of John Bennet's Long Johns, the pajama bottoms she was wearing when she died.

7:37 They found DNA, same unknown male profile that was in her underwear, same person, two separate locations on her clothing, same DNA, and it didn't match any Ramsey family member. Lacy's letter was unprecedented to the extent that we may have contributed in any way to the public perception that you might have been involved in this crime. I am deeply sorry. No innocent person should have to endure such an extensive trial in the court of public opinion. She apologized. On behalf of law enforcement acknowledged the family had been wrongly suspected, said the DNA evidence pointed to an unexplained third party. Critics were furious. Former prosecutors called it overreach, said Lacy couldn't exonerate someone who was never charged, said the DNA could be contamination factory workers, handlers, people who touched the clothing before John Benney wore it. Current Boulder DA Michael Doherty has been more cautious whether it is DNA or other evidence, more is needed to solve this murder, he said in a recent statement. In every one of our successfully prosecuted cases, it was the evidence that proved the defendant guilty. The exoneration didn't close the case, didn't identify the killer, didn't bring justice. But for John Ramsey, it was official acknowledgment of what he'd said for twelve years.

9:04 His family didn't do it. Someone else killed John Benney. Now he just needs to find out who. We'll be right back with. Where the case stands today, new DNA testing, dying witnesses, and a father's final push for answers. Welcome back to celebrity trials. I'm Red Carter. Let me tell you where the John Beney Ramsey case stands today, twenty nine years after her murder. November twenty twenty four, Netflix released Cold Case Who Killed John Beney Ramsey, a three part documentary featuring John Ramsey and his son John Andrew.

9:55 Pushing for new DNA testing, the documentary alleged Boulder police made mistakes during the investigation and we're holding but not pursuing key evidence. Boulder Police pushed back. Chief Stephen Redfern released a video statement the assertion that there is viable evidence and leads we are not pursuing to include DNA testing is completely false. The department says they've conducted new interviews in the past year, reinterviewed individuals based on tips, collected new evidence, and tested and retested other evidence with new DNA technology. Submitted items to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. John Ramsey met with Chief Redfern in twenty twenty five, learned that dozens of items are currently being tested at CBI.

10:42 Some are being retested with technology that didn't exist in nineteen ninety six. Others were collected from the basement crime scene but never tested at all. It's been a slow march, but they're progressing. John Andrew Ramsey told reporters after the meeting. Here's the problem with the DNA evidence. It's a mixture. The profile found in John Benet's underwear is mixed with her blood and at least two other people's DNA. Current technology can't fully separate a fifty to fifty mixture. Former Denver DA Mitch Morrissey, who worked on the case as a DNA expert, says the technology might not be ready yet. If you're talking about the DNA in the little girl's underwear. It's a fifty to fifty mixture. We are not at a stage with sequencing to be able to do a fifty to fifty mixture, but technology is advancing rapidly. Familial genealogy DNA testing, the technique that identified the Golden State killer in twenty eighteen, could potentially work if investigators can develop a clean profile, upload it to a genealogy database, find relatives of the unknown male, build a family tree that leads to the killer. John Ramsey believes they're close, told reporters he thinks twenty twenty five could be the year if they will do the DNA testing and use the genealogy reset search tool. I think there's better than a fifty to fifty chance we can solve it, but the clock is ticking. Alex Hunter, the DA who refused to sign the indictment, died last month at eighty nine.

12:12 Detective Tom Haney, who interrogated Patsy Ramsey, died in August at seventy seven. A neighbor who heard what was described as John Bennet's blood curdling death scream died last year. Witnesses are dying memories are fading. Evidence is degrading. Every year that passes makes prosecution harder, even if they identify a suspect. Lou Smid's daughter, Cindy, now leads a private investigative team continuing her father's work using his detailed spreadsheet of suspects. They've eliminated roughly twenty five people through DNA testing, Still searching for a match. John Ramsey, now eighty one, has his daughter's picture on his phone's lock screen, Still thinks about her every day, still pushing for answers. In my mind, she's still my six year old little girl, he told reporters. It's going to change my kid's lives, my grandchildren's lives. They need this cloud, this question, this chapter closed. Will it ever be solved? Bolder police say they remain committed. DA Doherty says they've successfully prosecuted other cold case homicides. New DNA technology advances every year, but twenty nine years is a long time, and justice delayed is often justice denied. Why does John Benney Ramsay's case still captivate us nearly three decades later? Partly it's the horror a child murdered in her own home on Christmas Night,

13:46 the most innocent victim imaginable on the most sacred day of the year. It violated every assumption about safety, family, and the sanctity of childhood. Partly, it's the mystery. Two completely plausible theories the family did it, an intruder did it, and evidence supporting both. We're drawn to puzzles we can't solve. Jean Bennet is the ultimate unsolved puzzle. Partly it's the system failures, bolder police who bungled the investigation from minute one, a crime scene contaminated before it was documented, a grand jury that voted to indict but was overruled, a case that should have been solved in weeks that remains open nearly thirty years later. And partly it's the cultural moment John Benet represented the child Beauty pageant videos made America uncomfortable.

14:33 They raised questions about how we sexualized children, how we exploit their innocence, how we put them on display. Those pageant images became the lasting visual of the case. Not John Bennet as a normal six year old riding bikes, playing with friends, being a kid, but John Benet in full makeup, styled hair, elaborate costumes, a tiny adult, a child playing dress up in a world that wasn't age appropriate. Did that attention attract her killer? Was she targeted because of her visibility. We'll probably never know, but the pageant imagery shaped how America perceived the case and the Ramsey family twenty nine years later, the child beauty pageant industry continues.

15:17 Thousands of little girls compete every year. Parents enter them, coach them, dress them up. The ethics haven't changed, The debate never ends. John Benet Patricia Ramsey was born August sixth, nineteen ninety died December twenty fifth, nineteen ninety six, six years old. She should be thirty five today, should have graduated high school and college, maybe married, maybe had children of her own, Maybe followed her mother into pageants or rejected them entirely and found her own path. We'll never know who she would have become. Her mother, Patsy, died in two thousand and six, still suspected of her murder. Her father, John is eighty one, still fighting for ans answers.

16:00 Her brother, Burke, who was nine when she died, has largely stayed out of the public eye. Someone killed John Benet Ramsey on Christmas Night, nineteen ninety six, someone strangled a six year old girl in her own basement while her family slept upstairs. Someone has known the truth for twenty nine years. The case remains open. Bolder police say they're still investigating. New DNA testing is underway. Technology that didn't exist in nineteen ninety six might finally identify the unknown male whose DNA was found on John Benet's body. Will we ever know who killed her? John Ramsey believes we will. Bolder police say they remain committed. The families of victims never stop hoping. But justice delayed twenty nine years may be justice denied forever. The killer, if still alive, is twenty nine years older. Witnesses are dying, Evidence is degrading, Memories are fading. John Beney Ramsey deserved better, deserved a competent investigation, deserved a trial, deserved justice. Instead, she got a botched crime scene, a media circus, and nearly three decades of unanswered questions. Someone has to say her name, Someone has to remember she was a person, a six year old girl who loved Christmas, loved performing, loved her family.

17:22 Not just a case file, not just a mystery, A child who should be alive today. Rest in peace. John Beney Patricia Ramsey August sixth, nineteen ninety to December twenty fifth, nineteen ninety six. Twenty nine years without justice, But we haven't forgotten you. We never will. I'm read Carter. This concludes our John Beney Ramsey Special. Tomorrow we continue Twelve Crimes of Christmas with another classic case. America can't forget. This is Celebrity Trials