The Boulder Police Department (BPD) responded Sunday to John Ramsey‘s latest bid to uncover the identity of the murderer of his daughter, JonBenet Ramsey. Ramsey is petitioning the governor for the release of DNA evidence to be released and evaluated by an independent agency.
On Saturday, Ramsey launched a petition asking Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to allow an independent agency to test DNA in the case rather than the BPD while speaking at CrimeCon 2022 in Las Vegas. The event drew thousands of attendees that included a variety of speakers, crime victims, and expert law enforcement professionals and scientists.
Despite John Ramsey’s New Bid to Find His Daughter BPD Claims That Their Investigation of the Murder Has ‘Never Stopped.’
“We have a shared goal to bring justice — and hopefully some peace — to JonBenet’s family and everyone who was impacted by her loss,” Police Chief Maris Herold said in a statement on Sunday, Fox News reported. “Our investigation with federal, state and local partners has never stopped. That includes new ways to use DNA technology. We’ve always used state of the art technology as it has been at the forefront of this investigation. Every time the DNA technology changed, we worked to make sure the evidence could be tested.”
The police chief added that the investigation into JonBenet’s murder “has always been and will continue to be a priority for the Boulder Police Department.”
Patsy Ramsey, JonBenet’s mother, reported her 6-year-old daughter missing on the morning of December 26, 1996, in Boulder, Colorado. She made the call after discovering a lengthy ransom note demanding $118,000 for the return of her daughter. Unfortunately, JonBenet’s body was discovered later that day in the basement of the family’s home.
The autopsy revealed that JonBenet died of strangulation and a blow to the head. The Boulder City Medical Examiner reported an 8 1/2-inch fracture in her skull. To date, authorities have not convicted any suspects in the case.
BPD claims it has followed up on 21,016 tips, letters, and emails and traveled to 19 states to interview more than 1,000 individuals in connection to the murder since December 26, 1996. The department has also worked in tandem with federal, state, and local agencies on the case and met with those officials as recently as March 2022.
In addition to BPD’s investigation, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that it has updated over 750 reference samples with the latest DNA technology.
Despite investigators’ assurances that they have conducted an exhaustive search, John Ramsey criticized BPD for what he perceives as the agency’s “arrogance,” “pride,” “ego,” and inexperience during his Saturday discussion at CrimeCon, Fox News reported.
“We can’t let the murder of a child be left up to local police,” Ramsey said. “They’re just big enough that they think they know everything, and they don’t.” He also added that if the murder of a child becomes a federal offense, a case like his daughter’s might be handled more effectively.
Ramsey’s petition that asks the governor to use his power to allow for independent DNA analysis has already garnered over 2,200 signatures at the time of publication.
“You have the power,” the petition urges. “Given the lack of progress by the Boulder Police, we the undersigned petitioners ask you to move DNA decisions in this case away from the BPD to an independent agency so that JonBenét has a last chance at the justice she deserves.”
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Gov. Polis has not commented about the matter publicly yet, but a spokesperson for him told CBS4 Denver that the state of Colorado “will review the petition and look into how the state can assist in using new technology to further investigate this cold case and to identify JonBenet Ramsey’s killer and bring him or her to justice.”
After decades of uncertainty, we hope that John Ramsey’s new push for DNA analysis proves fruitful in shedding new light on this very cold case.