Boulder DA Hopeful JonBenet Ramsey Case Will One Day Be Solved
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) - Twenty years after the murder of JonBenet Ramsey her killer has not been identified, but Boulder police and the district attorney are hoping new tips will one day lead to solving the case that began with a 911 call from the girl's mother:
Operator: "911 emergency."
Patsy Ramsey: "Police."
Operator: "What's going on ma'am?"
Patsy: "955 15th Street."
Operator: "What's going on there ma'am?"
Patsy: "We have a kidnapping. Hurry please!"
It was several hours later when the body of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was found in the basement of the family home. Who wrote the ransom note is still a source of speculation for those associated with the case.
Sadly, two decades later the current District Attorney Stan Garnett told CBS4's Rick Sallinger there's not much new to report.
"There have been no significant developments on it I would have been notified if there had been," he said.
The mother, Patsy Ramsey has since passed away from cancer. It was later revealed that in 1999 a grand jury voted to charge the parents, but then District Attorney Alex Hunter declined to prosecute, feeling it could not be proven. Both parents and the brother Burke were cleared by a later DA Mary Lacy.
But Garnett says that means little.
"The exoneration letter is really not of much legal consequence," he said.
The family was cleared because DNA that was found on in connection with the murder was not theirs and remains unidentified.
Boulder police have taken back the investigation from the DA. Two detectives are assigned part time. In a video statement released by the department Chief Greg Testa said, "This is an open investigation investigators from the major crimes unit assigned to the case."
Testa says they have examined 1,500 pieces of evidence, 200 DNA samples and received some 20,000 tips in total.
Garnett says they are still getting tips, but "Most of them are along the lines of somebody had a vision, they learned in a vision who killed JonBenet and God told somebody who killed JonBenet. That kind of thing."
Testa, in his statement, made clear the investigation is still on after all these years.
"We have not and will not give up until we have justice for JonBenet," Testa said.
Garnett says the fascination with the murder case is mainly from out of the area.
"People in Boulder County are tired of this case and unless I can file charges and get a case in court they really don't want to hear me talking about it much," Garnett said.
CBS4's Rick Sallinger is a Peabody award winning reporter who has been with the station more than two decades doing hard news and investigative reporting. Follow him on Twitter @ricksallinger.
