JonBenet Ramsey would have been 32 years old, his relatives still looking for answers

JonBenet Ramsey would have turned 32 on August 6. The one who was then a little girl was killed on December 26, 1996, at her home. Since then, many leads have been raised but the investigation has never led to any arrests. An online petition has been launched by his family to demand answers. “JonBenet Ramsey deserves justice and new advances in DNA technology are finally making it possible. You, Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, are the only person with enough power and independence from the state to assign DNA testing decisions to a new agency unrelated to the case. It was the girl’s father who launched this campaign, in order to take research in a new direction.

For a long time, the latter was the main suspect. In 1998, a grand jury voted to indict the parents for child abuse resulting in death and complicity in a crime. But the prosecutor at the time said there was not enough evidence to press charges against the couple. In 2008, prosecutor Mary Lacy publicly apologized to the family for suspecting them and JonBenet’s brother, Burke, who was 9 at the time of the murder. Quoted last Friday by Fox New, the father of JonBenet shared the memories of his child. “She was a daddy’s girl. She was really proud to carry the name, and she told people. My name is John Bennett, so that’s where it comes from. He added that his daughter was ‘very outgoing, full of energy and personality’. He told the American channel to be “very grateful” to see the number of signatures – more than 22,000 – gathered in his petition. “It motivates us to continue to put pressure on this government,” he said.

Several false leads

The murder of JonBenet has fascinated the United States for two decades. JonBenet had been found dead in her home. That day, her mother, Patsy Ramsey – who died in 2006 of ovarian cancer at the age of 49 – called the emergency services to report the disappearance of her daughter and the discovery of a request. ransom of 118,000 dollars – corresponding to the amount of a bonus that the girl’s father had recently received. The note claimed that if the sum was not paid, the child would be beheaded. But a few hours later, the young victim was found in the basement of the family home in the quiet town of Boulder, Colorado. Her wrists were bound, she had duct tape over her mouth. The small corpse showed signs of strangulation and other violence, including sexual violence, which the autopsy had confirmed. The sordid murder made headlines in the region and beyond, especially as the girl was known to have won several beauty contests for children.

In 2006, the family finally thought they had found the child’s killer. John Mark Karr, an American teacher arrested in Thailand, admitted to killing JonBenet. The 41-year-old had the ideal profile: psychologically disturbed, he had a criminal record containing a conviction for possession of child pornography and had married minors abroad. John Mark Karr said he was in love with the young victim, drugged her, raped her, and accidentally killed her. However, John Mark Karr’s statements were inconsistent and incomplete. His ex-wife had even ended up providing him with an alibi: Lara Karr claimed that he was with her and their three children during the 1996 Christmas holidays in Alabama. DNA tests confirmed these doubts: Karr was then cleared and released.

Another man, Gary Oliva, imprisoned for child pornography, also wrote a letter to one of his former high school friends in which he confessed to the murder of the 6-year-old girl in 2019. An accidental murder according to him. “I never loved anyone like I loved JonBenet and despite that I held her and let her slide and her head broke in half and I watched her die. It was an accident, believe me. She was not like the other children,” he wrote. In another letter, he said: “JonBenet completely changed me and made my evil side disappear in me. Just one look at her beautiful face, her glowing skin, her goddess-like body made me realize that I was wrong to kill the other children. But because of me, she died by accident.” But this man had been exonerated thanks to his DNA.