Nearly three decades after JonBenet Ramsey was killed in her family's Colorado home, investigators are publicly signaling that new DNA tools may finally move the case forward. Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said in a recent video statement that the long-stalled investigation "remains a top priority" and noted that advances in DNA testing technology are changing what's possible in cold cases, reports Fox News. The department has previously been cautious about consuming its limited biological samples from the case, but Redfearn's leadership has raised expectations that some untested or undertested items—including the garrote used in the 6-year-old's strangulation—could be revisited.
JonBenet's father, John Ramsey, has been pressing authorities to partner with a private genetics lab that uses investigative genetic genealogy, the same approach credited with cracking numerous cold cases. He has called this method the "gold standard" and says experts have told him only a tiny sample is needed. Ramsey told the Daily Mail he believes there's a strong chance a suspect could be identified within months with that technique, adding he'd at least like to know that police have exhausted modern options.
Ramsey, long critical of Boulder police, now says he's encouraged by new leadership and has met with Redfearn several times. Investigators are still working from a sprawling pool of potential suspects—a list of about 700 people once compiled by veteran detective Lou Smit—but Ramsey argues that DNA is the best way to winnow all of those leads down. JonBenet was reported missing on Dec. 26, 1996, and later found dead in the basement of her home; her family was cleared by early DNA testing.
Despite being cleared, John Ramsey and his late wife Patsy Ramsey were long the subjects of whispers about their daughter's killing, and John Ramsey now says that he became a suspect in cops' eyes when he "didn't go crazy" in the immediate hours after JonBenet went missing, choosing instead to stay calm and focused, per OK! magazine. Per USA Today, Redfearn notes that police also have collected "new evidence" in the case. Authorities say they've pursued more than 21,000 tips and interviewed upward of 1,000 people, and they continue to seek information from anyone with knowledge of the crime, asking people to call 303-441-1974 or email.
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