What happened to JonBenet Ramsey?
JonBenet Ramsey was an American child pageant queen who was murdered in her home in Boulder, Colorado. She was only 6 years old. A strange ransom note was found in the family home, but her dead body was found 7 hours later in the basement of the home by her father, John. JonBenet had a broken skull sustained from a blow to the head and she had been strangled.
The local police initially thought the ransom note had been written by JonBenet’s mother, Patsy, and the discovery of JonBenét’s body had been staged by her parents in order to cover up the murder. No charges were brought against the parents and the case went cold over the years, with a couple of alternative theories being considered.
Theory 1: JonBenet’s brother Burke
Burke was JonBenet’s 9 year old brother and he was interviewed by investigators at least 3 times. The interviews didn’t raise any significant concerns about him. Burke Ramsey was never considered a suspect in his sister’s murder by law enforcement but this didn’t stop the speculation surrounding his possible involvement.
Police found Burke’s fingerprints on a bowl of pineapple in the kitchen. Pineapple was JonBenét’s favourite snack and was found in her stomach during the autopsy, meaning she ate some shortly before she died. The alternative theory suggests Burke shared a midnight snack of pineapple with her before her death and a temper tantrum resulted in a deadly injury to JonBenet.
Theory 2: An Intruder
The second theory is that an intruder broke in and murdered JonBenet. The police investigated this theory as an unidentified boot mark was found in the basement where JonBenét’s dead body was found.
Persons of interest included the Ramsey’s neighbour Bill McReynolds, local reporter Chris Wolf, whose then-girlfriend reported him as a suspect, family housekeeper Linda Hoffmann-Pugh; and a man called Michael Helgoth, who died in an apparent suicide shortly after JonBenét’s death. DNA testing was carried out but the police never found a match, and the case remains a mystery to this day.
Where are the Ramsey family now?
Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer in 2006. After his wife’s death, John Ramsey struck up a relationship with the mother of missing girl, Natalee Holloway. There were rumours of a romance, but he denied this. In 2011, John relocated to Moab, Utah, and met his third wife, Jan Rousseaux in 2011. They got married and relocated to Michigan.
Burke Ramsey did an interview with Dr Phil in 2016 to set the record straight about his sister’s death. He is now 36 years old, and works as a software engineer.
The crime remains an open investigation, with Colorado cold case investigators currently looking into the case.
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