John Ramsey Reveals Wife Patsy Defended Former Housekeeper in JonBenét Case: 'She Would Never Hurt Her'

John Ramsey admitted his late wife, Patsy Ramsey, defended their former housekeeper, Linda Hoffman-Pugh, in the early stages of the investigation of the murder of their daughter, JonBenét Ramsey.

In a new interview, John shared that while he did not know the housekeeper very well, Patsy did. He revealed that in the beginning of the 1996 investigation, Patsy explicitly told him, “if Linda was involved, she would never hurt JonBenét.”

Hoffman-Pugh was employed as the family's housekeeper at the time of the 6-year-old's murder on Christmas Day in 1996. Due to her access to the home, authorities initially treated her as a person of interest before ultimately clearing her of any involvement.

The relationship between the Ramseys and Hoffman-Pugh later soured.

In 2000, John and Patsy published their book, The Death of Innocence, in which they noted Patsy had given the police the housekeeper's name as someone who might be acting strangely. Hoffman-Pugh subsequently filed a $50 million libel lawsuit against the couple, which was later dismissed.

Hoffman-Pugh’s lawyer at the time stated that the book published “deliberate false statements made by the Ramseys against our client … making her look as if she may have been involved.”

John’s comments to In Touch Weekly came directly after Hoffman-Pugh passed away at the age of 82 on May 2, 2026. Investigators focused on her because she asked Patsy for a $2,500 loan just days before the murder to avoid eviction by her sister.

To date, the 1996 murder of JonBenét remains an open and unsolved investigation with the Boulder Police Department.

A major forensic push has been underway to re-examine the physical evidence from the basement crime scene.

The Boulder Police Department and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are actively leveraging advanced DNA technology to analyze dozens of pieces of evidence. This effort involves a mix of retesting historical artifacts and processing items from the 1996 crime scene that had never been forensically analyzed.

The defense team and the Ramsey family have pushed aggressively for specialized DNA testing on the knots of the garrote used to strangle JonBenét.

Experts believe the person who tied the sophisticated knots likely left touch DNA.

Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn confirmed investigators are continuously evaluating how evolving DNA techniques can generate new leads.

This includes using highly sensitive "touch DNA" extraction and sequencing designed to pull genetic profiles from microscopic skin cells left behind on fabrics and surfaces.

John and true-crime advocates have heavily pressured authorities to upload the unknown male DNA profile (originally found on JonBenét's clothing) into commercial genealogical databases.

Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) has successfully resolved numerous decades-old cold cases by mapping out suspects' family trees, and the Ramsey family remains highly optimistic that this approach will ultimately identify the killer.