PHOTOSOK! TRUE CRIME SPECIAL: JonBenét Ramsey Crime Scene Photos Revealed — Inside the Secret Police File
Dec. 5 2024, Published 5:45 p.m. ET
The tragic murder of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey has gone down as one of the most infamous unsolved murders in modern U.S. history.
On December 26, 1996, JonBenét's lifeless body was discovered in the basement of her parents John and Patsy Ramsey's home in Boulder, Co. Medical examiners later revealed her cause of death was strangulation with a garrote made from a rope and a paintbrush, as well as trauma to her head.
Initially, investigators attempted to pin the crime on family members — including John, Patsy, and their son Burke, who was nine years old at the time of the murder — but DNA evidence cleared them as suspects.
"We assumed that the police would show some level of discernment and wisdom and say, 'Yeah, well this is crazy,' to think [we] murdered our child," John said in a recent interview. "Well, they never did. They made that decision on day one, and tried desperately to prove it."
30 years after the shocking slaying, the still-grieving father is tirelessly fighting for answers.
"We want the evidence that has been previously tested and never tested," he explained during an appearance on NewsNation’s CUOMO. "We don't know that for sure, but [if so,] we want that resampled by one of the cutting edge labs that's out there ... I believe [if] we do that, there's a really good chance we can solve it."
Scroll through the gallery below to see photos obtained by OK! from the scene of JonBenét's murder.
John was the one to find his daughter's dead body.
She was discovered in her parent's basement after she went missing for roughly seven hours.
The late 6-year-old's bedroom appeared to be mostly untouched.
A suitcase was found beneath the basement window. In a recent Netflix documentary, John claimed the case "shouldn't have been there" and looked like it had been "set there like it was a step because the window was fairly high."
Patsy's paint supplies were found near where JonBenét's body was found.
The murder weapon was a garrote fashioned from a rope and a paintbrush.
There was a thin rope wrapped around JonBenét's neck when her body was discovered.
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- JonBenét Ramsey's Killer Could Finally Be Revealed 27 Years After Young Girl Was Strangled to Death in Her Basement
- JonBenét Ramsey's Father 'Would Have Been Happy to Die' When He Was 'Under Attack' for Daughter's Murder
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Unidentified male DNA was reportedly found on the murder weapon.
Patsy told police she found a ransom note asking for $118,000 at the bottom of the stairs of her home. The amount oddly matched the amount John had received as a work bonus that year.
Pathologist John E. Meyer, M.D.'s report revealed: "A brief examination of the body disclosed a ligature around the neck and a ligature around the right wrist. Also noted was a small area of abrasion or contusion below the right ear on the lateral aspect of the right cheek. A prominent dried abrasion was present on the lower left neck."
The windowsill outside of the Ramsey's basement in Boulder, Co.
An open window at the Ramsey home.
There were unidentified boot prints found outside the Ramsey home after the murder.
A photo of the Ramsey family's water heater in the basement.
John alleged there is still evidence that has not been properly DNA-tested.
JonBenét's grave is at the Saint James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, next to the graves of her mother and her half-sister Elizabeth Pasch Ramsey.
