“I didn’t do it,” Burke Ramsey said in his recent interview.
Nearly three years after his sister JonBenét Ramsey’s gruesome homicide, Burke still has to convince people of his innocence amid the long-held suspicions surrounding his family.
He believes there is one key piece of evidence that could finally identify the person who ended the little girl’s life.
“I didn’t do it,” said Burke Ramsey, who still feels compelled to defend himself nearly 30 years later
This article contains graphic details that may be distressing to some.
Burke Ramsey, 39, still has hope about solving his sister JonBenét Ramsey’s m*rder.
He opened up about the tragedy that has followed him since childhood, revealing what he thinks investigators need to do to crack one of America’s most infamous cold cases.
JonBenét was just six years old when her body was found in the basement of her family’s sprawling five-bedroom Boulder, Colorado, home on December 26, 1996.
Burke shared his thoughts as the case will be revisited in a new ABC special on Friday. A new eight-part series, The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey, will also be released in December on Netflix.
“It’s the most tragic, personal, awful thing to happen in my life… that anybody could imagine happening to them,” the brother told the Daily Mail in an interview published this week.
He was only nine years old when his family became suspects in JonBenét’s m*rder.
JonBenét’s body was found in her family’s basement on December 26, 1996
The little girl had spent Christmas Day unwrapping gifts and smiling for the camera in 1996.
The following morning, her mother Patsy Ramsey discovered a lengthy, handwritten ransom note on a staircase inside the house. The two-and-a-half-page message claimed JonBenét had been kidnapped and demanded $118,000 for her safe return.
Police initially treated the situation as a possible kidnapping, with investigators searching the property for clues.
The horrifying truth emerged hours later, when her father John was asked to search the house again. He eventually opened the door to a basement room, where he discovered his daughter’s body with black duct tape on her mouth.
She was struck on the head with enough force to cause an 8.5-inch skull fracture and was strangled with a nylon cord.
A broken wooden paintbrush handle, pulled out from her Patsy’s art supplies, was utilized to twist and tighten the cord, ultimately used to strangle the child.
Burke believes unidentified DNA could finally lead investigators to the k*ller
Burke said the most frustrating part of the investigation was not knowing whose DNA was found under his sister’s fingernails and on her underwear.
“We need to find that match. It’s the best evidence we have,” he told the outlet.
“It was underneath her fingernails and it didn’t match any of us,” he continued. “It’s probably the person who did it, you know, and it’s the best chance we have to solve this. And I want it solved.”
The software engineer, living in northern Michigan, said it was hard for him to learn the “scientific nitty-gritty” and other details about the case because it was “emotionally taxing.”
But he believes authorities should send the DNA samples “to different labs again and keep testing.”
“Find the match. That will go a long way to bringing justice. It’s been 30 years, and enough is enough,” he said.
The Ramsey family became the focus of suspicion almost immediately
Following the m*rder, suspicion initially fell on the Ramseys, who were the only people in the 7,500sq ft home when the crime took place. No obvious signs of forced entry were found.
The ransom note also raised eyebrows as it was written on paper from a notepad found inside the house. The unusually specific amount demanded as ransom was the same as the company bonus John received—$118,000.
An analysis of the handwriting showed similarities that suggested Patsy could have written the note. But the tests were not conclusive enough.
The fact that JonBenét’s body was discovered inside the home, rather than being taken away as the ransom note suggested, added another layer of suspicion.
It took the Boulder Police Department 12 years to officially exonerate the family. Patsy had passed away from ovarian cancer at the age of 49, two years before the family was cleared.
“The DNA says we didn’t do it. I know none of my family did it,” Burke said in his recent interview. “I didn’t do it.”
“You know, it’s like, stop,” he added. “There was this energy looking at the family, but the DNA is sitting right there.”
Burke said he was willing to do anything to help solve the case.
Calling himself an open book, he said he’s told everybody everything he knows.
Burke remembers JonBenét as more than just a child beauty pageant contestant
JonBenét, the daughter of a former Miss West Virginia, competed in child beauty pageants and won titles including America’s Royale Miss, Little Miss Colorado, and National Tiny Miss Beauty.
The public often accused her mother of making her look too much like an adult and dressing her up in outfits not meant for children.
Burke noted how people remember his sister for the “pageants and stuff.” But to him, that was only a small part of her life.
“To me, she was just a normal sister who would slide down hills on boxes with me,” he said. “We’d play in water together. Very normal stuff.”
When asked whether he thinks about her tragic passing, he said he doesn’t dwell on it every day and also doesn’t try to shut it out.
“I just try to have a good life,” the brother said.
“It’s definitely someone that was at their open house for Christmas,” one commented online
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