Boulder police met with members of JonBenet Ramsey’s family this week to discuss the ongoing homicide investigation that turned 28 years old in December.
According to Boulder police spokeswoman Dionne Waugh, Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn and members of Boulder’s police Operations Division met with family members this week to share updates on the case.
Waugh did not share what the updates were, or any other specifics, citing the fact that it remains an ongoing homicide investigation.
The meeting comes two months after the release a widely seen Netflix docu-series which focused on the “police missteps” and “media circus” that followed the death of the child pageant queen, according to the Netflix trailer.
In 2023, Boulder police announced that the Colorado Cold Case Review Team had completed its digitalization and review of all evidence connected to the case. The department also said that DNA testing continues to be a focal point, but that the slow progress on that front was due to the limited amount of DNA evidence available to be tested.
The DNA profile of an unknown male, recovered from a mixed sample discovered in the girl’s underwear, was entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, in 2003, but it has never been matched to any other known offender.
In recent years, members of the Ramsey family have pushed for investigators to make use of genealogical testing, also known as genetic genealogy or genetic ancestry testing, which has been valuable in clearing numerous cold cases, most notably that of the notorious “Golden State Killer,” Joseph DeAngelo, arrested in 2018 for a series rapes and murders across California during the 1970s and 80s.
JonBenet was reported missing early on the morning of Dec. 26, 1996, when Patsy Ramsey said she found a ransom note demanding $118,000 for the child’s safe return on a staircase inside their home in the 700 block of 15th Street in Boulder.
JonBenet’s body was recovered from the family’s basement several hours later. The Boulder County Coroner determined she had suffered a fractured skull, been asphyxiated with a garotte and was sexually assaulted.
Anyone with information on the murder is asked to contact detectives at BouldersMostWanted@bouldercolorado.gov or by calling the Boulder Police tipline at 303-441-1974.
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