PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "For many years following her death, John and Patsy Ramsey would remain the primary suspects in their daughter's murder. It was not until 2008 that they were officially cleared - though they were never charged with any crime. Smit's copy of the DNA results may be the only papers in existence that are unredacted, with censored results having circulated online in the past, according to Fox News. The book is set to be published February 28."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "In November, Colorado police, who are working with a cold case review team, said they were hopeful that new technology would help them use the very small amount of DNA evidence found on the child to create a profile to match the killer. The case is being revisited by the Colorado Cold Case Review Team next year in another bid to solve the case that has haunted the state's law enforcement officers. If DNA analysis produces the killer, it will be one of the largest cold case breakthroughs in American history."
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STORY: "DNA evidence in JonBenet Ramsey murder did NOT match family members but cops continued to float idea that her parents were 'under suspicion', new documents reveal, by Reporter Stephen M. Lepore, published by The Daily Mail, on February 10, 2023.
- KEY POINTS:
- New book alleges DNA did not match family or anyone close to the murder
- Police continued to push idea that JonBenet's parents were suspects for years
- Colorado police have launched a new effort to solve the murder
GIST: "Despite police trying to project that JonBenet Ramsey's 1996 killing left her parents 'under suspicion,' new documents have revealed that the DNA evidence did not match her family members.
The revelation comes from a new book by former Texas sheriff and now author John W. Anderson, Lou and JonBenet: A Legendary Lawman's Quest to Solve a Child Beauty Queen's Murder.
Anderson interviews Colorado investigator Lou Smit, who worked the case until his 2010 death. Police have since launched a new effort to solve the murder.
Smit argues that evidence recovered under the little girl's fingernails and clothes did not match any family members or anyone close to the case.
Despite that, Smit says authorities continued to put parents Patsy Ramsey and John Bennett Ramsey under 'an umbrella of suspicion' that led many to suspect them in the case.
For many years following her death, John and Patsy Ramsey would remain the primary suspects in their daughter's murder.
It was not until 2008 that they were officially cleared - though they were never charged with any crime.
Smit's copy of the DNA results may be the only papers in existence that are unredacted, with censored results having circulated online in the past, according to Fox News.
The book is set to be published February 28.
Ramsey's father supported an online petition last year that asked Colorado's governor to intervene in the investigation into her death more than 25 years ago, by putting an outside agency in charge of DNA testing in the case.
Anderson writes in the book: 'For the past quarter-century, the Boulder police have ignored the DNA evidence that exonerated the Ramseys and could be used to identify her killer.'
The six-year-old was found dead in the basement of her family´s home in Boulder on December 26, 1996, bludgeoned and strangled, several hours after her mother called 911 to say her daughter was missing and a ransom note had been left behind.
Her death was ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever prosecuted.
In November, Colorado police, who are working with a cold case review team, said they were hopeful that new technology would help them use the very small amount of DNA evidence found on the child to create a profile to match the killer.
The case is being revisited by the Colorado Cold Case Review Team next year in another bid to solve the case that has haunted the state's law enforcement officers.
If DNA analysis produces the killer, it will be one of the largest cold case breakthroughs in American history.
The girl's father has repeatedly expressed disappointment with BPD's handling of the case over the last quarter century and believes an independent research team would have more success finally identifying the killer. But, in order to do so, BPD would need to hand over the evidence in their custody.
If either an independent agency or the BPD could establish a more complete DNA profile of the suspect, the information could then be compared to millions of DNA profiles available on public databases.
Patsy Ramsey died of cancer in 2006 and John Ramsey told The Daily Beast in 2019 that even though he has been cleared, the accusations against him linger.
'The fact I'm no longer under suspicion will never bring back my life,' he said at the time. 'Once your reputation is tarnished, it stays tarnished.'
The use of the genetic DNA testing is the latest update in one of the most controversial unsolved crimes in American history, that started when the body of JonBenet was found bludgeoned and strangled in her basement hours after she was reported missing on December 26, 1996.
She was covered by a white blanket with a nylon cord around her neck, her wrists bound above her head and her mouth covered by duct tape.
Her parents John and Patsy had called police to report her kidnapping and said they found a note demanding a ransom of $118,000 for her safe return, which instructed them not to contact the authorities.
Despite this, police arrived to their home shortly after in clearly marked vehicles.
John and Patsy would remain the primary suspects in their daughter's death for more than a decade, and it was not until 2008 that police finally cleared them of any wrongdoing.
Patsy, who passed away in 2006 from ovarian cancer, was suspected by members of the public of being the murderer after reports emerged that handwriting on the ransom note was similar to her own.
But after she willingly provided a sample to police it was determined she did not write the note.
Many also suspected someone in the family, as they claimed there were no footprints in the snow around the house.
No one in the family was ever charged in the death, but for years tabloids and members of the public believed one or more were the culprits.
Several years ago, CBS aired The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey, which concluded with investigators revealing that after extensive research into the events of the night of the murder they believed Burke Ramsey was responsible for killing his sister- despite the fact that he was only nine years old at the time.
Burke sued the network and settled that case after demanding damages of $750million.
Private investigator Ollie Gray, who continued to investigate the murder case even after he stopped working for the Ramseys, claimed in 2016 that the child's killer was a local 26-year-old whose family owned a junkyard on the outskirts of the city - Michael Helgoth.
On February 13, 1997, Alex Hunter, who was the district attorney at the time of the murder, held a press conference where he spoke to JonBenet's unknown killer, saying: 'The list of suspects narrows. Soon there will be no one on the list but you.'
Helgoth died of an apparent suicide two days later at his home.
A few years after his death, however, Helgoth was cleared when it was revealed that none of his DNA was found under JonBenet's fingernails or in her underwear.
In 2006 - 10 years after JonBenet's death - a 41-year-old schoolteacher named John Mark Karr confessed to killing the little beauty.
He was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, but he was never charged with the murder because his DNA did not match that found on the girl's body."
The entire story can be read at:
DNA-evidence-JonBenet-Ramsey-murder-did-NOT-match-family-members.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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