Police in Boulder, Colorado, will seek the advice of with a state chilly case staff as they proceed to research the 1996 homicide of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey.
Authorities have obtained greater than 21,000 suggestions, letters and emails in regards to the case, and have traveled to 19 states to talk with greater than 1,000 individuals, however the homicide stays unsolved.
“This crime has left a gap within the hearts of many, and we’ll by no means cease investigating till we discover JonBenet’s killer,” Police Chief Maris Herold mentioned in a information launch Wednesday forward of the twenty sixth anniversary of JonBenet’s demise.
The Colorado Chilly Case Assessment Group is made up {of professional} investigative, analytical and forensic specialists from throughout the state. Police mentioned the staff “is one other instrument to assist additional chilly case murder investigations.”
JonBenet was discovered crushed and strangled to demise on Dec. 26, 1996, within the basement of her household’s Boulder dwelling. On the time, the one different individuals identified to be within the dwelling had been her mother and father, Patsy and John, and her brother, Burke.
Nobody has ever been charged within the case.
Police have usually been criticized for his or her preliminary dealing with of the investigation, and earlier this 12 months JonBenet’s father confirmed assist for a web based petition that requested the governor to intervene by placing an out of doors company accountable for DNA testing.
Theories have swirled for years that JonBenet, who spent a lot of her life within the magnificence pageant circuit, was both killed by an intruder who broke into the home or by a member of her household. Initially, the Ramseys had been reluctant to be interrogated by police or to permit their then-9-year-old son to be questioned.
In 2008, then-Boulder District Legal professional Mary Lacy formally cleared them based mostly on DNA check outcomes. In a letter of exoneration, she mentioned proof confirmed an unknown male’s DNA on JonBenet’s underwear and lengthy johns.
Nonetheless, her findings got here into query following a joint investigation by NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver and the Boulder Every day Digicam. In 2016, the information shops had forensic specialists look at the proof Lacy reviewed in addition to experiences from a non-public lab that examined the DNA, and mentioned the specialists questioned whether or not the DNA belonged to a single, unidentified male.
Lacy advised ABC Information that very same 12 months that she stood by her determination to clear the household.
Federal, state and native regulation enforcement businesses proceed to work on JonBenet’s case. Boulder police have additionally sought assist from a number of non-public DNA laboratories throughout the nation, the information launch states, noting that the “quantity of DNA proof accessible for evaluation is extraordinarily small and complicated.”
Police mentioned each time new know-how turns into accessible, the division could have the samples examined.
JonBenet’s half-brother, John Andrew, commented on the information, writing on Twitter that it was a “constructive” step in her case.
“Ahead progress. Extra work to be carried out to catch a killer however it may be carried out,” he tweeted.
