July 9, 2008

Ramsey family cleared in JonBenet murder

"There is now one step left in finding the killer of the little girl"

Police in Boulder, Colorado say that newly discovered DNA evidence in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case does not match any Ramsey family members or anyone in law enforcement DNA databases.

The recent testing was done on a different area of the child's clothing and it matches previous DNA tested from the child's panties in 1997. It is DNA from a male.

The discovery, from a new testing method, has prompted the Boulder District Attorney's office to release a letter officially clearing the Ramsey family, including John, Patsy and their immediate family of any involvement in the December 1996 death of the 6-year-old.

(Click here to see the ransom note)

The letter, sent from Boulder DA Mary Lacy to John Ramsey today, offers an apology to the Ramsey family.

"Significant new evidence has recently been discovered through the application of relatively new methods of DNA analysis," Lacy wrote. "This new scientific evidence convinces us that it is appropriate, given the circumstances of this case, to state that we do not consider your immediate family, including you, your wife, Patsy, and your son, Burke, to be under any suspicion in the commission of this crime.

"I wish we could have done so before Mrs. Ramsey died."

District Attorney Mary Lacy met with John Ramsey and his defense attorneys, Bryan Morgan and Hal Haddon, on Wednesday morning to formally deliver the letter clearing the family of any involvement.

Lacy based her decision, according to the letter, on the results of new DNA samples secured and tested at the The Bode Technology Group Inc., in Lorton, Va. The new DNA "touch" analysis technology was not available in 1996 when the child was killed.

JonBenet Ramsey's body was found in the family home in Boulder on December 26, 1996. Her father found her body in a rarely used room in the basement of the home.

According to Boulder Police reports, the family got up early on the morning of December 26 to fly to Charlevoix, Mich. to visit family.

JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, found a ransom note at the bottom of a spiral staircase about 5:30 or 6 that morning. Police were called, and searched the home, but the child's body wasn't found until another search of the home was done five hours later by John Ramsey.

In April of 1997, Boulder County District Attorney Alex Hunter declared the family under an "umbrella of suspicion" for the murder.

"There is now one step left in finding the killer of the little girl," a source close to the investigation told KUSA. "And that's to match the DNA to the right person."