In 1996, John Ramsey’s life was upended when his 6-year-old daughter, JonBenét Ramsey, was found dead in the family’s Boulder, Colorado, home the day after Christmas. This turned John’s life upside down. People all over the country were shocked when the young beauty queen was killed. The Ramsey family was put under constant media scrutiny and investigations. Now as the 2023 Netflix documentary series Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey looks into the unsolved crime, we go back to John Ramsey’s story and his life after the tragedy.
JonBenét Patricia Ramsey was a beautiful and friendly child who was smart and smart ahead of her time. She was born in 1990 and quickly became a star in child beauty pageants. Her poise and wide-eyed smile won her titles and hearts. Her dad, John Ramsey—ran a successful business, and her mom, Patsy Ramsey, used to be a beauty queen. There was no doubt that the family was living the American dream.
But on December 26, 1996, this perfect life ended in a sudden and terrible way. Early that morning, Patsy Ramsey found a ransom note in their house. It demanded $118,000. That’s how much John’s recent bonus was. The note said that JonBenét had been taken and told his family to wait for a call. When there was no call, a search began, and John and a family friend found Jon Benét’s dead body in the basement. The victim died from a blow to the head and being strangled. There were signs of possible sexual abuse.
The Case That Got the Whole Country’s Attention
The killing of JonBenét Ramsey got a lot of attention across the country and led to a lot of media hype and conspiracy theories. At first, the police looked into her parents, John and Patsy, to see if they might have been involved. In 1999, a grand jury voted to charge the Ramseys with child abuse that led to death and being involved in a crime, but the charges were not pursued by the prosecution because there wasn’t enough evidence. The district attorney for Boulder County, Mary Lacy, officially cleared John, Patsy, and their son Burke of any wrongdoing in 2008. She said that DNA evidence from the crime scene did not match any family member.
Even after the person was found not guilty, there were still a lot of questions and doubts about the case. Some theories said that Burke Ramsey, JonBenét’s older brother, killed him by accident. A controversial CBS special brought this idea to light, but John Ramsey has always said that his family is innocent and had nothing to do with JonBenét’s death.
The Aftermath and Life for John Ramsey
When John’s wife Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer in 2006, his life became less busy. He moved to Michigan and got involved in a number of charitable and political activities that focused on keeping kids safe. In order to help protect children and stop violence against them, he started the JonBenét Ramsey Children’s Foundation.
John shortly dated Natalee Holloway’s mother, Beth Twitty. John Ramsey married his third wife, Jan Rousseaux, in 2011. They had met a few years before. They got married because they both wanted John to keep working to protect children and because they were committed to each other as they dealt with the difficulties of life after tragedy.
John Ramsey has never given up hope that Jon Benét’s killer will be caught one day. In an interview with PEOPLE in 2023, he said that the new Netflix documentary had given him new hope. He emphasized that progress in DNA technology could finally lead to a breakthrough in the case. In his fight for justice, he has spoken out against how the media portrays his family and been in documentaries that look at the evidence.
Where Is John Ramsey Now?
John Ramsey has continued to live in relative isolation for the past few years while still working hard to get justice for his daughter. He is still involved in helping investigations that use modern forensic technology, and he has said that he hopes the mystery can be solved. His dedication to honoring his daughter’s memory and his work to assist other families going through similar tragedies show how strong and kind this man is, even though he has been through unimaginable loss.
John Ramsey is 80 years old now, and he is on the documentary show “Cold Case.” In 2008, the Boulder DA cleared him and his late wife.
Berlinger told The Post, “John Ramsey agreed to meet with us, didn’t ask to be paid, and wasn’t paid—we don’t pay our subjects—and didn’t want any editorial input.” There were no bad questions. “That looks like an 80-year-old man who wants to solve that case.” The director who was nominated for an Oscar also said, “I am absolutely sure that the Ramsey family is innocent.”
John Ramsey is once again in the news because of the recent interest surge caused by Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey. But even though people are thinking about how painful that Christmas Day was again, John stands as a reminder of a father’s love that never changes and of a search for the truth that goes on almost thirty years later.
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