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Netflix’s Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey includes interviews with some — but not all — of JonBenet Ramsey’s family members.
The three-part docuseries, which premiered on Monday, November 25, explored the decades-long quest for justice for the young beauty queen, while highlighting the missteps that derailed the murder case. Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey used interviews with several of JonBenét Ramsey’s loved ones — both new and old — to paint a picture of what took place after the young child’s death.
JonBenét was found ᴅᴇᴀᴅ at age 6 in 1996. After her murder, her parents, Patsy and John Ramsey, were suspected of being involved —a grand jury voted to indict the pair in 1999. The indictment was never signed by the Boulder district attorney, however, due to a lack of evidence. Both parents were exonerated in 2008 when DNA testing helped investigators determine that the DNA found on JonBenét’s body was from an unrelated male.
John and Patsy continued to deny claims they had any involvement in their daughter’s death. Online true crime enthusiasts have also accused JonBenét’s brother, Burke Ramsey, of killing her, which he denied in various rare public appearances over the years.
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Keep scrolling for a breakdown of which family members took part in Netflix’s docuseries about JonBenét’s murder — and which opted out:
John Bennett Ramsey
Youtube/Netflix
The three-part docuseries relied largely on John’s perspective as he shared what happened on the day of JonBenét’s murder — and the aftermath. Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey gave John a platform to address speculation that he was allegedly involved in his daughter’s death.
John also explained the steps that were currently being taken to get answers, saying, “What we are advocating for — and have been doing so for the last year or so, aggressively, is we know there’s five or six items that were taken from the crime scene. They were sent into a lab for DNA sampling and were not sampled.”
JonBenét’s dad said he doesn’t “know what is being done” to solve the 25-year-old case.
“We want those items sampled. We want what has been sampled to be retested. Then use the public genealogy database to look for — not only a match — but a similar relative,” he continued. “That’s been used very successfully in the last few years by police departments to find the killer of very old cold cases.”
A spokesperson for the Boulder PD told Us Weekly in a statement in November that they are “aggressively investigating the case and pursuing all avenues.”
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Patsy Ramsey
Youtube/Netflix
Netflix’s Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey relied heavily on previously filmed footage of Patsy from before and after her daughter’s death. Home movies, interviews and other archival content painted a picture of Patsy and her commitment to finding the person responsible for JonBenét’s death.
Patsy died of ovarian cancer at age 49 in 2006.
Burke Ramsey
ABC News/Youtube
Burke was 9 years old when JonBenét’s body was found in their home. In 2016, he participated in his first and only interview about the case with Dr. Phil, where he shared his experience — and his decision to stay out of the spotlight. Burke hasn’t participated in a single interview since and is only mentioned in the doc by others.
“He doesn’t read anything about the case, doesn’t watch anything about it. If he sees a show about it, he changes the channel,” a Ramsey family member exclusively told Us before the doc was released. “He’s not the least bit interested in watching any of the documentaries. He’s not going to watch [the Netflix] one. Absolutely not. It’s triggering to him, and there’s no benefit for him.”
The documentary featured a message at the end that read, “Citing his treatment by the media and online websleuths, Burke Ramsey denied our request for an interview.”
Jan Rousseaux
After Patsy’s death, John met Jan Rousseaux and got married in 2011. Rousseaux made an appearance at the end of the doc when John was showing JonBenét’s items that they keep in their home to remember her.
“JonBenét feels like one of our little grandchildren. She’s like frozen at age 6. Cannot even imagine her as an adult. So we just remember her as one of the little kids,” Rousseaux explained. “I was fairly familiar with the case [when we met] but I hadn’t studied it in depth. I didn’t know it was still very big.”
She continued: “That made me seriously reconsider when we were dating. Because I love John, I am up for it. John has been through hell and high water. He is stalwart, strong and unflappable.”
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Elizabeth Ramsey
Four years before JonBenét’s death, John’s eldest daughter was killed in a car crash at age 22. John shared Elizabeth with his first wife, Lucinda Lou Pasch. Elizabeth was referenced throughout Netflix’s docuseries, specifically how her pᴀssing affected the family leading up to JonBenét’s murder.
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Melinda Ramsey
John and Lucinda’s daughter Melinda was featured throughout the series via archival pH๏τographs — but she didn’t appear on screen. Melinda has largely stayed out of the public eye since JonBenét’s murder and hasn’t taken part in the numerous documentaries about the case.
John Andrew Ramsey
Youtube/ABC
JonBenét’s step brother showed his support for John and Patsy throughout the doc. He has often been a spokesperson for the Ramsey family on their ongoing search for answers in JonBenét’s case.
“We have been in the practice of ruling people out based on DNA. And if we take what the police say at face value that the DNA in the case isn’t as valuable or significant as we think then we have been ruling people out for the wrong reasons. Everyone should be back on the table,” he said in Cold Case. “The police have never ruled out John and Patsy based solely on this DNA. So how do you rule anyone out based solely on this DNA? You have to go deeper.”