Twenty-five years ago, in 1996, the young JonBenet Ramsey was brutally murdered. Although the circumstances of her death continue to evade official investigators, the young beauty queen remains a topic of conversation. Now, JonBenet’s half-brother, John Andrew Ramsey, has come forward and spoken to reporters during a 2020 special interview about the murder of his younger half-sister that rocked the nation all those years ago.
When the body of six-year-old JonBenet was found inside her parents’ Boulder, Colorado home, the case shocked the world and gained international attention. Some people suspected the parents of being in on the young beauty queen’s death, while others thought it was someone outside of the immediate family who hurt the child. Nevertheless, the murder of JonBenet Ramsey continues to captivate the world more than a generation after it initially happened.
John and Pasty Ramsey, the young girl’s wealthy parents, were the prime suspects in the girl’s murder, but they professed their innocence throughout the investigation. Meanwhile, JonBenet’s half-brother, John Andrew, was twenty-years-old at the time of the girl’s death and was not living inside the massive Boulder home.
Now, 45-year-old John Andrew, who was one of three from John Ramsey’s first marriage, believes in his heart of hearts that his dad and his step-mother did not hurt the young girl. He also believes that his half-brother, Burke, who was living inside the palace-like home at the time of the girl’s murder, was also innocent of the crime.
For years, John Andrew supported investigator Lou Smit during his time on the case. Smit was a retired homicide detective who came out of retirement to find out the truth behind the murder of JonBenet Ramsey. He worked with the Ramsey family as an independent investigator in an effort to help establish the parents’ innocence.
“Lou Smit was a legendary detective,” John Andrew said on the 20/20 special. Throughout the investigation, John Andrew made video diaries, which are going to air on the 20/20 special for the first time ever.
According to ABC News Legal Analyst Jami Lloyd, “The evidence he collected over the years is a virtual encyclopedia of the case.”
Unfortunately, Smit died in 2010 before he was able to find the girl’s killer. Before he died, Smit gave his family members a list of potential suspects. Now they are continuing their search for the person who killed JonBenet Ramsey.
“I think it is really important for people to understand that this case can be solved. We will find this killer,” John Andrew said.
Although the young beauty queen’s parents claimed to be innocent of the crime, they were the prime suspects in the case for more than a decade. However, in 2008, they were cleared of any wrongdoing in the case after investigators determined that they were not the ones to kill the little girl. Unfortunately, Patsy Ramsey, the mother of the murdered child, tragically passed away in 2006 before she was able to be officially declared innocent of the crime and have charges dropped.
Do you think investigators will find JonBenet Ramsey’s killer?
