JonBenet Ramsey murder: Dad John fears police may have lost evidence, insists on advanced DNA testing
BOULDER, COLORADO: The father of JonBenet Ramsey worries that crucial DNA evidence that may have helped identify her perpetrator has been lost by the "incompetent" police tasked with solving his daughter's murder case. Although John Ramsey has never had much faith in the Boulder Police Department, he admitted in a recent interview that he is growing anxious while waiting for answers because 26 years have passed since the death of his daughter and no charges have been made.
John, who just turned 79, is making an effort once again to get the case taken out of Boulder PD's purview so that new eyes can review it and better resources can be devoted to the inquiry before his time is up, reported The US Sun.
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John believes that citing the genealogy DNA is the best and possibly only way to definitively identify the attacker who struck his daughter over the head and strangled her to death in the basement of his family's home. However, the Boulder Police Department has resisted using outside agencies in its investigation into JonBenét's slaying for years.
The department has already acknowledged that it has been in contact with private DNA testing facilities and promised to work with the Colorado Cold Case Review Team in 2023. John, however, feels that BPD is not going far enough and that there may be a more disturbing explanation for the department's apparent reluctance to accept outside assistance. Additionally, he most recently urged Colorado Governor Jared Polis to direct BPD to give any DNA evidence they have to a cutting-edge genealogy lab.
"We've fought for years to get more DNA testing done, and technology has advanced dramatically in the last 25 years," said John, speaking to The US Sun. "We know for a fact that the police originally sent some number of samples from the crime scene to be analyzed for DNA, and five or six of them were sent back not tested. He added, "We don't know why, whether it was a cost issue or whatever [...] but they were never tested. And so we've been pushing to get that done for a long time, but they just refuse to do it."
Boulder Police's official stance has been that the DNA evidence they currently have is a small sample size, and that excessive testing could ultimately destroy that DNA. They stated that they are waiting until "there is a proven technology that can reliably test forensic samples consistent with the samples available in this case," in a statement from back in November.
But John believes that technology is already here, adding, "The only thing I can make of it all is they're either ignorant of what's out there technology-wise or if they've lost [the DNA evidence]." He continued, "I think there's a good possibility they’ve lost some of those five or six samples, or misplaced them, let's say. All this, 'well, there's only a little bit left,' that may be true of the original samples sent to them, but we know there are five or six samples that have never been tested - so that's what needs to be done." John added, "The government can't do it, they don't have the technology; the FBI told us we need to go to one of those cutting-edge labs to get it tested, and they went to the Boulder police six to eight months ago and said 'Look, we'll help you on this.'" He concluded, "But the Boulder Police just blew them off and said we don't need your help. That's what they've been saying for 26 years [...] and look where it's got us."