JonBenét Ramsey’s family are finally celebrating Christmas again, 27 years after she was murdered on December 26.
John Ramsey, 80, said it took him years before his family could celebrate the holiday again after his daughter was found strangled and beaten to death the basement of the family’s Boulder, Colorado home the day after Christmas, December 26, 1996.
Now a grandfather, Ramsey told Fox News Digital that ‘we have to enjoy those in our life’ and said he will spend Christmas with his adult son, daughter and their children.
‘It’ll be a joyful Christmas,’ he said. ‘You’ve got to remember what Christmas is all about, and that helps solidify our view of life and what life’s all about.’
In 2008, Ramsey and his family were finally exonerated in the death of JonBenet, after years of speculation that JonBenet’s parents or older brother may have been involved in the heinous crime.
The case remains an active, open investigation, and there are currently no suspects.
John Ramsey, 80, said it took him years before his family could celebrate the holiday again after his daughter was found strangled and beaten to death the basement of the family’s Boulder, Colorado home the day after Christmas, December 26, 1996
Pictured: JonBenet Ramsey, 6, was a child beauty queen and the victim of a homicide. Her killer has not yet been identified by the investigation remains open. JonBenet would have been 33 years old today
A undated photo of John and Patricia ‘Patsy’ Ramsey with their children JonBenet and Burke
Ramsey said he realized it wasn’t ‘fair’ to his son Burke, now 36, JonBenet’s brother explaining that he and his late wife, Patsy ‘really tried to give him a normal childhood, as per Fox News Digital.
In June 2006, Patricia ‘Patsy’ Ramsey, John’s second wife whom he had two children with – JonBenet and Burke -died of ovarian cancer at 49.
Ramsey had three children – John, Elizabeth and Melinda- from his first wife, Lucinda Ramsey.
In January 1992, four years before JonBenet’s murder, he suffered another unimaginable tragedy when his daughter Elizabeth ‘Beth,’ from his first marriage was killed in a car accident. She was 22.
In 2011, Ramsey remarried.
John Ramsey in a recent interview with Fox. He said the family is now ready to celebrate Christmas again
During the Fox interview, he spoke about being a different person after the death of his daughter.
‘It impacts us, not just on Dec. 26. It’s with us – I’ve told people, the death of a child… you don’t get over. You don’t move on. You’re a changed person.’
‘And I’m sure that’s the same for my other children. It’s a horrible thing for them to have to live with, but you move on, and you’ve got to move on and create new memories.’
The Boulder City Medical Examiner revealed after an autopsy was conducted that the little girl she had had an 8 1/2-inch fracture to her skull and was bludgeoned in the head.
Last month, new DNA testing was completed including, new evidence, as well as some which was previously reviewed, that was analyzed by a criminal lab and returned to police.
The results have yet to be released, but a detailed DNA report has been issued to the authorities.
It is hoped the development could help solve the brutal 1996 murder of the Colorado six-year-old.
John was the person who discovered his daughter’s beaten and battered body in the the basement of the family home.
The youngster was covered by a white blanket with a nylon cord around her neck, and her wrists bound above her head and her mouth covered by duct tape.
There was no clear-cut evidence of rape, but police did not rule out sexual assault.
A bizarre ransom note was also uncovered demanding $118,000 from her family.
The coroner determined that JonBenet died from ‘asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma,’ meaning she had been choked and beaten.
Her death was ruled as a homicide, but nobody was ever charged with the murder.
For years, JonBenet’s parents and brother, Burke, who was just nine-years-old at the time of his sister’s death, was under a cloud of suspicion.
In 2008, they were formally taken off the suspects list, two years after Patsy succumbed to ovarian cancer.
In 2019, Burke sued CBS for $750 million over a documentary it broadcast which pointed the finger at him for his sister’s death.
Police have never formally charged anyone over JonBenet’s death, but there have been several suspects over the years.
New DNA testing which could unlock the mystery of the brutal 1996 murder of Colorado child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey has finally been completed
The coroner determined that the pageant girl’s cause of death was ‘asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma,’ meaning she had been choked and beaten. Her death was ruled as a homicide, but nobody was ever charged with the murder
The crime scene at the Ramsey’s upscale Colorado home following the killing of their six-year-old
Among them is John Mark Karr, 58, who claimed 17 years ago that he was with JonBenét when she died the decade prior at her family’s home.
Karr was extradited from his home in Thailand following his ‘confession’, in which he claimed JonBenét had died ‘accidentally.’
Under questioning he knew details about the murder which had not been released to the public.
But authorities could not link him to the scene of the crime and he was let go. Karr later suggested that he had lied about his confession to cover for someone else.
‘Everyone was so quick to say that I was a liar or delusional,’ he said. ‘Did it ever occur to someone that I might have been trying to protect someone else?’
He declined to elaborate, but one possible explanation that some police were open to at the time is that Ramsey’s killer did not work alone.
When asked if he was with JonBenét when she died, or if he had killed her, Karr shut up and said he did not want to incriminate himself as the case continues to be investigated nearly 27 years after the crime.
Last month, Ramsey discussed the DNA evidence on an episode of NewsNation.
‘We know there’s evidence that was taken from the crime scene that was never tested for DNA,’ he said.
‘There are a few cutting edge labs that have the latest technology. That’s where this testing ought to be done.
‘And then use the public genealogy database with whatever information we get to research and basically do a backwards family tree, which has been wildly successful in solving some very old cases.’
Sources do not believe any of the new DNA evidence will provide a match for the family.
At the time, unmatched DNA was found under the child’s fingernails and on her clothes.
Burke Ramsey, now 36, was only nine-years-old when his sister was brutally murdered
John Mark Karr was extradited from Thailand and arrested for the murder of JonBenét Ramsey after he confessed, however police could not link him to the scene and his confession was largely discredited
JonBenet’s brother sued CBS for $750 million over a documentary it broadcast which pointed the finger at him for his sister’s death
The case garnered national attention due to the shocking nature of the crime and the prominence of JonBenét in her local community, where she known as the winner of Little Miss Colorado.
In 2006, Karr claimed he drugged JonBenét and then had sex with her, but her autopsy said a blood screening showed no drugs or alcohol in her body.
And despite his claim of sexually assaulting Ramsey, no semen was found on her body. However, the little girl did have small vaginal abrasions.
Karr’s admission ultimately came to be viewed as an elaborate lie by investigators.
Last month it emerged that detectives were understood to be looking into new people of interest in the murder after analyzing nearly 1,000 DNA samples.
In 2021, Boulder police said they had interviewed more than 1,000 people in 19 different states as part of their ongoing investigation.
And in September they said there are ‘several’ new people on their radar, sources claim.