John Ramsey, father of six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey, is renewing calls for authorities to reexamine his daughter’s 1996 murder—and a strikingly similar assault on a 12-year-old neighbor just nine months later. In a new People magazine interview, Ramsey proposes that a masked intruder, possibly a serial predator, targeted both girls—an angle he says was dismissed at the time despite terrifying parallels in method and proximity.
JonBenét was found beaten, strangled, and possibly sexually assaulted in her family’s Boulder basement the day after Christmas 1996, her high-profile pageant career and a bizarre ransom note fueling suspicion that tragically focused on her own family. No one was ever charged, and Ramsay’s late wife Patsy maintained their innocence until her death in 2006.
Now, Ramsey highlights that both victims lived near each other, attended the same dance studio, and suffered eerily similar night-time home invasions. He argues that investigators “blew off” the connection, missing what could have been a breakthrough link to an outside culprit. He urges Boulder police to reopen both cases using today’s far more sensitive DNA and forensic technologies.
After nearly 30 years of unanswered questions and relentless media scrutiny, Ramsey’s plea is simple: let science—and not speculation—lead the way to justice. With preserved evidence and modern methods, he believes there’s still hope to identify JonBenét’s killer and bring real closure to all affected families.
