JonBenet Ramsey DNA retesting on key evidence could reopen one of the biggest cold cases of modern times: The 1996 Christmas murder of a 6-year-old beauty queen in the basement of her Colorado mansion home.
Boulder police and prosecutors confirmed on Tuesday a series of DNA tests using new technology and methods on key evidence, including panties and long johns she wore that Christmas night, 9 News Denver reported.
The testing comes after 9 News and the Boulder Daily Camera said they found “serious flaws” in previous DNA testing on what JonBenet was wearing when her brutal attack began.
Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett and Boulder Police Chief Greg Testa both said on Tuesday that they and their staffs discussed the flaws in the previous DNA testing during a recent meeting with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
The bureau is expected to reveal results from new DNA testing that its lab has never used before.
“We did meet with CBI and the district attorney’s office, and we had a general discussion about evidence in the Ramsey case, including new technology and DNA testing,” Testa said. “And we are going to take a look at the new technology, and see how they may help us further this investigation.”
“We should be doing all reasonable testing that we can do, and we will be,” Garnett said.
Previous DNA evidence in the Ramsey case wasn’t clear enough to fully exonerate the Ramsey family from having involvement in the murder, said the Canon City Daily Record.
In a controversial letter in 2008, former District Attorney Mary Lacy cleared the family – JonBenet’s parents, John and Patsy, and her brother, Burke – of “all suspicion” in the girl’s death.
The Camera and 9 News said they had received “test results, laboratory notes, reports and correspondence” connected to testing that was done in 2008 before Lacy issued her letter, The Daily Record noted.
After looking at the results, both news organizations determined that the male DNA, which was found in JonBenet’s panties and on her long johns, contained genetic material from two unidentified people along with the girl.
They came to the conclusion that the “profile” entered into the FBI’s database in 2003 may very well be from more than just a single “Unknown Male 1.” In fact, they came to the conclusion that the genetic material found in the panties and on the long john’s might not belong to any one individual at all, and instead could belong to multiple people.
CNN aired a special, “The Murder of JonBenet,” on Tuesday night, taking yet another look at the unsolved murder that has become more like an ongoing soap opera, featuring a rich family, a child beauty queen, a murder investigation on Boxing Day, and a slew of bizarre evidence.