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JonBenét Ramsey’s Father Asks Colorado Governor For Meeting On Daughter’s Unsolved Murder: ‘Time For Answers Is Running Out’
"The murder of my daughter can never be undone. There will never be peace or closure. But there can and should be justice,” John Ramsey wrote in his request to meet with Gov. Jared Polis.
As the 26-year anniversary of JonBenét Ramsey’s murder approaches next month, her father has penned an emotional letter to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis asking to meet in person to discuss the unsolved case.
“I am 78 now and realize that time for answers is running out,” John Ramsey wrote in a letter obtained by Fox News. “The murder of my daughter can never be undone. There will never be peace or closure. But there can and should be justice.”
John Ramsey — who wrote the letter in October — requested the “face-to-face meeting” as part of his ongoing efforts to get Polis to intervene in the investigation, which has been handled from the beginning by the Boulder Police Department.
Over the years, John Ramsey has been openly critical of the department’s efforts to solve the 1996 murder and has voiced his support for a Change.org petition asking Polis to remove all DNA samples and crime scene evidence in the case from the police department and turn it over to an “independent, outside agency” that can review the case.
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“This agency would then work with a private forensics lab, like Othram or Parabon Nanolabs, that utilizes proven, cutting-edge technology to get these samples analyzed and sequenced,” he wrote, adding that the FBI has purportedly offered to assist with the process.
As of late November, the petition, which directly requests Polis’ help, has received more than 29,000 signatures.
“Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, you are the only person with enough power and independence in the state to put Ramsey DNA testing decisions in the hands of a new agency that’s free from Boulder’s significant history with the case,” the petition states.
In his letter to Polis, John Ramsey pleaded with the governor as a father and called out past statements from Boulder Police officials that he considered to be nothing more than platitudes.
“Governor Polis, you have a beautiful daughter who is just a bit older than mine was when she was taken from us. That’s why I appeal to you not just as a governor, but also as a fellow dad. Consider how it would feel to lose the thing you care most about in this world, only to be told after 25-years of waiting that, ‘This investigation has always been and will continue to be a priority for the Boulder Police Department,'” he wrote.
John Ramsey believes his daughter’s case could be solved using DNA advances that were not available in 1996, when the 6-year-old beauty queen was found dead in the basement of the family’s Boulder, Colorado home the day after Christmas.
“Whoever is responsible for this has lived the last 25 years in fear of being discovered; in fear that technology would one day evolve to the point that this homicide could be solved. That day, and that technology, are here now,” he wrote. “Solving the murder of my daughter will not fill the void in my heart but it will identify and remove a demented and dangerous person from our midst and, in doing so, potentially protect the lives of other children. There is no higher responsibility of a governor than that. As an elected leader, but more importantly as a father, I respectfully ask you to do the right thing."
Conor Cahill, the governor’s press secretary, confirmed to Fox News that Polis’ office had received the letter, but provided no details about whether or not the governor plans to meet with the grieving father.
Oxygen.com reached out to Cahill but did not receive an immediate response.
In addition to the Boulder Police Department, Cahill told Fox News that the Colorado Bureau of Investigation also “continues to collaborate” on the case and referenced a new police initiative to collaborate with the state’s Cold Case Review team.
The City of Boulder announced earlier this month that Boulder Police plan to consult with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's cold case team, which is made up of professional investigative, analytical and forensic experts from across the state, in 2023. The team is expected to review the case and make recommendations based on current best practices in the field.
“This crime has left a hole in the hearts of many, and we will never stop investigating until we find JonBenet’s killer,” Police Chief Maris Herold said as part of the announcement. “That includes following up on every lead and working with our policing partners and DNA experts around the country to solve this tragic case.”
Part of the challenge, according to the city, is that the amount of DNA evidence available for testing is “extremely small and complex.”
“The sample could, in whole or in part, be consumed by DNA testing,” they wrote. “In collaboration with the CBI and the FBI, there have been several discussions with private DNA labs about the viability of continued testing of DNA recovered from the crime scene and genetic genealogy analysis. Those discussions will continue. Whenever there is a proven technology that can reliably test forensic samples consistent with the samples available in this case, additional analysis will be conducted.”
The city’s announcement about the expected collaboration did not impress John Ramsey, who told Fox News he thought it “sounded like more of the same, and that’s not what we need.”
