Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey

Key Takeaways

• Police fixated on Ramsey family as suspects but uncovered evidence of a potential intruder.
• Botched police investigation and unfair suspicion was put on JonBenet’s parents.
• Renewed hope for solving the case with new suspects like Gary Oliva and Randall Simons.

Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey was released on November 25 on Netflix, and there were some shocking new revelations about the decades-old murder case. Netflix’s three-part documentary series was directed by Joe Berlinger, and it featured new interviews with JonBenet’s father, John, as well as other people associated with the case.

For years, suspicion was directed at JonBenet’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, as the killers, as well as their son, Burke, but the documentary moves away from this theory and re-investigates the crime from a fresh perspective. The police missed a lot of key evidence, and appeared to suffer from an extreme case of tunnel vision which led to the case going cold. Many suspects were ruled out, but interest in the case has never dwindled, and it’s looking increasingly likely this new deep dive might finally answer the key question: Who really killed JonBenet?

The Netflix Documentary Uncovers A Botched Police Investigation And An Unfair Investigation Into JonBenet’s parents

JonBenet Ramsey went missing on December 25, 1996, and was later found murdered in the basement of her own house. The police became fixated on the parents as suspects, but the true-crime documentary goes to great lengths to clear them of any wrongdoing. There was no evidence and no motive pointing towards the parents being responsible, but plenty of clues to suggest there was an intruder who entered the property and sexually assaulted and murdered JonBenet. Patsy Ramsey appears in old footage, after she sadly died in 2006, and her husband John, who is now 80 years old and still desperate for answers, speaks about the pain the family went through after JonBenet died.

The police zeroed in on John and Patsy as suspects based on the strange ransom note that was left by the killer, and the fact that JonBenet was later found in the basement. Netflix’s true crime masterpiece paints a picture of how this confirmation bias spread to the media, with the public genuinely believing that the Ramsey’s killed JonBenet for years. In reality, the police botched the investigation and didn’t follow up on the actual evidence, which included unknown DNA found on JonBenet’s underwear. There were also very unfair accusations leveled at John and Patsy about the pageants they had entered their daughter into, with the crazy theory that certain behavior during her performances suggested she’d been sexually abused. In reality, she was just dancing and playing a saxophone.

A Series Of Suspects Were Named And There is Renewed Hope That The Cold Case Will Finally Be Solved

Gary Oliva

Gary Oliva had previously sexually assaulted a girl in Oregon, and left the area soon after. His next known location happened to be Boulder, Colorado, where JonBenet lived with her family. He was sleeping rough at the time and one of his friends claimed Oliva called him up and told him he’d hurt a young girl. The Boulder Police Department looked into the claims, and tracked him down and found pictures of JonBenet in the tent he was residing in. Netflix’s true crime series shows footage of Oliva being interviewed in prison by a journalist. He attempts to take credit for JonBenet’s murder in exchange for a roof over his head and regular meals in prison. His DNA wasn’t a match for what was found at the crime scene, and he was ruled out as a suspect.

Randall Simons

The next suspect was a photographer called Randall Simons who was known to attend the beauty pageants JonBenet took part in. He was the main photographer in the area, and it was discovered that he had sold some photos of JonBenet to a photo agency and these pictures ended up in newspapers. It was also revealed that he had some potentially inappropriate photos in his studio of several other girls. He appeared to be very defensive even before suspicions arose about him, even calling up other parents of girls in the pageants and hysterically claiming his innocence. A year after JonBenet’s murder, he was arrested for indecent exposure, and once again, he claimed he had nothing to do with her murder. He resurfaced in 2019, and the documentary reveals he was arrested for downloading child pornography in a local restaurant in Oregon. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for these offenses. Similarly to Oliva, his DNA wasn’t found at the crime scene, and he wasn’t considered a serious suspect.

John Mark Karr (a.k.a. Daxis)

Back in 2002, Professor Michael Tracey, who had carried out work on the JonBenet case, was contacted by an anonymous person via email. They used the name ‘Daxis’ in correspondence with him and the mystery man claimed he’d killed JonBenet. He claimed to have loved her, and insisted her death was an accident. The man also stated he knew a key piece of information about JonBenet that wasn’t known in the public domain:

Ask John Ramsey what JonBenet’s nickname was for Nedra, her grandmother, and it will be this: Neddy.

Tracey contacted John Ramsey, and he confirmed the name was correct. The email exchange went on for four years, and he began making threats, and claimed he wanted to connect with JonBenet’s mother, Patsy, to apologize for killing JonBenet. The new DA, Mary Lacy, began investigating the claims, and Tracey was able to record over 11 hours of phone calls with the man, which included a detailed confession. It was revealed the man’s name was John Mark Karr, and he’d been teaching at an elementary school in Bangkok and had been abusing young children. It was later revealed he’d worked at an elementary school in Atlanta shortly before JonBenet was murdered. However, he was fired after claims of inappropriate behavior. In 2001, he was arrested in Petaluma, California, where he’d also been working as a teacher, and it was discovered he’d been possessing child pornography. This is when he fled the country before going on trial. The documentary portrays him as the most likely perpetrator of JonBenet’s murder, but it still remains unsolved.

Watch Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey On Netflix Now