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Where Is Murdered Beauty Queen JonBenét Ramsey's Family Now?
The parents and young brother of 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey fell under a cloud of suspicion following the 1996 Christmastime murder.
It was a case that gripped the nation when 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was murdered inside her Boulder, Colorado, home. Nearly 28 years have passed, and despite many theories and suspects to come and go since the Christmastime murder, no one has ever been convicted of the disturbing crime.
On the morning of December 26, 1996, JonBenét Ramsey’s mother, Patsy Ramsey, reported her daughter missing, telling authorities of a suspicious ransom note that demanded $118,000 in exchange for the child’s safe return, according to Fox Denver affiliate KDVR. Hours later, the child was found dead in the home’s basement; her skull was fractured, and a garrote remained around her neck.
The case immediately grabbed headlines, and photos of JonBenét’s pageantry would be plastered on newspaper and magazine covers across America, making room for mass debate and a flood of theories. But two lines of inquiry stood above the rest: One that posited an intruder committing the crime (a theory that put forward many persons of interest over the years), and another pointing to those inside the Ramsey household on the night of the murder.
In 2008, new DNA testing excluded parents Patsy and John Ramsey and 9-year-old brother Burke Ramsey as suspects. Prosecutors publicly said they were “deeply sorry” for their contribution in the case playing out “in the court of public opinion,” according to NBC News.
Keep reading to learn where the Ramseys are today.
JonBenét's dad John Ramsey continues to search for answers
John Ramsey, at the time of the murder, was the president of the computer distribution company Access Graphics, now a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, according to The Denver Post. Today, the 80-year-old father remains steadfast in learning who killed his daughter, having been vocal for years that new DNA testing could finally solve the mystery, as previously reported by Oxygen.com.
“We’re grateful that the public, and frankly, the world, cares about the murder of our child,” said the father. “Hopefully there's someone who knows something that would come forward.”
Joined by director Joe Berlinger on a November 21, 2024 episode of NBC’s TODAY, Mr. Ramsey said, “I believe it can be solved if the police accept help from outside their system. That’s been a flaw for 25 years,” according to NBC News.
He will be featured in Berlinger’s upcoming Netflix docuseries Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey, which the director said was “a very clear-eyed examination” pointing to the popular intruder theory.
John Ramsey married Las Vegas-based fashion designer Jan Rousseaux in 2011, according to CBS News. Per an interview with The U.S. Sun on Dec. 24, 2022, the married couple live in Utah.
JonBenét's mom Patsy Ramsey died of cancer in 2006
A former beauty queen herself, Patsy Ramsey was a mere three days away from her 40th birthday when her daughter was found dead in the basement of their home. She was harshly scrutinized in the public eye, with many accusing her of penning the ransom note herself, a theory that has divided experts for years.
According to The Los Angeles Times, the West Virginia-born woman was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1993, three years before JonBenét Ramsey’s death and two years after the family moved to Boulder from Georgia.
She went into remission for nine years, and in the wake of the Boulder tragedy, the family returned to Georgia before heading up to John Ramsey’s native Michigan. They lived during the on-season in Charlevoix, about 200 miles north of Grand Rapids on Lake Michigan, and became permanent residents beginning in 2003, according to The Denver Post.
“I think she found love, support and acceptance,” Patsy Ramsey’s friend, Suzy Farbman, told the outlet in 2016. “She found as much peace as there was possible to find anywhere.”
But the cancer returned, and the family moved to Georgia once again to be closer to Patsy Ramsey’s father. She died in Roswell, Georgia, on June 24, 2006, with her husband by her side, according to the Los Angeles Times.
She was 49 years old.
Burke Ramsey said in a 2016 interview on the Dr. Phil show, as reviewed by Oxygen.com, that the events of JonBenét Ramsey’s murder “didn’t help” his mother’s prognosis.
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JonBenét's brother Burke Ramsey has stayed out of the spotlight
Burke Ramsey was only 9 years old when his sister was murdered, and despite his young age, he endured accusations from the public that he had a hand in the crime. According to Us Weekly, the now 37-year-old man has chosen to stay mostly out of the public eye, reportedly working as a software engineer in Michigan.
In the initial years of the high-profile case, the parents did their best to shield their son from the press.
“We couldn't go into a supermarket without seeing our names or faces on the cover, one of which was 'Brother Did It,’” John Ramsey said in his 2022 interview with The U.S. Sun. He added that Patsy Ramsey did her best to protect their son because “it was quite a challenge to give him a normal childhood.”
Over the years, members of the Ramsey family filed defamation suits against a host of media companies.
In 2016, Burke Ramsey sat for a highly anticipated special on the Dr. Phil show, maintaining it would be a once-off interview. In it, he said he suspected his younger sister's killer was possibly connected to the child pageantry circuit.
John Ramsey said in 2022 that his son planned to spend Christmas at the father's Utah home.
Boulder Police stated they’ve followed up on more than 21,000 tips and spoke with over 1,000 people as part of their investigation, but the murder of JonBenét Ramsey remains unsolved.
