JonBenét Ramsey’s death became more than a crime; it became a mirror reflecting everything broken in the systems meant to protect the innocent. From the moment police stepped into the Ramsey home, critical mistakes tainted the investigation: a contaminated crime scene, mishandled evidence, and early tunnel vision that fractured trust and fueled wild speculation. The family was vilified, then defended, then doubted again, as the public devoured every rumor.

‘Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey’ director Joe Berlinger tells AARP, ‘There’s an opportunity to solve the crime’

In Cold Case: JonBenét Ramsey (on Netflix Nov. 25), the Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated documentarian Joe Berlinger, 63, looks into the 1996 murder of JonBenét Ramsey. (There’s also a forthcoming Paramount+ dramatic miniseries, JonBenét Ramsey, with Melissa McCarthy, 54, and Clive Owen, 60, as JonBenét’s parents John and Patsy Ramsey).

JonBenét, 6, was a beauty pageant winner found strangled in her family’s Boulder, Colorado basement Dec. 26, 1996. The case was a tabloid sensation, and Boulder police suspected her mother killed her and her father covered it up. But detective Lou Smit accused the police of ignoring evidence that an intruder did it, and declared the Ramseys innocent. In 2008, new DNA analysis exculpated them, and Boulder D.A. Mary Lacy apologized to the family.

Boulder police won’t comment on the investigation, but Chief Steve Redfearn said, “We are committed to following up on every lead and we are continuing to work with DNA experts and our law enforcement partners around the country until this tragic case is solved.”

Berlinger told AARP what he’s learned about the case — and why he thinks the case could now be solved.​

You’ve made hit documentaries about Hitler, Ghislaine Maxwell, Bernie Madoff and Ted Bundy, but this one is about people you think are falsely accused, right?

I specialize in wrongful conviction cases. My films helped get six people out of prison: Evaristo Salas, Curtis Flowers, Marty Tankleff and the West Memphis Three, the subject of Paradise Lost. I can’t think of another family that has been so brutalized by police ineptitude and poor media handling as the Ramseys.

What inspired you to make the show decades after her death?

I came into contact with the work of Lou Smit, an incredible investigator.

Q: Smit’s work sent over 200 killers to prison, including the murderer of actor Kelsey Grammer’s sister Karen. How did he get involved in JonBenét’s case in 1997?

He was brought in by the district attorney [Alex Hunter] . The Boulder police thought that that was terrific — until Lou started coming up with a theory that was inconvenient for the Boulder police. He believed in the intruder theory.

Q: That was inconvenient because the police thought Patsy killed JonBenét for wetting her bed, while Smit thought an intruder with a stun gun could’ve gotten into the Ramseys’ basement through a grate.

There’s just so many things that don’t make sense. The bed sheet wasn’t wet! And it’s not conclusive proof, but I believe Smit’s theory that you see a drag mark [on the bed], so she was incapacitated with a stun gun. The stun gun the police tried to downplay.

Why?

They had tunnel vision, thinking it didn’t fit the narrative the Ramseys were guilty. Because the Ramseys weren’t big on stun guns. Why would a family incapacitate their own daughter in order to bring her down to the basement to do these terrible things?

Twenty-eight years later, what evidence could prove an intruder did it?

The key piece of DNA evidence is foreign male, unidentified DNA found in JonBenét’s underpants, mixed with her blood. A lot of DNA sampling at the crime scene was very compromised, and so a lot of suspects have been ruled out who shouldn’t have been. There is now technology that can separate the two profiles [hers and the male’s]. A number of cold cases have been solved with genealogical DNA testing, 23andme type of family DNA.

Q: Isn’t DNA ancestry evidence how the Golden State Killer was caught?

Correct. I think there’s an opportunity to solve the crime. I believe it can be solved.

At least the Ramseys got an apology.

It was a little squeak in a tsunami of other stories that overwhelmed this case. In 1997, there was a Gallup poll, and 70% of Americans thought they were guilty. Recently at a cocktail party I mentioned I’m doing this, and someone said, “Oh, isn’t that the people who killed their own daughter?” The reason people came to the wrong conclusion is that the police department fed false stories to the media in order to smoke them out, because they were convinced that they were guilty. ​

Colorado’s Bureau of Investigation gave Boulder police recommendations to solve the crime in 2023. Police won’t reveal what they are, but told AARP that Redfearn will soon post a detailed video statement on the department’s JonBenét case website.
​​They’ve just been dragging their feet for decades, waiting for poor John Ramsey to die. The guy’s 80. All of the original items that were tested need to be retested with new technology. Quite a few crime scene items were sent to the lab and never tested. Prosecutors will fight tooth and nail not to allow post-conviction DNA testing, which I think should be illegal. Why would a prosecutor not want to confirm the validity of the conviction? There have been 20 Death Row DNA exonerations, and those are the tip of the iceberg.

Why are you so convinced the Ramseys are innocent?

JonBenet died from strangulation with a garrote. If anyone thinks a mother would have the presence of mind or the knowledge and experience to create that kind of a torturous death for their daughter over bedwetting, I’m sorry, it’s just not plausible. And John Ramsey willingly said yes to sit down [for the documentary] and no questions were off limits. He didn’t ask for any editorial input. He and his son, John Andrew Ramsey, have been for years pounding the table, advocating for the truth, pressuring for some action. That is not the action of a guilty person. If the guilty person has gotten away with murder, hasn’t been charged, they’re going to do as much as they can to forget about the story and move on.