One of three people known to be in the house on the day his sister was killed, Burke Ramsey has shied away from the spotlight.
Shortly before 6 a.m. on December 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey called 911 to report that she’d found a ransom note and her 6-year-old daughter, JonBenét Ramsey, was missing. Later that day, JonBenét’s father, John Ramsey, found her body in the basement of the family’s home in Boulder, Colorado. The cause of death was strangulation, but an autopsy revealed JonBenét also had a fractured skull and showed signs of sexual assault.
Two possible theories took hold: an intruder had entered the home or someone in her own family hurt JonBenét. This uncertainty, combined with images from JonBenét’s child pageant activities, captivated the public. The latest look at the unsolved case is Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?, a three-part Netflix documentary that released in late November.
JonBenét’s older brother, Burke Ramsey, was just 9 years old when his sister was killed. He has lived with the horrific loss of his sister and the public fascination with her death for almost his entire life. Here’s what you need to know about Burke, who has been questioned by police, accused by the media, and exonerated by the district attorney.
Burke was part of JonBenét’s murder investigation
One of three people known to be in the house on the day JonBenét was killed (the others were Patsy and John), Burke became a witness and possible suspect. His parents told police Burke was sleeping when they’d discovered their daughter was missing, and Burke said he’d stayed in bed during the initial frantic search for his sister.
Police talked to Burke, reportedly without his parents’ permission, on the day of the murder. Shortly after, the killing triggered the Boulder Department of Social Services to evaluate Burke. Their report noted, “It is clear Burke was not a witness to JonBenét’s death.”
Even so, his DNA and handwriting were among the samples compared to clues from the crime scene. He wasn’t a match to the DNA found under JonBenét’s fingernails and in her underwear. A handwriting expert concluded Burke hadn’t penned the ransom note, which had been written on a pad from the Ramsey household.
Authorities interviewed Burke twice more: in June 1998 then again during the grand jury investigation into JonBenét’s death.
Controversy over Patsy’s 911 call involved Burke
Burke’s whereabouts when JonBenét was discovered missing were eventually called into question. In 1998, a transcript of an enhanced version of Patsy’s 911 call leaked to the public. At the end of the call, Burke could supposedly be heard asking, “What did you find?” This would mean his parents were lying about Burke being asleep at the time.
However, investigative journalist Paula Woodward wrote in her 2021 book Unsolved: The JonBenét Ramsey Murder 25 Years Later, “The 911 call audio information has been discredited numerous times as not reliable because audio testing doesn’t detect Burke’s voice on the end of that emergency call.”
The district attorney twice said Burke wasn’t a suspect
After Burke’s 1999 appearance before a grand jury in Boulder, tabloids reported his parents were negotiating a plea bargain. In response, the district attorney’s office announced Burke wasn’t a suspect in his sister’s murder.
In 2008, then-District Attorney Mary Lacy issued a press release saying, “The Boulder District Attorney’s Office does not consider any member of the Ramsey family, including John, Patsy, or Burke Ramsey, as suspects in this case.” Lacy noted that after new testing looked at touch DNA—the trace amounts of DNA that can be deposited via someone’s touch—on the long underwear JonBenét had on when she died, “The unknown male profile previously identified from the inside crotch area of the underwear matched the DNA recovered from the long johns.”
Lacy’s exoneration of the family was controversial. Stan Garnett, a successor as district attorney, later told People, “I didn’t feel the exoneration was warranted based on the state of the evidence and the complexity of the case.”
