Boulder authorities ‘prioritizing’ recommendations from JonBenet Ramsey cold case review team

Cold case review team looked at the investigation into the December 1996 death of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey

JonBenét Ramsey (Sipa/Shutterstock)

Colorado authorities are “reviewing and prioritizing” recommendations from a cold case review team in the unsolved murder of JonBenet Ramsey after poring over a comprehensive digital case file that included more than one million pages, according to police.

“The Colorado Cold Case Review Team spent the past year preparing for the review,” Boulder Police Department announced in the Thursday release, 27 years and two days after the body of six-year-old beauty queen Ramsey was found in the basement of her family’s Boulder home.

“The team is comprised of professional, investigative, analytical, and forensic experts from across Colorado, including the FBI, Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, and numerous other entities (including public and private forensic laboratories) with expertise in cold case homicide investigations.

“An intensive effort digitized all evidence to create a comprehensive and searchable database containing thousands of information files, bringing together more than 21,000 tips, over 1,000 interviews conducted across 17 states and two foreign countries, and samples from more than 200 different individuals, including handwriting, DNA, fingerprints, and shoeprints,” the release continued.

“The case file consists of nearly 2,500 pieces of evidence and roughly 40,000 reports, with more than one million pages documenting the investigation. A fresh inventory of all collected evidence was made available for investigative review, which would not have been possible without the assistance of the FBI.

Officials looked at the investigation into the December 1996 death of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey (AP/Rex)

“BPD and the Boulder District Attorney are currently in the process of reviewing and prioritizing the team’s recommendations. To preserve the integrity of the investigation, the specific recommendations will not be made public at this time. However, we are committed to following the recommendations generated from this cold case review.”

The release stressed that DNA testing continued “to be an investigative focal point” and preserved evidence “will continue to be ready for testing when there is proven and validated technology that can accurately test forensic samples consistent with the evidence available in this case. Detectives are actively taking steps to prepare the evidence for testing when possible.”

According to a November report from The Messenger, new DNA testing was completed recently on evidence utilising modernised technology, and the victim’s father said earlier this year that he was “very hopeful” about upcoming developments.

“We know there was evidence taken from the crime scene that was never tested,” John Ramsey told NewsNation, adding that he wanted the examination of the materials to take place in new “cutting edge labs” that possess technology currently not available to the federal government. He said he also wanted evidence checked against public genealogy databases to cast a wider net for suspects.

The killing of the six-year-old, who would have turned 33 in August, has never been solved, spurring countless books, documentaries and theories as it struck a particular and enduring pop culture chord.