Ramseys Say They Passed Polygraph Test

JonBenet Ramsey’s parents said Wednesday that they passed a polygraph test given by a private expert, but Boulder, Colo., police reiterated that they would seriously consider only a test administered by the FBI.

The polygraph test indicated the Ramseys did not “attempt to deceive” when they said they did not know who beat and strangled their 6-year-old daughter in 1996, said examiner Ed Gelb, a former president of the American Polygraph Assn. He said Patsy Ramsey also denied writing a ransom note found in the family home.

“Neither John nor Patsy were attempting deception when they gave the answers,” Gelb said at a news conference with the Ramseys, six attorneys and another polygraph expert.

The Ramseys, who now live in Atlanta, said the results should persuade Boulder police to stop blaming them for their daughter’s death.

JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her Boulder home on Dec. 26, 1996. Nobody has been charged, but Boulder authorities have said John and Patsy Ramsey remain under an “umbrella of suspicion.”

“We shouldn’t have to prove our innocence . . . but nevertheless we’ve been forced to,” John Ramsey said. “We have not one ounce of trust in the Boulder police.”

In March, the Ramseys told ABC-TV’s Barbara Walters they would submit to a polygraph test if the results were publicized, if it were administered independent of the Boulder police and if it were conducted in Atlanta.

Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner asked the Ramseys to submit to an FBI test, but they refused.

Beckner reiterated Wednesday he will not accept non-FBI test results. He said the reliability of the polygraph test is affected by how the results were obtained and under what circumstances.

“There is nothing today that is going to change where we are at in the investigation,” he said. “If John and Patsy Ramsey really want this investigation to move forward, they should work with us.”

The Ramseys’ attorney, L. Lin Wood, said: “The FBI has worked closely with the Boulder police. They are not independent.”

The Ramseys underwent a round of polygraph tests in April, but those tests were inconclusive, Wood said.