5 Years After JonBenet’s Murder, Little Progress

“Listen carefully! We are a group of individuals that represent a small foreign faction. We respect your business but not the country that it serves. At this time we have your daughter in our possession.”

So began the chilling ransom note that demanded $118,000 for the life of JonBenet Ramsey, a 6-year-old beauty queen whose life came to a brutal end five years ago.

It was early Dec. 26, 1996, when JonBenet’s mother, Patsy Ramsey, called 911 and reported finding the ransom note on the back stairs of their upscale Boulder home. Hours later, John Ramsey found his daughter’s body in the basement.

After many spinoff criminal cases and lawsuits, infighting among police and prosecutors and a grand jury investigation that ended without an indictment, no one has been arrested in the strangling of JonBenet.

Police say JonBenet’s parents remain under suspicion. The Ramseys repeatedly have professed their innocence and maintain that an intruder killed their daughter.

This year will be a difficult one for the family, said their attorney, L. Lin Wood.

“The five-year anniversary carries with it . . . the lack of progress in finding the killer of their daughter and the stalemate in their minds of the status of the investigation,” he said.

“They survive Christmas the same way they survive every other day of the year, and that is through their faith.”

No break is considered likely without new forensic technology or new evidence, legal analyst Scott Robinson said.

“Short of something relatively astounding, JonBenet’s death will never become the subject of a criminal trial,” he said.

Wood said charges probably will never be filed unless new, experienced investigators take over.

The Ramseys declined to be interviewed, but earlier this month they told the Rocky Mountain News that they believe authorities have failed them and their daughter.

“Our strength comes from our innocence,” John Ramsey said. “We cannot sit idly by for JonBenet’s sake, for the sake of the next child this person will attack, if he’s still alive. This is not right. Our government has failed, and our intention is to hold them accountable.”

The Ramseys since have moved to Atlanta, but the curious still seek out their former home. Its new owner recently had the address changed and planted young evergreen trees on the front lawn to help block the view.

JonBenet’s grave near Atlanta also attracts visitors, many of whom leave remembrances such as angel figures or stuffed animals.

Tensions among police officers, the Ramseys and the prosecutor flared almost immediately after JonBenet’s body was found. They disagreed about conditions for interviews, and neither parent was formally interviewed by police until four months after the death.

Former Dist. Atty. Alex Hunter was accused of hindering the police investigation, which he denied.

Hunter, former Police Chief Tom Koby and several of the detectives have resigned or retired.

Today, four police investigators and one commander still are assigned to the case, but no one has worked it full time for at least a year, said Police Chief Mark Beckner, who inherited the case in 1998 after Koby resigned.

“You can’t turn the clock back,” Beckner said. “We all wish it never happened, but we have to go forward and move on. You do the best you can.”