New DNA testing planned in JonBenet Ramsey case to tap the FBI database of 15.1 million known offenders, 20 years after the child beauty queen’s murder
POLICE and prosecutors in the JonBenet Ramsey murder are planning for a new round of testing on DNA evidence to help find the child beauty queen's killer.
It is hoped new advancements since her death in 1996 will mean they can maybe find the identity of her murderer.
It is hoped new advancements since her death will mean they can maybe find the murderers identity.
They will also utilise an FBI database which has more than 15.1 million known offenders on it, to see if there is a match.
An investigation which was conducted into the case by the discovered major flaws in regards to the original method of DNA testing.
Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett and Boulder police Chief Greg Testa said the matter had been discussed with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation just before Thanksgiving.
It will be the 20th anniversary of Ramsey's death on December 26th.
Forensic experts who looked at lab results earlier this year concluded DNA samples which were taken from the little girl's long johns were from at least two people as well as the victim.
It was also concluded a sample taken from her underwear might be a composite and not from one person.
These results would not be enough to clear her Ramsey's parents and brother of suspicion in the case, but they would also not be enough to implicate them either.
Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy exonerated the child beauty queen's parents John and Patsy and her brother Burke in her murder in July 2008, on the back of the same reports.
Forensic experts at the time also suggested the unknown male killer police had been looking for may not exist.
Documentation also showed Lacy knew the DNA came from two people but did not reveal this when she exonerated the Ramseys.
There was also the chance DNA could have come from earlier contact or even another article of clothing the child beauty queen had been wearing before her death.
William C. Thompson, a professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California-Irvine said: "It's certainly possible that an intruder was responsible for the murder, but I don't think that the DNA evidence proves it."
Attorney for the Ramseys, Lin Wood released a statement saying: "I have absolute and total confidence in the integrity of former District Attorney Mary Lacy, and I am also aware of internet comments by former Boulder police Chief Mark Beckner where he, within the last several months, affirmed that the Ramsey case was a DNA case."
Burke Ramsey is currently suing CBS for $150million after it aired The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey, in November.
Investigators said they believed he was responsible for killing his sister.
In the documentary, sleuths investigating the death of the six-year-old for a TV show claimed Burke Ramsey, now 29, "has a history of scatological problems".
They cited the evidence of a housekeeper who said excrement the size of a grapefruit was once smeared on the young girl's bed sheets.
Linda Hoffman-Pugh said: "After they sealed off JonBenet's room, the crime scene technicians went through it, they apparently found faeces smeared on a box of candy she had got for Christmas."
And behavioural experts - who earlier suggested Burke could have killed his sister in a pique or rage after she nicked some of his midnight snack - said he had mental issues around the time.
Dr Werner Spitz said: "The brother is not exactly thinking straight, the behaviour is... of somebody who's got a problem.
"When I think of putting faeces in the sister's bed... He was doing that."
The revelation came just after a never-before-heard phone conversation was described in which JonBenet's family are claimed to have said "What have you done?".
Six seconds of conversation at the end of the original 911 call have now been deciphered using cutting-edge technology.
And sleuths investigating the case believe the comments were made because the family did not realise the phone was still off the hook.
The beauty pageant's champion mum called police after her daughter went missing on Boxing Day 1996 from their Colorado home.
But now, using high-tech methods, experts claim an adult can be heard exclaiming: "What did you do? Help me, Jesus."
It is allegedly answered by Ramsey's brother, who says: "What did you find?"
The family have always insisted young Burke was asleep at the time.
The operator who took the call, Kim Archuletta, said: "It sounded like she said, 'OK, we've called the police, now what?' and that disturbed me.
Who killed JonBenet Ramsey? Everything we know about the case that shocked America
"So I remained on the phone trying to listen to what was being said. It sounded like there were two voices in the room, maybe three.
"Different ones. I had a bad feeling about this, to me it sounded rehearsed."
One sleuth on TV show, James Kolar, claimed Ramsey's brother lashed out at his sister with a torch when he realised his pineapple had been taken.
The former chief investigation for the District Attorney in Boulder revealed Burke Ramsey scarred his sibling just one year earlier after whacking her with a golf club.
He said: "My hypothesis was that I think the Ramseys came home at around 9.30, 10 o'clock.
"I think JonBenet was asleep. I think John did carry her upstairs, Patsy remained downstairs with Burke and served him the tea and the pineapple.
"I think that accounts for the physical evidence as well as the latent print. Then she got JonBenet up to make sure she used the toilet, so she didn't wet the bed that night."
Incredible call recording from the scene discovered
An astonishing six-second call snippet in which a voice can be heard to say 'What did you do?' has been uncovered, experts have revealed
Cutting-edge technology has been used to record a conversation after Mrs Ramsey had called to report her daughter's disappearance.
Experts reckon she believed she had hung up when the words were uttered.
Three people are heard to have a conversation.
One voice believed to be Mr Ramsey's says: "We're not speaking to you."
Another, this time Mrs Ramsey, replies: "What did you do? Help me, Jesus."
JonBenet's brother then says: "What did you find?" the experts claim.
The parents had always maintained Burke had been asleep at the time.
There has been hysteria around the high-profile case which made law enforcement’s job far harder
Kolar continued: "JonBenet was up, she may or may not have brushed her teeth, that stuff was out on the counter, then I think she was up and awake enough that she was maybe still hungry and she went downstairs.
"In the meantime, Patsy continued packing for the Michigan trip. I think if Burke was upset about circumstances or Christmas presents, he probably would have been upset about her trying to snag a piece of pineapple - out of anger he may have struck her with that flashlight. "
Burke dismissed the claims in an interview on the Dr Phil Show.
He said: "I don't know what to say to that, because I know that's not what happened. There's been people who have said that's not even physically possible for a nine-year-old to do that.
“Like you won't find any evidence, because I didn't do it.”
The brutal murder of little JonBenet Ramsey has gripped the world for 20 years.
Police initially investigated the case as a kidnapping, after “pageant mum” Patsy called 911 on Boxing Day morning 1996 to say she had found a ransom note demanding $157,000 and that her daughter was missing from their home in Boulder, Colorado.
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That afternoon, her father John found his child’s small, strangled body bound and gagged in the family basement, by which time friends and family had trampled through the house, destroying forensic evidence forever.
Former FBI special agent Jim Clemente says the killing preyed on his mind more than all the other violent crimes and sex attacks he came across in his career.
So he gathered a crack team of world-leading experts to analyse the evidence, and they have agreed upon the identity of the person they believe is the murderer.
The wealthy family were at first named as suspects. Officers could not find any sign of a break-in and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said there were indications Patsy had written the ransom note, although they reached no “definitive conclusion”.
Was JonBenet killed after being struck with a torch?
Investigators have proposed a theory that JonBenet Ramsey was killed after being struck with a torch.
TV show sleuths have already suggested that a flashlight could have been used to cause a skull fracture on the six-year-old pageant queen.
A torch was found on the kitchen side at the family home during the initial investigation.
But forensic experts dismissed the theory, saying there was no DNA on the object.
JonBenet's official cause of death was given as strangulation by a coroner following the tragic episode 20 years ago.
A police report also claimed Mrs Ramsey had changed her story about whether she discovered the note or her daughter's absence first.
Clemente was surprised when the family were exonerated in 2008.
He said: “DA Lacy did not know what she was talking about when she exonerated the family,” he said. “That doesn’t mean they are guilty, but the world was misled.”
Speaking to he added: “We all came to one complete theory that explains everything that happened.
“When a six-year-old innocent girl is killed and never got justice, that case is going to bother you. It bothers me.
“The world has heard so many false rumours. The people of the community need to know the truth so they can put pressure on the district attorney. We really want this case to be solved."
Investigators found 38 registered sex offenders living within a three-kilometre radius of the Ramseys’ home.
Elementary teacher John Karr, 41, falsely confessed to the murder in August 2006 while being held on child porn charge.
One-time person of interest Gary Oliva, 52, was held on child pornography charges this June.
He was found with a photo of the little girl in his backpack in December 2000 along with a stun gun, which he said had been given to him by a friend.
Ollie Gray, a private investigator hired by the family, claimed in April that the killer was Michael Helgoth, a then 26-year-old whose family owned a junkyard in the city.
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