JonBenet Ramsey Doc Debunks Theories About Her Parents Patsy, John Killed Her

Netflix’s latest docuseries about JonBenet Ramsey‘s murder attempted to debunk theories that pointed to her parents, John and Patsy, as the potential killers.

Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramseywhich premiered on Monday, November 25, featured interviews with various experts, reporters and family members who denied there was evidence to link John And Patsy Ramsey until JonBenét’s death. The three-part docuseries then highlighted the evidence of John and Patsy’s innocence and lack of involvement in their daughter’s murder.

“We were prosecuted by the court of public opinion. By then we were pretty much convicted,” John said in the docuseries. “Gallup, the pollsters, did a survey sometime during that period. 70 percent of those surveyed believed that the family had murdered their daughter. That the parents killed their daughter.’

JonBenet was found dead at the age of 6 in the basement of her home, hours after she was reported missing. She had suffered a fractured skull and had a garrote tied around her neck. JonBenét’s official cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation related to craniocerebral trauma and her death was ruled a murder.

In the years since JonBenét’s murder, Boulder police have investigated many suspects and theories. Patsy and John, who are also parents to son Burke, were accused of being involved in her death and a grand jury voted to indict the couple in 1999. However, the indictment was never signed by the Boulder district attorney due to a lack of evidence. The couple was exonerated in 2008 when DNA testing helped investigators determine that the DNA found on JonBenét’s body came from an unrelated man.

Burke, meanwhile, was also accused by the public to have been involved in her death. After The case of: JonBenét Ramsey Airing in 2016, Burke sued CBS and the producers over the insinuation that he killed JonBenét. The case was settled out of court in 2019 for an undisclosed amount.

Keep scrolling for a breakdown of every theory leveled against Patsy and John — and how the Netflix doc debunked them:

Footprints in the snow

According to a retired El Paso County Sheriff’s Office commander, Boulder police originally used footprints – or the lack thereof – as evidence against Patsy and John.

“There was a story that started with the Boulder Police Department that it was done by someone in the house because there were no shoe prints in the snow,” Johannes San Agustin remembered. “There is a slight dusting visible at the front of the house. But if you look at the back of the house, there is no snow.”

However, several experts and reporters pointed out that there was “no snow” at the time of JonBenét’s death. John specifically accused a Rocky Mountain News reporter of leaking police details.

‘The police had a lot of information about a man with the name Charlie BrennanJohn said before Brennan responded in a separate confessional: “I received information from a source I trusted that the police had taken note of it when they got there and that they had seen no footprints in the snow.” And they thought that was important.”

Brennan clarified that he was merely reporting what “the police were holding on to” and felt it “was important,” but it did not represent his perspective on the matter.

John flies a jet plane

Journalist Michael Tracey told a “powerful story” written days after JonBenét’s death about how her father “piloted his plane back” to Atlanta with her casket on board. However, John did not have a jet, which Brennan admitted was a false tip.

“When I reported that John Ramsey piloted his own plane back to Atlanta for the funeral, that was not true,” he explained in the document. “It came from a source I completely trusted and who had given me other solid information. But that was wrong. My source was wrong in that case and that was a mistake.”

Patsy’s ransom note connection

JonBenét’s mother became publicly involved in the murder investigation when reports surfaced of investigators discovering similarities between Patsy’s handwriting and the script used in the ransom note.

“At least four experts — and two of them from the Secret Service — looked at the handwriting and said, ‘Patsy Ramsey didn’t write the note,’” Bob Whitson, who worked for the Boulder police, said in the document. Meanwhile, in a separate segment, journalist Paula Woodward claimed that police “didn’t like the answer” so they “leaked information” and claimed Patsy wrote it.

Footage of Steve Thomas, who was previously the lead detective on the case, showed him how he defended the theories put forward during the investigation. The interviews came from a $25 civil libel and defamation lawsuit that Patsy and John filed against a tabloid in 2001, which was ultimately settled.

John’s link to the ransom amount

Part of the ransom note left at Ramsey’s home listed $118,000. Authorities questioned whether John was involved in writing the note because the ransom demand was similar to the $118,700 bonus he received at work that year.

“If this intruder had come in, waited in the house and gone to Mr. Ramsey’s office, he could have gone through the papers,” Whitson noted. “I was told it was apparently mentioned in the documents that were there.”

The discovery of sexual violence

Multiple reporters testified in the document that they had been tipped off that JonBenét had suffered “chronic” sexual abuse before her death. The researchers thought John was involved – and they specifically pointed to photos he had of JonBenét at her pageants as proof.

JonBenét’s pediatrician, Dr. Francesco Beuf, was previously interviewed and denied any indication of abuse. He said: “I told them absolutely, categorically no. There was absolutely no physical or historical evidence. There was never any question of sexual abuse. She was a very loved child.”

John has also previously spoken out about the ‘false’ claims that he assaulted his daughter. Footage from those interviews was played in the docuseries.

Patsy covers up her own crime

According to Thomas’ testimony in the 2001 civil deposition, he believed Patsy killed JonBenét out of “parental anger.” He repeated a theory about how Patsy might have hurt JonBenét because her daughter wet the bed earlier that night.

“I believe she was struck against a hard surface, such as the edge of a bathtub, sustaining a fatal head wound,” Thomas claimed of Patsy going into a “tantrum” that culminated in murder.

Whitson claimed that the “evidence does not match‘, that theory.

“We know that JonBenét was alive when she was tortured just before her death. So if you believe Patsy did this, she would have had to do all these things while JonBenét was alive,” he said of JonBenét’s injuries and apparent sexual assault before her death. ‘This was not a staging. She was still alive when this happened.”

The docuseries showed photos taken from JonBenét’s room the morning after her death. There was no indication that JonBenét’s bed was wet or that it had new sheets.

“Patsy had just recovered from stage four ovarian cancer. She was grateful to be alive. Do you think it would be a big deal if her child wet the bed? No,” John said into the doctor. “She was happy to be alive and have more time with her children. It was nonsense. It didn’t pass the common sense test.”

Patsy, who died of ovarian cancer at the age of 49 in 2006, denied any involvement in her daughter’s death over the years.