JonBenet Ramsey’s father has high hopes for fifth Colorado chief in 30-year-old murder case

FIRST ON FOX — John Ramsey, father of 1996 murder victim JonBenet Ramsey, congratulated the city of Boulder, Colorado, on officially appointing a new police chief on September 6.

Chief Stephen Redfearn, who served as interim chief of the Boulder Police Department since January, is the fifth BPD chief to take on the JonBenet Ramsey case, nearly 30 years after the 6-year-old beauty pageant contestant was mysteriously murdered in her home on Dec. 26, 1996.

“He’s doing well. I like him,” Ramsey, 80, told Fox News Digital of Redfearn on Tuesday, calling his new appointment “good news.”

Ramsey said his first goal with the new police chief was to request an in-person meeting. The Ramsey family is entitled to an annual face-to-face meeting with the police department, which has not happened yet this year, he said.

JONBENET RAMSEY MURDER: FAMILY ‘ENCOURAGED’ BY RENEWED INTEREST IN CASE AND POSSIBILITIES OF DNA TESTING

He described Redfearn as “a competent man” who was hired “from outside the system” rather than “promoted from within”, which he said was a positive because Ramsey believes borderline personality disorder has always been unfair to him and his family.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

In 1999, a grand jury indicted John and his wife, Patsy Ramsey, on charges of child abuse resulting in JonBenet’s death, but then-District Attorney Alex Hunter refused to sign the indictment, citing a lack of evidence that would support criminal charges against the parents.

JONBENET RAMSEY’S FATHER SAYS COLORADO POLICE OFFICER SAID THEY’RE ‘JUST WAITING’ FOR HIM TO DIE

Ramsey wants the BPD to turn over evidence from his daughter’s nearly 30-year-old murder to the FBI “at a minimum” so that federal authorities can test and retest the evidence for possible outside DNA, including the male outside DNA that federal authorities released in 1997.

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

Evidence that has never been tested for DNA includes the garrote found around JonBenet’s neck, a ransom note found in the Ramsey home the morning of the murder, a suitcase found in the basement that authorities believe the killer used to escape through a window, an unknown flashlight found on the Ramsey family’s kitchen counter the morning of the murder and an unknown rope found in her brother Burke Ramsey’s bedroom that day, according to public records initially obtained by journalist Paula Woodward, as Fox News Digital previously reported.

JONBENET RAMSEY’S FAMILY ‘HAD NOT CELEBRATED CHRISTMAS’ FOR YEARS AFTER MURDER 27 YEARS AGO, HER FATHER SAYS

“We have an unidentified male DNA result from the tests they did in 1997, which… by today’s standards, was primitive,” Ramsey explained. “But we have an unidentified male DNA sample, which was reported to the police in January 1997. They kept it secret because it contradicted their conclusion that we were guilty. How do we explain that? Which they desperately tried to do.”

He added that the reason his family wants new testing is because “these advanced (genetic genealogy) labs need fresh samples to do the work they do.”

JONBENET RAMSEY CASE: BOULDER POLICE RESPOND TO DNA BOMB DISCOVERY

The city of Boulder issued a press release stating that Redfearn joined the BPD as a deputy chief in 2021 after a 25-year career in law enforcement, which began when he was a cadet and 911 dispatcher during the Columbine High School mass shooting. He then joined the Aurora Police Department for 20 years, where he held various positions, from patrol officer to division chief.

SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE THE TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

“I am honored to be able to lead the talented officers and employees of the Boulder Police Department as we work collaboratively and proactively with our community to make policing fair and effective in its core mission. We often think of our role as ‘protect and serve,’ but we also have the opportunity and obligation to prevent harm,” Redfearn said in a Sept. 6 statement.

“We will do this by re-evaluating our policies, implementing training on best practices, focusing on employee well-being and, of course, renewing our commitment to the community. That is what police work is all about.”

JONBENET’S FATHER ASKS COLORADO GOVERNOR TO MEET HIM: ‘TIME FOR ANSWERS IS QUICK’

The Boulder Police Department said “Chief Redfearn has continued to have conversations with the Ramsey family, and there are no plans to change that.”

Ramsey noted that Redfearn is “the fifth chief constable we’ve had in 30 years, which is crazy.”

GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE True Crime Research Center

“But the good news is that the last two come from outside the system, which is very important,” he said.

Source of the original article: JonBenet Ramsey’s father has high hopes for fifth Colorado chief in 30-year-old murder case