Family of JonBenét Ramsey petitions Polis for access to DNA evidence

Family of JonBenét Ramsey petitions Polis for access to DNA evidence

wenty-five years after the unsolved murder of 6-year-old Coloradan JonBenét Ramsey rocked the nation, the child's brother and father are petitioning Governor Polis for access to DNA evidence to conduct an independent investigation.

"The ensuing years have brought false investigative starts, wild conspiracy theories, and a seemingly infinite number of accusations against nearly everyone involved with the case. The one thing the years have not brought is an arrest," the petition reads.

The Ramsey family would like a third-party genetic testing site called Parabon NanoLabs to analyze the evidence.

"JonBenét Ramsey deserves justice and new advances in DNA technology finally make that possible. Colorado Governor Jared Polis, you are the only person with enough power and independence in the state to put Ramsey DNA testing decisions in the hands of a new agency that’s free from Boulder’s significant history with the case," it reads.

In December 2021, the Boulder Police Department made a statement saying that are "actively reviewing genetic DNA testing processes" in order to one day solve the case.

The petition refers to the statement as an attempt to "placate" the public. It also says that after a quarter of a century of many of the same investigators in charge of the case, it is time for new perspectives and ideas.

"Governor Polis, you were born in Boulder 15 years before JonBenét. You have a connection to the city. Your intervention in the Colorado truck driver case shows you have compassion. You have the power. Given the lack of progress by the Boulder Police, we, the undersigned petitioners, ask you to move DNA decisions in this case away from the BPD to an independent agency so that JonBenét has a last chance at the justice she deserves," it says.

The Boulder Police Department (BPD) in Colorado has not yet officially labeled JonBenet's murder a cold case.

In short, the Ramsey family believes BPD has been holding on to evidence in the 25-year-old case for too long. With new advancements in investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) research, the Ramseys believe they will have more success testing more than 250 of evidence for DNA to potentially build a profile of the suspect in their daughter's murder than they would with Boulder officials who are currently on the case.