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JonBenet Ramsey: Former Police Chief Says Case Was Botched

JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in the wee hours between Christmas Day and December 26th, 1996. She was just six years old. Her case has haunted people around the world for 19 years. Now the former Color...
JonBenet Ramsey: Former Police Chief Says Case Was Botched
Written by Kimberly Ripley
  • JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in the wee hours between Christmas Day and December 26th, 1996. She was just six years old. Her case has haunted people around the world for 19 years. Now the former Colorado police chief in charge of the investigation at that time, has said the case was mishandled. He even admitted that the involvement of the local district attorney’s office in the case at the time “was inappropriate” and “interfered in the investigation.”

    According to a report from USA Today, Mark Beckner, who was that former chief of the Boulder Police Department, made these remarks online Saturday during an “Ask Me Anything” session on the online social network site Reddit.

    On Wednesday, Beckner voiced his regret about his statements, saying he didn’t realize that the Q&A session was something the general public could access.

    “I talked to the organizer, and my impression was that this was a members-only type group that talked about unsolved mysteries all around the world,” he said.

    The current Boulder Police Chief, Greg Testa, said that the Q&A session didn’t reveal any information that wasn’t already public. It doesn’t take much, however, to draw attention back to the JonBenet Ramsey case, which has been a subject for true crime TV dramas, magazine articles, and tabloid news for 19 years.

    Patsy Ramsey, the now-deceased mother of JonBenet Ramsey, called 911 on the morning of December 26, 1996, to say her daughter was missing and that a ransom note had been found. No one was ever prosecuted in the case.

    In the Reddit discussion, Beckner said police should have separated JonBenet Ramsey’s parents and also should definitely have obtained full statements from both Patsy and John Ramsey that day.

    He added that the case was initially mishandled due to both confusion and a staff shortage on the police force.

    “It was the Christmas holiday and we were short staffed, we faced a situation as I said earlier that no one in the country had ever seen before or since, and there was confusion at the scene as people were arriving before we had enough personnel on the scene,” he wrote online.

    “I wish we would have done a better job of securing and controlling the crime scene on day one,” Beckner said. “We also should have separated John and Patsy and gotten full statements from them that day. Letting them go was a big mistake, as they soon lawyered up and we did not get to formally interview them again until May of 1997, five months after their daughter was murdered.”

    He added that the JonBenet Ramsey’s parents “rarely interacted and this did not seem normal given the circumstances. Lots of speculation as to why.”

    David Beckner was also asked if there was anything else he felt needed clarification regarding the JonBenet Ramsey case.

    He insisted that “the unknown DNA” found on the child’s clothing “is very important.”

    Are you among those who have speculated for 19 years on who killed JonBenet Ramsey? One would certainly have expected that a high profile case such as hers would have long ago been solved.

    Do you think investigators (there are still two who regularly receive tips on the case) will ever determine who killed JonBenet Ramsey?

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