The biggest revelation from Netflix’s ‘Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey’ is so unsettling

I’ve watched a number of JonBenét Ramsey specials over the years, and like many of those invested in the case, hoped each would solve the unimaginable death of a 6-year-old in her Boulder, Colorado, home on Christmas Day. Like those earlier documentaries, Netflix’s “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?” doesn’t give us the answer we’ve been searching for in the 28 years since. But what the three-hour docuseries (now streaming) does extraordinarily well is show how wrong it was to suspect the child’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey or brother, Burke, who was just 9 at the time of his sister’s death.

“People hated the Ramseys,” Paula Woodward, an investigative journalist who covered the case says in the docuseries, “and it was because of the information that had come out about them that was incorrect.”

In “Cold Case,” John Ramsey remembers being “followed by the media everywhere. We’d stay with friends and within a day or two, the house would just be surrounded by cameras and people banging on the door and the windows.”

Seeing John within the first few minutes of the premiere is almost startling. Now 80, his more prominent wrinkles and age spots are a jolting reminder of how long he’s been without an answer – and how long his family has faced scrutiny. One of every four people questioned for a 1999 poll by Scripps Howard News Service believed JonBenét’s mother, Patsy, killed her. Five percent suspected Burke, who declined to participate in “Cold Case,” producers said, citing his treatment by the media and “online web sleuths.” In 2019, Burke received an undisclosed settlement from CBS following a defamation suit stemming from a 2016 special that pinned the killing on him.

“You look back at pictures of 9-year-old Burke,” says John Andrew Ramsey, John Ramsey’s child from his first marriage, and “it’s just absolutely absurd to think, ‘Oh yeah, he could’ve killed his sister and delivered this level of violence.’”

Here are the most shocking things the Ramseys were subjected to, as presented by “Cold Case.”

‘The Geraldo Rivera Show’ mock trial sends Patsy to bed ‘for about two days’

One moment that will leave viewers gobsmacked is revisiting a 1997 mock trial conducted by Geraldo Rivera, then host of a syndicated daytime talk show, to gauge whether the Ramseys were liable for their daughter’s death. A woman identified as a child abuse expert believes JonBenét had been “sexually stimulated” after viewing a videotaped performance.

“She picks up a saxophone and for the next minute and a half, she masturbates with it,” the supposed expert says, grossly mischaracterizing the footage, which shows JonBenét pretending to play the instrument.

“I could not believe what I was hearing,” Patsy reacted in a previous interview. (She died in 2006 of ovarian cancer.) “It’s sick for someone to even remotely allude to something so horrible; just nauseates me.” After the televised “jury” implicated Patsy, she “just came unglued,” she says. “I went to bed for about two days because I just was mortified.”

John Ramsey: Police kept DNA results exonerating family ‘secret’ for months

Investigators collected someone else’s DNA from JonBenét’s fingernails and her underwear. Ultimately, the docuseries calls into question the validity of the DNA testing, but it had been previously determined that neither Patsy, John, nor Burke matched it.

Some, like John Ramsey, express a belief that police kept the results to themselves intentionally. “They were told in January by their lab, ‘We tested the DNA. There is unidentified male DNA, which excludes the parents and the son, Burke,’” Ramsey says. “They kept that secret from the media and from the district attorney for months … because it conflicted with their conclusion that we were the killers.”

A reporter says cops ‘twisted’ facts given to media

Journalist Woodward says police “took these little bits of information, twisted them around, and then gave it to these few media reporters who said, ‘Hey, I’ll go with it.’”

A March 1997 article in the Rocky Mountain News says the “absence of tracks (in the snow) was among first clues that led police to suspect members of family.” But those interviewed say there was no snow in the back of the home that would’ve preserved footprints.

Lou Smit, an investigator enlisted by Boulder’s district attorney to help with the case, expressed his frustration with Boulder Police in an audio recording. (He died in 2010.) “Clearly there’s evidence of an intruder,” he says. “I say this over and over and over again. Nobody wants to listen.”

And then there is the ransom note. “Very early on, there was (a) massive police leaking that Patsy Ramsey had written the ransom note,” Woodward says. However, Bob Whitson, a former police official, says at least four experts concluded Patsy did not write the note.

So who killed JonBenét Ramsey?

Episode 3 of the docuseries names a few potential suspects. But most of the episode explores the possibility that John Mark Karr, who fled the U.S. after being charged with child pornography, was the culprit. He knew an eerie number of details about JonBenét and her death and claimed to have committed the murder. But Karr’s DNA doesn’t match what investigators collected. (Mary Lacy, a former Boulder County district attorney, previously said “The family of Mr. Karr cooperated by providing circumstantial evidence that Mr. Karr spent Christmas with his family in Atlanta.”)

John Ramsey, suspecting something might be amiss with the DNA results, wants those samples retested. He also wants additional items collected from the scene to be tested for the first time. Then he’d like for those results to be crosschecked with available databases.

What does the Boulder police department say?

“The killing of JonBenét was an unspeakable crime, and this tragedy has never left our hearts,” Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said in a statement provided to USA TODAY by Public Information Officer Dionne Waugh. “We are committed to following up on every lead and we are continuing to work with DNA experts and our law enforcement partners around the country until this tragic case is solved.”

Citing the ongoing investigation, police declined further comment on “specific aspects” of the crime. They encourage those with any helpful information to reach out via email, BouldersMostWanted@bouldercolorado.gov, or by phone: (303) 441-1974.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Netflix’s ‘Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey’: Docuseries’ biggest revelation