Another tragic death.
An apology from prosecutors.
A failed run for office.
A lot has happened to the Ramsey family since the murder of their 6-year-old daughter, JonBenét
Ramsey became national news.
Here's their story.
In December 1996, John and Patsy Ramsey's names were suddenly in headlines everywhere.
The Boulder, Colorado couple became national news following the unexplained murder of their
youngest child, JonBenét Ramsey.
According to Romper, John was an executive at Access Graphics, a subsidiary of Lockheed
Martin, while Patsy, a former beauty queen, was a stay-at-home mother.
Patsy had entered JonBenét into a number of pageants, in which she took home several
prizes, including Little Miss Colorado.
The family lived a seemingly normal, unassuming life in a quiet neighborhood until the day
after Christmas 1996, when the parents awoke to find their daughter missing from her bed.
Soon after the death of their daughter was made public, rumor and speculation that the
Ramseys had somehow been involved ran wild.
Suspicions were only amplified by the accusations of misconduct that plagued the investigation
from the very start.
"Let me address very directly, I did not kill my daughter, JonBenét."
After discovering a ransom note on the stairs of their home, the Ramseys placed calls, not
only to the police but to family and friends, who also soon arrived at the house.
Authorities failed to lock down the home, so visitors wandered throughout the house,
touching and moving things, and potentially disturbing any evidence that might have been
present.
John also potentially destroyed evidence at the crime scene when he discovered JonBenét's
body in the basement and carried her upstairs.
The ransom note was another source of suspicion.
The note demanded exactly $118,000 in exchange for JonBenét's safe return, which was the
same amount of money John had been given as a bonus from his company the previous year,
CNN reported.
The strange note, as well as the disturbed crime scene, soon cast an "umbrella of suspicion"
around John and Patsy, as The Boston Globe put it.
CrimeViral notes that another popular theory soon emerged, that parents were not themselves
responsible but were covering up for their son, Burke, who might have lashed out at his
younger sister.
The suspicions were worsened by accounts that the Ramseys failed to immediately cooperate
with the police.
They claimed their hesitation was because they did not want to be scapegoated as easy
suspects.
Patsy was never officially cleared by an analysis of the handwriting sample she provided, and
some believed she may have written the ransom note herself to throw investigators off the
track.
"I just remember when I read, 'We have your daughter,' just this overwhelming fear."
Even so, the Ramseys were never officially listed as suspects.
However, Crime Museum reports that in 1999, a Colorado grand jury did indict JonBenét's
parents on charges of child endangerment and obstruction of a murder investigation.
The case was never prosecuted.
"We do not have sufficient evidence to warrant the filing of charges against anyone who has
been investigated."
As the years went by, the Ramseys tried to move on with their lives.
They eventually moved from Colorado to Charlevoix, Michigan, where they had long kept a summer
home.
John explained to NBC News,
"Last summer we were talking with Burke and [...] he felt like he really would like to
continue in school there in Charlevoix.
So we said, well, that‘s the only reason that‘s keeping us back, so let‘s go ahead
and make this permanent."
In 2004, John even ran for a seat in Michigan's House of Representatives, but was defeated
by fellow Republican Kevin Elsenheimer.
No leads turned up as to who the supposed intruder who killed JonBenét might have been
until 2006, when an ex-teacher named John Mark Karr confessed to JonBenét's murder.
Any potential relief was short-lived, though, as it was soon revealed that Karr had falsely
confessed to the crime.
His DNA was not a match to the samples found at the scene, and he was soon released.
In 2008, new DNA evidence led Chief Deputy District Attorney Mary Lacy to officially
clear John and Patsy of any involvement in their daughter's murder, according to ABC
News.
She wrote in a letter to the family,
"To the extent that we may have contributed in any way to the public perception that you
might have been involved in this crime, I am deeply sorry."
That apology came two years too late to be of any comfort to Patsy Ramsey.
WSFA 12 News reported she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1993.
She died from it in 2006 at the age of 49.
Patsy was buried alongside her daughter at St. James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta,
Georgia, near Patsy's father's home.
John Ramsey remarried in 2011.
Now 77 years old and a grandfather, he lives in Michigan with his new wife, Jan Rousseaux.
His son and JonBenét's half-brother, John Andrew Ramsey, told ABC News in 2021,
"I think he's focused on life today and enjoying life with his family and grandkids."
Even so, John Andrew also said their family is still committed to finding JonBenét's
killer.
"There's a group of dedicated volunteers that work on this daily.
I want the trauma to stop for the family."