Who Killed Jonbenét Ramsey: Murder Suspects And Theories
The heinous unsolved murder of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey is one of the most notorious true-crime stories to ever come out of the state of Colorado.
At her death, JonBenét lived in Boulder with her parents, Patricia and John, and her older brother, Burke.
JonBenét went missing 25 years ago, on December 26, 1996. Her disappearance was first noticed after her mother, Patricia Ramsey, woke up to make coffee around 5:30 AM and reportedly found a 3-page ransom note on the staircase.
The note, signed by “a foreign faction,” demanded $118,000 for the safe return of JonBenét.
When Patricia found that her daughter was not in bed as the note suggested, she called 911.
Later that day, JonBenét’s beaten body was discovered in the basement of the family’s home by her father. Her hands were tied together, her mouth was taped shut, and her skull was fractured.
Strangulation was eventually determined to be the reason of death by the Boulder County Coroner’s Office.
Despite 26 years of effort by the Boulder Police Department and the Colorado Bureau of Investigations (CBI), the killer has never been identified.
The horrible nature of her death, across-the-board media coverage, evolving suspect theories, and several unanswered questions have made the Ramsey case national headlines ever since.
Below we share a few of the most widespread theories and suspects regarding the beauty pageant queen on December 26, 1996.
Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
On January 10, 2019, it was reported that a pedophile had confessed he killed six-year-old beauty pageant queen JonBenét Ramsey in a series of letters to a former high school classmate.
Gary Oliva is currently serving a 10-year sentence for child abuse images and has been a longtime suspect in the murder.
Oliva wrote in his letter, seen by DailyMailTV, from a Colorado prison: “I never loved anyone like I did JonBenét and yet I let her slip and her head bashed in half and I watched her die. It was an accident.”
According to Inside Edition, Oliva was arrested in June 2016 and charged with the sexual exploitation of a child.
But there have been many suspects, as well as a false confession, over the years.
The Parents
Patricia and John Ramsey have always been typical suspects in the JonBenét Ramsey case in the court of public opinion.
Theorists believe that several pieces of evidence point to the parent’s as having some involvement.
First, the paper used to write the ransom note was later from Patricia’s notepad. Second, the garrote tied around JonBenét’s neck was fashioned from one of Patricia’s paintbrushes. And third, in the ransom note, the “kidnapper” demanded the exact amount of money that John had received as a Christmas bonus that year.
In a 2000 interview with Larry King, former Boulder Police Detective Steve Thomas recalled leaving the department because of this case.
“Because I felt that Patsy [Patricia] is involved in this death, in this tragedy, and I felt that it had become such a debacle and was going nowhere. Out of frustration, I left the case and police work,” Thomas said.
Later in the interview, Thomas shares his own theory about what happened to JonBenét.
“I think there was a toileting issue that night that has been dismissed and underplayed,” Thomas said.
He suggested that in a fit of rage over JonBenét wetting her bed, which happened often, Patricia killed her.
“Instead of making a right turn, she made a left turn and covered this up. It’s not unlike 11,000 other children that have been murdered in this country or killed feloniously by parents in the last 20 years,” Thomas said.
The two were formally acquitted of the crime by DNA evidence in 2008, but rumors continue to swirl.
The Brother
Another popular theory indicates that on the night of JonBenét’s death, brother Burke Ramsey, nine at the time, had gotten out of his bed for a bowl of pineapple.
When JonBenét heard him get up, she followed him to the kitchen. According to the theory, when she stole a piece of pineapple from Burke, he lost his temper.
The theory especially gained traction in 2016 when a CBS Docuseries about the case mentioned that the child was found to have a piece of partially digested pineapple in her intestines after her death.
One woman, claiming to be a friend to the Ramsey family, the boy had been known for having emotional outbursts.
Burke Ramsey was formally exonerated using DNA evidence in 2008, alongside his parents.
The Teacher
In 2006, former teacher John Mark Karr confessed to the murder of JonBenét Ramsey.
In a series of emails to a University of Colorado professor, Karr described in graphic detail that he had accidentally killed the girl after kidnapping her from her bed.
Karr was evading several charges of possession of child pornography in Thailand at the time of the confession.
DNA evidence later exonerated Karr from the murder, along with the alibi that he was with his family in Atlanta for Christmas at the time the crime was committed.
Michael Helgoth
Boulder auto salvage worker, Michael Helgoth, was named the potential killer by a private investigator hired by the Ramsey family.
The investigator’s theory suggests that Helgoth killed the child in retaliation for some property dispute he was allegedly involved in with the Ramseys.
Two months after the murder, a press conference by the Boulder District Attorney’s Office announced investigating a new suspect.
Helgoth committed suicide the next day. He has since been cleared by DNA evidence.
