WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:13.119
<v Speaker 1>Caalaroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Reed Carter. Friday, December

2
00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:17.359
<v Speaker 1>twenty sixth, twenty twenty five, twenty nine years ago today,

3
00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:20.359
<v Speaker 1>John Ramsey found his daughter's body in the basement of

4
00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:24.519
<v Speaker 1>their Boulder home. John Beney Patricia Ramsey, six years old,

5
00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:28.480
<v Speaker 1>strangled and beaten on Christmas night. Over the past two days,

6
00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:32.439
<v Speaker 1>we've covered the murder, the botched investigation, the umbrella of

7
00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:36.079
<v Speaker 1>suspicion that descended on the Ramsey family, the evidence pointing

8
00:00:36.119 --> 00:00:39.079
<v Speaker 1>inside the house and out, the grand jury that voted

9
00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:42.560
<v Speaker 1>to indict, and the da who refused to sign. Today,

10
00:00:42.920 --> 00:00:46.640
<v Speaker 1>what happened next and where we are now. Two thousand

11
00:00:46.679 --> 00:00:50.840
<v Speaker 1>and six, John Mark Carr, an American teacher living in Thailand,

12
00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:54.640
<v Speaker 1>contacted a journalism professor in Colorado. Said he'd been with

13
00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:58.079
<v Speaker 1>John Benney when she died, confessed to her murder. He

14
00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:01.960
<v Speaker 1>was arrested in Bangkok, extra to the United States. Media

15
00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.120
<v Speaker 1>went berserk. Then his DNA came back didn't match his

16
00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:09.200
<v Speaker 1>ex wife said he was in Alabama on Christmas nineteen

17
00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:13.599
<v Speaker 1>ninety six, fifteen hundred miles from Boulder. Carr was released

18
00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:19.799
<v Speaker 1>another dead end that same year, Patsy Ramsey died ovarian cancer.

19
00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:23.560
<v Speaker 1>She'd fought it since nineteen ninety three when into remission

20
00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:26.920
<v Speaker 1>watched it come back. She was forty nine years old,

21
00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:31.840
<v Speaker 1>buried in Marietta, Georgia, next to John Benay, still under

22
00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:35.680
<v Speaker 1>that umbrella of suspicion. Two thousand and eight, New District

23
00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:40.280
<v Speaker 1>Attorney Mary Lacey issued an unprecedented letter based on updated

24
00:01:40.359 --> 00:01:44.280
<v Speaker 1>DNA analysis showing the same unknown male profile on John

25
00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:49.359
<v Speaker 1>Bennet's underwear and long John's. Lacey publicly exonerated John Patsy

26
00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:54.079
<v Speaker 1>and Burke Ramsey. No innocent person should have to endure

27
00:01:54.200 --> 00:01:57.239
<v Speaker 1>such an extensive trial in the court of public opinion.

28
00:01:58.359 --> 00:02:02.400
<v Speaker 1>Many prosecutors criticized the letter, said you can't exonerate someone

29
00:02:02.439 --> 00:02:06.439
<v Speaker 1>who was never charged, said the DNA evidence wasn't that conclusive,

30
00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:11.560
<v Speaker 1>but for John Ramsey it was vindication. Twenty twenty four

31
00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:16.439
<v Speaker 1>to twenty twenty five, a Netflix documentary reignited interest. John

32
00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:19.879
<v Speaker 1>Ramsey appeared at Crime Con twenty twenty five in Denver,

33
00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:24.240
<v Speaker 1>pushing for new DNA testing. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation

34
00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:28.759
<v Speaker 1>is currently testing dozens of items, some retested with new technology,

35
00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.560
<v Speaker 1>some never tested at all. Alex Hunter, the DA who

36
00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:35.360
<v Speaker 1>refused to sign the indictment. Died last month at age

37
00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:39.919
<v Speaker 1>eighty nine. Witnesses are dying, Evidence is degrading, Time is

38
00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:43.639
<v Speaker 1>running out, but John Ramsey, now eighty one years old,

39
00:02:43.879 --> 00:02:47.599
<v Speaker 1>still believes the case can be solved. Still believes familial

40
00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:52.000
<v Speaker 1>genealogy DNA testing, the technology that caught the Golden State killer,

41
00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:57.000
<v Speaker 1>could identify John Bennet's murderer. I'm read Carter, this is

42
00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:02.159
<v Speaker 1>celebrity trials today. Twenty five nine years without justice. The

43
00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:09.960
<v Speaker 1>search for John Beney's killer continues. Part three of three.

44
00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:14.439
<v Speaker 1>August two thousand and six, ten years after John Bennet's death.

45
00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:18.639
<v Speaker 1>A bizarre twist that gave America false hope. John Mark

46
00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.560
<v Speaker 1>Carr was a forty one year old American living in Thailand.

47
00:03:22.039 --> 00:03:26.000
<v Speaker 1>Former teacher history of sexual interest in young girls, had

48
00:03:26.039 --> 00:03:29.719
<v Speaker 1>been exchanging emails with a journalism professor named Michael Tracy,

49
00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:34.000
<v Speaker 1>who was investigating the Ramsey case. In those emails, Carr

50
00:03:34.039 --> 00:03:37.840
<v Speaker 1>made claims. Said he'd been communicating with Patsy Ramsey before

51
00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:40.599
<v Speaker 1>her death, said he knew things about the murder that

52
00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:43.800
<v Speaker 1>weren't public, said he was there when John Benay died.

53
00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:47.639
<v Speaker 1>Thy police arrested him in Bangkok on August sixteenth, two

54
00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:51.479
<v Speaker 1>thousand and six. At his press conference, Carr told reporters,

55
00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:58.039
<v Speaker 1>I loved John Beney and she died accidentally. The media exploded.

56
00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:03.520
<v Speaker 1>After a decade of Noah arrests, Finally a suspect, a confession,

57
00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:08.759
<v Speaker 1>someone to blame. Bolder authorities flew to Thailand brought Carr

58
00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:12.319
<v Speaker 1>back to the United States on a commercial flight, first class,

59
00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:15.960
<v Speaker 1>champagne and prawns, a surreal journey that became its own

60
00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:19.879
<v Speaker 1>news story, but the case fell apart immediately. Carr said

61
00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:23.759
<v Speaker 1>he'd drugged John Bennet. The autopsy showed no drugs in

62
00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:26.839
<v Speaker 1>her system. Carr said he'd been with her for hours.

63
00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:31.000
<v Speaker 1>His timeline didn't match the evidence. Carr said, details that

64
00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:34.759
<v Speaker 1>were already public nothing only the killer would know, and

65
00:04:34.839 --> 00:04:40.079
<v Speaker 1>his DNA didn't match the unknown male profile from John

66
00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:43.839
<v Speaker 1>Benet's underwear. The evidence that might identify the real killer

67
00:04:44.279 --> 00:04:49.120
<v Speaker 1>excluded John Mark Carr completely. His ex wife, Laura came Forward,

68
00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:51.959
<v Speaker 1>said she was certain Carr was with her in Alabama

69
00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:55.639
<v Speaker 1>on Christmas night in nineteen ninety six, fifteen hundred miles

70
00:04:55.639 --> 00:04:58.560
<v Speaker 1>from Boulder. She had no reason to protect him. He

71
00:04:58.680 --> 00:05:02.439
<v Speaker 1>was her ex husband. She despised him, but the alibi held.

72
00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:07.639
<v Speaker 1>Within two weeks, prosecutors declined to file charges. Car was released,

73
00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.160
<v Speaker 1>returned to obscurity, another dead end in a case full

74
00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:15.319
<v Speaker 1>of them. But the car fiasco did have one significant consequence.

75
00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:22.839
<v Speaker 1>It exposed how desperate everyone was for answers, police, prosecutors, media, public.

76
00:05:23.319 --> 00:05:28.600
<v Speaker 1>After ten years, any confession seemed credible, any suspect seemed viable.

77
00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:31.639
<v Speaker 1>The case had become an obsession, and it showed how

78
00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:35.639
<v Speaker 1>little progress had been made. A decade after John Bennet's murder,

79
00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:40.000
<v Speaker 1>Bolder police had no viable suspects, The investigation had stalled,

80
00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.439
<v Speaker 1>the evidence was aging, witnesses were harder to find. The

81
00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:46.800
<v Speaker 1>case that should have been solved in weeks had become

82
00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:58.079
<v Speaker 1>America's most famous cold case. June twenty fourth, two thousand

83
00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:03.279
<v Speaker 1>and six, two months before John Mark Carr's arrest, Patsy

84
00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:08.720
<v Speaker 1>Ramsey died. She'd been battling ovarian cancer since nineteen ninety three,

85
00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:12.720
<v Speaker 1>three years before John Benney was born, went into remission,

86
00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:17.920
<v Speaker 1>watched the disease return, fought it for thirteen years. Patsy

87
00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:20.639
<v Speaker 1>Ramsey was forty nine years old when she died. She'd

88
00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:23.639
<v Speaker 1>spent the last decade of her life, defending herself, fighting

89
00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:27.439
<v Speaker 1>the accusation that she'd killed her daughter, giving interviews, writing

90
00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:31.120
<v Speaker 1>a book, living under that umbrella of suspicion, She never

91
00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:34.319
<v Speaker 1>got to see her name cleared, died still suspected of

92
00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:38.560
<v Speaker 1>murdering her child. Patsy was buried at Saint James Episcopal

93
00:06:38.600 --> 00:06:43.560
<v Speaker 1>Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia. Same cemetery as John Beney, same

94
00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:47.040
<v Speaker 1>cemetery as John's daughter Elizabeth, who died in that car

95
00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:50.279
<v Speaker 1>accident in nineteen ninety two. Three graves in a row,

96
00:06:50.759 --> 00:06:55.360
<v Speaker 1>a family destroyed by tragedy. John Ramsey remarried in twenty eleven.

97
00:06:55.680 --> 00:06:59.319
<v Speaker 1>His second wife, jan has supported his ongoing fight for justice,

98
00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:02.600
<v Speaker 1>but he told reporters that Patsy's death just weeks before

99
00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:07.199
<v Speaker 1>the car arrest was cruelly ironic. She didn't get to

100
00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:10.959
<v Speaker 1>see any resolution. Two years after Patsy's death came the

101
00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:14.360
<v Speaker 1>moment John had been waiting for. July ninth, two thousand

102
00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:17.680
<v Speaker 1>and eight, New Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy issued a

103
00:07:17.720 --> 00:07:21.560
<v Speaker 1>letter to John Ramsey. Based on advanced DNA testing, she

104
00:07:21.720 --> 00:07:25.079
<v Speaker 1>was publicly clearing the Ramsey family. Here's what the new

105
00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:29.160
<v Speaker 1>testing found using touch DNA technology that didn't exist. In

106
00:07:29.240 --> 00:07:33.480
<v Speaker 1>nineteen ninety six, scientists analyzed the waistband of John Bennet's

107
00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:36.879
<v Speaker 1>Long Johns, the pajama bottoms she was wearing when she died.

108
00:07:37.319 --> 00:07:41.199
<v Speaker 1>They found DNA, same unknown male profile that was in

109
00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:45.720
<v Speaker 1>her underwear, same person, two separate locations on her clothing,

110
00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:50.199
<v Speaker 1>same DNA, and it didn't match any Ramsey family member.

111
00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:54.839
<v Speaker 1>Lacy's letter was unprecedented to the extent that we may

112
00:07:54.839 --> 00:07:57.959
<v Speaker 1>have contributed in any way to the public perception that

113
00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.360
<v Speaker 1>you might have been involved in this crime. I am

114
00:08:00.439 --> 00:08:04.519
<v Speaker 1>deeply sorry. No innocent person should have to endure such

115
00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:08.600
<v Speaker 1>an extensive trial in the court of public opinion. She apologized.

116
00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:12.279
<v Speaker 1>On behalf of law enforcement acknowledged the family had been

117
00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:16.959
<v Speaker 1>wrongly suspected, said the DNA evidence pointed to an unexplained

118
00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:22.680
<v Speaker 1>third party. Critics were furious. Former prosecutors called it overreach,

119
00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:27.199
<v Speaker 1>said Lacy couldn't exonerate someone who was never charged, said

120
00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:31.639
<v Speaker 1>the DNA could be contamination factory workers, handlers, people who

121
00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:35.200
<v Speaker 1>touched the clothing before John Benney wore it. Current Boulder

122
00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:39.159
<v Speaker 1>DA Michael Doherty has been more cautious whether it is

123
00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:42.799
<v Speaker 1>DNA or other evidence, more is needed to solve this murder,

124
00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:46.000
<v Speaker 1>he said in a recent statement. In every one of

125
00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:50.039
<v Speaker 1>our successfully prosecuted cases, it was the evidence that proved

126
00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:55.080
<v Speaker 1>the defendant guilty. The exoneration didn't close the case, didn't

127
00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:59.759
<v Speaker 1>identify the killer, didn't bring justice. But for John Ramsey,

128
00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:03.600
<v Speaker 1>it was official acknowledgment of what he'd said for twelve years.

129
00:09:04.360 --> 00:09:08.320
<v Speaker 1>His family didn't do it. Someone else killed John Benney.

130
00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:14.039
<v Speaker 1>Now he just needs to find out who. We'll be

131
00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:17.639
<v Speaker 1>right back with. Where the case stands today, new DNA testing,

132
00:09:17.879 --> 00:09:34.360
<v Speaker 1>dying witnesses, and a father's final push for answers. Welcome

133
00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:37.679
<v Speaker 1>back to celebrity trials. I'm Red Carter. Let me tell

134
00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:41.120
<v Speaker 1>you where the John Beney Ramsey case stands today, twenty

135
00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:46.039
<v Speaker 1>nine years after her murder. November twenty twenty four, Netflix

136
00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:50.480
<v Speaker 1>released Cold Case Who Killed John Beney Ramsey, a three

137
00:09:50.519 --> 00:09:54.519
<v Speaker 1>part documentary featuring John Ramsey and his son John Andrew.

138
00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.279
<v Speaker 1>Pushing for new DNA testing, the documentary alleged Boulder police

139
00:09:59.320 --> 00:10:02.600
<v Speaker 1>made mistakes during the investigation and we're holding but not

140
00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:08.080
<v Speaker 1>pursuing key evidence. Boulder Police pushed back. Chief Stephen Redfern

141
00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:11.519
<v Speaker 1>released a video statement the assertion that there is viable

142
00:10:11.559 --> 00:10:14.799
<v Speaker 1>evidence and leads we are not pursuing to include DNA

143
00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:19.600
<v Speaker 1>testing is completely false. The department says they've conducted new

144
00:10:19.720 --> 00:10:23.679
<v Speaker 1>interviews in the past year, reinterviewed individuals based on tips,

145
00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:27.879
<v Speaker 1>collected new evidence, and tested and retested other evidence with

146
00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:32.879
<v Speaker 1>new DNA technology. Submitted items to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

147
00:10:34.519 --> 00:10:37.919
<v Speaker 1>John Ramsey met with Chief Redfern in twenty twenty five,

148
00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:42.039
<v Speaker 1>learned that dozens of items are currently being tested at CBI.

149
00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:45.919
<v Speaker 1>Some are being retested with technology that didn't exist in

150
00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:49.799
<v Speaker 1>nineteen ninety six. Others were collected from the basement crime

151
00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:53.440
<v Speaker 1>scene but never tested at all. It's been a slow march,

152
00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:57.279
<v Speaker 1>but they're progressing. John Andrew Ramsey told reporters after the meeting.

153
00:10:57.879 --> 00:11:01.200
<v Speaker 1>Here's the problem with the DNA evidence. It's a mixture.

154
00:11:01.639 --> 00:11:04.679
<v Speaker 1>The profile found in John Benet's underwear is mixed with

155
00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:08.320
<v Speaker 1>her blood and at least two other people's DNA. Current

156
00:11:08.360 --> 00:11:12.000
<v Speaker 1>technology can't fully separate a fifty to fifty mixture. Former

157
00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:14.720
<v Speaker 1>Denver DA Mitch Morrissey, who worked on the case as

158
00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:18.279
<v Speaker 1>a DNA expert, says the technology might not be ready yet.

159
00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:21.639
<v Speaker 1>If you're talking about the DNA in the little girl's underwear.

160
00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:24.200
<v Speaker 1>It's a fifty to fifty mixture. We are not at

161
00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:26.440
<v Speaker 1>a stage with sequencing to be able to do a

162
00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:31.559
<v Speaker 1>fifty to fifty mixture, but technology is advancing rapidly. Familial

163
00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:35.600
<v Speaker 1>genealogy DNA testing, the technique that identified the Golden State

164
00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:40.320
<v Speaker 1>killer in twenty eighteen, could potentially work if investigators can

165
00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:44.120
<v Speaker 1>develop a clean profile, upload it to a genealogy database,

166
00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:48.080
<v Speaker 1>find relatives of the unknown male, build a family tree

167
00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:51.720
<v Speaker 1>that leads to the killer. John Ramsey believes they're close,

168
00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:55.399
<v Speaker 1>told reporters he thinks twenty twenty five could be the

169
00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:58.840
<v Speaker 1>year if they will do the DNA testing and use

170
00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:01.879
<v Speaker 1>the genealogy reset search tool. I think there's better than

171
00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:04.679
<v Speaker 1>a fifty to fifty chance we can solve it, but

172
00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:08.720
<v Speaker 1>the clock is ticking. Alex Hunter, the DA who refused

173
00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:12.080
<v Speaker 1>to sign the indictment, died last month at eighty nine.

174
00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:17.399
<v Speaker 1>Detective Tom Haney, who interrogated Patsy Ramsey, died in August

175
00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:21.240
<v Speaker 1>at seventy seven. A neighbor who heard what was described

176
00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:25.200
<v Speaker 1>as John Bennet's blood curdling death scream died last year.

177
00:12:25.639 --> 00:12:30.559
<v Speaker 1>Witnesses are dying memories are fading. Evidence is degrading. Every

178
00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:34.519
<v Speaker 1>year that passes makes prosecution harder, even if they identify

179
00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:38.440
<v Speaker 1>a suspect. Lou Smid's daughter, Cindy, now leads a private

180
00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:43.200
<v Speaker 1>investigative team continuing her father's work using his detailed spreadsheet

181
00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:47.919
<v Speaker 1>of suspects. They've eliminated roughly twenty five people through DNA testing,

182
00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:52.000
<v Speaker 1>Still searching for a match. John Ramsey, now eighty one,

183
00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:56.480
<v Speaker 1>has his daughter's picture on his phone's lock screen, Still

184
00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:01.159
<v Speaker 1>thinks about her every day, still pushing for answers. In

185
00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:04.519
<v Speaker 1>my mind, she's still my six year old little girl,

186
00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:08.039
<v Speaker 1>he told reporters. It's going to change my kid's lives,

187
00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:12.639
<v Speaker 1>my grandchildren's lives. They need this cloud, this question, this

188
00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:17.200
<v Speaker 1>chapter closed. Will it ever be solved? Bolder police say

189
00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:21.720
<v Speaker 1>they remain committed. DA Doherty says they've successfully prosecuted other

190
00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:26.919
<v Speaker 1>cold case homicides. New DNA technology advances every year, but

191
00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:30.320
<v Speaker 1>twenty nine years is a long time, and justice delayed

192
00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:38.279
<v Speaker 1>is often justice denied. Why does John Benney Ramsay's case

193
00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:42.559
<v Speaker 1>still captivate us nearly three decades later? Partly it's the

194
00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:46.080
<v Speaker 1>horror a child murdered in her own home on Christmas Night,

195
00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:50.360
<v Speaker 1>the most innocent victim imaginable on the most sacred day

196
00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:54.360
<v Speaker 1>of the year. It violated every assumption about safety, family,

197
00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:57.919
<v Speaker 1>and the sanctity of childhood. Partly, it's the mystery. Two

198
00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:01.720
<v Speaker 1>completely plausible theories the family did it, an intruder did it,

199
00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:05.720
<v Speaker 1>and evidence supporting both. We're drawn to puzzles we can't solve.

200
00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:10.480
<v Speaker 1>Jean Bennet is the ultimate unsolved puzzle. Partly it's the

201
00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:15.399
<v Speaker 1>system failures, bolder police who bungled the investigation from minute one,

202
00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:19.120
<v Speaker 1>a crime scene contaminated before it was documented, a grand

203
00:14:19.240 --> 00:14:22.679
<v Speaker 1>jury that voted to indict but was overruled, a case

204
00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:25.200
<v Speaker 1>that should have been solved in weeks that remains open

205
00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:28.679
<v Speaker 1>nearly thirty years later. And partly it's the cultural moment

206
00:14:28.759 --> 00:14:33.159
<v Speaker 1>John Benet represented the child Beauty pageant videos made America uncomfortable.

207
00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:36.960
<v Speaker 1>They raised questions about how we sexualized children, how we

208
00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:40.799
<v Speaker 1>exploit their innocence, how we put them on display. Those

209
00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:44.399
<v Speaker 1>pageant images became the lasting visual of the case. Not

210
00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:47.639
<v Speaker 1>John Bennet as a normal six year old riding bikes,

211
00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:50.919
<v Speaker 1>playing with friends, being a kid, but John Benet in

212
00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:56.559
<v Speaker 1>full makeup, styled hair, elaborate costumes, a tiny adult, a

213
00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:59.759
<v Speaker 1>child playing dress up in a world that wasn't age appropriate.

214
00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:03.679
<v Speaker 1>Did that attention attract her killer? Was she targeted because

215
00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:07.840
<v Speaker 1>of her visibility. We'll probably never know, but the pageant

216
00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:11.639
<v Speaker 1>imagery shaped how America perceived the case and the Ramsey

217
00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:16.960
<v Speaker 1>family twenty nine years later, the child beauty pageant industry continues.

218
00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:21.639
<v Speaker 1>Thousands of little girls compete every year. Parents enter them,

219
00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:26.480
<v Speaker 1>coach them, dress them up. The ethics haven't changed, The

220
00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:31.279
<v Speaker 1>debate never ends. John Benet Patricia Ramsey was born August sixth,

221
00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:36.240
<v Speaker 1>nineteen ninety died December twenty fifth, nineteen ninety six, six

222
00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:39.639
<v Speaker 1>years old. She should be thirty five today, should have

223
00:15:39.720 --> 00:15:43.919
<v Speaker 1>graduated high school and college, maybe married, maybe had children

224
00:15:43.960 --> 00:15:47.159
<v Speaker 1>of her own, Maybe followed her mother into pageants or

225
00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:50.879
<v Speaker 1>rejected them entirely and found her own path. We'll never

226
00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:54.279
<v Speaker 1>know who she would have become. Her mother, Patsy, died

227
00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:57.200
<v Speaker 1>in two thousand and six, still suspected of her murder.

228
00:15:57.480 --> 00:16:00.399
<v Speaker 1>Her father, John is eighty one, still fighting for ans answers.

229
00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:03.600
<v Speaker 1>Her brother, Burke, who was nine when she died, has

230
00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:07.039
<v Speaker 1>largely stayed out of the public eye. Someone killed John

231
00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:11.759
<v Speaker 1>Benet Ramsey on Christmas Night, nineteen ninety six, someone strangled

232
00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:14.080
<v Speaker 1>a six year old girl in her own basement while

233
00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:17.799
<v Speaker 1>her family slept upstairs. Someone has known the truth for

234
00:16:17.879 --> 00:16:22.159
<v Speaker 1>twenty nine years. The case remains open. Bolder police say

235
00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:27.080
<v Speaker 1>they're still investigating. New DNA testing is underway. Technology that

236
00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:30.440
<v Speaker 1>didn't exist in nineteen ninety six might finally identify the

237
00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:33.639
<v Speaker 1>unknown male whose DNA was found on John Benet's body.

238
00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:37.360
<v Speaker 1>Will we ever know who killed her? John Ramsey believes

239
00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:41.679
<v Speaker 1>we will. Bolder police say they remain committed. The families

240
00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:45.720
<v Speaker 1>of victims never stop hoping. But justice delayed twenty nine

241
00:16:45.799 --> 00:16:50.000
<v Speaker 1>years may be justice denied forever. The killer, if still alive,

242
00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:54.840
<v Speaker 1>is twenty nine years older. Witnesses are dying, Evidence is degrading,

243
00:16:55.320 --> 00:17:00.039
<v Speaker 1>Memories are fading. John Beney Ramsey deserved better, deserved a

244
00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:06.039
<v Speaker 1>competent investigation, deserved a trial, deserved justice. Instead, she got

245
00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:09.680
<v Speaker 1>a botched crime scene, a media circus, and nearly three

246
00:17:09.799 --> 00:17:13.599
<v Speaker 1>decades of unanswered questions. Someone has to say her name,

247
00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:16.839
<v Speaker 1>Someone has to remember she was a person, a six

248
00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:21.359
<v Speaker 1>year old girl who loved Christmas, loved performing, loved her family.

249
00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:25.440
<v Speaker 1>Not just a case file, not just a mystery, A

250
00:17:25.559 --> 00:17:29.319
<v Speaker 1>child who should be alive today. Rest in peace. John

251
00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:34.599
<v Speaker 1>Beney Patricia Ramsey August sixth, nineteen ninety to December twenty fifth,

252
00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:38.839
<v Speaker 1>nineteen ninety six. Twenty nine years without justice, But we

253
00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:43.000
<v Speaker 1>haven't forgotten you. We never will. I'm read Carter. This

254
00:17:43.079 --> 00:17:47.279
<v Speaker 1>concludes our John Beney Ramsey Special. Tomorrow we continue Twelve

255
00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:51.160
<v Speaker 1>Crimes of Christmas with another classic case. America can't forget.

256
00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:55.839
<v Speaker 1>This is Celebrity Trials