The death of JonBenét Ramsey in 1996 is one of the world’s most famous unsolved cases. A cherubic-faced child beauty queen murdered in cold blood, her body wrapped in a blanket and left in the basement of her family’s Colorado home.
Twenty-two years on, no one has ever been charged over the six-year-old’s death. But today, there are reports that could soon change.
According to The Daily Mail, notorious paedophile Gary Oliva, 54, has admitted to killing JonBenét.
The outlet has published the contents of letters sent by the 54-year-old to his high school friend Michael Vail. The letters were sent to the music producer from prison, where Oliva is currently serving a 10-year sentence for child pornography charges.
The tone is pleading, almost desperate. The writing scrawled in capital letters. But there, in black ink, are the words “it was my fault”.
"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. Please believe me. She was not like the other kids. Please don't hate me. I [sic] sorry I'm evil and murder children," the letter reads.
"JonBenét completely changed me and removed all evil from me. Just one look at her beautiful face, her glowing beautiful skin, and her divine God-body, I realized I was wrong to kill other kids. Yet by accident she died and it was my fault."
According to the outlet, the letters have been handed to police in Boulder, Colorado, who are now investigating.
JonBenét's body was discovered by her father, John, on Boxing Day 1996, just hours after his wife, Patsy, found a rambling ransom note from a "small European faction" that claimed to have kidnapped their daughter.
"Well, we'd gotten up early, and I was in the upstairs bathroom when I heard Patsy scream my name. I knew by the tone it was something serious," Ramsey told KIIS FM radio host Meshel Laurie in 2016.
"She had found a ransom note on the stairway and had checked JonBenétt’s room. At the same time we immediately called the police."
Oliva was among several suspects in the case. According to documentary series, 48 Hours, the registered sex offender was living near the Ramsey home at the time of her death and attended a candlelit vigil held in her memory.
His reported confession follows that made by school teacher John Mark Karr in 2006. Karr was arrested after he claimed to have killed JonBenét, but no physical evidence was found to link him to the crime.
“His DNA does not match that found in the victim’s blood in her underwear,” Lacy wrote in a motion to overturn Karr’s arrest, according to Newsweek. She wrote that prosecutors “would not be able to establish that Mr. Karr committed this crime despite his repeated insistence that he did.”
Top Comments
I still think her brother did it
Pretty much a nonsense. He wants to be interesting and in the news.
He could NOT have written "the ransom note". Among other things, why did he waste time writing the long note, and risking getting caught, when the girl's body was left in the house ? How could he have expected to get paid the ransom when he did not take the girl with him ?
And he did not know the financial detail mentioned in the note, only the father of the murdered girl knew it.