JonBenét Ramsey was murdered 28 years ago. Her father just 'headlined' a true-crime convention.

The murder of JonBenét Ramsey continues to perplex the world. What happened to the little six-year-old pageant star in her Boulder Colorado home 28 years ago? Who is responsible for her death?

Right from the start, her parents Patsy and John Ramsey have been at the heart of the investigation, despite always maintaining their innocence. 

While Patsy passed away almost 20 years ago, JonBenét's father continues to speak out about his daughter's murder, recently 'headlining' a true-crime convention.

Who is John Ramsey?

John Ramsey is the father of JonBenét Ramsey.

He has five children — three from his first marriage, and two from his second marriage to Patsy Ramsey. Together they had a son Burke Ramsey, born in 1987, and daughter JonBenét, born in 1990.

Patsy was a Miss West Virginia beauty title pageant queen. When she had JonBenét, she decided to enter her in children's beauty contests, which JonBenét excelled at and she won various titles. 

In 1991, Ramsey moved his family to Boulder, Colorado for business. He had previously served in the Navy and then worked as a CEO of various organisations. 

Watch: Who killed JonBenét? The official trailer. Post continues below.

In 1992, Ramsey's eldest daughter from his first marriage, Elizabeth, was killed in a car crash. She was 22. 

"When I lost Beth I got a call that she'd been killed. It was done. I couldn't comfort her, I couldn't do anything. It was a horrible loss, but it was an accident," he said to The Sun. "But what happened [to JonBenét] was not an accident. This was a vicious, creature — a subhuman creature who did this."

What happened to JonBenét Ramsey?

In Boulder in 1996, six-year-old JonBenét was brutally murdered in her own home on Christmas night.

Her parents, Ramsey and Patsy, initially thought their daughter had been abducted. 

A law enforcement officer arrived at the house at 5:52am on December 26, seven minutes after Patsy made a 911 call.

No footprints were found in the snow, and there were no signs of an intruder. Ramsey stayed cool and collected while his wife sobbed frantically. An initial search of the 6800sq-foot Tudor-style home was made by that officer, but he didn't enter the basement. 

It took another seven hours for their little girl's body to be found. 

Detective Linda Arndt turned up on the scene and ordered a "top to bottom" search of the house in the early afternoon. She later recalled the words had barely left her mouth when Ramsey bolted from the kitchen and headed straight down to the basement, where he found JonBenét's body in the storage room, yanked the tape from her mouth, and carried her upstairs into the living room. It was a catastrophic error of judgement, resulting in the tainting of crucial evidence.

To make matters worse, throughout the day, the house had been a hive of activity, with family friends and a team of victim advocates serving food and moving throughout.

An autopsy revealed that JonBenét's death was caused by asphyxia due to strangulation associated with a craniocerebral trauma, indicating she had sustained a broken skull prior to her death. A garrote made from a length of nylon cord and a broken paintbrush handle was found tied around her neck, which had been used to strangle her.

Who killed JonBenét Ramsey?

From the very onset, things never quite tallied up. 

JonBenét's hysterical mother Patsy rang 911, informing the operator, "We have a kidnapping!".

A random note that Patsy and Ramsey had found in their home demanded $118,000 for JonBenét's safe return. Police said it was an unusual amount specified, given that it matched the exact amount Ramsey had received for his Christmas bonus that year. The ransom note had also been written on Patsy's stationery.

John and Patsy Ramsey following their daughter's murder. Image: AAP.

Police initially focused on John and Patsy as suspects. A grand jury voted to indict the Ramseys in 1999 for child abuse resulting in death and accessory to first-degree murder, but the district attorney decided not to prosecute.

In 2008, Ramsey, Patsy and their son Burke were exonerated by DNA testing performed on JonBenét's leggings. But question marks remain on this decision as many believe police should have tested other parts of the girl's clothing, rather than just her leggings. 

Ramsey, Patsy and Burke have always stressed their innocence. 

If the Ramseys were not responsible for JonBenét's death, then who? 

A few names have been floated, from Gary Oliva, a drifter and convicted paedophile who told a friend he'd killed a girl just after JonBenét's murder, to an American schoolteacher living in Thailand, John Mark Karr, who announced at a press conference in Bangkok he was present at the killing but was later cleared by DNA analysis. 

Bill McReynolds, a local who played Santa Claus at children's parties, had entertained at the Ramsey's home two days prior and was observed to have an unusual bond with the little girl. 

So far, all suspects have led to a dead end.

Despite the suspicious cloud surrounding the family, one of the most dedicated investigators on the case, Lou Smit, remained a fierce believer that an intruder killed JonBenét.

John Ramsey on his daughter JonBenét Ramsey's murder.

Ramsey has been vocal about his frustrations regarding the Boulder Police Department's focus on him as the main suspect in his daughter's murder.  

In an interview with 60 Minutes, Ramsey said about police: "They made up their mind on day one, and the conclusion was that I killed my daughter. There's nothing more dangerous than a police department that's made up its mind, because they are totally excluding anything that conflicts with that conclusion."

In 2000, Ramsey and Patsy wrote a book about their daughter's death called The Death of Innocence.

Ramsey has always maintained that an intruder was responsible for JonBenét's murder.

John Ramsey's personal life.

28 years have now passed since losing his daughter and Ramsey's life looks very different.

In 2004, he ran for the US Republican Party. He campaigned for a seat in Michigan's House of Representatives, but he finished in second place. 

Patsy died in 2006. She had previously been diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer in 1993. She then went into remission for a number of years before tests showed the cancer had returned in 2002. She was 49 when she died. Patsy is buried next to JonBenét.

After Patsy's death, Ramsey met his third wife, Jan Rousseaux. They married in 2011, and remain together.

What is John Ramsey doing now?

Now 80 years old, Ramsey has continued to push for answers from the Boulder Police Department about his daughter's unsolved murder. 

John Ramsey in recent years, speaking on his daughter's murder. Image: Barbara Walters/Investigation Discovery.

He has continued to speak out on the case, participating in various sit-down interviews. Just recently he attended CrimeCon in Nashville, a true crime convention where those who are consumed by the genre go to hear about infamous cases and speak to the people close to the stories.

Ramsey wasn't the only well-known bereaved family member present. Gabby Petito's parents and step-parents were in attendance. Petito was murdered in 2021 by her partner Brian Laundrie, who later turned a gun on himself. 

The convention typically draws over 6000 guests a year and tickets start at $229. Ramsey sat on a variety of panels, Q&A sessions, participated in meet and greets and more. He acknowledged how odd the concept of a true crime convention really is, but said he took part for one major reason. 

"We've tried to get the case in competent hands. We need justice," he said recently to 60 Minutes.

He told reporters that even though this is his third year attending CrimeCon, he still isn't quite sure why anyone pays for a ticket. 

He said to Slate: "Some of the attendees are these amateur detectives who treat it like a real-life board game. They stop me in the halls. They say they only came to the convention just to meet me. I'm almost embarrassed by it. I'm not that great. I've not done anything spectacular."

"It [grief] still surfaces. I'll see a little girl walking down the street, hanging onto her dad's hand — it tugs at my heart. But I do believe that JonBenét is in heaven, and that I will see her again in some way. I have faith in that."

Feature Image: AAP.