JonBenét Ramsey New evidence that could lead to killer
Apart from the inhabitants, not much has changed in the 27 years since six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was strangled to death in the basement.
Remarkably, after all this time, one of the most infamous murders in the world remains unsolved.
But there's fresh hope this mystery might finally be cracked, which is why we're here.
JonBenét Ramsey would have been 33 years old today. (Nine)After nearly three decades, a team of Cold Case Investigators has been tasked with scrutinising all the evidence Boulder Police ignored in their determination to pin the murder on JonBenet's parents.
"They made up their mind on day one, and the conclusion was that I killed my daughter," John Ramsey tells me.
John is 80 now, and it's clear a life of fighting for justice has taken its toll.
"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," he says.
And that's exactly what happened in December 1996, when John and his wife Patsy woke to find their little girl missing.
After finding a ransom note and calling police, it was John who found his daughter's body in the basement later that day.
At 80 years old, JonBenét’s father, John continues to seek answers. (Nine)"I quickly pulled the tape off her mouth and her hands were bound and I couldn't get the knot untied. It was really tightly tied ... she had been strangled with a garrotte. It was so deeply embedded in her skin," he recalls quietly.
Local police declared JonBenet's parents the prime suspects, blatantly disregarding all evidence to the contrary.
And there was plenty of it.
Former detective John San Agustin shows our crew the rear laneway to the Ramsey home, and original crime scene photos which show an open basement window with a suitcase dragged underneath.
Fibres from JonBenet's clothing were found inside.
Clear evidence, San Agustin says, that there was an intruder involved.
"You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to know that this is what we call a clue," he exclaims, still clearly exasperated.
"You've got an open window, you've got a scuff mark on the wall, you have a suitcase with some broken glass on it."
San Agustin was called in to help on the Ramsey case, but says police refused to consider any suggestions that didn't fit their theory.
"There were at least 2500 leads in the early part of the investigation that literally were never followed up on because tunnel vision existed from the moment the murder happened. The focus was on John and Patsy Ramsey," he says.
That focused remained even when, just a couple of weeks after the murder, samples from JonBenet's blood-stained underwear and fingernail clippings found a stranger's DNA.
Then there were the strange but distinctive round markings on the little girls' face and back.
Dr Michael Doberson, the Colorado County coroner at the time, was asked to analyse the dots.
Dots found on JonBenét’s body were caused by a stun gun. (Nine)The forensic pathologist had only recently carried out a world first experiment using an anaesthetised pig to prove such injuries were caused by a stun gun.
But when he presented his findings to Boulder Police, they dismissed the theory that the killer had used a stun gun to subdue JonBenet.
His expert advice may not have lead directly to the killer, but it certainly spoke to the nature of the crime.
"The use of a stun gun really suggests someone who was trying to incapacitate someone else," Doberson explains.
"And that certainly argued against the idea that someone in the family had to incapacitate JonBenet at the time of her murder."
But perhaps the most startling lead police ignored occurred nine months after JonBenet was killed.
Just a few kilometres from the Ramsey home, another young girl was attacked in her bed in the middle of the night.
"Amy", as this victim became known, was saved when her mother heard a scuffle and disrupted the intruder.
Incredibly, police never investigated a possible link between Amy's attack and the murder of JonBenet just a few blocks away.
"They blew it off, though they were aware of the attack," John Ramsey says.
"The same detectives investigated that case as ours. It was just sheer buffoonery.
"The Boulder Police threw away the bedsheets where she was assaulted on, so there was no ability to go back and do DNA testing. Similar to us, they just absolutely bungled this investigation."
An eerily similar assault occurred in a house (pictured) five minutes away from the Ramsey home nine months later. (Nine)His voice is filled with despair and regret.
But there's also, finally, some hope.
The Colorado Cold Case Team has put fresh eyes on the decades old evidence and will soon announce its findings and recommendations.
"This is something we've been trying to get accomplished almost from day one," John says.
"To get help from the outside."
He hopes the Cold Case Team will finally do the job that should have been done years ago, and put JonBenet's killer behind bars.
Watch the full episode of 60 Minutes on 9Now.
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