JonBenet Ramsey’s brother breaks 10-year silence in sensational new interview to reveal overlooked clue that can finally solve his sister’s murder: ‘It’s sitting right there’

For nearly 30 years he’s lived with the horror of the unsolved murder of his sister, child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey – only once breaking his public silence with a TV interview a decade ago.

But now, Burke Ramsey, who was just nine when his six-year-old sibling was strangled in their family’s Boulder, Colorado, mansion over the Christmas holiday in 1996, has opened up exclusively to the Daily Mail.

Overcoming the reserve that has helped protect him emotionally over the years, the now 39-year-old reveals what he believes must be done to finally crack one of America’s most heart-rending and famous cold cases.

He also discloses his innermost memories about the little sister he knew and loved –  not just the public pageant princess version plastered across media as the murder investigation exploded and then waned amid various controversies.

Burke’s poignant and incisive thoughts are revealed as Diane Sawyer’s investigation of the crime will air on ABC Friday and Netflix prepares to air a new eight-part drama, The Murder of JonBenet Ramsey on December 10, starring Melissa McCarthy as the siblings’ mother, Patsy, and Clive Owen as father, John.

Despite the pain, Burke far from condemns yet another TV show focused on the crime that still grips and haunts the nation.

‘It’s the most tragic, personal, awful thing to happen in my life… that anybody could imagine happening to them,’ he said as we caught up with him close to where he lives quietly in the quaint resort town of Petoskey in northern Michigan.

‘And it’s tough to have it come up every ten years or so. It just brings all that pain back, you know. But I want this solved. So if this helps get this solved then OK, that’s fine.’

JonBenet’s body was found by her father in a basement wine cellar at the family’s sprawling five-bedroom home in Boulder, Colorado, on December 26, 1996, some seven hours after she was reported missing.

The blonde pageant queen’s mouth was covered with black duct tape, she had an 8.5-inch skull fracture from a heavy blow, and a knotted nylon cord was bound around her neck. 

A broken wooden paintbrush handle, from her mom’s art supplies in the home, had been used to twist and tighten the cord.

Her parents called 911 at 5.52am after Patsy found a long ransom note – demanding $118,000 – on a back staircase and then discovered their daughter wasn’t in her bedroom.

Detectives initially believed JonBenet had been kidnapped, and it was not until 1pm that one officer suggested a more thorough search of the house, leading to the horrific discovery.

Early suspicion fell on the Ramsey family, who were the only people in the 7,500sq ft home at the time. 

But mystery DNA found on JonBenet’s underwear and beneath her fingernails later pointed to an ‘unknown male intruder.’

Despite extensive testing, a person matching that profile has still not been identified, even with technological advances such as genetic genealogy and multiple analyses in various labs.

And to Burke, that remains the frustrating Achilles’ heel after three decades of tragedy, suspicion, expectation and crushing disappointment.

‘We need to find that match. It’s the best evidence we have,’ he told the Daily Mail.

‘It was underneath her fingernails and it didn’t match any of us. It’s probably the person who did it, you know, and it’s the best chance we have to solve this.

‘And I want it solved. I don’t know much about the scientific nitty-gritty and it’s hard to learn the details of the case, because it is emotionally taxing. But they need to send those samples to different labs again and keep testing.

‘Find the match. That will go a long way to bringing justice. It’s been 30 years and enough is enough.’

The Boulder Police Department took 12 years to officially exonerate the family and Burke’s father John, now 82, reportedly still feels a cloud of suspicion hangs over them among some quarters.

Confronting that, Burke passionately continued: ‘The DNA says we didn’t do it. I know none of my family did it.’ 

Physically pointing to himself, he emphasized: ‘I didn’t do it.

‘You know, it’s like, stop. There was this energy looking at the family, but the DNA is sitting right there.’

Burke did not directly answer if he was still in contact with law enforcement, instead saying: ‘I will do anything I can do to help get this case solved.

‘I’m an open book. I’ve told everybody everything I know. And if I can help in any way, I’m all ears.’

At one point in the conversation, he put his hand on his heart as he paused to reflect. At others he smiled and occasionally laughed, despite the darkness of the topic.

The gestures were similar to some exhibited during his only other interview, in 2016 on CBS’s The Dr Phil Show. 

Dr Phil McGraw later attributed them to the awkwardness and extreme nervous anxiety of a young man who lacked a normal childhood.

As Burke spoke with us, it was clear his smiles masked the continued pain of a thoughtful and engaging man who has been in the spotlight of unbearable tragedy since a young child.

At one point he admitted: ‘I’m trying to learn how to engage better.’

To the public, JonBenet was a beautiful six-year-old who wore heavy stage makeup and theatrical costumes to compete in local and regional child beauty pageants. 

Her winning titles included America’s Royale Miss, Little Miss Colorado and National Tiny Miss Beauty.

Mom Patsy, a former Miss West Virginia, came under fire from some commentators after the murder who claimed the glittery dresses were overly adult for such a young girl.

She personally designed or helped to create several of her daughter’s signature outfits, such as her Cowboy Sweetheart costume and a black and white Chanel-style ensemble.

However, Burke remembers his sister in a very different way. 

‘Everyone focuses on the pageants and stuff. But that was only a small part of JonBenet’s life,’ he said. ‘She had a lot more to her than that.

‘To me, she was just a normal sister who would slide down hills on boxes with me. We’d play in water together. Very normal stuff.’

Asked if he thinks about the murder every day, Burke insisted he doesn’t. Nor does he attempt to block it out. ‘I just try to have a good life,’ he said.

That life is an understandably low-key and, some might consider, intentionally isolated. Burke works from home as a software engineer after gaining a computer and information technology degree from Purdue University.

He is naturally coy about his relationships. 

When asked if he has a partner, he laughed and said: ‘I’m not telling you that!’ – with the emphasis on ‘you.’

In 2019, he bought a house outside Petoskey, close to his family’s former vacation home in Charlevoix, Michigan. 

The Ramseys moved to Atlanta, Georgia, after the murder, and JonBenet is buried in nearby Marietta.

Petoskey, meanwhile, could itself be a set for a TV mystery. Tucked on a bay connected to Lake Michigan, the town features picture-perfect streets crammed with art galleries, design stores and upscale restaurants that draw wealthy visitors year round.

Immediately outside the harbor town, rolling hills contain gloriously manicured wineries and farm stores selling produce grown in the surrounding fields. One could argue Burke’s choice of a beautiful, calming location is a natural antidote to his early past.

Tragedy followed tragedy after JonBenet’s murder. 

Patsy, who was at the center of the mystery over the ransom note, died from ovarian cancer in June of 2006, aged just 49.

The two-and-a-half page missive was from her own notepad and written with a pen from the house. 

Detectives estimated it would have taken 20 minutes to complete, leading to early suspicions it was a staged decoy to make a domestic murder look like a kidnapping.

Bizarrely, the amount demanded was exactly the same as John Ramsey’s company bonus from his role as president and CEO of the computer distribution wholesaler he founded.

Handwriting analysis discovered strong similarities that pointed to Patsy as the author. But tests fell short of being conclusive enough for any legal action.

Patsy strongly denied anything to do with the note, which has never been formally discounted from the investigation. 

Five years after her death, John Ramsey married for a third time, to fashion designer Jan Rousseaux.

‘It’s hard for him too, you know,’ said Burke. ‘But he’s doing OK.’

Melissa McCarthy, 56, has already expressed her emotional take on the murder as part of her research for her Netflix role.

She admitted in an interview with Variety that she succumbed to biases when the murder happened, blaming some media reports that judged the Ramseys.

‘I was 26 and I have a very vivid memory of standing in a grocery store and thinking, ‘how could you dress a little girl like that?’ Because that’s what we were being told,’ McCarthy said.

When she started looking into the case, the actress added, ‘I was really floored by the lack of humanity that had been shown to that family.

‘My heart says no one in the family could have done that. I don’t have the ability, or probably the right, to say that, but that’s what my gut says,’ McCarthy said.

Burke clearly, even if subconsciously, is still highly aware of any new interest in the case. 

He brought up McCarthy in our conversation, saying: ‘She had positive opinions about us.

‘She spoke in a positive light. So, I’m hopeful this show will be positive.’ Then he added, tentatively: ‘Hopeful, but I don’t know for sure.’