Who are JonBenét Ramsey’s parents, John Bennett and Patsy?
THE tragic murder of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey rocked America in 1996 but her killer was never found.
After a Netflix documentary entitled Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey aired on November 25, 2024, JonBenét’s father received a letter that contained a shocking confession to the six-year-old’s murder.
Patsy and John Bennett
Patsy and John Bennett Ramsey are the parents of the late JonBenét.
Like her daughter, Patsy was a former beauty pageant winner.
She was a stage mom who had won competitions including the 1977 Miss West Virginia Pageant and Patsy encouraged her daughter to follow in her footsteps.
John Bennett is the former CFO and president of Access Graphics, which was later sold to General Electric in 1997.
The couple tied the knot on November 5, 1980.
During their marriage, they welcomed JonBenét and her older brother Burke.
Sadly, Patsy passed away on June 24, 2006, after a battle with ovarian cancer.
JonBenét’s tragic murder
JonBenét Ramsey was found dead in her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado, on December 26, 1996.
She had been hidden in the basement of the Ramsey’s home after being murdered on Christmas Day.
The six-year-old was initially reported as missing after Patsy discovered an extensive ransom note on the kitchen stairs but her body was sadly discovered by her father.
JonBenét’s case went unsolved for decades and the police were met with several dead ends throughout their investigation.
Her family were cleared of suspicion, after an extensive inquiry into their lives which drew much criticism.
Shocking confession
After a Netflix documentary entitled Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey premiered, John Bennet received a letter from a woman claiming to be the killer’s ex-wife.
JonBenét’s father told the Daily Mail: “Based on all this publicity, recently I got a letter from a lady saying, ‘My ex-husband’s the killer, and I’ve kept this inside for as long as I can – please, please call me.’
“We reached out to her, but she didn’t answer the phone, so I don’t know.
“We’ve shared at this point with a private investigator.”
The late beauty pageant winner’s father has said that he hopes uncovering his daughter’s killer will ease the pain his family feels because of her murder.
JonBenét’s possible killers
Until the letter was sent to John Bennett, Gary Oliva was one of the lead suspects in the case.
He made a phone call to a friend on the night of her death, where he said “I just hurt a little girl” and was arrested in 2016 for two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a child and one count of sexual exploitation of a child.
A search of his home found several images of JonBenét but he was never charged with her murder.
A man named John Mark Karr confessed to JonBenét’s murder while living in Bangkok.
However, his claim fell apart when he was unable to give any details about the murder beyond the ones that had been widely reported.