Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / JonBenét Ramsey Colorado murder will be the focus of a new Paramount+ series
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Production is poised to commence shortly on a new limited
- 0:03television series for Paramount Plus that will delve into the
- 0:07unresolved murder of a young girl from Colorado. John Benet Ramsey,
- 0:13was tragically killed in nineteen ninety six, a case that
- 0:17garnered extensive media coverage for many years. The cold case
- 0:22remains a topic of significant interest for those captivated by
- 0:26its enigmatic aspects. On the day following Christmas, Ramsey's parents
- 0:32reported their daughter missing. She was subsequently discovered strangled in
- 0:36their home in Bolder. In the ensuing weeks and months,
- 0:41law enforcement considered the parents, along with Ramsey's nine year
- 0:45old brother, as potential suspects. It was not until many
- 0:49years later that authorities exonerated them. Even after twenty seven years,
- 0:55investigative efforts regarding the case persist. The working title of
- 1:00the Paramount Plus series is John Bennet Ramsey, and it
- 1:04will feature eight episodes. Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen are
- 1:09set to portray Ramsey's parents, Patsy and John. Filming will
- 1:14take place in Calgary, Canada. A press release from Paramount
- 1:19Plus indicates that the upcoming series will explore the experiences
- 1:24of the Ramsey family, both prior to and following the
- 1:27tragic loss of their child. The narrative will delve into
- 1:32their profound grief while navigating the intense public scrutiny that
- 1:37arose from a media frenzy which captivated the attention of
- 1:41the entire nation. One particularly striking aspect of the case
- 1:46that drew public interest was the fact that, despite being
- 1:49only six years old, Ramsey had already participated in numerous
- 1:54beauty pageants for young girls. Chris McCarthy, co CEO of
- 1:59Para Mount Global, remarked that Ramsey's death has cast a long,
- 2:04haunting shadow over American culture for nearly three decades. He
- 2:10emphasized that the series aims to illuminate her story with
- 2:14acuity and nuance. Richard Lagravinese will serve as the showrunner
- 2:19and executive producer for the series, while Anne Serwitzky will
- 2:23also take on the role of executive director and will
- 2:26direct four of the eight episodes. John Benet Patricia Ramsey
- 2:31was an American child beauty queen who tragically lost her
- 2:35life at the tender age of six within her family's
- 2:38residence in Boulder, Colorado. A lengthy, handwritten ransom note was
- 2:44discovered at the scene approximately seven hours after she was
- 2:48reported missing. Her father, John located her body in the
- 2:52basement of their home. It was determined that she had
- 2:56suffered a fractured skull two and a half hours prior
- 2:59to her death, which was attributed to asphyxiation. A garot
- 3:05was found around her neck. The autopsy concluded that the
- 3:09official cause of death was asphyxia by strangulation associated with
- 3:15cranio cerebral trauma, and her death was classified as a homicide.
- 3:20This case attracted significant global public and media attention, partly
- 3:25due to the fact that her mother, Patsy Ramsay, a
- 3:28former beauty queen, had enrolled John Beney in various child
- 3:33beauty pageants. The investigation remains open and is still regarded
- 3:38as a cold case by the Boulder Police Department. The
- 3:42Bolder Police initially speculated that Patsy had authored the ransom note,
- 3:47and that both the note and the condition of John
- 3:50Beney's body had been orchestrated by her parents to conceal
- 3:54the murder. In nineteen ninety nine, both the police and
- 3:59the disre strict attorney stated that John Benay's brother, Burke,
- 4:04who was nine years old at the time of her
- 4:06sister's death was not considered a suspect. While John Beney's
- 4:11parents participated in several televised interviews, they were reluctant to
- 4:15engage in police questioning unless it was under their own conditions.
- 4:20In October two thy thirteen, documents that were unsealed revealed
- 4:26that a grand jury in nineteen ninety nine had recommended
- 4:30pursuing charges against the Ramses for allowing their child to
- 4:34be in a perilous situation. John and Patsy faced allegations
- 4:40of obstructing the prosecution of an unidentified individual accused of
- 4:45first degree murder and child abuse resulting in death. Nevertheless,
- 4:51the district attorney concluded that there was inadequate evidence to
- 4:54support a successful indictment. In two thousand two, the new
- 5:00district attorney assumed control of the investigation from the police,
- 5:05focusing primarily on the hypothesis that an intruder was responsible
- 5:10for the homicide. By two thousand three, trace DNA collected
- 5:15from the victim's clothing was identified as belonging to an
- 5:19unknown male, with the DNA of the family members excluded
- 5:23from this match. In two thousand and eight, the district
- 5:27attorney issued a letter of apology to the Ramses, stating
- 5:31that the DNA findings had completely cleared the family. However,
- 5:36some including former Bolder Police chief Mark Beckner, contested the
- 5:41decision to exonerate the Ramses, describing the DNA evidence as
- 5:46a minor detail that lacked a definitive link to the crime.
- 5:51In February two thousand and nine, the Bolder Police reclaimed
- 5:54the case from the district attorney and reopened the investigation.
- 5:59National and inter national media coverage of the case focused
- 6:02on John Benet's brief beauty pageant career, as well as
- 6:06her parents' wealth and the evidence