Boulder authorities are retesting decades-old physical evidence from the 1996 murder of JonBenét Ramsey, using DNA technology that did not exist when the case first went cold, officials said this week.
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty told reporters that a cold case review panel convened in Boulder, combining local police with state and federal investigators, has renewed hope for progress nearly 30 years after the six-year-old was found strangled and with head trauma in the basement of her family’s Boulder home on Dec. 26, 1996.
“Chief [Steve] Redfearn and I are more hopeful now than we have been in the past because of the advances in the investigation and the advances in technology,” Dougherty said. “And I say that based on just how DNA has progressed over time.”
Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn confirmed that evidence tested decades ago is now being reexamined with current methods.
“It’s no secret,” Redfearn said. “We’re also going back, based on that cold case review, and retesting things that were tested 30 years ago with newer technology.”
Redfearn’s comments appear to confirm an earlier disclosure from JonBenét’s half-brother, John Andrew Ramsey, who told Fox News Digital that the family learned this year that new testing had begun in the fall of 2025. Her father, John Ramsey, has for years pressed authorities to pursue investigative genetic genealogy, a technique that pairs DNA testing with genealogical research to generate leads on potential suspects.
“Maybe something comes of that,” Redfearn said. “Not that it was missed, but maybe the technology just improved enough that we look at, hey, this item was tested in ’97, we’re testing it again, and hey, look, we found something that was missed in ’97.”
How DNA Testing Has Changed
Dougherty pointed to a recent, unnamed trial in which four different DNA experts testified because testing had been conducted repeatedly as methods advanced. He said the key factors in any DNA analysis are “quantity, quality, and location.”
Single-source samples, such as blood or semen left by one person, are comparatively straightforward to test, Dougherty said. Mixed samples involving touch DNA or saliva from multiple contributors are far more difficult to untangle, and the process of separating DNA profiles in a mixed sample can destroy evidence, particularly when little material remains. That raises the stakes under evidence rules requiring that any method be validated to withstand scrutiny in court.
“We’re not gonna do it recklessly, to use Chief Redfearn’s word,” Dougherty said. “We’re also not gonna hesitate. We recognize the clock’s ticking. None of us are gonna be here forever. We wanna see this case solved for everyone involved and everyone impacted by it. And we’re absolutely committed to doing that.”
Redfearn said that if the renewed DNA testing does not produce results, investigators still hold additional evidence that has never been made public and could be released in hopes of prompting new tips.
“There’s still plenty of things that are not out there that we have,” he said.
Tips continue to arrive nearly three decades after the killing, and investigators are still appealing to the public for information.
“There is more than one someone out there that knows something,” Redfearn said.
No one has ever been charged in connection with JonBenét’s death, which remains one of the country’s most prominent unsolved murder cases.
