JonBenet Ramsey's Brother Decided to Speak Out to Honor Sister's Memory, He Tells Dr. Phil
The brother of JonBenét Ramsey is breaking his decades-long silence to honor his sister's memory and to ensure she's properly remembered, he told Dr. Phil.
“I want to honor her memory by doing this interview. I don’t want anyone to forget,” Burke Ramsey, 29, said in an exclusive sit-down with Dr. Phil, a three-part series that begins September 12.
Ramsey was 9 years old when his sister, then 6, vanished from her family’s Boulder, Colorado, home on Christmas Day in 1996.
Her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, reported the little girl missing after they said they found a ransom letter demanding $118,000.
JonBenét’s beaten and strangled body was found the next day in the basement.
“I remember the viewing. The casket was small. Her eyes were closed,” Ramsey told Dr. Phil.
The murder remains unsolved, as investigators chased down countless leads and looked at numerous suspects — including the little pageant star’s parents and her big brother.
“Has it ever occurred to you that your parents actually thought you did this and didn’t ask you because they didn’t want to know?” Dr. Phil asked Ramsey.
Read: Nearly 20 Years After JonBenet Ramsey's Murder, Where is Her Family Today?
The special will feature never-before-seen footage showing Ramsey being interrogated when he was 9 and 12 years old, the show said in a statement.
“I know people think I did it, that my parents did it,” Ramsey told Dr. Phil. “I know that we were suspects.”
The Ramsey family denied having anything to do with JonBenét’s death and were cleared as suspects in 2008, two years after Patsy Ramsey died following a 13-year battle with ovarian cancer.
New DNA tests at the time that looked at skin cells left behind that pointed to an outsider.
“That genetic profile belongs to a male and does not belong to anyone in the Ramsey family,” the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “The unexplained third party DNA on the clothing of the victim is very significant and powerful evidence.”
Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy apologized to the Ramseys after clearing them, writing in a letter to John Ramsey: "To the extent that we may have contributed in any way to the public perception that you might have been involved in this crime, I am deeply sorry. No innocent person should have to endure such an extensive trial in the court of public opinion."
Watch: 911 Operator Reveals In DocuSeries She Never Testified In JonBenet Ramsey Trial
