A sourced chronology from her birth in 1990 through November 2026. Filter by category, then open any entry for detail and sources.
August 6, 1990JonBenét Patricia Ramsey is born in AtlantaFamily
JonBenét is born in Atlanta, Georgia, to John and Patricia (Patsy) Ramsey. Her brother Burke is three years older. John has two older children from his first marriage, John Andrew and Melinda, and a daughter, Elizabeth.
Sources: CNN Fast Facts (via WRAL archive); Fox News.
1992Half-sister Elizabeth Ramsey diesFamily
Elizabeth Ramsey, John’s eldest daughter, dies in a car accident at 22. JonBenét is later buried beside her in Marietta, Georgia.
Sources: CNN Fast Facts (via WRAL archive); The Independent timeline (via AOL).
Summer 1996JonBenét is crowned Little Miss CharlevoixFamilyMichigan record
The family summers in Charlevoix, Michigan. JonBenét wins the town’s Little Miss Charlevoix title the summer before her death.
Sources: CBS Chicago, 2016 (pageant director Dolly Abbey).
December 25, 1996Christmas Day and an evening partyFamily
The family attends a Christmas party at the home of friends Fleet and Priscilla White. John and Patsy later say they put JonBenét to bed that night.
Sources: Associated Press (via AccessWDUN), July 2002; Grunge timeline summarizing Denver Post reporting.
December 26, 1996 · plannedThe family was due to travel to CharlevoixFamilyMichigan record
Patsy told the first officer on scene she was up early because the family was going to Charlevoix that day.
Sources: Affidavit for search warrant, 90th District Court, Michigan, Jan. 5, 1997; 9&10 News, March 26, 2025.
December 26, 1996 · 5:52 a.m.Patsy Ramsey calls 911 and reports a ransom noteDecember 26Primary record
Patsy reports that her daughter is missing and that she found a handwritten note on the back staircase. The two-and-a-half-page note demands $118,000 and says the caller will phone between 8 and 10 a.m.
Sources: The Independent timeline (via AOL); Seattle Times evidence summary, Oct. 14, 1999; 911 transcript and audio indexed in the Record Index.
December 26, 1996 · shortly after 6 a.m.Officer Rick French arrivesDecember 26
French is the first officer at 755 15th Street. In the basement he comes to a door held shut by a wooden latch and does not open it. Behind that door is the room where JonBenét is found about seven hours later. His report is dated the same day.
Sources: Crime Library; Wikipedia summary of the case file; Officer French report (12/26/1996) as indexed by the r/JonBenetRamsey wiki.
December 26, 1996 · morningFriends arrive; only the bedroom is sealedDecember 26
Family friends and a minister come to the house. Only JonBenét’s bedroom is cordoned off. Visitors pick up and wipe surfaces in the kitchen.
Sources: Wikipedia, citing Newsweek (2016); Colorado Newsline, June 10, 2026.
December 26, 1996 · about 8 a.m.Detective Linda Arndt arrivesDecember 26
Arndt becomes, for most of the late morning, the only officer in the house with the family and their friends.
Sources: Wikipedia; The Daily Camera (via Distractify), 2024.
December 26, 1996 · 10 a.m.The call window passesDecember 26
No call comes. Arndt later said neither parent acknowledged that the deadline in the note had passed.
Sources: Good Morning America / ABC News.
December 26, 1996 · about 1 p.m.John Ramsey finds his daughter in the basementDecember 26
Arndt asks John and Fleet White to search the house. In the windowless basement room called the wine cellar, John finds JonBenét, covered with a white blanket, duct tape over her mouth and cord around her neck and wrist. He carries her upstairs, moving her body before it can be documented where she lay.
Sources: Lawyer Monthly; Wikipedia; Detective Arndt supplemental report (1/8/1997) as indexed; CNN timeline.
December 26, 1996 · nightThe coroner examines her at the houseDecember 26Primary record
Boulder County Coroner Dr. John Meyer first sees JonBenét on the living room floor under a blanket and a Colorado Avalanche sweatshirt. The coroner’s staff remove her body at 10:45 p.m.
Sources: Autopsy report, as quoted by NBC; Scripps News Denver timeline (via Court TV), citing The Denver Post.
December 27, 1996AutopsyForensicsPrimary record
Dr. Meyer performs the autopsy. Cause of death: asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma. The report describes an 8.5-inch skull fracture, a cord ligature around the neck tied to a broken wooden stick, a ligature on the right wrist, and injuries consistent with sexual assault. Toxicology finds no drugs or alcohol.
Sources: CNN, July 14, 1997; NBC, 2024 (quoting the report).
December 27 and 29, 1996First Boulder search warrantsInvestigationPrimary record
Detective Byfield obtains warrants for the house on December 27 and December 29. Sgt. Robert Whitson files a supplemental report on December 27.
Sources: Search warrants and Whitson report as indexed by the r/JonBenetRamsey wiki.
December 31, 1996JonBenét is buried in Marietta, GeorgiaFamily
She is buried at St. James Episcopal Cemetery, beside her sister Elizabeth.
Sources: The Independent timeline (via AOL); Associated Press (via AccessWDUN).
January 1, 1997The parents give an interview to CNNPublic and Media
John and Patsy Ramsey speak to CNN before giving formal police interviews, a sequence that drew criticism for years.
Sources: Associated Press (via AccessWDUN); CNN transcript indexed by the r/JonBenetRamsey wiki.
January 5, 1997First Michigan search warrant, Charlevoix: no property takenInvestigationPrimary record
Boulder Detective Jane Harmer swears out an affidavit in Michigan’s 90th District Court, reviewed by Charlevoix County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Kur. Judge Richard W. May signs the warrant at 10:50 a.m. for the family’s home at 112 Belvedere Avenue in Charlevoix.
The warrant seeks answering-machine tapes, caller ID devices, mail or other documents containing threats to the family from any person, group or faction, and any evidence of a break-in or surveillance at the home. The affidavit says Harmer called the Charlevoix house and reached an answering machine, and that perpetrators may have watched or contacted that home. The search is made the same day. The return reads: no property taken.
The affidavit also records Boulder’s early view of the scene: no signs of forced entry, only three people outside the family had keys, the note was found on the bottom step of the spiral staircase Patsy used each morning, and the body was in the basement room farthest from the only basement staircase. No one outside the family is named.
Sources: Search warrant and affidavit, 90th District Court, State of Michigan, Jan. 5, 1997, Boulder report P96-21871 (3 pages; copy posted by juror13lw.com and Remembering JonBenét).
January 8, 1997Detective Arndt files her supplemental reportInvestigationPrimary record
Her report on December 26 is filed 13 days later. Researchers have documented errors in it.
Sources: Detective Arndt supplemental report (1/8/1997), as indexed; researcher commentary on the report’s timing.
Mid-January 1997First DNA testing by CBIForensicsCirculated copy
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation tests the fingernail clippings and the underwear with the methods of the day (DQA1, Polymarker, D1S80). Each sample is a mixture with JonBenét as the major contributor; the foreign component is weak. Extracts are also sent to Cellmark.
Sources: CBI lab reports dated Dec. 30, 1996, and Jan. 15, 1997, posted at Remembering JonBenét; r/JonBenetRamsey wiki. Clutch has not authenticated these copies.
March 6, 1997Second Charlevoix search: handwritingInvestigationMichigan record
Boulder Detective Jane Harmer spends about an hour in the Charlevoix home looking for unrehearsed samples of Patsy’s handwriting. The inventory later released lists recipe cards, legal pads and a photo album. A Michigan judge redacted parts of the warrant before releasing it.
Sources: Warrant dated 3-6-1997 posted at Remembering JonBenét; The Spokesman-Review, March 9, 1997; The Smoking Gun (warrant pages).
March 13, 1997Lou Smit joins the DA’s investigationInvestigation
Retired Colorado Springs homicide detective Lou Smit comes out of retirement to work for District Attorney Alex Hunter.
Sources: Associated Press (via AccessWDUN).
April 30, 1997First formal police interviews of John and Patsy RamseyInvestigationTranscript
Four months after the murder, the parents sit for formal interviews. Transcripts of the 1997, 1998 and 2000 interviews circulate publicly.
Sources: The Independent timeline (via AOL); interview transcripts indexed by the r/JonBenetRamsey wiki.
July 14 and August 13, 1997The autopsy is released by court orderCourts and RecordsPrimary record
Most of the sealed autopsy is released July 14 after the Colorado Supreme Court declines to keep it sealed. The remaining six sections follow August 13.
Sources: CNN, July 14, 1997.
May 19, 1998Detective Arndt sues Chief Tom KobyCourts and Records
Arndt alleges she was made a scapegoat. She resigns in March 1999.
Sources: Associated Press (via AccessWDUN); Associated Press (via News On 6), 1999.
June 1998Police present the case to prosecutors; Burke is interviewedInvestigation
Boulder police present their case to prosecutors in early June. Burke, then 11, is interviewed by investigators. John and Patsy are questioned separately June 23 to 25.
Sources: Associated Press (via AccessWDUN); The Independent timeline (via AOL).
August 6, 1998Detective Steve Thomas resignsInvestigation
Thomas resigns with a letter accusing the DA’s office of mishandling the case.
Sources: CBS News; Associated Press (via WMAR).
September 1998The grand jury convenesCourts and Records
A Boulder County grand jury of eight women and four men begins hearing evidence in mid-September 1998 and meets over 13 months.
Sources: Associated Press (via AccessWDUN and WMAR); CNN (via WTKR), Jan. 29, 2013.
September 20, 1998Lou Smit resignsInvestigation
Smit writes to Hunter that the Ramseys did not commit the crime and cites evidence of an intruder. His letter becomes public later that month.
Sources: CBS News; The New York Times obituary (via Wikipedia).
October 13, 1999The DA announces no chargesCourts and Records
Hunter says there is not enough evidence to file charges. He does not disclose that the grand jury voted to indict the parents. That fact stays sealed for 14 years.
Sources: Jonbenetramsey ShoutWiki (Hunter statement); The Daily Camera and CNN, 2013.
March 2000The Ramseys publish The Death of InnocencePublic and Media
The book names people the Ramseys considered suspects, including freelance journalist Chris Wolf, who sues for defamation.
Sources: Court TV timeline; Crime Library.
Late August 2000Third round of police interviewsInvestigationTranscript
John and Patsy are interviewed again in Atlanta and hold a short news conference afterward. Transcripts circulate alongside the 1997 and 1998 sessions.
Sources: Interview transcripts indexed by the r/JonBenetRamsey wiki; Associated Press photo, Aug. 29, 2000 (via Newser).
December 2002The DA’s office takes over the investigationInvestigation
District Attorney Mary Lacy’s office becomes the agency responsible for the case.
Sources: Mary Lacy letter to John Ramsey, July 9, 2008 (text via Westword and Las Vegas Review-Journal).
March 31, 2003A federal judge dismisses Wolf v. RamseyCourts and RecordsCourt record
U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes grants the Ramseys summary judgment. She writes that the weight of the evidence is more consistent with an intruder than with Patsy Ramsey as the killer. The ruling is a civil decision, not a criminal finding.
Sources: Wolf v. Ramsey, 253 F. Supp. 2d 1323 (N.D. Ga. 2003); Southeast Missourian / Associated Press, April 10, 2003.
Later in 2003Denver crime lab develops the Unknown Male 1 profileForensicsReport not public
Greg LaBerge of the Denver Police Department crime lab uses STR testing on a bloodstain in the underwear and develops a male profile, later called Unknown Male 1 (UM1). No forensic report from this testing has been made public.
Sources: Researcher compilations of CORA documents; statements by Mary Lacy and later DA investigators.
January 7, 2004UM1 searched in CODIS: no matchForensicsCORA document
A Boulder DA memo records that the UM1 profile was submitted to the FBI’s national DNA index and produced no match.
Sources: DA memo as described in researcher compilations of the CORA releases.
May to August 2004John Ramsey runs for the Michigan HouseFamilyMichigan record
Living full-time in Charlevoix since fall 2003, John runs as a Republican in the 105th District. He finishes second of six in the August 3 primary.
Sources: Associated Press (via Vindicator and AccessWDUN), May 2004; Fox News.
June 24, 2006Patsy Ramsey diesFamily
Patsy dies of ovarian cancer at 49 and is buried beside JonBenét.
Sources: Court TV timeline; Associated Press (via KATU).
August 16 to 28, 2006John Mark Karr’s false confessionInvestigation
Karr is arrested in Thailand after claiming to have killed JonBenét. On August 28 prosecutors drop the case: his DNA does not match the evidence.
Sources: Crime+Investigation UK; Court TV timeline.
Spring 2008Bode Technology runs touch DNA on the long johnsForensicsCirculated copy
At Lacy’s request, Bode scrapes the outside waistband area of the long johns. Bode’s 2008 reports, including supplemental reports dated in spring and June 2008, describe partial profiles consistent with UM1 but caution that they should not be treated as single-source profiles.
Sources: Bode documents published by Paula Woodward (2017); The Daily Camera and 9News, 2016; Washington Times, July 10, 2008.
July 9, 2008DA Mary Lacy clears the family by letterCourts and RecordsPrimary record
Lacy writes to John Ramsey that her office does not consider John, Patsy or Burke under any suspicion, and apologizes. Her successor later calls the letter well-intended but of no legal consequence.
Sources: ABC News; UPI; 9News, 2016 (Garnett statement).
January 2009CBI examines the neck and wrist ligaturesForensicsCORA document
CBI laboratory reports from January 2009 cover the neck ligature, the wrist ligature and reference samples. They are among the pages later released under the Colorado Open Records Act.
Sources: CORA bundle descriptions and lab report index, r/JonBenetRamsey wiki; CORA correspondence quoted on a researcher forum.
February 2, 2009Boulder police take the case backInvestigation
New DA Stan Garnett and Chief Mark Beckner announce that police will again lead the investigation as a cold case.
Sources: NBC News; Fox News; Denver Public Library photo archive, Feb. 2, 2009.
August 11, 2010Lou Smit diesFamily
Smit dies at 75. His family later shares his case papers with a volunteer group.
Sources: The New York Times obituary (via Wikipedia); OutKick, 2025.
October 25, 2013The grand jury’s true bills are releasedCourts and RecordsCourt record
After a suit by Daily Camera reporter Charlie Brennan and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Senior Judge J. Robert Lowenbach releases four of the 18 pages the DA turned over: the counts the foreperson signed. Each parent was named in two counts, child abuse resulting in death and accessory to a crime. The DA declined to sign the indictment in 1999. No charge was ever filed, and the statute of limitations on those counts had long expired.
Sources: CNN (via Fox 13); NBC News; Westword; Complete Colorado.
September 2016CBS airs The Case Of: JonBenét RamseyPublic and MediaMichigan record
The program suggests Burke was responsible. Burke sues CBS in December 2016 in Wayne County Circuit Court in Michigan. John files his own suit there.
Sources: WRAL (CNN Fast Facts); Law.com Daily Report, Jan. 9, 2019.
October 2016Outside experts question the 2008 DNA conclusionsForensics
The Daily Camera and 9News obtain the 2008 Bode results and have independent experts review them. They report that Lacy was told of ambiguities before she wrote her letter.
Sources: The Denver Post, Dec. 14, 2016; 9News; 12News, 2016.
December 2016CORA requests yield three bundles of DA recordsCourts and RecordsCORA document
A researcher’s Colorado Open Records Act requests to the Boulder DA produce three PDF bundles on DNA testing, which now circulate as Bundles 1, 2 and 3. Correspondence shows that electropherograms requested were not included.
Sources: CORA correspondence quoted on a researcher forum; CORA index, r/JonBenetRamsey wiki.
January 4, 2019Burke Ramsey settles with CBSCourts and RecordsMichigan record
Burke’s $750 million suit settles confidentially after the Wayne County judge denied CBS’s motion to dismiss. John’s $50 million suit ends by the same judge’s order.
Sources: NPR, Jan. 4, 2019; Law.com Daily Report, Jan. 9, 2019; Fox News.
November 2022Police announce an outside cold case reviewInvestigation
Boulder police and the DA say they will consult the Colorado Cold Case Review Team.
Sources: The Independent (via Yahoo); Court TV.
December 28, 2023Review complete; the file is digitizedInvestigationAgency release
Police say the file holds nearly 2,500 pieces of evidence and roughly 40,000 reports, more than a million pages, with over 21,000 tips and more than 1,000 interviews. The review team’s recommendations are not released.
Sources: Boulder Police Department release, Dec. 2023; WUSA9; Court TV.
November 2024Netflix documentary and an early police updatePublic and Media
Netflix releases Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey on November 25. Chief Stephen Redfearn issues the annual update a month early and calls claims that police are ignoring viable evidence false.
Sources: Lawyer Monthly; Forensic Magazine; CNN, Jan. 28, 2025.
January 2025John Ramsey meets the new chiefInvestigation
John meets Chief Redfearn and urges investigative genetic genealogy.
Sources: Denver7; CNN, Jan. 28, 2025.
October 28, 2025A judge denies another defendant access to Ramsey recordsCourts and RecordsCourt record
Boulder County District Judge Nancy Salomone rejects a subpoena by Michael Clark’s defense for the first 48 hours of Ramsey police records.
Sources: Colorado Politics, Oct. 28, 2025; Denver7.
November 2025Former DA Alex Hunter diesInvestigation
Hunter, Boulder County DA from 1973 to 2001, dies at 89.
Sources: Boulder County, Nov. 25, 2025; The Denver Post.
December 12, 2025Annual update: new interviews and new testingInvestigationAgency release
Police say they conducted new interviews based on tips, reinterviewed people tied to the case, collected new evidence and tested and retested other evidence. They do not say what.
Sources: Boulder Police Department video update; KKTV; WCAX; Colorado Politics.
June 23 and September 8, 2026Former CBI analyst Missy Woods pleads guilty and is sentencedForensics
Woods pleads guilty to four felonies tied to DNA data manipulation and is sentenced to 10 years. Investigators and John Ramsey have said her misconduct did not affect the Ramsey testing.
Sources: CPR News, June 23, 2026; Colorado Politics, Sept. 8, 2026; Fox News (via WFMD).
September 15, 2026Netflix sets a December 10 premiere for its scripted seriesPublic and Media
The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey, starring Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen, moved from Paramount+ to Netflix.
Sources: Variety; TVLine; Hypebeast.
November 5 and 6, 2026Burke speaks; ABC airs a special on Unknown Male 1Public and Media
Burke tells the Daily Mail the unknown DNA is the best evidence in the case. ABC’s 20/20 airs a two-hour Diane Sawyer special on Unknown Male 1 with 19 interviews, including Burke’s first video interview since 2016.
Sources: NewsNation, Nov. 5, 2026; ABC News press release; Yardbarker, Nov. 2026.
Boulder Police ask anyone with information about JonBenét Ramsey's murder to email BouldersMostWanted@bouldercolorado.gov or call the tip line at 303-441-1974. Clutch Justice is not a law enforcement agency and cannot accept evidence.
Part of the Clutch Justice JonBenét Ramsey Case Library. Every evidentiary claim is tied to a named record, outlet or researcher index. People named here have not been charged with any crime in JonBenét’s death and are presumed innocent. These pages are research references, not legal findings.