JonBenet Ramsey's Father Asks Why Male DNA on Murder Weapon Was Never Tested

Now, JonBenét's father John, who found her body hours after she'd been reported missing, is sitting down for a new interview in the premiere episode of True Crime News.

The new syndicated series, which will run on Fox-owned stations, is hosted by Ana Garcia and based on her True Crime News: The Podcast. The series kicks off tonight, September 9, with a revisit of this unsolved case, and a question that's been lingering in John's mind for nearly 30 years.

In a sneak peek at the new series shared with People, John is wondering why a key piece of evidence that was part of his discovery of his daughter's body has never been fully examined.

When he found his daughter's body on Christmas Day in 1996, she had already sustained a broken skull, though her death was ruled the result of asphyxiation. A garrote was tired around her neck.

"To my knowledge it still hasn’t been tested," John said of the garrote. "If they're testing it and just not telling me, that's great, but I have no reason to believe that."

It's not just a generic test of the item used to kill his daughter, either, as there is purportedly male DNA that remains unidentified on the garrote.

According to John, there are at least seven items that were sent to a lab in January 1997 for testing and "were returned untested."

"We've had unidentified male DNA from January 1997, and this one prosecutor told me I've never, ever seen a police department try to explain away unidentified male DNA in a sexual assault case," says John in the clip.

In relation to the untested evidence, the Boulder Police Department said in December 2023 that they'd "spent the last year preparing" to review the case, and test the DNA when the right technology becomes available," per Fox News.

According to the BPD then, "DNA testing was previously completed" at the time -- some samples were not comprehensive enough, per 1997 testing methods -- but they remain in contact with leading experts in the field.

"The evidence has been preserved and will continue to be ready for testing when there is proven and validated technology that can accurately test forensic samples consistent with the evidence available in this case," the BPD stated.

In speaking with Fox News at the time, John said "there's still hope" and that he and his family are remaining "cautiously optimistic that there is some progress and effort being made to do those things we've asked to be done."

Those untested samples aren't the only things that remains unknown, either, as JonBenét's death not only remains unsolved, but police still don't have any clear leads. There have been seemingly countless persons of interest over the years, including her family, but no clear suspects.

A handwritten ransom note was also found in the home JonBenét shared with her family. Police in Boulder, Colorado initially suspected her mom Patsy of having written the note, and both parents of staging her body in the basement to cover up the murder, or even her brother's involvement.

In 1999, the district attorney determined there was insufficient evidence to pursue a successful indictment. The next DA shifted their focus to a possible intruder as the murderer due to trace DNA of an unknown male found on the victim's clothing not matching any family member.

In 2008, the DA sent a letter to the family stating they were cleared by the DNA results of any suspicion in relation to their daughter, but others weren't so sure that was the right thing to do, and the court of public opinion definitely remains uncertain all these years later.

"We're not asking you to clear us or apologize or be nice to us again," says John in the clip, acknowledging public suspicions on him and his late wife. "Just do the things that you should do that can be done."

"If you do that and we don't get an answer, we tried," he continued. "We did everything we could do."