JonBenét Ramsey’s brother, Burke Ramsey, is not giving up on solving his late sibling’s murder.
“It’s the most tragic, personal, awful thing to happen in my life, that anybody could imagine happening to them, and it’s tough to have it come up every ten years or so,” Burke, 39, told the Daily Mail in an interview published Thursday, November 5. “It just brings all that pain back. But I want this solved.”
When he was 9 years old, Burke’s 6-year-old sister was found dead after being strangled in the basement of the family’s Colorado mansion on December 26, 1996. An autopsy later determined that she died from asphyxiation by strangulation and a skull fracture. The autopsy report also revealed acute physical and sexual trauma sustained at the time of her death.
It ultimately took 12 years for the Boulder Police Department to officially exonerate JonBenét’s family from any wrongdoing.
According to Burke, the key to solving the cold case may be mystery DNA found on JonBenét’s underwear and beneath her fingernails that pointed to an “unknown male intruder.”
“We need to find that match. It’s the best evidence we have. It was underneath her fingernails, and it didn’t match any of us,” Burke told the publication. “It’s probably the person who did it, and it’s the best chance we have to solve this. And I want it solved.”
He continued, “I don’t know much about the scientific nitty-gritty, and it’s hard to learn the details of the case because it is emotionally taxing. But they need to send those samples to different labs again and keep testing. Find the match. That will go a long way to bringing justice. It’s been 30 years and enough is enough.”
Burke’s rare interview comes as journalist Diane Sawyer takes a closer look at the case in JonBenét Ramsey: Race Against Time, Who Is ‘Unknown Male 1’? – A New Diane Sawyer Investigation, which premieres on ABC Friday, November 6.
Netflix is also preparing a new 8-part drama series called The Mother of JonBenét Ramsey, which features Melissa McCarthy playing Patsy Ramsey.
Nearly 30 years after JonBenét was murdered, Burke makes it clear his family was not responsible for any crime.
“The DNA says we didn’t do it. I know none of my family did it. I didn’t do it,” he shared. “It’s like, stop. There was this energy looking at the family, but the DNA is sitting right there.”
As another difficult anniversary approaches, Burke hopes followers of the case remember his sister for so much more than her experience in beauty pageants. After all, it was only “a small part of JonBenét’s life.”
“She had a lot more to her than that,” he said. “To me, she was just a normal sister who would slide down hills on boxes with me. We’d play in water together. Very normal stuff.”
