True Crime

CBS Hopes to Solve the JonBenét Ramsey Murder with New Docu-Series

The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey re-unites old investigators to examine the notorious unsolved murder.
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From Zuma Press/Alamy (Ramsey); From Pool/Getty Images.

Following the success of HBO’s The Jinx, Netflix’s Making a Murderer, *T.A.L.’*s Serial podcast, and, especially, FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson, CBS is getting into the true-crime game by effectively re-opening the unsolved case of JonBenét Ramsey. At the Television Critics Association Summer tour, CBS announced that the six-hour limited docuseries would premiere September 18, just a few months shy of the 20th anniversary of her death.

Six-year-old beauty queen Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her Boulder, Colorado, home in 1996, eight hours after she was reported missing by her parents. While Ramsey’s parents and older brother were the main suspects, the family was partially exonerated in 2003 when DNA taken from Ramsey’s clothing suggested they were not involved.

But The Case of: Jon Benét Ramsey hopes to break new ground in the case by re-uniting original investigators, including the former New York City prosecutor, retired F.B.I. supervisory special agent and profiler Jim Clemente; world-renowned forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee; former chief investigator for the district attorney in Boulder, Colorado, James Kolar; leading forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz; and retired F.B.I. supervisory special agent and forensic linguistic profiler James Fitzgerald.

The series will also put fresh eyes on the case, including former New Scotland Yard criminal behavioral analyst Laura Richards and retired F.B.I. supervisory special agent and statement analyst Stan Burke. According to a CBS press release:

The scope of the highly skilled team’s investigation includes re-examining crucial evidence using advanced technology and forensics, meticulously recreating the crime scene by rebuilding full-scale replicas of key rooms from the Ramsey house, conducting extensive interviews and introducing new theories.

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The emphasis on “introducing new theories” may indicate that The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey will be more like Serial (heavy on the theorizing) and less like The Jinx (heavy on new evidence). But as was the case with The People v. O.J. Simpson, there’s a real possibility here for both those who lived through the JonBenét Ramsey trial and a younger generation discovering it for the first time to be captivated again by the horrifying twists and turns of the case. CBS will follow an almost Netflix-esque binge model, airing the series in one week over the course of three nights: Sunday, September 18; Monday, September 19; and concluding on Sunday, September 25.