JONBENET KILLED BY AN INTRUDER, SAY TWO SLEUTHS

On April 7th, 2003, the Boulder district attorney endorsed a federal judge's declaration that an intruder was more likely to have killed JonBenet Ramsey than the 6 year old beauty queen's parents.  

The Boulder, Colorado Police Department had ended its investigation of the JonBenet Ramsey killing, handing over the case to investigators in the district attorney's office.  By shifting the investigation to the D.A.'s office, it helped avoid a lawsuit by Ramsey's parents, John and Patsy.

Before handing the case over, additional tests on evidence in the JonBenet Ramsey slaying and in an attempted assault on another girl months later were ordered by police to determine if there is a link between the two crimes. The 14 year old girl, who attended the same dance academy as JonBenet, was attacked in her bed in September 1997. The girl's mother interrupted the would-be assault and the attacker fled. The girl was not injured. In December 1996, JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in her family's Boulder home. Police have said her parents remain under suspicion. The Ramsey's maintain an intruder killed their daughter. Comparisons of partial palm prints found at the scenes of both crimes were ordered.

A new district attorney there demanded justice for the little girl. New DA Mary Keenan said additional forensic tests had been conducted recently after investigators botched the original probe and reviews since then failed to advance the investigation. Cold-case investigators face a tough battle to add life to old leads. A lot of the original evidence in the case was hopelessly tainted after family, neighbors and friends traipsed through the Ramsey house unchecked in the hours following the grisly discovery of JonBenet's body.  Now, investigators have concluded that both the palm print and footprint found in the home were actually made by family members, not an intruder as some suggested.  They believe the prints found in the basement were not related to the unsolved killing.

If the attorney for JonBenet's family is right, the murder could soon be solved.  A male DNA sample that was found on JonBenet's underwear was submitted recently to an FBI database that could clear the Ramsey's.  But experts are not so optimistic.  A suspect will be found only if he had been required to submit a DNA sample after being convicted of a violent felony.  

A pair of private eyes claim they know who killed JonBenet.

And it's not her parents.  We now have evidence that will tell you who the killer is, investigator John San Augustin tells CBS' 48 Hours Mystery.  What we found was that there were specific DNA samples that pointed to somebody other than the Ramseys.  I was able to develop a genetic profile that came from a male that was not associated with the case, Greg LaBerge of Denver's police crime lab tells CBS.  And based on two boot prints found in the basement of the Ramsey's home, sleuths San Augustin and Ollie Gray suspect the killer had an accomplice, who may have attacked the other girl.  Cops are tracking down people of interest and taking DNA swabs from their mouths to compare with DNA found beside JonBenet's battered body.

(Boulder, Colorado)