Child murders should be federal crimes: JonBenet's dad

FILE – Flowers, pictures and stuffed animals adorn the gravesite of JonBenet Patricia Ramsey on Dec. 26, 1997, at the St. James Episcopal Church Cemetery in Marietta, Ga. Twenty-five years after JonBenet Ramsey was killed, police say DNA hasn’t been ruled out to help solve the case. The 6-year-old was found dead in the basement of her family’s Boulder, Colo., home on Dec. 26, 1996. Her death was ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever charged in the case. (AP Photo/Ric Feld, File)

by: Laura Morrison

Posted: May 6, 2022 / 06:00 PM AST

Updated: May 6, 2022 / 02:50 PM AST

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LAS VEGAS (WJW) — The father of murdered JonBenet Ramsey recently made clear he believes child killing investigations should be handled differently in the United States.

Speaking at the Crime Con 2022 convention Saturday, John Ramsey said these murders should be deemed federal offenses and taken over by federal prosecutors and law enforcement, rather than local authorities.

“We have 1,800 police jurisdictions in this country. Each one’s a little kingdom. They have full authority of the crimes committed in their territory, other than bank robberies and a few other things,” John told Fox News Digital during the conference. “But why we don’t make, as a society, the murder of a child be a criminal offense at the highest level and bring all of our resources to bear on that is beyond me. We have one of the highest child murder rates of any industrial country in the world. We should be ashamed of that.”

JonBenet was murdered in 1996 at 6 years old, capturing the attention of the nation. Her death was ruled a homicide after her body was found in the family’s basement. A ransom note was reportedly also found in the Boulder, Colorado, home by the family. In the 25-plus years since, no one has ever been charged in the case.

In December, the Boulder Police Department released a statement on the 25th anniversary of the murder, explaining they have not given up on the case.

“As the Department continues to use new technology to enhance the investigation, it is actively reviewing genetic DNA testing processes to see if those can be applied to this case moving forward,” BPD said in the statement.

John has now started an online petition, which hopes to persuade Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to change to an independent DNA analysis in the homicide case.