JonBenet murder case development, new DNA testing planned

Colorado investigators will conduct new tests on DNA evidence in the unsolved murder of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey in the lead up to the 20th anniversary of her horrific murder.

In a statement the Boulder County district attorney said additional testing would be done utilising a new state crime lab and newly available forensic procedures.

"This might give us new information that could be helpful to the investigation," District Attorney Stan Garnett said.

According to reports items that will be tested include the underwear and long johns that the six-year-old was wearing when she was killed.

However he added that authorities do not expect DNA test results alone to "definitively solve or prove the case."

“What I am confident about is that the Ramsey case is more than a DNA case, and to ever have a prosecutable case, we have to have several different pieces of evidence come together,” Garnett said.

The latest development made in the high profile case comes in the wake of an investigation done by the Boulder Daily Camera that reportedly uncovered “serious flaws” in the interpretation of prior DNA testing.

The bludgeoned, strangled body of JonBenet was found by her father in the basement of the family's home in Boulder, Colorado, on Dec. 26, 1996, hours after her parents reported the child missing and a ransom note left in the house.

Videos that surfaced of the blonde, blue-eyed youngster in full makeup performing in beauty pageants helped attract international attention to the case, which remains one of the most sensational unsolved murders in the annals of American crime.

“We are going to take a look at the new technology, and see how they may help us further this investigation,” Boulder Police Chief Greg Testa said in a statement.

According to Times Call the latest tests would also tap into an extensive FBI database.

• Crime show claims JonBenét was killed by brother, Burke, over 'midnight pineapple snack'

• JonBenét Ramsey's family to sue CBS over 'unprofessional attack' on brother Burke during documentary

• JonBenet's brother can't stop smiling in Dr Phil interviews on fate of murdererd child beauty queen

The database includes the genetic profiles of more than 15.1 million known offenders and arrestees and more than 738,000 unsolved cases.

Chief Greg Testa said investigators have to date collected 1,500 pieces of evidence, including the analysis of 200 DNA samples, traveled to 18 states to interview about 1,000 people and have received, reviewed or investigated more than 20,000 tips, letters or emails.

In September CBS is aired a six-part television docuseries "The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey" in which investigators teamed up with new experts to re-examine the evidence using today's technology and forensics.

Later in the month Burke Ramsey was interviewed on the TV show "Dr. Phil."

The controvertial interview left some viewers scratching their heads as his body languge was deemed bizarre by many.

As Dr Phil McGraw asked a series of questions about the murder mystery, the now-adult brother of the JonBenet kept smiling at the cameras.

Burke Ramsey, is now 29 and living in the Charlevoix area in northern Michigan.

During two decades of police investigations, Burke and his parents John and Patsy Ramsey have been probed as potential culprits, however, police eventually declared they were no longer suspects in 2008.

No one has been charged with her killing.

The baffling murder remains one of the biggest unsolved cases in the world.

News break – December 15