Ex-detective claims major flaws in JonBenet murder case
A former leading detective in the unsolved 1996 murder of US beauty queen, JonBenet Ramsey, has admitted major flaws in the investigation.
Former Colorado police chief Mark Beckner participated in an public discussion on Reddit where he openly criticised officers' initial handling of the case.
The 59-year-old joined the investigation into the little girl's murder nine months after she was found beaten and strangled to death in her parents’ basement in December 1996.
Her body was discovered alongside a ransom note demanding $118,000.
The six-year-old's killer has never been found, although JonBenet’s parents, Patsy and John Ramsey, were key suspects in the case for many years, but were never charged due to a lack of evidence.
Mrs Ramsey died of cancer in 2006.
Mr Beckner claims the case was mishandled due to a ‘perfect storm type scenario’.
“It was the Christmas holiday and we were short staffed, we faced a situation as I said earlier that no one in the country had ever seen before or since, and there was confusion at the scene as people were arriving before we had enough personnel on the scene,” he claimed on Reddit.
The ex-police chief also said the victim’s parents should have been interviewed immediately, as well as separately.
“I wish we could have done a much better job of securing and controlling the crime scene on day one.
“We also should have separated John and Patsy and gotten full statements from them that day,” he said.
Mr Beckner told Reddit users that he does ‘not believe anyone will ever be convicted in the Ramsey case’.
He has since claimed he was unaware that his comments were publicly available online and regrets his ‘naivete’.
Despite his misgivings about speaking so candidly about the case, Mr Beckner told the Daily Camera that he had tried to be as honest as possible.
The investigation of JonBenet Ramsey’s murder still remains open.
