Timeline of JonBenet Ramsey case
1996: Dec. 26: Six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was found dead in the
basement of her Boulder, Colo., home. Patsy Ramsey told police she
found a ransom note demanding $118,000 for her daughter. Dec. 31: The Ramsey family hired an attorney, publicist and
investigators. 1997: Feb. 24: A spokesman for the Ramseys said family members knew
they were "at the top of the list of possible suspects." April 18: District Attorney Alex Hunter said the Ramseys were
under an "umbrella of suspicion." April 30: The Ramseys were interviewed by police in the first
formal sessions. May 14: Two detectives, including the first to arrive at the
Ramsey home, were removed from the case. Oct. 10: Police Chief Tom Koby admitted that mistakes were made
early in the case. 1998: June 23-25: The Ramseys were questioned again by police, their
first interviews in more than a year. JonBenet's brother Burke, 9
at the time of her death, was interviewed for six hours. Sept. 15: A grand jury began an investigation into the case. 1999: Oct. 13: Citing a lack of sufficient evidence, the district
attorney said no indictments would be issued. Oct. 27: Colorado Gov. Bill Owens decided against appointing a
special prosecutor and urged the Ramseys to "quit hiding behind
their attorneys" and help find their daughter's killers. 2002: Dec. 20: The new district attorney, Mary Keenan (now Mary Lacy),
took over the investigation and promised a fresh look at the case. 2003: March 31: A federal judge in Atlanta concluded that the weight
of the evidence was more consistent with the intruder theory than
with the theory that Patsy Ramsey killed JonBenet. April 7: Lacy issued a statement agreeing with the judge. 2004: June 4: The Ramseys' attorney said DNA found in JonBenet's
underwear did not match any samples in an FBI database of convicted
violent offenders. 2006: June 24: Patsy Ramsey died at 49 following a long battle with
ovarian cancer. Aug. 16: A suspect, teacher John Mark Karr, was arrested in
Thailand. He yelled at reporters that he was "with JonBenet when
she died," but that "her death was an accident." Aug. 28: Prosecutors abruptly dropped their case against Karr,
saying DNA tests failed to put him at the crime scene despite his
insistence he sexually assaulted and strangled JonBenet. 2008: July 9: Prosecutors said new DNA tests have cleared JonBenet's
family in her 1996 slaying.
