ANALYSIS

A panel of experts have deliberated and formed the view that JonBenet Ramsey’s brother, who was not yet 10 years old at the time, killed his little sister.

The television outcome was watched by tens of millions of armchair experts around the world, all glued to a party of well-dressed, manicured investigators from varying police departments or areas of expertise.

Over two nights they cherry-picked minute fragments of a 20-year investigation to pass judgment on a spoilt kid who is now a man defending his innocence.

The lawyer for the Ramsey family denounced the CBS-produced documentary on Wednesday as a “false and unprofessional television attack” and threatened to sue the network for libel.

JonBenet Ramsey was six when she was killed.

The body of JonBenet Ramsey was found bludgeoned and strangled in the basement of her parents’ Boulder, Colorado, home on December 26, 1996.

The murder of the six-year-old made worldwide headlines when videos surfaced of her performing in child beauty pageants dancing and singing in full makeup and dressed in various costumes.

JonBenet’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, consistently denied anyone in the Ramsey family killed their daughter.

Two basic questions

However glossy and fascinating this process is, it raises the basic questions:

Where were the investigators when the case first came to light and where was the effort to extract justice for this tiny, manipulated, victim back in 1996?

JonBenet and Burke in happier times

Especially as some of those involved in the TV extravaganza were part of the original, and subsequent, investigation into this shocking death.

Television has fallen on the bones of its backside in recent years due to the popularity of pay TV and content streaming companies, most which seem to screen fewer advertisements and more intellectual programs.

If the saviour of commercial free-to-air TV is in the hands of future shows like the JonBenet television event, then it’s a good thing for the viewing public to be able to lift the secret veils of a criminal investigation process.

Surely better than the run of CSI TV drama shows that make a mockery of the whole investigative process by showing a crime committed, an investigation unfold and a courtroom outcome all in 44 minutes of commercial TV.  

However, the ideal situation for any community is to arm the real cops – the ones who aren’t so stylishly coiffured – with the resources and legislation they need to allow them to solve the case in the first place.

One such argument is in our own domain of recent times. Trouble is, if, as a general rule, cops get what they need, that might result in no further exposé into similar intriguing deaths and the final nail in the free-to-air TV coffins.

Ramseys to sue

The Ramseys’ lawyer, L Lin Wood, said he had successfully sued other media outlets over similar accusations against Burke Ramsey, and branded the program as a broadcast riddled with “lies, misrepresentations, distortions and omissions”.

“I will be filing a lawsuit on behalf of Burke Ramsey,” Mr Wood said. “CBS’ false and unprofessional attacks on this young man are disgusting and revolting.”

JonBenet’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, denied family involvement in her death. Photo: Getty

The network responded to Mr Wood with a terse statement: “CBS stands by the broadcast and will do so in court.” 

“Right from the start they concentrated on members of the family,” said Stuart Tipple, who represented Ms Chamberlain in the infamous Australian murder trials in the 1980s.

‘Some paedophile did it’

In the final installment of a three-part TV interview on the Dr Phil show this week, Burke Ramsey said it “blows my mind” that some still suspect a family member in her death.

Now 29, Ramsey, who works in the computer industry, denied harming his sister when asked by celebrity psychologist Phil McGraw, who then asked him who he thought killed the girl. 

“Probably some paedophile in the pageant audience,” Ramsey responded, without offering specific evidence.

Colin McLaren is an Australian documentary film maker, crime writer and former detective sergeant and task force team leader.