Police reopen case into child beauty queen murder

THE murder of child beauty contestant JonBenet Ramsey 12 years ago will be investigated by a new police task force as a cold case.

As police in Boulder, Colorado, resumed the probe for which it had long been criticised, Chief Mark Beckner said new technology would give investigators tools they did not have a decade ago.

JonBenet, six, was found bludgeoned and strangled in the basement of her Boulder home in 1996. Her story became a media sensation.

“We’d love to solve this case for JonBenet so she can rest in peace,” Beckner said.

Police will handle the investigation as a cold case, “reviewing everything that’s been done, the evidence that’s been collected, trying to determine where do we go from here,” he said.

Lin Wood, a lawyer for Jon Benet’s father John, said the decision was a “positive sign in terms of my hope that the Boulder Police Department will take not only a new review in terms of a cold case review, but that it will go in this time with an objective review”.

Mr Ramsey and his legal team have been critical of previous police efforts, saying they unfairly focused on the family and ignored other evidence.

His wife Patsy, Jon Benet’s mother, died in 2006 after a long battle with cancer.

Beckner said 140 people had been investigated as potential suspects but none could be definitively linked to the crime.

Last year, Jon Benet’s family were cleared over the murder.