DNA clears JonBenet's family of her killing

Prosecutors announced today that new DNA tests have cleared JonBenet Ramsey’s family in the 1996 killing of the six-year-old beauty queen, finally freeing them from the “umbrella of suspicion” that has lingered for more than a decade.

Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy said the tests point to an “unexplained third party.”

She released a copy of a letter she sent to the child’s father, John Ramsey, that said: “To the extent that we may have contributed in any way to the public perception that you might have been involved in this crime, I am deeply sorry.”

Lacy said prosecutors do not consider any member of the Ramsey family to be a suspect.

JonBenet Ramsey was reported missing from her family’s Boulder, Colorado, home by her wealthy parents on the morning after Christmas 1996. Her body later was found in the home’s basement; she had been strangled.

The public remained fascinated with the case, in part because of photos and videos of the little blond girl competing in beauty pageants in provocative costumes.

News reports cast suspicion on JonBenet’s older brother, Burke. Boulder police investigating the murder said the parents were under an “umbrella of suspicion.”

After the killing, the parents moved to Atlanta.

The girl’s mother, Patsy Ramsey, died June 24, 2006, of ovarian cancer at the age of 49.

Lacy has previously expressed doubts that the parents were involved.

In 2003, a federal judge handling a defamation lawsuit in Atlanta involving the Ramsey's said evidence in the case was more consistent with the theory that an intruder killed JonBenet, not her parents, and Lacy said she agreed.

John Ramsey, a software entrepreneur, has said in interviews he believes the case will be solved.

In 2006 the case took another twist with the arrest in Thailand of John Mark Karr, a teacher obsessed with the little girl’s slaying.

Karr made bizarre, detailed confessions to the killing, but authorities said DNA evidence showed Karr did not commit the crime.