Geraldo Rivera reconciles with JonBenet Ramsey's father.
After John Ramsey's daughter was found murdered aged six in the basement of her family's Colorado home in 1996, the 81-year-old journalist staged a mock murder trial on television.
On Monday, during NewsNation's “Cuomo” show, Rivera spoke about the mock trial that aired on his daytime talk show “The Geraldo Rivera Show” in 1997, telling Ramsey: “I sincerely apologize to you for what you and your family have endured.”
During the episode, the political commentator's “jury” found Ramsey and his wife, Patsy Ramsey, responsible for their daughter's death, according to NewsNation.
“No one deserves to go through what I went through,” Rivera continued. That's the point. And when I walk around and have stories like yours stuck in my head over the past 54 years of my career, it weighs on me. It is a spiritual burden. “And once again, I apologize to you, man to man, and I'm sorry for everything you've been through, John.”
Ramsey responded: “Geraldo, I accept your apology and thank you.”
Ramsey and the tragedy have been back in the spotlight since the November release of a three-part docu-series on Netflix called “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?”, Which premiered on November 25.
The 80-year-old has been vocal for decades about what he sees as mistakes made by authorities during the investigation. John also admitted that the media frenzy made things worse at the time.
Ramsey and Patsy, who has since died, became persons of interest after JonBenét was found sexually assaulted and strangled to death on December 26. Earlier that morning, Patsy found a ransom note demanding $118,000 for the safe return of her youngest child.
No member of the Ramsey family, including the couple's son Burke who was nine years old at the time, has been charged in connection with the case. Although many people were under suspicion, no arrests were ever made.
Today, Ramsay now wants state-of-the-art laboratories using genetic genealogy and other advanced DNA techniques to solve this cold case. He claims there are seven elements of the crime scene that were never tested, or were examined using outdated methods.
“We are begging the police to intervene,” Ramsey told People magazine last month. “There are cutting-edge DNA laboratories that want to help and believe they can move the issue forward.”
However, the Boulder Police Department disputed the claims that it did not follow up on all leads and said progress had in fact been made.
“The assertion that there is viable evidence and leads that we are not following up on — including DNA testing — is completely false,” the department said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, last month.
“In addition, it was the Boulder Police Department — not the Colorado Bureau of Investigation — that formed the Cold Case Review Committee in December 2023 as part of investigative efforts,” the post added.
