©Courtesy of Netflix 

The slaying of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of our day. The young girl, a precocious child who had starred in beauty pageants and talent contests, was found dead by her father in her bedroom in their Boulder, Colorado home on the morning after Christmas 1996. According to the coroner, the official cause of death was “asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma.” The case immediately drew national attention and became sensationalized, with the girl appearing on the cover of supermarket tabloids for years afterwards.

Almost from the start JonBenét’s parents John and Patsey Ramsey, herself a former beauty queen, were accused in the court of public opinion of having orchestrated the killing. They were vilified in the media for having sexualized their daughter by dressing her in provocative costumes and purportedly urging her to perform in a suggestive manner. As a result, the Ramseys were harassed and ostracized, especially after they were put on a mock trial by Geraldo Rivera on his television talk show.

 

Netflix’s new three-part series Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? presents a comprehensive review of the case while pointing out the lapses of judgment by police and bureaucrats who are faulted for botching the initial investigation. Directed by Joe Berlinger, who gave us The Ted Bundy Tapes and Paradise Lost: The Child Murders of Robin Hills, the series is a masterful blend of image and sound, thanks to Serj Tankian and Vincent Pedulla who’ve composed a remarkable musical score that aptly conveys the nuances of this complex story.

©Courtesy of Netflix 

Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? skillfully merges archival video footage with contemporary interviews of principals in the case, including now 80-year-old John Ramsey (the girl’s mother, Patsy Ramsey, had died of ovarian cancer in 2006). Also featured prominently in the series are many of the journalists and law-enforcement personnel who were involved in the early stages of the investigation.

The series is far from being a dull, didactic narrative. The first installment, titled “Keep Your Babies Close” describes exactly what happened to JonBenét Ramsey on that fatal Christmas night, while giving viewers insight into how she was being promoted by her parents as a talented child prodigy.

The second installment, “Umbrella of Suspicion” focuses on the irregularities in the initial investigation that led to JonBenét’s parents being eyed as prime suspects. In 1999, a grand jury ultimately voted to indict John and Patsey on charges of child abuse. The indictment alleges that the couple “unlawfully, knowingly, recklessly and feloniously permit[ted] a child to be unreasonably placed in a situation which posed a threat of injury to the child’s life or health.”

©Courtesy of Netflix 

The third installment, “The Truth Is Going to Prevail” credits detective Lou Smit for his persistence in claiming that the actions of the Boulder police had unfairly cast suspicion on the Ramsey family. Even JonBenét’s older brother, nine-year-old Burke, was under investigation for having been the perpetrator. He ultimately sued CBS for defamation, winning a settlement.

More significantly, this third installment upends the earlier narratives by arguing that the murder was actually committed by an outsider—not a member of the Ramsey family. This segment presents graphic recordings by John Mark Kars, who, ten years later, confessed in an email exchange with an investigator how he strangled JonBenét as part of a fetishistic ritual. Though he was extradited from Thailand to face the music, he was never charged with the crime. DNA evidence failed to implicate him, and it was believed that his confession was bogus.

Overall, Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? is an excellent example of the power of the documentary genre to present complex information in a compelling way. By skillfully merging archival and newly shot footage, the producers have created a dramatic but never sensationalized narrative about a case with many nuances, both legal and emotional.

©Courtesy of Netflix 

Rating: A

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Here’s the trailer of the series.