The JonBenet Ramsey murder is one of the most famous and tragic unsolved child murder cases in the United States.  JonBenet, a 6-year-old beauty queen, was found to be missing on the morning of December 26, 1996 in what appeared to be a kidnap for ransom.  Seven hours later, however, the young girl was found murdered in the basement of her 7,240 sq ft home.   Here is a brief sequence of event – JonBenet was carried in from a party on Christmas night and put to bed.  The following morning, her mother, Patsy, found a ransom note at the bottom of the stairs – demanding $118,000 for the safe return of JonBenet.  It was signed “a foreign faction”.   She noted her daughter was missing and called 911 at 5:52 AM on December 26. The ransom note was highly unusual: it was long, detailed, and written on paper from the Ramsey home. The note demanded a specific amount of money (which was nearly equivalent of John Ramsey’s Christmas bonus) and instructed the parents not to contact the police.  The police, as well as friends of the Ramseys, descended on the house, mucking up the crime scene.  At one point, around 1PM, an detctive asks John and his friend to search the house – this being a tool to distract him and get him out of the way.  The duo descended downstairs, and in a back unfinished room, John Ramsey found his daughter dead with evidence of blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation.  He removed tape from her mouth and rushed her upstairs, again disturbing the crime scene.  Police officers then covered the young girls body with a blanket.  It took 12 hours for a coroner to arrive – their report stated that JonBenét had died from blunt force trauma to the head, with a fractured skull. She also had strangulation marks on her neck, consistent with being garrotted with a cord. The garotte was made of a paintbrush from Patsy Ramsey’s paint kit found in the same room.  There was no evidence of conventional rape, but evidence of vaginal trauma, likely from the paintbrush used in the garotte.  There was touch DNA belonging to an unknown male on her underwear, as well as under her nails – the DNA did not match anyone in the family or in the FBI database.  Initially, the police focused on the family as potential suspects. Both Patsy and John Ramsey, as well as their 9 year old son Burke were scrutinized. While they denied involvement, suspicion grew around them due to various inconsistencies in their accounts and the peculiar nature of the crime scene.  There was also speculation about an intruder, as there was evidence of open windows in the basement, which could suggest someone had entered the house, as well as 2 small marks on JonBenet consistent with a stun gun.  In 1999, a grand jury had voted to indict the Ramseys, but prosecutors chose not to pursue charges due to insufficient evidence.  Patsy Ramsey died in 2006 from ovarian cancer, and her death did not lead to any new breakthroughs in the case.  The Ramsey family was officially exonerated in 2008 but the case remains unsolved.  The investigation into her death remains open, and despite some advancements in forensic science, no one has been charged with the crime, leaving room for continued speculation and conspiracy theories.