It has n't been solved , and it 's been open the whole time . '' The case is one of the nation 's most famous unsolved murders . On December 26 , 1996 , John Ramsey discovered the body of his 6-year-old daughter , JonBenet , in the basement of the family 's Boulder home . The girl had been strangled and beaten . A ransom note was found on the stairs of the home , demanding $ 118,000 . Early in the case , Boulder police said JonBenet 's parents , John and Patsy Ramsey , were under `` an umbrella of suspicion '' in her death . But they were never formally named as suspects , and a grand jury refused to indict them . Patsy Ramsey died in 2006 after a lengthy battle with ovarian cancer . In July , Garnett 's predecessor , Mary Lacy , issued a public apology for the suspicion surrounding the Ramsey family after a DNA test performed using new technology showed that DNA found on JonBenet 's underwear and under her fingernails belonged to an unidentified man . The test results , Lacy said , were `` powerful evidence ''
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The new district attorney of Boulder County , Colorado , said he plans to take a fresh look at the investigation into the 1996 slaying of JonBenet Ramsey . The DA 's office assumed responsibility for the investigation in 2002 . But District Attorney Stan Garnett told CNN that he wants to decide during his first 30 days in office whether the case should be returned to Boulder police . `` I 'm trying to determine whether it 's efficient to have the ongoing investigation handled by my office or somebody else , '' said Garnett , who was sworn in as district attorney January 13 . The DA 's office is relatively small , he said , with 27 lawyers and six investigators handling between 2,000 and 2,500 felony cases a year . Although the Ramsey case has not generated news since last year , tips and information regularly come in to authorities . Whoever is handling the investigation is charged with checking them out and deciding whether they are worth pursuing , Garnett said . He said reports that he is considering reopening the case are inaccurate . `` It 's not closed .