BOULDER, Colo. (Michigan News Source) – Nearly 30 years after the murder of 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey, two investigations continue to move forward on parallel tracks.
One belongs to the Boulder Police Department in Colorado, which says it is actively pursuing new leads and re-testing evidence with evolving DNA technology. The other is a volunteer effort built on the life’s work of legendary homicide investigator Lou Smit, whose former colleagues and family members continue methodically eliminating suspects from a list he left behind.
What happened to JonBenét?
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On Dec. 26, 1996, 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her family’s Boulder, Colorado, home, about seven hours after her mother discovered a lengthy ransom note and reported her missing. The child beauty pageant contestant had suffered a skull fracture and strangulation. Despite decades of investigations, shifting theories, and advances in DNA testing, no one has ever been charged in the case, making it one of America’s most notorious unsolved murders.
As the calendar turns toward two somber milestones – what would have been JonBenét’s 36th birthday today, Aug. 6, and the 30th anniversary of her murder on Dec. 26 – the search for her killer remains very much alive through the police department, the FBI, the Smit team, documentaries and podcasts.
Recent media projects have renewed public interest in the case including a three-part Fox Nation documentary, JonBenét: The Killer List, that follows the volunteer Smit Team as they continue Lou Smit’s investigation. The Crime House podcast Murder: True Crime Stories, hosted by Carter Roy, also recently revisited the original investigation, examining early crime-scene mistakes, compromised evidence and the decades-long divide between investigators who suspected the Ramsey family and Lou Smit, who remained convinced an unknown intruder committed the crime.
But for one man, the case has never been a documentary or a podcast – it’s a daily reality. JonBenét’s father, John Ramsey, now in his 80s and with deep Michigan ties through his business career and family, has repeatedly said his greatest wish is to learn who killed his daughter during his lifetime.
Lou Smit’s mission lives on.
Helping keep that hope alive is the work of the late investigator Lou Smit, whose mission continues through a dedicated team of volunteers. In the Fox Nation documentary, it follows the volunteer “Smit Team,” created after Smit’s death in 2010 to continue pursuing the killer.
Veteran Colorado homicide detective Lou Smit had been brought out of retirement in 1997 by the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office to take a fresh look at the JonBenét Ramsey murder investigation. After reviewing the evidence, Smit concluded the physical evidence pointed to an intruder rather than JonBenét’s parents. He resigned in 1998 after disagreeing with the direction of the investigation and spent the rest of his life independently investigating the case, eventually working closely with the Ramsey family while continuing to pursue leads he believed could identify the killer. He worked on the case until his death in August of 2010.
The team following Lou Smit’s final mission.
According to the GoFundMe site collecting donations for their work, the Smit Team consists of Lou’s friends and family who have not forgotten his last wishes to find JonBenét’s killer. Smit’s daughter, Cindy Marra, a paralegal who worked closely with her father on the case before his death, has become the driving force behind the volunteer effort, helping coordinate the team’s ongoing investigation.
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The team also includes Lou’s son-in-law, Kent; Lou’s nephew, Jim, and his wife, Melinda; Lou’s former homicide partners, David Spencer and former El Paso County Sheriff John Anderson; and several other law enforcement and DNA experts who choose to remain anonymous. John Ramsey also meets with the team periodically to review the status of the investigation in person or via Zoom meetings, while those out in the field communicate frequently by texting and sending photos to each other.
Rather than reinvestigating the entire case, the group focuses on one objective: collecting DNA from people on Smit’s extensive spreadsheet of persons of interest and comparing those samples against the unidentified male DNA profile associated with the case.
According to the Smit Team, the investigation is funded almost entirely by donations and volunteer work. Team members receive no pay, and GoFundMe contributions help cover the cost of DNA testing and reimburse most travel expenses for investigators pursuing leads. The fundraising goal was originally set at $100,000 to help eliminate the team’s top 20 persons of interest through DNA testing, and supporters have contributed nearly that amount over the years. The team says more than 90% of the money raised has already been spent on DNA analysis and investigative travel, with many donations coming in small amounts from people committed to helping solve JonBenét’s murder.
A methodical DNA hunt.
Smit had organized hundreds of names into priority tiers before his death. His team has since eliminated 28 persons of interest and has tested 45 items, continually moving new names into its top priority list. When a DNA sample fails to match, the suspect is crossed off and the search continues. Michigan News Source reached out to John Anderson of the Smit Team and he said that they continue to maintain a Top 20 Persons of Interest list, most of whom were listed on Lou Smit’s original spreadsheet and mentioned in his investigative report.
Team members describe the process as emotionally exhausting – every promising lead brings hope, followed by disappointment when laboratory results come back negative. Yet they remain convinced, as does John Ramsey, that DNA will ultimately identify the killer – and it’s not a Ramsey family member.
Anderson said, “A DNA lab report from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), was turned over to the Boulder Police Department within three weeks of JonBenét’s murder. As documented in my book, Lou and JonBenét, A Legendary Lawman’s Quest to Solve a Child Beauty Queen’s Murder, the DNA analysis excluded all members of the Ramsey family, yet the results were never disclosed publicly until our team released the report to Fox News in February 2023.”
Anderson went on to say, “Our Smit Family Teams and the Ramsey family are encouraged by the advances in DNA technology. Cold cases across the country are solved every year by Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG). We hope and pray that one day, DNA analysis will identify and convict the killer of JonBenét.”
That unwavering optimism reflects the same determination that drove Lou Smit throughout his life. Smit’s long-term commitment to the case and tenacity is something that Anderson said comes from his deep faith and the fact that he always believed that he worked for the victim.
Boulder police say the case remains a priority.
While the Smit Team conducts its independent work, Boulder police insist the official investigation has never stopped. On the department’s JonBenét Ramsey investigation webpage, police say detectives have pursued more than 21,000 tips, interviewed over 1,000 people in 19 states, and continue working with the FBI, Colorado Bureau of Investigation, prosecutors and outside DNA experts.
“The killing of JonBenét was an unspeakable crime,” Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said in a video statement in December 2025. “I want to assure the community that our agency is committed to doing everything we can to bring justice to JonBenét and hold her killer responsible. My direction to our department has been clear. Leave no stone unturned. Follow the leads wherever they go. Engage with and use outside partners’ resources and expertise and never stop working to bring justice to this case.” He goes on to say that the case remains a top priority in his department.
Redfearn also says detectives have conducted new interviews, re-interviewed witnesses, collected additional evidence and continued testing and re-testing evidence as forensic technology advances.
John Ramsey met with Redfearn in January 2025 and later said he left encouraged by the department’s renewed commitment to solving the case. Ramsey said he believes the chief is sincere about pursuing every available lead and embracing advances in DNA technology.
Beyond reaffirming their commitment to the case, police are saying very little publicly. Michigan News Source reached out to the Boulder Police Department to get an update on their investigation. Dionne Waugh, Boulder Police Department Public Information Officer, responded by saying, “Because this is an open and ongoing investigation, the Boulder Police Department is unable to give any interviews or comment on specific aspects of this crime.” She pointed to their website and encouraged anyone with information to contact their detectives.
Thirty years of questions, one hope: DNA.
For John Ramsey, time has become the one thing investigators cannot replace. As another birthday and another anniversary approach, his hope remains unchanged: that after 30 years, someone will finally be able to tell him who killed his little girl.
