In 1999 Grand Jury Sought to Indict JonBenet Ramsey’s Parents, Patricia Paugh Ramsey & John Ramsey on Charges of Child Abuse Resulting in Death & Accessories to a Crime

After 17 years, Colorado courts have released the previously sealed court documents of the grand jury indictments against the parents of murdered 6 year old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, Patricia Paugh Ramsey and John Ramsey. The Colorado grand jury looked to bring identical charges against both Patsy and John Ramsey of child abuse resulting in death and accessories to a crime. However, the indictments were never pursued by the prosecutor stating there was insufficient evidence.

Both John and Patricia Ramsey charged with felonious child abuse resulting in death

Both John and Patricia Ramsey charged by grand jury with felonious accessory to a crime

Colorado court ordered the release of the previously sealed court documents, putting new attention on the unsolved 1996 death of JonBenet Ramsey, a girl who won child beauty pageants and whose murder shocked the nation. The pages were sealed in 1999, after the grand jury in the case dispersed without charges being filed.

The court documents show how the grand jury sought to charge each parent with two identical counts.

The grand jury had alleged that Patricia Paugh Ramsey, who died from ovarian cancer in 2006, and husband John Bennett Ramsey “did … permit a child to be unreasonably placed in a situation which posed a threat of injury to the child’s life or health which resulted in the death of JonBenet Ramsey.”

The grand jury also had alleged that each parent “did … render assistance to a person, with intent to hinder, delay and prevent the discovery, detention, apprehension, prosecution, conviction and punishment of such person for the commission of a crime, knowing the person being assisted has committed and was suspected of the crime of murder in the first degree and child abuse resulting in death.”

READ DOCS HERE.

Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner said Friday that the murder case is now considered “open,” but it’s a cold case that’s not being actively investigated.

UPDATE I: Grand jury prepared child abuse indictment against JonBenet Ramsey’s parents, newly released documents show.

Fourteen years later, a local newspaper reporter who learned through sources that the grand jury had voted on an indictment convinced a judge to unseal part of it.

There were four pages released, two John Ramsey and two for Patricia, who died of cancer in 2006. Both were indicted on two counts: child abuse resulting in death and accessory to a crime.

But the documents were short on details, raising perhaps more questions than they answered.

Although the Boulder DA had earmarked 18 indictment pages for possible release, the judge only put out those that were signed by the grand jury foreperson.

It’s unclear if the other pages contained more details about the Ramseys’ actions or named someone as the killer.