John Ramsey files suit against network for TV program on JonBenet’s murder

The father of JonBenet Ramsey has filed a lawsuit against CBS and the people involved with a two-part special about Ramsey’s murder on the 20-year anniversary of her death.

Court records show that John Ramsey filed a lawsuit in the state of Michigan’s 3rd Circuit Court against CBS Corporation and Critical Content LLC, which produced a “docu-series” called “The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey.”

The suit also names Stanley Burke, Jim Clemente, James Fitzgerald, James Kolar, Henry Lee, Laura Richards and Werner Spitz, all of whom were featured on the program.

The production, which brought in experts “to try and solve the case once and for all” advanced the theory that JonBenet was killed by her brother Burke, who was 9 at the time.

Burke Ramsey has filed his own defamation lawsuit against CBS, Critical Content, and Burke, Clemente, Fitzgerald, Kolar, Lee, Richards and Spitz. A ruling on a defense motion to dismiss that suit is pending.

A copy of John Ramsey’s suit, filed Sept. 14, was not immediately available. It is scheduled for a status conference on Dec. 15, according to court records.

JonBenet Ramsey was found dead Dec. 26, 1996, in the basement of her family’s Boulder home, 755 15th St. — which is now 749 15th St. — several hours after Patsy Ramsey called 911 to say her daughter was missing and that a ransom note had been left behind.

While her death was ruled a homicide, nobody was ever charged in the case, which has become one of the enduring murder mysteries in American history.

A Boulder County grand jury prepared a true bill that would indict JonBenet’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, on counts of child abuse resulting in death and accessory to first-degree murder..

The Boulder District Attorney at the time, Alex Hunter, never signed the indictment, which was not made public until 2013.

Patsy Ramsey died in 2006.