The cold case has gained new attention since a Netflix documentary
The father of JonBenét Ramsey said he had been given a letter from someone claiming she knows the identity of the person who murdered his daughter.
Six-year-old JonBenét was found dead in her family home on Boxing Day, 1996, having been strangled with a garrote and sexually assaulted.
Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey trailer
Credit: Netflix
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The identity of her killer is still unknown, but the case received new attention in the wake of Netflix true crime documentary Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey.
Viewers found many parts of the documentary disturbing, including scenes from a mock trial put on by talk show host Geraldo Rivera which concluded by finding JonBenét’s mother Patsy ‘liable’ for her daughter’s death.
Patsy Ramsey died in 2006, two years before her family had their name cleared and they received an apology for the way the investigation and media circus had pointed the finger of suspicion towards them.
John Ramsey said he had been sent a letter from a woman claiming to know who his daughter’s killer was. (Netflix)
Now there has been a new development as John Ramsey said he’d been contacted by someone claiming to know who the murderer is.
According to the Daily Mail, Ramsey received a letter from a woman claiming that her ex-husband murdered his daughter, but his attempts to contact her for further information have been difficult.
He told them: “Based on all this publicity, recently I got a letter from a lady saying, ‘My ex-husband’s the killer, and I’ve kept this inside for as long as I can – please, please call me’.
“We reached out to her, but she didn’t answer the phone, so I don’t know. We’ve shared at this point with a private investigator.”
If the letter turns out to be a hoax then it would not be the first time the cold case had received what seemed like a suspect only to have hopes dashed.
The Ramsey family has had to deal with hoaxes and false confessions before. (Netflix)
The investigation has encountered previous false confessions, including from someone who claimed that he would turn himself in but needed money to afford the plane tickets for his family, and another man who confessed and was extradited before DNA evidence was found not to match.
Joe Berlinger, who directed the Netflix documentary, said that he for a time ‘fell’ for the theory on JonBenét’s death that she had been killed by her family, who were in the house at the time of her death.
However, he later admitted he was ’embarrassed that I fell for it’ and said that the theory was ‘illogical’, and the girl’s parents were exonerated later after it transpired that the family DNA was not shared with prosecutors for months.
The local district attorney offered an apology to the Ramsey family in 2008, saying: “To the extent that we may have contributed in any way to the public perception that you might have been involved in this crime, I am deeply sorry.
“No innocent person should have to endure such an extensive trial in the court of public opinion.”Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Inside Edition / Netflix
Topics: Crime, True Crime, Netflix
Joe Harker
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Published 11:31 4 Dec 2024 GMT
Netflix adds ‘gripping’ ITV true crime series about ‘the worst serial killer Wales has ever seen’
The gripping true crime series was a hit on ITV
Netflix have just added an ITV true crime series that focuses on a man described as ‘the worst serial killer Wales has ever seen’.
The streamer has been adding banger series after banger series to the platform recently, with recently added The Madness starring Colman Domingo being the new number one show and a heartbreaking doc about the murder of JonBenét Ramsey being number two.
And now, an ITV true crime series with an outstanding cast has just dropped, and it has been described as ‘gripping’. Check out the trailer here:
The Pembrokeshire Murders trailer
Credit: ITV
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The show is called The Pembrokeshire Murders, and it focuses on the murders carried out by Welsh serial killer John Cooper.
Cooper killed siblings Richard and Helen Thomas in 1985, as well as Peter and Gwenda Dixon in 1989.
The show, which first aired on ITV in 2021, stars Luke Evans as real-life police detective DCS Steve Wilkins. Keith Allen stars opposite Evans as serial killer John Cooper, with Alexandra Riley rounding out the main cast as DI Ella Richards.
What have people been saying?
The show has been widely praised, with a 7.1 on IMDb and an 82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
In Rebecca Nicholson’s four star review, she said: “Viewers seem to devour dramas about true-life killings. Less competent entries into the genre can wade through murky waters, particularly in terms of whether it is decent, or not, to delve into the stories of those whose relatives are still alive.
Keith Allen stars as Welsh serial killer John Cooper (ITV)
“But to my mind, The Pembrokeshire Murders is a perfect example of how to do it well. It is sensitive when it needs to be, and never loses sight of who suffered.”
In The Mail on Sunday’s five star review, Deborah Ross said: “It was sombre and careful without ever being boring.
“Evans held it all together with not only his granite-like physicality but also a sense that, underneath, compassion ran deep.”
What is the true story of John Cooper?
Cooper was a serial killer who was eventually caught after his DNA was matched against the police database, finding he had committed a string of burglaries.
He was eventually convicted of 4 murders, 1 rape, 1 sexual assault, 30 burglaries, and 1 attempted robbery in total, and was given a whole life order in prison.
Siblings Helen and Richard Thomas, who Cooper killed (Dyfed Powys Police Handout)
Discussing why he took the role of DCS Steve Wilkins, who caught Cooper, Luke Evans said: “The story just hooked me immediately, also I’m a sucker for a true story.
“This isn’t just a true story it’s a shocking true story about the worst serial killer Wales has ever seen.
“It also drew my attention to the work the police force do behind the scenes, at the human impact of what people go through when something like this happens in their community
“It is a real story of a team of people who absolutely wanted to find the truth and get the man who committed these crimes.
Luke Evans stars in the true crime series (ITV)
“The unbelievable twists that this story takes during the investigation which are just mind boggling and literally when I read it… I remember I started googling it.
“Somehow, I think I might have been too young for it to have made an impact on me when it actually did happen and I wasn’t living in Wales at the time, but when I read the story, I realised there were no fictional embellishments in this story.
“It’s as true to the facts as it possibly can be and it really is a rollercoaster ride as you watch it”
The Pembrokeshire Murders is available to stream on Netflix nowFeatured Image Credit: ITV
Topics: Netflix, ITV, True Crime, Crime, UK News
Michael Slavin
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Updated 16:32 21 Nov 2024 GMTPublished 15:45 21 Nov 2024 GMT
JonBenét Ramsey’s father speaks out on DNA test ‘that could solve cold case’ 28 years on from brutal murder
New Netflix documentary Cold Case: Who Killed Jonbenét Ramsey will explore one of the most publicised cases in recent times
JonBenét Ramsey’s father still hasn’t given up on his six-year-old daughter’s murder case, 28 years on.
On December 26, 1996, John and Patsy Ramsey woke up to find a chilling ransom note detailing that their youngest daughter had been kidnapped.
Instead, the little girl was sexually assaulted and murdered in her own home in Boulder, Colorado, US.
Netflix’s new three part documentary Cold Case: Who Killed Jonbenét Ramsey, will explore the unsolved case. Watch below:
Cold Case: Who Killed Jonbenét Ramsey trailer
(Netflix)
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JonBenét’s family were the police’s most likely suspects in her brutal murder, and the case became a national obsession.
While the investigators explored various intruder theories, they struggled with contaminated evidence.
The unsolved case has fuelled countless theories and questions over the roles of family members. DNA tests rule out a popular theory that the family’s eldest son, Burke, accidentally killed his sister.
In 2008, the tests suggested that an ‘unexplained third party’ was involved.
John, the girl’s father, has today (21 November) called for police to be more open to using outside resources.
New Netflix documentary Cold Case: Who Killed Jonbenét Ramsey will explore one of the most publicised cases in recent times (YouTube/Inside Edition)
“There’s been some horrible failures in that space for the last 25 years,” he told NBC’s Today.
“Hopefully there’s someone who knows something that would come forward, so we want to keep the case alive and in front of people. I believe it can be solved if the police accept help from outside their system, that’s been the flaw for 25 years.
“For 25 years, the police department was contained, very poor leadership. Which is tragic, they had no experience.
“The fellow investigating our case for 25 years was an auto theft investigator before he took the case over. It was a roadblock.”
He continued: “They wouldn’t accept help from the outside. We are hopeful now with the new police chief that he will exercise good leadership and accept help.
“To my knowledge they have not worked with federal agencies, and there has been so much offered.
The girl was sexually assaulted and murdered in her own home (Netflix)
“I won’t give up pressing the authorities to do their job until I see that they do their job. And that’s been the frustration for 25 years.”
Ahead of the Netflix true crime doc, which releases on Monday (25 November), Director Joe Berlinger said: “This case can be solved. DNA technology was very different back then, the DNA was flawed.
“Old items that were tested need to be retested. The one good DNA sample that we have is a mixture of Jonbenet’s DNA and a foreign male’s DNA.
“There is now technology where those samples can be separated. I don’t understand this institutional intransigence to solving a case, [the police] need help.”Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Inside Edition / NBC
Topics: Netflix, Documentaries, True Crime
Anish Vij
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Published 12:15 25 Aug 2024 GMT+1
Unsettling letter killer Ian Huntley wrote to daughter after she requested to visit him
Ian Huntley was given two life sentences for the Soham murders
Child murderer Ian Huntley wrote an unsettling letter to his daughter after she requested to visit him in prison.
The conclusion to the case that shocked a nation saw school caretaker Huntley receive two life sentences after the bodies of two schoolgirls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, were found in a ditch in Suffolk, UK in 2002.
Ian Huntley interviewed after murder
Credit: Sky News
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Huntley lured the girls into his home and murdered them, later disposing their bodies in a cover-up attempt.
Maxine Carr, his girlfriend and teaching assistant, received a three-and-a-half year sentence for conspiring to pervert the course of justice by providing a false alibi for her boyfriend.
Huntley’s daughter Samantha Bryan, 26, was just 14 when she accidentally found out that her father was a criminal.
When doing some research for a school project on crime, she discovered Huntley’s case, along with a pixelated photo of herself.
Her mum Katie Bryan, 46, alleged that she met him as a 15-year-old schoolgirl and was in a relationship with him when it would be legal under consent. Huntley was 23 at the time.
Samantha – who lives in Cleethorpes, Lincs – has again hit out at her father for not allowing her to visit him behind bars.
Ian Huntley’s daughter Samantha has called him a ‘coward’. (Really)
When she requested to meet him, the killer sent back a letter, which read: “Given the probable length of my future and your current motives I doubt there will be enough time for a significant shift in circumstances in order for us to ever meet.”
In an interview with The Sun, Samantha has called her father a ‘a pitiful, twisted, manipulative coward’.
“There’s so many other things I could call him. I feel contempt,” she said.
“His letter has left me with even more questions than I had before.
“He might be ill but I don’t know for sure given he’s written about the probable length of his future. I don’t know what that means.
“But surely if he is sick you’d want to give some answers — you’d have nothing left to lose. Or maybe he is referring to the length of his sentence.
Soham murderer Ian Huntley wrote a letter to his daughter in prison. (Sky News)
“But one thing is clear — he’s not going to meet me.
“There was never any thought of forgiveness from me, but a part of me did hope that he might tell at least part of the truth.”
Samatha admitted that she still has nightmares about Huntley, which began when she was younger.
She added: “I had hoped to get answers for myself but also for Holly and Jessica’s families.
“It deeply troubles me that they haven’t had answers. But his reply is so definitive I’m now going to step back and stop hoping.
“I need to step away — for the sake of my sanity and my future.”
Huntley, 50, is still serving out his sentence in HMP Frankland in Durham, and will not be eligible for release until he is 68.Featured Image Credit: PA/ Really
Topics: Crime, UK News, True Crime, Parenting
Anish Vij
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Published 16:55 15 Dec 2024 GMT
Someone made a list of mindblowing documentaries that are guaranteed to ‘break your brain’
This will see you right through to the New Year
If you’re sick of watching all the same Christmas films you did last year, someone’s gone and made a list of mind-blowing docs that are guaranteed to ‘break your brain’ if that’s the kind of thing you’re in to.
Abducted In Plain Sight trailer
Credit: Netflix
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Having her own list of suggestions ready to go, social media manager at Letterboxd, Flynn Slicker, wrote on X: “Drop the best documentary that you’ve seen. One that blew your mind and you couldn’t stop thinking about for weeks. I want something that will break my brain.”
Over on the social film platform, Slicker has created a list of more than 90 documentaries she recommends to others.
And the content really is pretty varied. In the mix, there’s a couple of music films like Amy which covers the life of London-born singer Amy Winehouse, Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back from back in 1967 and Moonage Daydream which explores David Bowie’s creative and musical journey.
Don’t F**k with Cats makes the list. (Netflix)
But then there’s really quite dark stuff.
The Act of Killing from 2012 is at the top of Slicker’s list and exposes ‘the horrifying mass executions of accused communists in Indonesia and those who are celebrated in their country for perpetrating the crime’.
Then there’s the infamous Don’t F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer which landed on Netflix back in 2019 and has become quite the cult watch.
That’s of course the doc about the group of online justice seekers who aim to track down a guy who posted a clip of him killing kittens.
Another famous watch, there’s the 2017 Abducted in Plain Sight about the 1974 abduction of 12-year-old Jan Broberg.
Or, turning the genre over to animals, there’s the legendary 2013 documentary film Blackfish which heavily features Tilikum, the orca held at SeaWorld.
The full list is as follows:
The Act of Killing
The Dissident
What Remains