JonBenet Ramsey was accidentally killed by her older brother after stealing a piece of pineapple. In theory.
That’s what a team of experts say could have happened in late December of 1996 when 6-year-old JonBenet was found dead in her Colorado home.
No arrests have been made, but a panel of forensic aces impaneled for the two-part CBS special “The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey” appear to point the finger squarely at Burke Ramsey.
The investigators put forth the notion that JonBenet went downstairs that evening and swiped a piece of pineapple from her brother. Already in a bad mood, the theory goes, Burke lashed out at his little sister and hit her on the head with a blunt object.
“Do you think this could have been the tipping point that started the entire rest of the cascade of events that happened on the day she died?” retired FBI profiler Jim Clemente asks the other members of the CBS panel, who seemed to agree.
The experts also say that JonBenet’s parents could have made up a kidnapping story to deflect attention away from Burke, who was 9 at the time. JonBenet was reported missing the day after Christmas, and her body was later found in the basement of her family’s Boulder home.
“I don’t think Burke was involved in the cover-up,” forensic linguistics expert James Fitzgerald said on the docuseries, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“In my opinion, the Ramsey family did not want law enforcement to solve this case, and that’s why it remains unsolved,” Clemente remarked.
Burke Ramsey, now 29, spoke out for the first time earlier this month in an awkward interview with “Dr. Phil” McGraw. Ramsey smiled as he recalled the night that his little sister went missing.
“The first thing I remember is my mom bursting in my room, really frantic, saying, ‘Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!’ running around my room — now I know looking for JonBenét,” Burke Ramsey told Dr. Phil. “The next thing I remember is a police officer coming into my room and shining a flashlight.”
The “Case of” panel diligently recreated the crime scene in order to attempt to shed more light on the unsolved case. Their theories are not proven, but the show hopes its investigation will provoke authorities to take a harder look at the unsolved case, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
