CBS recently aired The Case Of: JonBenét Ramsey, a two-part documentary about murdered child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey, who was killed nearly 20 years ago. The latest appeal to America’s unslakable lust for true crime television, the special pulled together a group of crime investigators to reexamine evidence from six-year-old JonBenét’s death, which attracted enormous media attention at the time.
Among the panel’s conclusions was that Ramsey’s brother, Burke, who was nine years old at the time, may have accidentally killed his sister by striking her with a heavy flashlight. The Ramsey parents, the investigation team postulated, covered for their son by moving JonBenét’s body to the basement, tying her up, and writing the ransom note they claimed came from an intruder and would-be kidnapper. DNA evidence was said to have cleared the Ramsey family in 2008, but CBS’ investigative team called it into question.
Burke, however, has adamantly resisted such charges over the years. Now, he’s threatening to sue CBS for casting suspicion on him. “I will be filing a lawsuit on behalf of Burke Ramsey,” Ramsey family lawyer L. Lin Wood told Reuters. “CBS’ false and unprofessional attacks on this young man are disgusting and revolting.” CBS said it stood behind the show, which aired with a disclaimer warning that the “opinions and conclusions of the investigators who appear on the program … represent just some of a number of possible scenarios.”
“You damn betcha I’m gonna sue CBS, the phony experts, and everyone else that put this thing together,” Wood told TMZ.
Burke, who’s now 29, recently appeared for a first-ever interview with Dr. Phil. He maintained his innocence, but his casual demeanor didn’t reassure armchair legal experts. (Dr. Phil’s primary audience, obviously.) Watch a clip of that below.
https://players.brightcove.net/4722524666001/Nk7j6q0Cl_default/index.html?videoId=5117596552001
