TELEVISION: WE'LL SOLVE THE RIDDLE OF JONBENET'S MURDER Jun 13 2004
PICK OF THE WEEK: New police team close to cracking beauty queen case
With Steve Hendry
Real Crime: Who Killed the Pageant Queen(ITV1 Tuesday, 9pm)When the battered body of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was found in the cellar of her parents' home on Boxing Day 1996, America was horrified.
Eight years on, the brutal murder and sexual assault of the six-year-old still has not been solved but that could change thanks to a new investigation explored in Real Crime: Who Killed The Pageant Queen?
After JonBenet's murder, her parents John and Patsy were demonised by the American media for pushing their daughter into the pageant circuit.
No charges were brought against them but with police investigators stating they were satisfied no intruder entered their home, there's little doubt where the finger of blame was pointing.
But when the District Attorney in Boulder, Colorado, ordered a new team of investigators to look at the case last year, they discovered some astonishing blunders in the original investigation including the fact that mystery DNA found on JonBenet's underwear within days of the murder effectively cleared the parents.
They also reveal they may finally be on the trail of JonBenet's true killer. Private detective Ollie Gray, who has worked on the new investigation, said: 'I'm very upset about it because the Boulder police put the Ramsey family through hell they knew in January 1997 the DNA found on the child was not any of the Ramsey family.
'I had the distinct feeling they had no interest in anything that took them away from the theory that John and Patsy Ramsey killed their daughter.'
The programme features exclusive interviews with members of the public, whose information could finally lead to the killer. It also reveals details of how an apparent suicide just weeks after JonBenet's death could hold the key to the mystery.
Boulder salvage yard owner Michael Helgoth was believed to have taken his own life hours after a press conference in February 1997 which warned JonBenet's killer he was close to being caught. The tactic was designed to put pressure on the culprit and Boulder mechanic John Kenady, who knew Helgoth, believed his suicide was no coincidence.
He claims he repeatedly called the police with information linking Helgoth to the murder but claims no one was interested. The new investigation team took Kenady's lead seriously and discovered Helgoth was infatuated with young girls, had the same type of stun gun used to subdue JonBenet and was a known stalker.
They believe they can also link him and an unnamed accomplice to a series of burglaries before JonBenet's death in which little or nothing was taken and which stopped after the murder.
Police now suspect Helgoth may have been murdered by an accomplice in the JonBenet killing.
Ollie Gray said: 'If Helgoth and this associate we identified were involved in the burglaries, they could have been involved in the murder. There were just too many associated items that could tie him to it that means he has to be eliminated. We need DNA from him wherever he might be.'