Who Killed Child Beauty Queen JonBenét Ramsey in Her Colorado Home 27 Years Ago Today?

It’s been 27 years since JonBenét Ramsey was found murdered in the basement of her family’s Colorado home, and the high-profile case remains unsolved and continues to confound.

JonBenét was 6 years old when she was found dead, having been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled with a garrote the day after Christmas in 1996. No one has ever been charged in the young pageant princess’ death, though there have been many theories as to who could be responsible, ranging from her parents to a mystery intruder.

Was a family member to blame?

The night JonBenét was killed, the only people confirmed to have been in their affluent Boulder, Colo., home were her parents, John and Patricia “Patsy” Ramsey and her older brother Burke, who was 9 at the time.

On the morning of Dec. 26, Patsy found a ransom note written on a pad of paper with a Sharpie that belonged to the family, demanding $118,000 in exchange for the return of JonBenét. The amount demanded was the exact amount John had received in a bonus. John later found JonBenét dead in the cellar with a garrote tied around her neck.

In the aftermath of their daughter’s murder, John and Patsy hired criminal lawyers and refused formal interviews with police, according to previous PEOPLE reporting.

In 2008, two years after Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer, the district attorney at the time wrote John to tell him he, Patsy and Burke were all cleared of involvement by DNA. However, subsequent District Attorney Stan Garnett later told PEOPLE, “I didn’t feel the exoneration was warranted based on the state of the evidence and the complexity of the case.” 

Though Burke was never considered a suspect by Boulder police, a 2016 CBS docuseries put forth a theory that the then-9-year-old hit his sister in the head with a flashlight. Burke’s lawyer said at the time he intended to file a lawsuit against CBS, calling the series a "heinous television attack."

Did an intruder break in and kill JonBenét?

The existence of a ransom note seemed to lend credence to the theory that an intruder was responsible for JonBenét’s murder. Over the years, several names have been considered.

One potential intruder was Michael Helgoth, who owned a pair of boots that appeared to match a print found at the scene. Helgoth was initially looked at by police, but he died by suicide in 1997 and investigators started looking elsewhere. 

Ollie Gray, a private investigator hired by John and Patsy, believed Helgoth’s family possibly possessed a taped confession to the crime.

Then, in 2006 a potential suspect sent shockwaves by confessing to the murder, though investigators later deemed it to be false.

“I was with JonBenét when she died,” Alexis Reich (then known as John Mark Karr) said at the time. “Her death was an accident.”

But the claim was refuted when Reich’s former wife said they had been in Alabama during Christmas of 1996. Furthermore, no DNA connected Reich to the crime.

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Another potential intruder had worked as Santa Claus and had visited the Ramsey home days before. The man’s daughter had been abducted decades before. However, he was never formally considered a suspect.

It’s not clear if JonBenét’s murder will ever be solved. Last year, John, now 80, told PEOPLE he hopes advances in DNA technology lead to a break in one of the country’s most notorious unsolved mysteries.

"I just want him identified," John previously said about the unidentified perpetrator. "...I want to know why. Why did he do this?"