Former police officer admits: JonBenet Ramsey case was mishandled.

The murder of six-year old JonBenet Ramsey is a case the world will never forget. It is in the spotlight again after a former police officer has alluded online to who he thinks is the likely suspect.

A former police officer has made some remarkable comments about the unsolved case of JonBenet Ramsey, but he now claims he never knew what he was saying would go public.

The former chief of the Boulder Police Department who was in charge of  investigating the death of six-year old JonBenet Ramsey in 1996 Mark Beckner, has just this week been the lucky guy who was the focus of an AskReddit session – where users of the website log on and ask questions of a guest. This particular guest was of great interest – and it seemed he had some very interesting facts to share, but he now says he didn’t realise his remarks would be widely quoted.

The case is one which has held the attention of the world since the news broke that the six-year was missing. A two-and-a-half-page ransom letter was found demanding $118,000 for her safe return. Eight hours later her body was found in the basement of her parent’s house in Boulder Colorado.

Suspicion lay initially with her parents, Patsy and John Ramsey but then in August 2006 American schoolteacher John Mark Karr was arrested in Thailand, after allegedly incriminating himself in JonBenet’s murder through a lengthy email correspondence with University of Colorado journalism professor Michael Tracey.

Karr was brought back to face charges but was abruptly cleared and released on the basis of DNA testing.

The case remains unsolved, even after several grand jury hearings. One grand jury voted to indict both John and Patsy Ramsey, however the then-Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter refused to sign the indictments, citing insufficient evidence to prove the charges at trial.

This week’s session on Reddit has revealed some interesting new facts abut the case including the fact that officers mishandled the initial case. Mark Beckner said that when the parents of JonBenet were first interviewed police should have separated them and obtained full statements that day.

“Letting them go was a big mistake, as they soon lawyered up and we did not get to formally interview them again until May of 1997, five months after their daughter was murdered.”

He said case was initially mishandled due to a confusion and staff shortage on the police force.

“It was the Christmas holiday and we were short staffed, we faced a situation as I said earlier that no one in the country had ever seen before or since, and there was confusion at the scene as people were arriving before we had enough personnel on the scene,” he wrote online. Beckner admitted that the Ramsey’s position in the community influenced how the case was handled.

He said that the child’s parents “rarely interacted and this did not seem normal given the circumstances.” He added “Lots of speculation as to why.” The question session has gone viral after Beckner hinted numerous times that a family member, particularly JonBenet’s mother Patsy Ramsey, was the likely suspect.

He told Reddit users that a killer would likely never be found as it would take a confession. Online speculation began pointing the finger at Patsy who passed away in 2008. Beckner was asked about the handwriting similarities between Patsy Ramsey and the “ransom” note.

He told of how when she was asked to reproduce the note instead of writing the ransom sum in numbers she wrote it in long form.

He also said that a two-and-a-half page ransom note was unique and showed the killer was in no rush to exit the home.

“The killer also took the time to find a pad and sharpie pen, write a 2.5 page ransom note, fashion a garrote and choke her with it, then wrap her in a blanket with one of her favorite nightgowns and place her in a storage room in the basement.

He/she/they then neatly put the pad and pen away and escaped without leaving much evidence.” The only fingerprints on the notepad belonged to Patsy Ramsey and the investigators who had also touched the pad.

He also shot down a theory that an intruder could have entered the home: “Most investigators do not believe there was a legitimate point of entry. It is unknown how an intruder may have gotten in.”

Disturbingly the ex-detective claimed there was a history of sexual abuse against JonBenet prior to the night of her death. In 2008 two years after Patsy Ramsey died of Cancer former District Attorney Mary Lacy cleared the couple of any involvement in their daughter’s murder citing third-party DNA evidence that was found on JonBenét’s clothing. At its conclusion Beckner made one final post before deleting his account altogether.

“This will be my last post, but after reading some of the follow-up posts, I believe there may have been some misinterpretation of some of my comments or “reading between the lines”. I want to emphasize that I do not fully know what happened that night or who killed JonBenet, as some have surmised. If anyone did, this would not be a mystery.”

And for now it does indeed remain a mystery.