The most unsettling thing about Netflix's JonBenét Ramsey doco is the suspects we never knew about.

JonBenét Ramsey was a six-year-old child and pageant queen who was brutally murdered on December 26, 1996, in Boulder, Colorado.

The tragic events unfolded when her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, discovered a ransom note in their kitchen. Later that day, John found his daughter's body in their basement.

The autopsy revealed she had been sexually assaulted and died by strangulation and a blow to the head.

The Boulder police quickly focused their investigation on the Ramsey family, leading to decades of public suspicion. Crucial evidence was overlooked, including an unidentified boot print in the basement, a broken window that could have been an entry point, and unidentified male DNA left on JonBenét's body.

In 2008, the Boulder District Attorney's office officially cleared all Ramsey family members as suspects.

Between the tragic murder of a child, the ransom note and years of speculation around the Ramsey family, the murder case has become one of the most debated in true crime history.

And now, a Netflix three-part docuseries, Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey, directed by Joe Berlinger, has offered even more revelations.

Watch the trailer. Post continues after video.

The series features interviews with John Ramsey, now 80, and examines the case's mishandling by law enforcement. The documentary also highlights the work of late detective Lou Smit, who believed an intruder was responsible for the crime.

Almost 30 years later, the case remains unsolved. But there is fresh hope.

Who killed JonBenét Ramsey? The full list of potential suspects.

Off the back of the new documentary, there is renewed focus on male DNA found in the underwear and under the fingernails of JonBenét. Her father, John, hopes advancements in technology could help uncover the killer.

We've rounded up the main suspects in the murder case of JonBenét Ramsey.

John and Patsy Ramsey.

The child's parents quickly became suspects. Since John Ramsey made the tragic discovery of JonBenét's body in the basement wine cellar, his initial response drew police scrutiny, particularly his decision to carry his daughter's body upstairs, which some investigators believed tainted the crime scene.

There was also the coincidence that the ransom note's demand was for $118,000 — precisely matching John's recent Christmas bonus.

Patsy Ramsey copped even more heightened public scrutiny. The former beauty queen found herself at the centre of an intense investigation after discovering the three-page ransom note and making the crucial 911 call.

The allegedly 'peculiar' details surrounding the ransom note raised questions, as it was written on paper and with a pen from inside the Ramsey home.

John Ramsey shared his side of the story in the Netflix docuseries. Image: Netflix.

Despite extensive analysis of her handwriting samples against the ransom note spanning several months, experts could not definitively link her to the writing. Adding to investigators' suspicions was the fact that Patsy was wearing the same outfit from the previous day when she made the emergency call.

However, both she and her husband John were ultimately cleared from the suspect list when DNA evidence exonerated them in 2008. Throughout the investigation and until her death from ovarian cancer in 2006, Patsy maintained her innocence and John dedicated himself to pursuing justice for JonBenét.

Burke Ramsey.

After the parents were cleared as suspects, the public's attention turned to JonBenét's brother Burke, who was nine years old when she was murdered.

During the coverage, some pointed to Burke's unconventional behaviour in interviews, particularly his smiling while discussing the tragedy, despite some child psychologists acknowledging this is a typical trauma response.

An appearance on Dr. Phil only spurred speculation.

Burke Ramsey's demeanor on Dr. Phil left viewers puzzled. Image: CBS.

In 2016, CBS aired a controversial documentary that posed a theory about Burke's potential involvement in his sister's death, suggesting that Burke killed his little sister out of anger after she ate his bowl of pineapple, and his parents had covered up the death.

Due to the inflammatory allegations presented, Burke filed a $750 million defamation lawsuit against the network which was later settled out of court.

DNA evidence has cleared Burke, along with his parents, of involvement in the crime.

John Mark Karr.

One of the more persuasive arguments put forward in the Netflix special is that a former schoolteacher, John Mark Karr, had killed the six-year-old. The ex-teacher had fled the US after being charged with child pornography.

In 2006, Karr emerged as a suspect in the case after making a confession while in Thailand that he had drugged, sexually assaulted, and accidentally killed JonBenét.

His confession included detailed diary entries written under the alias, Daxis.

Despite this account, investigators quickly determined his claims were false. DNA testing showed no match to evidence from the crime scene, and his family provided proof he wasn't in Boulder at the time of the murder. The case against him was dismissed, with authorities concluding his confession was fabricated for attention.

John Mark Karr during an extradition hearing at the Los Angeles Superior Court. Image: Getty.

Michael Helgoth.

Michael Helgoth was a 26-year-old electrician who worked at a local auto salvage yard. He drew investigators' attention in the case due to a potential connection through a property dispute with the Ramsey family.

Investigators found a boot print near the Ramsey residence that reportedly matched his footwear, but subsequent DNA testing eliminated him as a suspect.

Helgoth died by suicide just 48 hours after Boulder authorities announced they were narrowing in on a suspect in early 1997.

Gary Oliva.

Gary Oliva resided just 13 houses away from the Ramsey family in Boulder at the time of JonBenét's murder. He later emerged as a person of interest in the case. During a drug-related arrest in 2000, police discovered concerning evidence when they found a magazine cutout of JonBenét in his possession.

The investigation gained new momentum when Michael Vail, Oliva's former high school friend, shared a disturbing revelation with InTouch magazine in 2018, where Vail claimed Oliva had called him and confessed, "I hurt a little girl. I hurt a little girl."

Gary Oliva appears in court at the Boulder County Jail in Boulder, Colorado. Image: Getty.

What made this account particularly compelling was the similarity between the knots used in JonBenét's case and those Oliva had previously used in an incident involving his mother and a telephone cord.

While he was incarcerated, Oliva wrote letters confessing to JonBenét's death, claiming it was accidental. His DNA didn't match the evidence and after serving his sentence, he was released on parole in January 2024 and now resides in Denver.

A paedophile in the area who was never caught.

In September 1997, just two miles from where JonBenét Ramsey was found, a masked intruder broke into the bedroom of a 12-year-old girl who, like JonBenét, was a dancer at a local studio.

The man sexually assaulted the young girl and fled when the child's mother intervened. This haunting parallel caught the attention of John Ramsey, who noted the unsettling similarities between this attack and the tragic fate of his daughter.

"To me, it could easily have been the same person," Ramsey told People in a new interview. "I think the method of operation was exactly the same. I believe the killer was in the house when we came home, waited til we went to sleep."

The parallel between these two incidents is overwhelming.

"They came home, set the burglar alarm, and the killer was already in the house. A very similar method, and yet the police blew it off. It was the same investigator as our case," Ramsey said.

"Yes, I think that was very possibly the same person."

The director of the Netflix series, Joe Berlinger, hopes the documentary could lead to renewed focus from Police.

"I am firmly convinced that the Ramsey family is innocent. And I am also firmly convinced that this case can be solved, if the Boulder Police Department finally does what it's supposed to do," Berlinger told the New York Post.

Read more revelations from the documentary here.

Feature image: Getty.