Still a mystery: Years later, no one knows what happened to JonBenet

The name Patsy Ramsey is, unfortunately, synonymous with one of the greatest unsolved mysteries ever to hit the American airwaves — and one for which we might never find a guilty party.

“Who killed JonBenet?” has been a question asked for nearly a decade, and after much speculation, police are no closer to determining what happened to John and Patsy Ramsey’s little girl.

This weekend, Mrs. Ramsey succumbed to ovarian cancer — a disease she had beaten before her daughter was found tied up and strangled to death in their Denver home.

She told interviewers that she understood that she was dying — and that she was looking forward to reuniting with her daughter.

That is a heart-wrenching realization that although this story has been out of the news for years, this family is still struggling with the aftermath of that December day so many years ago.

Mrs. Ramsey’s death is a sad end to a family’s continuing struggles and tragedy.

But even though Mrs. Ramsey is gone, the effort to learn the truth about JonBenet’s death should continue — as it should when any person, young or old, is lost in so horrible and senseless a manner.

Feel as you will about the Ramseys. Believe they are guilty if you think that assertion might be true. There will be plenty of others speculating about what really happened that fateful day.

Law enforcement officers should not stop looking even though JonBenet’s mother is no longer there to fight for her. The little girl who charmed a nation and touched parents’ hearts across the country will not be laid to rest officially until her killer is found and punished.

She deserves no less than the truth and justice.

That is what her mother would have wanted, too.

Published in Editorials on June 26, 2006 11:03 AM