True Crime
JonBenet Ramsey Parents: Meet Her Mother Patsy and Father John Nearly 3 Decades After Her Murder
After JonBenét Ramsey was killed at the age of 6 in December 1996, her parents, Patsy and John, became suspects in her murder. Despite being cleared of any wrongdoing in 2008, true crime lovers are still interested in getting to know more about the former pageant queen’s parents.
Who Was JonBenet Ramsey’s Mother Patsy Ramsey?
Just like her daughter, Patsy was also an American beauty pageant contestant. After she graduated from Parkersburg High School in Parkersburg, West Virginia, in 1975, she went on to attend West Virginia University and graduated with a B.A. in journalism in 1978.
During her time in college, Patsy won the Miss West Virginia beauty title in 1977.
Patsy married John in November 1980, and they welcomed their first child together, son Burke Ramsey, in January 1987. The couple continued to expand their family when they welcomed their second child, JonBenét, in August 1990.
The mother of two was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer in 1993. She completed treatment and was in remission for nine years until the cancer came back in 2002. Patsy died from ovarian cancer at age 49 in June 2006.
Who Is JonBenet Ramsey’s Dad John Ramsey?
John attended Okemos High School in Michigan, and he continued his education at Michigan State University where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1966. The Nebraska native later earned a master’s degree in business administration from the same college in 1971.
Following his college graduation, he joined the Navy in 1966. In addition to serving as a Civil Engineer Corps officer in the Philippines for three years, John also served in an Atlanta reserve unit for an additional eight years.
After he completed his time in the Navy, John pursued a career in business and formed the Advanced Product Group in 1989. Advanced Product Group went on to merge with other companies and became Access Graphics, and the company was later sold to General Electric in 1997.
He was previously married to Lucinda Pasch from 1966 until 1978, and they share three children. Following Patsy’s death, John married Jan Rousseaux in 2011.
Ever since JonBenét’s death, John has been an active force in making sure that the investigation doesn’t go unsolved.
A source exclusively told In Touch in August 2023 that John thought the police could do more to find out who killed his daughter. “He believes that with new breakthroughs in technology, the case could be solved,” the insider explained at the time.
What Happened to JonBenet Ramsey?
John and Patsy discovered that JonBenét was missing on the morning of December 26, 1996. After they uncovered a ransom note, John found his daughter’s lifeless body in their home’s basement later that day.
It was discovered that JonBenét had been sexually assaulted before she was brutally murdered, and the Boulder, Colorado, police quickly viewed the Ramsey family as suspects.
JonBenét’s murder has still not been solved nearly three decades after it happened, though her parents were cleared of any wrongdoing after DNA evidence was found in 2008.
Her murder is the subject of Netflix’s November 2024 docuseries Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?
