With the success of American Crime Story and Netflix's Making a Murderer, CBS is preparing to air its own series examining real-life murder cases. The Case Of:JonBenét Ramsey is a three-night docuseries that will team up forensic experts, both new and old, to the case in the hopes of solving one of the most infamous unsolved murders in American history. The case's progress has remained relatively stagnant for 20 years, and the series will be going in deep on some of the most notoriously confusing elements. One such example is a ransom letter, which as this video points out, will play a huge part in solving the mystery.
The ransom letter in question was a two-page handwritten document, supposedly penned by JonBenét Ramsey's kidnappers. The letter demanded $118,000 for Ramsey's safe return and for her parents not to involve the police or any friends in the matter. JonBenét was found later that day in the basement of her house, with signs of strangulation and skull fracture as the cause of death. This only makes the inclusion of a ransom letter all the more confusing. Using top forensic linguists, The Case Of hopes to unravel unseen clues in the letter, which has to this day remained a massive question mark in the case.
JonBenét's crime scene was speculated to be mishandled by the police, who made mistakes handling forensic evidence and sealing off the scene from outsiders. Now, 20 years later, the goal is to use new modern day technologies that weren't available in 1996 to reveal new pieces of the puzzle. The series will also be bringing in fresh eyes that could have made all the difference. Joining the team will be Laura Richards, a victimologist who studies the behavior of criminals. The case didn't have a victimologist in 1996, so Richards' inclusion could open some previously unseen doors.
To learn what else the docuseries aims to accomplish, check out this trailer teasing some of the new twists and turns from the three-night event.
JonBenét Ramsey's case has always been a source of deep speculation and has already been the subject of a few investigation series, with more on the way. AMC did a vignette a few years ago, briefly profiling the case in preparation for its series, The Killing. Recently Burke Ramsey, JonBenét's brother, agreed to do an interview on Dr. Phil, discussing his opinion on the cold case and the effect it has on him, while LIfetime has their own project coming.
The Case Of:JonBenét Ramsey will it's first air two-hour episode on CBS on Sunday, September 18, at 8:30 PM. The second installment will air on Monday, September 19 at 9 PM before concluding on Sunday, September 25 at 8:30 PM.
