Updated July 8, 1999, 3:30 p.m. ET
Poll: most Colorado residents don't know who killed JonBenet Ramsey
BOULDER (Court TV) More than two years have passed since the murder of JonBenet Ramsey and Colorado residents are still wondering who killed her.
In a Colorado News Poll of Colorado residents, thirty-eight percent of those polled said they did not know who killed the one-time child beauty queen.
According to the Denver Rocky Mountain News, questions were posed to 594 men and women in Colorado. But, the poll shows, fewer than half of the respondents had an opinion.
Twenty-five percent of the respondents believe Patsy Ramsey, JonBenet's mother, is the murderer. Only six percent think her father, John Ramsey, killed his daughter. And only five percent suspect Burke Ramsey, JonBenet's 12-year-old brother, killed her. Seven percent of the respondents said an intruder committed the crime. Four percent refused to answer the question.
JonBenet Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her parents' house on Dec. 26, 1996. Although John and Patricia Ramsey have been suspected of being involved in, or withholding information about, their daughter's death, Boulder police have not made any arrests in the case. Burke Ramsey was cleared earlier this year. The Ramseys repeatedly denied any connection to the murder and criticized police handling of the case.
In the poll, 98 percent of those questioned had heard about the case. According to pollster Paul Talmey, such high public awareness is rare. He also said he was not surprised by the number of those polled who lacked an opinion.
"People think, 'Gee, it has dragged on. If it was really clear who did it, there would have been an indictment by now," Talmey said.
These results are very different from the ones obtained from a nation-wide CNN-USA Today-Gallup Poll conducted in November 1997.
Of the 1,003 adults polled in 1997, 17 percent believed Patsy Ramsey killed her daughter, 19 percent suspected JonBenet's father and 35 percent thought both parents had a role. And only 6 percent did not have an opinion.
Michelle McAuley
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