JonBenet Ramsey’s Brother, Burke, Sues CBS for $750M Over Series

By The Associated Press
December 28, 2016 Last Updated: December 28, 2016
In this June 29, 2006, file photo, John Ramsey hugs his son, Burke, facing camera, at the graves of his wife, Patsy, and daughter JonBenet, during services for his wife at the St. James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, Ga. Burke Ramsey is suing CBS and others for $750 million over a series that aired in September 2016 that Ramsey alleges concluded he killed his sister. (AP Photo/Ric Feld, File)

The older brother of JonBenet Ramsey is suing CBS and others for $750 million, saying his reputation was ruined after a television series that concluded he killed his 6-year-old sister two decades ago.

In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, Burke Ramsey claims that the network, its production company and the experts interviewed in the six-part series on the unsolved murder conspired to defame him for publicity and profit. The six-part television docuseries “The Case of JonBenet Ramsey” aired in September ahead of the 20th anniversary of JonBenet’s death.

The beauty pageant star was found dead in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado, the day after Christmas in 1996.

A prosecutor cleared her parents and brother in 2008 based on DNA evidence. But the district attorney currently overseeing the case has said it was premature to exonerate the Ramseys and ordered additional tests using new DNA testing technology that authorities hope will further the investigation.

Police have collected and studied thousands of pieces of evidence and say the case remains open.

CBS spokesman Dustin Smith declined to comment on the lawsuit, which is the second Burke Ramsey has filed over the television series.

The JonBenet Ramsey indictment that was voted on in secret by a grand jury in 1999 but never prosecuted is being sought by a Boulder Daily Camera reporter and a reporting rights group. In this 1999 file photo, a Boulder Police detective walks to the home of John and Patricia Ramsey in Boulder, Colo., on Friday, Jan. 3, 1997, as investigators sifted through evidence in the home in which the couple's 6-year-old daughter was found murdered on Dec. 26, 1996. The case has never been solved. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The JonBenet Ramsey indictment that was voted on in secret by a grand jury in 1999 but never prosecuted is being sought by a Boulder Daily Camera reporter and a reporting rights group. In this 1999 file photo, a Boulder Police detective walks to the home of John and Patricia Ramsey in Boulder, Colo., on Friday, Jan. 3, 1997, as investigators sifted through evidence in the home in which the couple’s 6-year-old daughter was found murdered on Dec. 26, 1996. The case has never been solved. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

In October, Ramsey, 29, sued a forensic pathologist featured on the show who said he bludgeoned his sister to death. The pathologist is also named in the latest lawsuit, which was filed in Michigan, where Burke Ramsey lives.

The new lawsuit says CBS and its featured experts set out to conduct a “sham reinvestigation” of the murder with “the preconceived the story line” that Ramsey killed his sister and conspired with his parents to cover it up.

“The accusation that Burke Ramsey killed his sister was based on a compilation of lies, half-truths, manufactured information, and the intentional omission and avoidance of truthful information about the murder of JonBenét Ramsey,” the lawsuit says.