A new round of DNA testing is planned to hopefully solve 20-year-old murder JonBenet Ramsey, according to Colorado investigators and the district attorney's office. Prosecutors are looking into using new testing technology to review DNA evidence in the unsolved 1996 murder. The decision comes after Boulder Daily Camera and 9News analyzed lab results linked to the 6-year-old’s murder that uncovered flaws while testing DNA evidence.
Colorado Authorities To Re-Examine The DNA Of JonBenet Ramsey Murder Investigation
“DNA is an area of forensic science that is really changing month-to-month and as a result when you had test that was done five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, you want to make sure that you’re checking back in and using the latest techniques on the things that are tested,” DA Stan Garnett told ABC News. “We have an obligation on every case to make sure that we’re doing up to the date analysis so that the evidentiary of the case is thorough and as sound as possible,” Garnett continued. “We’re going to do that in Ramsey as well.”
On Tuesday, DA Garnett and Boulder Police Chief Greg Testa officially announced the re-examine that they will do on the DNA of the said case. In the new round of testing, as reported by Daily News, investigators would use new crime labs and forensic procedures that may help their further investigation along with the other pending cold cases. JonBenet's body was discovered battered and strangled in her family's Boulder, Colorado, basement the morning after Christmas back in 1996. And no one has been officially charged in the murder case.
The original DNA tests performed on the matter found in JonBenet's underwear, pointed to an intruder as the culprit, clearing JonBenet's father, John, and her brother, Burke, whose innocence has been heavily questioned over the years. But the media investigation postulates that a mixture of DNA may have been tested. It would make the phantom suspect less unknown than non-existent. "We should be doing all reasonable testing that we can do, and we will be," said Garnett.
What Is DNA?
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). Human DNA consists of about 3 billion bases, and more than 99 percent of those bases are the same in all people.
DNA bases pair up with each other, A with T and C with G, to form units called base pairs. Each base is also attached to a sugar molecule and a phosphate molecule. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).
