Will the world ever know what happened to JonBenét Ramsey? The bright-eyed 6-year-old was murdered in her Colorado home on Christmas night in 1996 and though theories from both amateurs and experts abound, no one has ever been convicted of killing her. With the 20th anniversary of JonBenét's death approaching, a new batch of documentaries, specials, and interviews about the case are heading to TV. The two-night CBS docuseries The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey premieres Sept. 18 at 8:30 p.m. ET and convenes an investigatory team including forensic scientists and behavioral analysts to see what they can make of the existing evidence. The trailer for the documentary shows a camera crew approaching the home of Burke Ramsey, JonBenét's older brother, and calling out his name. It doesn't appear that the crew was successful in speaking with him, so what does Burke Ramsey think of The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey, now that it's airing on TV? The Ramseys' lawyer told Bustle that Burke does not have any comment on the docuseries at this time.
Like his parents, Burke lived in the center of a tabloid circus after JonBenét's death, so this is hardly the first media coverage he's had to deal with. Burke was only 9 years old when his sister was killed. Earlier this month, his 1998 police interview was shown to the public for the first time as part of the A&E special, The Killing Of JonBenét: The Truth Uncovered. In it, young Burke recalls staying up in his room the day after Christmas and avoiding the chaotic scene. That morning, his mother, Patsy, called 911 when she found a ransom note on the stairs. The police arrived to investigate, and eventually, John found JonBenét's body in a storeroom in their basement. The detective conducting the interview asks why Burke didn't emerge to see what was happening. "Because I was so scared," young Burke answers. Though conspiracy theories abound about Burke's actions that day, Burke and his parents have maintained their innocence and all were officially cleared of any involvement in JonBenét's death by Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy in 2008, due to DNA evidence.
John and Patsy Ramsey spoke to the media many times about their daughter's murder. (Patsy passed away from ovarian cancer in 2006.) But Burke has remained quite private over the years. And though he has not commented publicly about The Case Of: JonBenét Ramsey, he did address the overwhelming media interest in his family's tragedy in an exclusive interview with Dr. Phil, which is spread across three episodes, with the third set for Sept. 19. Burke didn't refer to the CBS series specifically, but he did discuss his feelings about the media in general in the interview when he said:
"For a long time the media basically made our lives crazy. It’s hard to miss the cameras and news trucks in your front yard and we go to the supermarket sometimes and there would be a tabloid with my picture, JonBenét’s picture plastered on the front or they would follow us around. Seeing that as a little kid is just kind of a chaotic nightmare, so I was pretty skeptical of any sort of media, it just made me a very private person."
So why break this silence now? "As to what I’m doing now, it’s the 20th anniversary and apparently still a lot of tension around it, I guess I kind of wanted to make it about remembering her and not just another news story," Burke told Dr. Phil.
CBS has not promoted an interview with Burke Ramsey as a part of this new special, so it's likely that he declines to speak to the camera crew in his front yard. By his own admission, Burke is disinclined to trust the media and understandably, is probably avoiding this deluge of new coverage.
