burke ramsey
Burkey Ramsey, seen here at his mother's funeral in Marietta, Georgia, June 29, 2006, is suing CBS for $750 million for defaming him in the slaying of his sister, JonBenet. Tami Chappell /Reuters

Burke Ramsey, the older brother of slain child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, filed a $750 million suit against CBS Wednesday for damaging his reputation with a TV series about the death of his 6-year-old sister.

JonBenet was found strangled in the basement of her parents’ Boulder, Colorado, home Dec. 26, 1966. Prosecutors in 2008 cleared her parents and brother based on DNA evidence but the current district attorney has said the exoneration was premature. Police have collected thousands of pieces of evidence but have not charged anyone with the killing.

Ramsey’s suit accused the network, its production company and experts interviewed for “The Case of JonBenet Ramsey” of trying to defame him. The four-hour mini-series featured former investigators and experts who had not been previously involved in the case re-examining evidence and reinterviewing witnesses.

Rolling Stone characterized “The Case of JonBenet Ramsey” as a “witch hunt” that concluded Burke Ramsey was the killer. Burke was 9 when his sister died. In his first public interview, he told Dr. Phil McGraw in September no one in his family killed JonBenet.

The CBS mini-series was led by former FBI agent and criminal profiler Jim Clemente and behavioral analyst Laura Richards. They first analyzed mother Patsy Ramsey’s 911 call, focusing on an inaudible portion at the end, using audio technology to conclude there were three voices and claiming one was Burke, who Patsy Ramsey had said was asleep at the time. What the show did not say is that their conclusions came from an earlier analysis that had been leaked to the National Enquirer in 1998.

The investigators also dismissed the significance of DNA evidence found on JonBenet’s leggings that had come from an unidentified male. The series also relied on linguistic and body language analysis, which is highly subjective and not entirely accepted by the courts.

A&E produced its own take on the killing, “The Killing of JonBenet: the Truth Uncovered,” which aired around the same time. It revealed the mystery DNA on JonBenet’s leggings may not have come from a Caucasian, which would rule out members of the girl’s family.

Patsy Ramsey died in 2008.

RELATED STORIES