JonBenét Ramsey’s parents discuss ransom demands in Barbara Walters’ unearthed clip

On the morning of December 26, 1996, John and Patsy Ramsey woke up to find their six-year-old daughter, JonBenét Ramsey, missing from their bedroom.

Shortly afterwards, they found a handwritten ransom note on the kitchen stairs demanding exactly $118,000 – the amount of John’s bonus that year.

The alleged kidnapper demanded the huge sum in return for JonBenét’s safe return. John was instructed to pay the ransom amount in cash and to wait for a call between 8am and 10am that day.

Police later learned that the letter had been written from a notepad found in Ramsey’s home.

The next episode of ABC News 20/20airing Friday, December 13th at 9/8c, features a never-before-seen clip of the late legendary news anchor Barbara Walters interviewing the Ramseys about the now-infamous ransom note the couple received when their baby daughter was born found in her house was murdered.

“The ransom note asked for an odd amount – $118,000,” Walters says in the clip. “That was a bonus you received.”

John responds by saying, “Well, that was one of the theories I came up with, that it was close to the net amount I received as a bonus that year.”

He theorizes that “$118,000 means something to the murderer, we know that.” We believe that. We don’t know whether this has to do with my bonus or something else. Only the murderer knows.”

Walters turns to Patsy and asks her if she knew her husband “got a bonus like that?”

“Not at this point, no,” Patsy replies.

The episode details the high-profile case and details how John and Patsy quickly became suspects in the murder of JonBenét, who died from strangulation and a blow to the skull after a sexual assault.

Her son Burke, who was nine years old at the time of his sister’s murder, also came under suspicion at the time.

The episode shows how the family was finally exonerated in 2008 – and examines whether there is hope that the case will ever be solved, especially given new questions raised in the Netflix docuseries about the investigation Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? Streaming began on Monday, November 25th.

The three-part documentary takes an in-depth look at what John sees as the authorities’ failures to investigate JonBenét’s murder amid an international media circus.

John says he would like to have state-of-the-art laboratories that use genetic genealogy and other advanced DNA technology to solve the cold case by examining seven items from the crime scene. These items were never tested or examined using outdated methods, he says.

“Of the items initially sent to labs, six or seven were returned untested,” he claimed to PEOPLE in November 2024. “We don’t know why they haven’t been tested, but they haven’t been tested. “Previously, JonBenét was strangled with the garrote, and some items have just been returned.”

On November 26, 2024, the Boulder Police Department released a statement on X (formerly Twitter) denying “the claim that there is viable evidence and leads that we are not pursuing,” including DNA testing.

The 20/20 The episode airs Friday, December 13th at 9/8c on ABC.