Exclusive – JonBenet Ramsey's father, John Ramsey, says losing two daughters in four years in the 1990s was a “challenge” that ultimately strengthened his faith.
Ramsey made the comments about his faith while reflecting on the murder of JonBenét 28 years ago, when his body was discovered in the basement of his Boulder, Colorado, home the day after Christmas in 1996.
“I don't know anything worse for a human being than losing a child. I've been through some of that too. Divorce, losing my job, losing my life savings,” Ramsey said. Fox News Digital. “But the loss of a child was by far the most damaging and life-altering loss for a parent.”
He has experienced that loss twice. The first was in 1992 when their eldest daughter Beth died in a car accident, and the second was in 1996 when JonBenet died.
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JonBenét Ramsey (left) and her father John (right). (Netflix)
“When I lost my daughter Beth four years before I lost JonBenét, I just fell to my knees. I was just devastated. … I was completely unprepared for it,” Ramsey recalled. . “And it really made me question my faith as well. How could a loving God allow something like this to happen to an innocent child? But in the years that followed, many of my own That loss was…potentially also a loss of my faith. ”
After Beth's death, Ramsay began to wonder if there was “more to life than what we see and live on this earth.” He explained that it took him several years to find his faith.
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JonBenet Ramsey's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, meet with local Colorado media after a four-month hiatus in Boulder, Colorado on May 1, 1997. (Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
“And when we lost JonBenet, it was rock solid,” he said of his faith. “Faith is something that's in the heart. I think I'm essentially a left-brained person. I was an engineer, that's how I was raised, and you always look at the evidence. I'm looking for the facts. So it's not unusual for me to fail.'' “Wait a minute. I don't know if you can believe it.'' …But faith sinks into my heart and I wonder why and what if. If you're wrestling…that's pretty solid. ”
Ramsey said she believes her two daughters are in heaven, although she can't personally imagine what it's like.
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The murder of JonBenét Ramsey has remained unsolved for more than 20 years. (Ramsey family handout)
For many years after her death, his family did not celebrate Christmas, but decided that it would be unfair to her brother Burke, who was nine years old at the time of her death, to stop the Christmas festivities.
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“It was so hard. We didn't have a Christmas tree. We didn't decorate the house. And we just got through it. So we just said, 'Well, that's not fair to our youngest son, Burke.' ”He was a nine-year-old boy at the time, so we tried to get his life back on track as best we could. And I think celebrating Christmas was something that came after that. Probably three years — like I said earlier, I was kind of settling into that celebratory feeling again, like, “Okay, so we need to do this for Burke.” ”
JonBenet's father requests meeting with Colorado governor: 'Time is running out for an answer'
JonBenét's murder remains unsolved, even though police initially drew up a list of suspects they considered, including the Ramseys themselves. The Ramseys were cleared of wrongdoing in 2008.
WATCH: John Ramsey plans to meet with police, DNA personnel
Police also arrested a suspect in Thailand, John Mark Kerr, who admitted to killing JonBenet in 2006, but prosecutors dropped the charges because Kerr's DNA did not match DNA found at the crime scene.
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Ramsey asked police to retest certain evidence for DNA traces that federal authorities uncovered in 1997, including the DNA of an outsider, using a modern genetic genealogy testing facility that has made significant advances in the past decade. I would like to use it to test other items for the first time. DNA testing has helped solve decades-old cold cases in recent years.
John Ramsey continues to search for answers 28 years after his daughter's murder. (Netflix)
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There are more than 20 important pieces of evidence in the JonBenet murder case that have yet to be tested.
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It's unclear whether authorities will be able to find or identify suspects in the case by partnering with an independent lab with access to private databases, but Ramsey said this is the next step in seeking justice for her daughter. I hope that will happen. whether it produces results or not.
He previously told FOX News Digital that he planned to meet with the Boulder Police Department in January to discuss the possibility of DNA testing.
