JonBenét's Brother, Burke Ramsey, Settles Defamation Lawsuit Against CBS

The CBS documentary aired interviews with forensic pathologists who claimed that Burke, who was nine years old at the time of his sister’s death, could have accidentally killed JonBenét.

January 07, 2019

Burke Ramsey [Dr. Phil (screenshot)]

By: Catherine Townsend

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WAYNE COUNTY, MI — JonBenét Ramsey’s brother, Burke Ramsey, has reportedly reached a settlement with CBS following a $750 million lawsuit against the network.

Two years ago, Ramsey sued CBS and other parties who participated in making the docuseries The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey over allegations in the program that suggested he may have bludgeoned his six-year-old sister to death.

Terms of Ramsey’s settlement are undisclosed.

JonBenét’s body was found on December 26, 1996, at her home in Boulder, Colorado, hours after her parents John and Patsy Ramsey reported her missing. The case of the child beauty queen made national headlines, but JonBenét’s killer has never been found.

The CBS documentary aired interviews with forensic pathologists who claimed that Burke, who was nine years old at the time of his sister’s death, could have accidentally killed JonBenét. The program also theorized that his parents could have helped him cover up the crime.

A representative for producers of The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey confirmed that “the parties have reached an amicable resolution of their differences.”

“The accusation that Burke Ramsey killed his sister was based on a compilation of lies, half-truths, manufactured information, and the intentional omission and avoidance of truthful information about the murder of JonBenét Ramsey,” lawyers for Ramsey stated in a 2016 filing.

Ramsey’s lawyer, Lin Wood, tweeted: "After handling many defamation cases for them over the past twenty years, hopefully this is my last defamation case for this fine family."

He later tweeted “Mission accomplished” along with a link to news reports of the settlement.