The father of cold case murder victim JonBenet Ramsey is hoping for a breakthrough as a new police chief takes on the decades-old investigation.
John Ramsey, who is now 80, told Fox News that there is DNA evidence that has not been tested, including the garrote around his daughter's neck and the notorious ransom note.
John found his daughter's body in the basement of the Ramsey home in Boulder, Colorado on the day after Christmas in 1996. The girl, a child beauty queen, was reported missing hours earlier by her mother Patsy Ramsey, herself a former beauty pageant winner.
An unusual, two-and-a-half-page ransom note from a "small foreign faction" was found, demanding $118,000, the same amount as John's Christmas bonus. The note and a practice draft were written on a notepad from inside the home.
The investigation was tainted at its inception by police errors, including a failure to secure the scene to protect evidence.
The police initially suspected John, a successful businessman in computer software, and Patsy. They were the only people home at the time of the murder besides JonBenet and her brother Burke.
Years later, John maintains that the police buried key evidence that did not fit their theory of the Ramseys' guilt.
"We have an unidentified male DNA result from the testing they did in 1997, which … by today's standards, it was primitive," Ramsey said. "But we have an unidentified male DNA sample, which was reported to the police in January 1997. They kept that a secret because it conflicted with their conclusion that we were guilty. How do we explain that away? Which they tried desperately to do."
The case has brought intense speculation, but the killer has never been found.
In a move that was vigorously protested by police in Boulder, former District Attorney Mary Lacy publicly exonerated the Ramseys in 2008, citing a trace amount of DNA from an unknown male.
John said the new police chief of Boulder, Stephen Redfearn, comes from "outside the system."
"He's good. I like him," Ramsey told Fox News Digital, calling his new appointment "good news."
In 1999, a grand jury recommended charges against John and Patsy Ramsey for child abuse resulting in JonBenet's death, but the district attorney at the time said there wasn't enough evidence.
Patsy Ramsey died in 2006 from ovarian cancer.
A man was injured by gunfire just one mile away from where Donald Trump and Kamala Harris debated Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
The shooting happened outside City Hall just hours before the presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Center City.
Police said there was an altercation on a train platform at Market and 15th streets around 3:30 p.m., WPVI reported.
A 23-year-old man was shot twice and transported to Jefferson Hospital, where he is listed in stable condition. A suspect is in custody.
Witnesses, including high school students leaving school, said they heard four shots. They saw the victim stumble up to the street from the train platform, FOX 29 reported.
MFL [L]: Police activity has cleared, and trains have resumed regular service along the line. 5th Street Station remains closed due to the Presidential debate. Expect residual delays while full operations are restored.
— SEPTA (@SEPTA) September 10, 2024
Hours after the shooting, Trump and Harris met for their first-ever debate on ABC News at 9 p.m. EST.
ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis were criticized for showing bias toward President Trump, who faced selective "fact checks" as he made various claims about crime and immigration.
"Crime here is up and through the roof. Despite their fraudulent statements that they made. Crime in this country is through the roof. And we have a new form of crime. It's called migrant crime. And it's happening at levels that nobody thought possible," Trump said.
Muir interjected and said, "as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is coming down in this country." Trump fired back and fact-checked Muir for relying on incomplete data.
"Excuse me, the FBI — they were defrauding statements,” Trump said. “They didn’t include the worst cities. They didn’t include the cities with the worst crime. It was a fraud.”
Crime experts say that Muir was relying on incomplete data, the Washington Examiner reported.
While the FBI reported broad declines in violent crime in the first quarter of 2024, major cities including Los Angeles have not been factored in yet. The FBI changed its crime reporting system in 2021.
Crime is well above pre-2020 levels. In 2023, there were more than 400 homicides in Philadelphia, which is a decrease from previous years but still high compared to 2019.
Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman broke ranks with Democrats ahead of Tuesday night's high-stakes debate, conceding that Kamala Harris will face off with a "good debater" in Donald Trump.
“It’s going to be a straight-up debate,” Fetterman told CNN’s State of the Union.
“She’s going to do great, of course, but Donald Trump will be good too. I mean, we can all remember he wrecked all of the Republicans. He’s a good debater,” Fetterman added.
With no additional matchups lined up between Trump and Harris, Tuesday night's debate could have a big impact on a very close, and unusually short presidential contest, which was reset this summer in an unprecedented shakeup.
Fetterman was a notable supporter of Joe Biden after his disastrous June debate, which led him to end his re-election bid under pressure from his party. While Fetterman supports Harris now, he maintains that Biden would have beaten Trump.
“I do believe fundamentally that Joe Biden would have beaten Trump, and it was going to be very close, and I have always predicted that as well too, and now Harris,” Fetterman said.
Meanwhile, there are signs that Harris' '"honeymoon" is over, with a sobering New York Times poll Sunday showing Trump ahead nationally.
Still, Fetterman disagreed with those who see the ABC News debate as a make-or-break moment, maintaining the presidential race will be "close" no matter what.
“At the end of the day, I don’t believe this debate’s going to be definitive because it’s going to come down to this choice, and it’s going to be close,” he said.
Trump is said to be making little formal preparation for the debate outside of discussing policy with his aides. Harris has taken a more intensive approach at a hotel in Pittsburgh, spending hours in mock debate sessions.
Ultimately, Fetterman believes voters in Pennsylvania will reject Trump's "chaos" and choose "order."
"I think a majority of Pennsylvanians are going to decide, ‘Hey, I want four years of order and fairness and unity and a different way forward.’ And I don't think they want the kinds of dark days and chaos that Donald Trump provided for our nation," the senator said.
Trump is a formidable debater indeed, a one-of-a-kind opponent. If Harris turns to an anxious mess and starts spewing "word salad" on national TV, it will be hard to sell her as the candidate of "order."
President Trump is giving his youngest son Barron credit for connecting him with major podcasters, as Trump steps up his outreach to young male voters.
The Republican presidential nominee has been sitting down for long-form, casual chats with top influencers like Logan Paul, Theo Von, and Adin Ross.
The interviews have afforded Trump the opportunity to show off his common touch and reach out to young men who have nothing to identify with in the extremely "woke" Democratic party of Kamala Harris, who has based her campaign almost entirely on abortion.
In a recent livestream at Mar-A-Lago with the popular Gen Z personality Adin Ross, Trump made casual conversation about the issues facing the country and its youth.
Ross gave Trump the gift of a Tesla Cybertruck, and they played some of Trump's favorite music in the car.
"He knows so much about it," Trump said of his son Barron's interest in livestreaming. "Adin Ross, you know, I mean, I do some people that I wasn't so familiar with, different generation. He knows every one of them. And we've had tremendous success."
Trump is leading with men in all age groups, particularly among Generation Z men. A fresh poll from New York Times/Siena College found Trump leading with men by 53-40%, and Harris leading with women by a similar margin, 50-37%
Trump confessed to the Daily Mail that the streaming format is something new to him, and he credited his son Barron with introducing him to it.
"We did three unusual .. I don't know what you'd call them, but it's a platform with three people that I don't know, but three people that Barron knows very well," he said.
"He actually calls all of them like friends of his, because it's a different generation. They don't grow up watching television the same way as we did. They grow up looking at the Internet or watching a computer, right?"
In another podcast appearance with Barron's favorite podcaster, Trump had a wide-ranging discussion with comedian Theo Von that touched on alcohol and drugs. Trump showed his personal side as he mentioned his late brother Fred's drinking problem.
"I tell people, no drugs, no drinking, no cigarettes," Trump said. "I tell that to my kids all the time, I say 'no drugs, no drinking, no smoking.'"
Former President Donald Trump and his lawyers have scored a mountain of legal victories in recent months.
The latest victory came after Trump's sentencing in the New York "hush money" case was once again rescheduled -- this time until after the November election.
Legal scholars, such as lawyer Jonathan Turley, analyzed the situation and according to Newsweek, suggested that the U.S. Supreme Court will view some of the evidence allowed in the case overseen by Judge Juan Merchan as "privileged."
Merchan was overseeing the case brought against Trump by DA Alvin Bragg. While the prosecutor initially scored a victory in Trump being convicted on 34 charges, many believe the former president could emerge victorious in the appeals process.
Late last week, Merchan explained why he decided to postpone Trump's sentencing hearing until after the November election, which was a major bummer for Trump's critics who were essentially drooling over the possibility that he would be sentenced to jail ahead of the election.
"This matter is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this Nation's history, and this Court has presided over it since its inception," Merchan wrote.
He added that the court would be "faced with one of the most critical and difficult decisions a trial court judge faces—the sentencing of a defendant found guilty of crimes by a unanimous jury of his peers."
Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School, said in a recent Fox News interview that he believes Judge Merchan "has committed layers of reversible error."
"The election has grown in considerable importance in terms of this sentencing, but keep in mind whatever Merchan does it doesn't change what he previously did in this case. I think he has committed layers of reversible error. I think there was evidence at his trial that the Supreme Court would view as privileged and should not have been before the jury," Turley said.
He added, "So there is a long runway between here and there when it comes to any jail sentence."
In late August, Trump's lawyers attempted to move the sentencing hearing to federal court, but failed on two attempts.
They argued that the recent Supreme Court immunity ruling that favored Trump affected Bragg's case as well.
"Nothing in the Supreme Court's opinion affects my previous conclusion that the hush money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority," federal judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote after the second attempt to have the sentencing moved.
Only time will tell if Trump is ever sentenced to actual prison time, but it looks like leading legal scholars do not believe that will be a likely outcome.
While former President Donald Trump doesn't have much to worry about as far as his base of support wavering, there is a sector of that base that seems to be quite concerned after recent comments.
According to Politico, white Evangelicals are overwhelmingly concerned about Trump's recent remarks on the white-hot topic of abortion.
The issue of "reproductive rights" will undoubtedly play a profound role in the upcoming election.
And for a former president who installed the Supreme Court justices who ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade, some of Trump's recent remarks on the subject have given them pause.
Evangelical leaders, including Albert Mohler, a prominent evangelical and head of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, have voiced new concerns regarding Trump's rhetoric on the topic in recent weeks.
"It’s disastrous that he’s attempted to run against his own track record," Mohler said.
He added, "There is a real danger to the Trump campaign that pro-life voters just don’t turn out for him with the intensity that he needs."
Politico noted:
Trump’s announcement last week that he planned to vote “no” on a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the Florida Constitution represented a quick course correction after he sent evangelicals and anti-abortion groups into a panic by implying he might vote to undo the state’s current six-week abortion ban.
It added:
And that wasn’t his only affront to anti-abortion advocates. In recent days, he has pledged to make health insurance companies or the government cover in vitro fertilization, which many anti-abortion advocates object to as currently practiced in the U.S., free of charge.
Another one of Trump's recent remarks on the subject that stirred controversy was when he proclaimed his presidency will be "great for women and their reproductive rights."
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said that Trump needs to be careful trying to be moderate on the issue and, instead, give those voters a reason to vote for what he'll do rather than just vote against Vice President Harris.
"You’ve got to be more than voting against someone. You’ve got to be voting for what someone else has to offer. It’s just on the margins, but it’s the difference in many elections," Perkins said.
He added, "Not just voting against a set of ideas and policies and the personality to actually be for a set of policies and principles that you are enthusiastic about, that makes the difference in elections, and that’s where we’re not at yet."
Only time will tell where Trump's ultimate stance on the subject lands. He'd better get it straightened out before November, that's for certain.
Melania Trump released a teaser for her upcoming memoir, promising to share "the truth" about her that Americans aren't getting from the media.
The book, titled Melania, is the first memoir from the reclusive former First Lady.
In a subtle rebuke of the media, Melania said she has been the target of "misrepresentation" over the years, and her new book will "clarify the facts."
“Writing this memoir has been a deeply personal and reflective journey for me,” Trump said in a video posted to social media on Thursday.
“As a private person who has often been the subject of public scrutiny and misrepresentation, I feel a responsibility to clarify the facts,” she said. “I believe it is important to share my perspective: The truth.”
The book, from Skyhorse Publishing, has an Oct. 8 release date. Fans can buy a signed copy at an additional cost, and there is also a collector's edition with "bonus photographs and a digital collectible."
"Melania is the powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has defined personal excellence, overcome adversity, and carved her own path,” the book's website says.
“The former First Lady invites readers into her world, offering an intimate portrait of a woman who has lived an extraordinary life,” it continues, teasing “stories and images never before shared with the public.”
My Story.
My Perspective.
The Truth. https://t.co/ZCTwZSqZND pic.twitter.com/HHGQaA6d5v— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) September 5, 2024
In stark contrast to her very vocal husband Donald Trump, Melania has long been a mysterious figure to the public. She has often been depicted as a reluctant wife and First Lady by a hostile, left-wing press.
After a gunman almost killed her husband in July, the former First Lady shared a vulnerable letter condemning the "monster" responsible.
"I am thinking of you, now, my fellow Americans," she wrote in the statement. "Dawn is here again. Let us reunite. Now."
With a few exceptions, she has been largely absent from the 2024 campaign trail, although she made an appearance at the Republican National Convention. Melania - making an elegant entrance as Beethoven played - did not speak at the event, which came days after the assassination attempt.
Now, the public will finally get her perspective on things, instead of the usual garbage rumors from the Trump-bashing media.
The prosecutor in Alec Baldwin's "Rust" case is fighting to bring the charges back after they were dramatically dismissed by the judge this summer.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey asked the judge to reconsider her July ruling, arguing that there was no harm done to Baldwin's rights when live ammunition was withheld by "mistake."
The long, winding legal saga began almost three years ago when Baldwin accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his Western movie.
Baldwin insisted he had no idea live ammunition was inside the gun and that he did not pull the trigger. The movie's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after a conviction for involuntary manslaughter.
Baldwin previously had the charges in the case dropped and then reinstated before his brief trial began.
In a dramatic mid-trial ruling, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer threw the charges out over prosecutors' failure to disclose live ammunition rounds.
The judge ended the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled once prosecutors exhaust their appeal options.
Morrissey urged the judge Friday to reconsider, arguing the bullets were not relevant to establishing Baldwin's culpability. The prosecutor argued that Baldwin's team distracted the judge with a "smokescreen" argument.
“This is a smoke screen created by the defense and was intended to sway and confuse the court ... and it was successful,” Morrissey wrote.
The live rounds were filed under a different case number in what Morrissey called an honest mistake.
"Human beings make mistakes — it does not mean they are lying or that they intentionally buried evidence as claimed by the defense," she wrote.
"Nothing about the details of how the live rounds were introduced to the set is relevant or material to the charges against Mr. Baldwin,” Morrissey wrote, adding, "there was no cover-up because there was nothing to cover up.”
The live bullets had been given to police by Troy Teske, a friend of Gutierrez-Reed's stepfather Thell Reed, who is a prominent armorer.
Morrissey asked for "all information regarding when and how" the defense became aware of the bullets, arguing Baldwin's lawyers knew about them before the trial but waited to ambush prosecutors. The motion to dismiss was "all a ruse," she said.
Gutierrez-Reed is trying to have her conviction thrown out over the alleged misconduct.
The Supreme Court of Mexico went on strike to protest the socialist president's sweeping reform of the nation's judicial system.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wants all judges in the country to be elected by popular vote. Obrador is popular in Mexico, but the Supreme Court has been an obstacle to his far-left agenda.
He accuses the courts of systemic corruption, but his critics say Lopez Obrador is trying to destroy checks and balances in a partisan power grab. Skeptics also fear the reform will expose the courts to corruption by Mexico's drug cartels.
The reform passed Mexico's lower house of Congress on Wednesday, where Obrador's Morena party has a two-thirds majority. The legislators approved the bill in a sports hall after protesters blocked the entrance to the Congress building.
“We should inaugurate a wall of shame that says: ‘Today begins the fall of our Republic.’ And it should have the date and all the faces of the Morena congressmen,” Paulina Rubio Fernández, a congresswoman from the conservative opposition National Action Party, said before the vote.
Judges, law students, and court employees have been protesting the measure as a majoritarian power grab that would end democracy. The Supreme Court joined the demonstrations Tuesday, with eight voting in favor of joining the strikes and three against.
The reform bill heads to the Senate next, where it is likely to pass by razor-thin margins. Lopez Obrador's party, Morena, won elections in a landslide months ago. He wants the reform finalized before his term ends in September.
Lopez Obrador's successor, president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum is an ally of his who supports the reform.
“If judges, magistrates, and ministers are elected by the people, where is the authoritarianism?” she wrote in a post defending the move.
The proposal has faced pushback from international observers, including the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar and Canadian Ambassador Graeme Clark. Lopez Obrador put relations with both countries on "pause" in response.
"They have to learn to respect Mexico's sovereignty," he said.
The fight in Mexico mirrors the controversy over the U.S. Supreme Court, which President Biden has condemned as "extreme." Biden has proposed term limits to rein in the top court's conservative majority, which has often pushed back on his liberal priorities.
A motorcade carrying Kamala Harris' running mate, Tim Walz, was involved in a car crash on Monday as he rode to a campaign event in Wisconsin.
Some injuries were reported, but Walz was not harmed, and he continued on to a Labor Day event in Milwaukee.
The crash on Interstate 794 involved several press vans at the rear of the motorcade.
A pool report said journalists and staff were "violently thrown forward, as our van slammed into the one in front of us and was hit from behind.”
“A staff member in our press van appears to have a broken arm and is being treated by medics,” the report says. “Everyone else is shaken but appears to be in okay condition," the report adds.
Walz Motorcade Crash: Press pool vans following Democrat VP nominee Tim Walz have been involved in a crash en route to a campaign event. The front vehicles in the Motorcade including Walz continued on. pic.twitter.com/yoUfGjCz5j
— John Cremeans USA (@JohnCremeansUSA) September 2, 2024
Walz continued on to Laborfest in Milwaukee, where he addressed the incident in front of a crowd.
The Minnesota governor said everyone received "minor" injuries as he thanked first responders and Secret Service for their response. Walz later visited a staff member with a broken arm at the hospital.
“We’ve spoken with the staff. I’m relieved to say that with a few minor injuries, everybody’s going to be okay,” Walz said.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris called to check in, and we certainly appreciate their concern, and I want to express my sincere thanks to the US Secret Service and all the local first responders for their quick reaction," he said.
The crash coincided with the unofficial start of the fall campaign on Labor Day. The Harris campaign made stops in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan to rally with unions, a traditionally Democratic constituency.
Harris and Walz have largely avoided the press. They sat down for a brief joint interview with CNN last week, in which Walz was asked about exaggerating his military service and a drunk driving arrest from his past.
Walz's Republican counterpart, J.D. Vance, extended his concern to those injured in the crash in Wisconsin.
"Hoping everyone's OK," Vance wrote.
Last month, Vance's campaign plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Milwaukee because of a door malfunction. Nobody was harmed in the scare.