This case has also never failed to fascinate because authorities were torn down the middle about that last question. Some were convinced—right away or down the road—that the Ramseys were getting

This case has also never failed to fascinate because authorities were torn down the middle about that last question. Some were convinced—right away or down the road—that the Ramseys were getting away with murder, while others felt that the couple were being unfairly maligned, they loved their daughter and the real killer was out there, somewhere, getting away.

"Again, I do not think Mr. Ramsey killed his daughter," Grace added. "But to come in to 'kidnap the girl,' go through all the drama of leaving this ransom note and then they go, 'Oh, you know what? Forget the money, I'm just gonna kill her and leave her body in the basement'…That scenario, I believe, has bothered people, gotten under their skin, since it first happened." 

From day one, this was going to be a crime that made national news. It had all the elements: The victim wasn't just a child, but a beautiful, blond 6-year-old from a well-to-do family. The setting was the picturesque, inordinately safe city of Boulder—JonBenét's death was the city's first official homicide of 1996. There was evidence of sexual assault, a morbid tidbit for the press to seize on. Crime and pop culture being forever intertwined, the photogenic victim became the most heartbreaking kind of celebrity and, spurred on by the O.J. case that had concluded just over a year beforehand, the media were operating at a fever pitch.

And the weird details just kept coming.

At two and a half pages, the rambling ransom note was the longest the FBI had ever seen. And what an odd ransom amount, $118,000. After JonBenét's body was found, John Ramsey tried to make arrangements to fly the family to Atlanta via private jet that very night, claiming he had urgent matters to attend to. Police put a stop to that, but they were allowed to leave town just three days later.

Inexplicably, John and Patsy Ramsey gave a nearly 40-minute on-camera interview to CNN on Jan. 1, 1997, long before they ever sat down at length with detectives.  

"There is a killer on the loose," Patsy told CNN's Brian Cabell. "Absolutely," added John.

Then the pageant footage started circulating.