If CBS's docuseries The Case Of: JonBenét Ramsey only managed to dole out three bombshells during its first night, it saved all the rest of them—the evidence that very clearly pointed toward one single explanation for young JonBenét's death—for night two.
In the final 20 minutes of the special, the investigators who took on the 20-year-old cold case put forth their theory as to who killed the young Colorado beauty queen—but it isn't as cut and dry as "this person did it."
The team, which included retired FBI supervisory special agent and profiler Jim Clemente; world-renowned forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee; former chief investigator for the District Attorney in Boulder, Colo., James Kolar; leading forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz; retired FBI supervisory special agent and forensic linguistic profiler James Fitzgerald; former New Scotland Yard criminal behavioral analyst Laura Richards and retired FBI supervisory special agent and statement analyst Stan Burke posited that one person is responsible for the death. That person is Burke Ramsey, JonBenét's older brother. But it wasn't an intentional incident at all—they think it was an accident, a retaliation for something that had happened earlier, that lead to the horrible outcome, and he didn't intend to kill her.
However, there were people involved whom the investigators believe did have intent: John Ramsey and Patsy Ramsey, JonBenét's parents, who acted in tandem in an attempt to obfuscate the police investigation into the crime.
Part two of the special was essentially spent disproving the theory that an intruder had committed the murder. The evidence the team used included the fact that there were undisturbed cobwebs by the window that someone would've used to enter and exit the home, the fact that the foreign DNA on JonBenét's underwear could've very easily gotten there in the manufacturing process, and the fact that Burke seemed to be undisturbed and dodging questions when he was interrogated in the weeks following the murder.
Here's what they believe happened: the Ramseys came home from Christmas dinner, and John carried a sleepy JonBenét upstairs. Patsy served Burke tea and pineapple downstairs, but JonBenét woke up, went downstairs and snatched a piece from Burke's bowl for herself. Burke was likely angry about some things that had happened and this was his last straw, so he grabbed the nearest object—the flashlight—and hit her on the head.
It was a horrible accident, but not intentional.
Clemente believes that the Ramseys tried their best to make it so that the cops couldn't solve the crime.
So, after all that, what was the point of the show? Fitzgerald said the team wanted to publicize the case once again so that people who might know anything more about what happened that 1996 night will step forward.
"In the 20 years since this horrendous death I have no doubt someone involved in this homicide talked to someone about what happened and I would only hope at some point the persons who might have heard something from John Ramsey, from Burke Ramsey, from perhaps the late Patsy Ramsey, would still come forth," he said. "I would love to hear from them."