David Cooper Confessed to Killing Jonbenét Ramsey, and Boulder Police Didn't Seem to Care

The murder of JonBenét Ramsey has been thrust back into the public eye with the November 2024 release of Netflix's Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey. In the world of true crime, this is one of those unsolved murders that captivates fans of the genre. Because it remains a mystery, theories have come and gone since the 6-year-old beauty pageant queen was killed in December 1996.

For years, police believed her parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, were involved. They even looked at her brother Burke, who was 9 years old at the time of his sister's death. Police looked at sex offenders in the area, like Gary Oliva, who confessed to police he was obsessed with the little girl, but his DNA didn't match any at the crime scene. There was also David Cooper, a possible suspect whom authorities were aware of but never followed up on.

John told the the Daily Mail that a man calling himself David Cooper reached out to the Ramsey's pastor soon after JonBenét was murdered. During that phone call, Cooper confessed to killing the little girl but wanted to speak with John before turning himself in. "I call him and talked to him for a while ... And I was asking him questions," recalled John. "I was looking for information that maybe he had that nobody else would from reading the newspapers or watching television."

According to John, Cooper was familiar with items in the Ramsey house that were not mentioned in the news. This led the grieving father to believe that he might be telling the truth. When John relayed this information to Boulder police, they were very cavalier and not at all interested in following up with this potential lead. They said to John, "Well, he wants to turn himself in? We'll be here. Great."

Frustrated, John continued to communicate with Cooper until their conversations took a strange turn. Cooper told John that when he confessed in person, he wanted his family with him. He then proceeded to ask John for $3,000 so he could purchase airline tickets for himself and his family. John was ready to do it because at that point, he was desperate for answers. Thankfully his lawyer stepped in, saying, "This didn't smell right."

Their private investigators looked into Cooper and discovered he was a truck driver living in Louisiana. They deduced that this was merely a scam and urged John to forget about it. This would not be the last time John would be on the receiving end of a confession.

Almost exactly 28 years after JonBenét's death, John got a bizarre letter in the mail. This was on the heels of the Netflix documentary, and suggests the sender might have been inspired by its release. John also told the Daily Mail about this incident, which could prove to be another fraudulent scheme.

"My ex-husband's the killer," this woman wrote, "and I've kept this inside for as long as I can — please, please call me." As always, John wasted no time in reaching out to the author but did not hear back. He shared the letter with a private investigator.