Nicole Acosta is a staff writer on the crime team at PEOPLE. She previously worked at Daily Voice and doNYC and is a Mercy College (now University) graduate.
The father of JonBenét Ramsey, the 6-year-old who was found murdered in the basement of her family's Colorado home nearly 30 years ago, accepted an apology from journalist Geraldo Rivera over the mock murder trial he staged on TV.
On Monday, Dec. 2, on NewsNation's Cuomo, Rivera apologized to John Ramsey for the mock trial he held about the case on his daytime talk show, The Geraldo Rivera Show, in 1997, saying, "I deeply apologize to you for what you and your family have suffered."
Rivera's "jury" found the parents liable for their daughter's death, according to NewsNation.
He added, "No one deserves to go through what you went through. That's my bottom line. And when I walk around and it is with stories like yours in my head over the last 54 years of my career, I, it is a burden to me. It's a soulful burden. And again, man to man, to you, I apologize, and I am sorry for everything you have gone through, John."
John responded, "Geraldo, I accept your apology and thank you."
John has long been open about what he considers to be missteps made by authorities when investigating JonBenét's murder amid an international media frenzy he believes only made things worse.
John, along with his wife Patsy, who has since died, quickly became persons of interest, after their daughter was found beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled to death on Dec. 26, 1996. Earlier that morning, Patsy found a ransom note demanding $118,000 in exchange for JonBenét's safe return.
Nobody in the Ramsey family has ever been charged and while several people fell under suspicion, no arrests have been made in connection with the case.
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The infamous cold case has made its way back into the spotlight following the November release of the Netflix three-part docuseries Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey?.
Ahead of its release, John spoke with PEOPLE about what he believes needs to happen in order to make progress in finding his daughter's killer.
He said he would like state-of-the-art labs that use genetic genealogy and other advanced DNA technology to crack the cold case by examining seven items from the crime scene that he claimed have never been tested or were examined with outdated methods.
"We're begging the police to engage," he told PEOPLE last month. "There are cutting-edge DNA labs that want to help and who believe they can move the case forward."
However, the Boulder Police Department recently disputed any characterization that they were not pursuing all leads and said progress is being made in the investigation.
"The assertion that there is viable evidence and leads we are not pursuing -- to include DNA testing -- is completely false," the department said in a Nov. 26 post on X, formerly Twitter.
"Additionally, it was the Boulder Police Department -- not the Colorado Bureau of Investigation -- who convened the Cold Case Review Panel in December 2023 as part of its investigation efforts," the post added.
Boulder Police Public Information Officer Dionne Waugh told PEOPLE in a statement on Monday, Dec. 2, "It's obvious that the Boulder Police Department wants to solve this case and the only reason is to bring justice to the victim JonBenét Ramsey."