Melissa McCarthy is weighing in on the JonBenét Ramsey murder case.
The Oscar-nominated actress, who stars as Patsy Ramsey in the upcoming Netflix limited series The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey, came in with her own opinion on the tragic events of December 1996 that fascinated the nation and continue to captivate the true crime community.
She doesn’t view the murder case as a “whodunit” or something that entails a “big reveal,” the Gilmore Girls alum said. “This is a character study of everyone who was caught in the undertow, and a look at all of us — as a civilization, really. Seeing that happen to a child I think breaks everybody,” she told Variety.
“We do show all these different theories. They were all real working theories. Showing the chaos of it is something that we’ve not seen. It’s a new telling of it, because you’re like, ‘My God, is this really what was happening?’”
As for her own theory, McCarthy admitted that “my heart says no one in the family could have done that,” adding, “I don’t have the ability, or probably the right, to say that, but that’s what my gut says. Which I probably am not supposed to say. But śh́óóting that, I had to pick. I had to have that for myself, if nothing else.”
On the morning of Dec. 26, 1996, Patsy found a ransom note demanding $118,000 for the safe return of her and John Ramsey’s daughter.
Police arrived shortly after, and later that day authorities found JonBenét’s body in the basement of their home wrapped in a blanket. Duct tape covered her mouth and cords were wrapped around the child’s neck and wrists.
Her dєatᩚh was ruled a homicide, with the cause being “asphyxia by strangulation ᴀssociated with craniocerebral trauma.” Many believed JonBenét’s parents and her brother, Burke, were behind her dєatᩚh. In 1998, John and Patsy were indicted by a grand jury on two counts of child 𝘢bu𝘴e resulting in JonBenét’s dєatᩚh.
Due to a lack of sufficient evidence, prosecutors didn’t pursue the case. Patsy died in 2006 from ovarian cancer. She was 49. Two years later, John and Patsy were exonerated by then-Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy, crediting DNA evidence that was not previously available.
Elsewhere in her interview, McCarthy told Variety that she’s been thinking about “how people will receive” the show. “And, of course, you think about the family. My intentions don’t mean anything — their feelings are their feelings, and all I can do is hope that I did right by them and by Patsy. The only people that really get a vote are them.”
Also starring in The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey are Clive Owen, Garrett Hedlund, Alison Pill, Owen Teague, Clifton Collins Jr., Jaime Ray Newman, Chris Bauer, Will Patton, Margo Martindale, and Shea Whigham. Emily Mitchell will portray JonBenét.
Per Netflix, the show “focuses on one of the most infamous unsolved murder cases in American history, and the devastating personal and public reckoning that followed JonBenét Ramsey’s dєatᩚh on Christmas night in 1996.”
“After a national media frenzy, nearly 30 years — and more than 21,016 tips, letters, and emails later — the 𝘬iᩚller has not been found,” the synopsis adds.
The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey premieres on Netflix on Dec. 10.
