Timeline of JonBenet Ramsey case

1996:

Dec. 26: Six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her Boulder, Colo., home. Patsy Ramsey told police she found a ransom note demanding $118,000 for her daughter.

Dec. 31: The Ramsey family hired an attorney, publicist and investigators.

1997:

Feb. 24: A spokesman for the Ramseys said family members knew they were "at the top of the list of possible suspects."

April 18: District Attorney Alex Hunter said the Ramseys were under an "umbrella of suspicion."

April 30: The Ramseys were interviewed by police in the first formal sessions.

May 14: Two detectives, including the first to arrive at the Ramsey home, were removed from the case.

Oct. 10: Police Chief Tom Koby admitted that mistakes were made early in the case.

1998:

June 23-25: The Ramseys were questioned again by police, their first interviews in more than a year. JonBenet's brother Burke, 9 at the time of her death, was interviewed for six hours.

Sept. 15: A grand jury began an investigation into the case.

1999:

Oct. 13: Citing a lack of sufficient evidence, the district attorney said no indictments would be issued.

Oct. 27: Colorado Gov. Bill Owens decided against appointing a special prosecutor and urged the Ramseys to "quit hiding behind their attorneys" and help find their daughter's killers.

2002:

Dec. 20: The new district attorney, Mary Keenan (now Mary Lacy), took over the investigation and promised a fresh look at the case.

2003:

March 31: A federal judge in Atlanta concluded that the weight of the evidence was more consistent with the intruder theory than with the theory that Patsy Ramsey killed JonBenet.

April 7: Lacy issued a statement agreeing with the judge.

2004:

June 4: The Ramseys' attorney said DNA found in JonBenet's underwear did not match any samples in an FBI database of convicted violent offenders.

2006:

June 24: Patsy Ramsey died at 49 following a long battle with ovarian cancer.

Aug. 16: A suspect, teacher John Mark Karr, was arrested in Thailand. He yelled at reporters that he was "with JonBenet when she died," but that "her death was an accident."

Aug. 28: Prosecutors abruptly dropped their case against Karr, saying DNA tests failed to put him at the crime scene despite his insistence he sexually assaulted and strangled JonBenet.

2008:

July 9: Prosecutors said new DNA tests have cleared JonBenet's family in her 1996 slaying.