JonBenet Ramsey's Brother Files $750 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against CBS

JonBenet Ramsey
JonBenét Ramsey, 6, was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her home in Boulder, Colorado, in 1996. The Case Of: JonBenét Ramsey/CBS

JonBenet Ramsey's brother has filed a $750 million defamation lawsuit against CBS for broadcasting a docuseries that theorized he killed the child beauty queen.

Lawyers for Burke Ramsey filed the suit in a Michigan court Wednesday, claiming CBS' two-part series—broadcast in September—caused "permanent damage to his reputation."

The television network's The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey featured a group of investigators attempting to solve the 20-year mystery surrounding the death of JonBenet, a six-year-old beauty pageant contestant who was found dead in her home in Boulder, Colorado, in December 1996.

The lawsuit said the "accusation that Burke Ramsey killed his sister was based on a compilation of lies, half-truths, manufactured information, and the intentional omission and avoidance of truthful information about the murder of JonBenet Ramsey."

Writing for Newsweek in September, Ramsey's lawyer L. Lin Wood said the docuseries was a fraudulent "lie for profits."

"After living the past 20 years under the shadow of his sister's murder and false accusations against his parents in periodic media frenzies, Burke will now live the remainder of his life with Google searches proclaiming, 'CBS Proves Burke Ramsey Killed His Sister JonBenet.' Every professional and personal interaction and relationship Burke has from now until his death will be tainted by this false accusation," Wood wrote.

At the time, CBS said: "The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey was meticulously and responsibly researched, and its information was responsibly presented. CBS stands by the broadcast in every regard."

The lawsuit against CBS is the second filed on Ramsey's behalf in relation to the docuseries.

In October, Ramsey's lawyers sued one of the seven investigators in the series, pathologist Dr. Werner Spitzer, after he alleged JonBenet was killed by her brother in an interview with a CBS radio station.

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