From the day after Christmas in 1996 until now, millions of Americans have closely watched developments in the unsolved mystery of the murder of 6-year-old beauty pageant queen Jon Benet Ramsey, who was found dead in her family's home in Boulder, Colorado.

One reason the murder mystery remains unsolved, according to the girl's father, John Ramsey, is that the Boulder Police Department has steadfastly refused to pursue certain leads, request help from federal investigators, or test DNA evidence purportedly found at the scene, Radar Online reported.

Ramsey suspects the lack of investigative action from the Boulder PD is due to their alleged incompetence and his belief that they somehow lost the unknown DNA evidence that had been found.

Did Boulder PD lose the DNA evidence?

The still-grieving father, now 80, has long accused the "incompetent" Boulder PD of "bungling" the case of his daughter's 1996 murder, and now asserts that the department lost DNA evidence purportedly recovered from the scene of the crime.

"I have no other reason to explain logically why they wouldn’t test it or allow another agency to test it," Ramsey said in a recent interview. "Unfortunately, that is a suspicion I have."

"They have been very reluctant to tell us anything -- it’s a very strange environment," the father continued. "For 27 years, we have been trying to get them to accept help and give the DNA evidence to the FBI."

Ramsey reiterated, "I’m afraid the only logical reason that they won’t commit to testing it anymore it because they lost it. I hope I’m wrong."

"We have a real screwy system in this country. All they must do is transfer custody of the evidence to the FBI and we would be very happy with that step. It’s very frustrating," he added as he prompted a piece of proposed legislation, the Homicide Victims’ Family Rights Act, that would allow federal investigators to intervene in local criminal cases at the request of family members.

Among the most notorious unsolved murder mysteries

Hello! Magazine recently ranked the Jon Benet Ramsey murder case as among the nation's biggest and most-followed true crime stories that remain unsolved or have a questionable conclusion years later.

It began on Dec. 26, 1996, when Ramsey's parents noticed she was missing that morning, found a mysterious ransom note demanding cash, and then later discovered their daughter's brutally murdered body in the home's cellar.

The parents, as well as the girl's older brother, were long considered to be suspects by the police, though there is evidence to suggest that the heinous crime was perpetrated by an unknown intruder into the home.

Journalist agrees police actions have been suspicious

Radar Online reported that Ramsey isn't alone in questioning the competence or motivations of the Boulder PD, as he is joined by investigative journalist Paula Woodward, who in 2021 published a book based on her reporting titled, "Unsolved: The JonBenét Ramsey Murder 25 Years Later," and has accused the department of attempting to frame the parents and brother to cover for their investigative failures.

"There is nothing that explains the behavior for 27 years," Woodward said of the police. "They simply won’t share information. They won’t ask for help and currently what they are doing is they refuse to give the small amount of DNA they have left over to a competent lab for genealogy testing. They refuse to do it."

Yet, even if that alleged DNA evidence was somehow lost or misplaced, the journalist claimed there were at least 18 other pieces of evidence collected from the murder scene that "have never been tested for DNA. So, if they want to get more DNA all they have to do is get that tested. Or is it they just don’t want to solve it?"