On December 26, 1996, JonBenét Ramsey’s body was discovered in her family’s Boulder, Colorado basement. The six-year-old’s murder has remained unsolved.

But according to The Daily Mail, an imprisoned pedophile has confessed to the evil deed.

54-year-old Gary Oliva is currently serving a 10-year sentence for child pornography in Limon Correctional Facility. He was once imprisoned for trying to strangle his mother; other convictions include the sexual assault of a 7-year-old girl and possession of a stun gun.

After being arrested in 2016 for having illegal porn on his phone, Oliva wrote letters to a former high school classmate, music publicist Michael Vail.

The correspondence included the following statements:

“I never loved anyone like I did JonBenét and yet I let her slip and her head bashed in half and I watched her die. It was an accident. Please believe me. She was not like the other kids.

…

“JonBenét completely changed me and removed all evil from me. Just one look at her beautiful face, her glowing beautiful skin, and her divine God-body, I realized I was wrong to kill other kids. Yet by accident she died and it was my fault.”

The letters have been turned over to the Boulder police.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, 55-year-old Michael Vail said he’d long suspected Gary as JonBenét’s killer:

“My suspicions began when Gary called me late at night on December 26, 1996. He was sobbing and said, ‘I hurt a little girl.’

…

“I had known Gary from my time at high school and we had kept in touch. When he said he had hurt a little girl I tried to get more information out of him. The only other thing he told me was that he was in the Boulder, Colorado area.

“On December 27 I read on the front page of my local newspaper, ‘Girl, 6, Slain in Boulder, Colorado.’ I knew I had to alert the police.

“I immediately called the Boulder Police Department and told them what I knew about Gary and what he had told me just days earlier. They didn’t get back to me.

“Three months later, I called the police again to find out what was going on in its investigation of Gary, but instead I was sent to a police answering machine set up for tips on the JonBenét case.

“I left a message on the recorded line, and again, I never heard back from investigators.”

Vail said he remained in contact with Oliva all these years, hoping he would one day confess to the murders.

“I’ve continued this for decades now, even with him being in prison. But he has only just admitted to killing her. He believes he will go to hell if he doesn’t admit to it.

“I have now sent these letters to Boulder police in the hope it will get Gary to provide them with firm proof and to name who else may have been involved in JonBenét’s death.

“I hope it helps bring justice for JonBenét and peace for her family.

”Now they have this, a written confession, the police need to charge him with her murder.”

The Daily Mail reports that officials believe multiple men were involved:

Investigators theorize several men, including Oliva, were involved in breaking into JonBenét’s house.

A ransom note demanding $118,000 for JonBenét’s return was found on the kitchen staircase at the Ramsey home shortly before her body was found.

The handwriting does not match Oliva’s in his letters to Vail. But it is possible the note was penned by an accomplice.

Authorities have previously thought a stun-gun was used on JonBenét.

Whatever the truth, hopefully it will be found out, and the mystery of this terrible crime will finally by solved. Upon that day, may the culprit(s) be brought to the most severe justice.

In the meantime, Gary Oliva will be eligible parole in 2020.

-Alex

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