around she got me ♪ ♪ every time she scrub the ground she got me ♪ ♪ got me spinning around and around she got me ♪ ♪ geeked geeked ♪ ♪ ♪ [ cheers and applause ] this is nightline. >> tonight. who killed jonbenet ramsey? >> our goal is to find jonbenet

ramsey's killer. our commitment to that has never wavered. >> her father speaks out after police gave an update in the case. >> i just need some specifics from the police. >> after nearly 30 years, the new leads. he says he's still chasing. >> i did get a letter yesterday that said, i think my husband is a killer. >> why? he now thinks the killer could be caught in his lifetime. >> god willing, they find the person or persons responsible for your daughter's death. what would you want to say to them? >> plus, james van der beek, the star of classics like dawson's creek. i don't want to wait for our lives to be over. and varsity blues. >> let's be heroes. >> sharing his shocking colon cancer diagnosis could spare anyone the experience of my last year. >> i would definitely want to do that. >> how he says his wife helped him through it. >> she's really taught me what i'm unconditional love is why he's now auctioning off his varsity blues jersey and the two

biggest pop stars. >> and for a fortnight there we were, fortnite. singer taylor swift and beyonce at the top of the list. this ain't tactics. >> ain't no holding. >> who's number one place those texas hold em bets. >> nightline will be right back. >> nightline will be right back. hey, look, i'm ction with just nine essential ingredients. no sulfates, no silicones, no dyes. ♪ dandruff protection, minimal ingredients. job done. many remedies you take for chest congestion only mask the symptoms. you're gonna love this property. try this. mucinex 12 hour treats the mucus that causes chest congestion for all-day relief. ahhh! mucinex in, mucus out! treat the cause.

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>> thanks for joining us tonigh. jonbenet ramsey's father has a new message for police investigating the notorious cold case of his six year old daughter's murder after nearly 30 years, recent attention has ramped up interest and put pressure on authorities. could it lead to the killer being caught at last? my nightline co-anchor, byron pitts, spoke to jonbenet's father, who is as determined as ever, to find justice. >> the mystery of the little girl found strangled in the basement of her house. >> police continue their investigation into the murder of six year old jonbenet ramsey. >> it's a case so mystifying that nearly three decades later, is still leaving people puzzled. >> his body was found the day after christmas in her family's boulder home. >> hello. the stunning unsolved murder of jonbenet ramsey, the six year old beauty pageant contestant from boulder, colorado. >> the story of jonbenet is still just as interesting 28 years later, because the same questions we asked then are still being asked today.

>> given the pressure that the attention that's been given to it in the last couple three weeks, i think has driven home that we're serious. we want you to do everything that can be done. >> jonbenet's father, john ramsey, is still taking in the whirlwind of attention. the smash hit netflix series cold case, who killed jonbenet ramsey, has brought to his daughter's story. >> it takes a while. it takes a long while for the pain to go away. but then the memory of jonbenet is joyful and that's where you're at. that's where i'm at now. >> sources tell abc news progress is being made in the investigation, and that a multidisciplinary team of experts has been assembled to go through the remaining evidence and apply the most modern scientific and cold case techniques. >> sources have told abc news that progress is being made in the investigation when you hear that. what do you think? john doesn't tell me anything. >> i just need some specifics from the police. are you doing

this? are you doing this? and if the answer is yes, then i'll shut up. i'll keep my mouth shut. i don't need to keep pressuring them. but if they don't tell me what they're doing, then i've got to assume the worst. >> the boulder police department, the wave of renewed public attention on the case coming out just last week, saying in a video that for years, their department has been investigating jonbenet's murder, determined to find the killer. >> i know the boulder police department has not talked a lot about this investigation publicly, but that's again because no one wants to jeopardize any potential prosecution of a suspect. >> boulder's current police chief, who was not working at the department in 1996, addressing the mistakes made at the time, so much of how law enforcement works has changed in the last 30 years. >> there are a number of things that people have pointed to throughout the years that could have been done better, and we acknowledge that is true. however, it is important to emphasize that while we cannot go back to that horrible day in 1996, our goal is to find jonbenet ramsey's killer. our commitment to that has never

wavered. >> ramsey still has not watched the docu series that his family's pain is the centerpiece of. >> john, you think you'll ever watch it stirs up, frankly, some anger and emotion and a whole mix of things. >> and i, i know the story, i lived it. >> joe berlinger is the director of the three part series. >> well, i've been very gratified that it's a hit on netflix. you know, it immediately became the number one show. we've rattled the cage there in boulder and john ramsey just days before the documentary dropped in november. >> i first talked to berlinger and ramsey. i remember covering this story as a younger journalist. there was no more important story in the country than the disappearance and the death of your daughter. with all that attention, all that scrutiny, why hasn't this crime been solved? >> one simple reason the police have refused help that was offered and it could have helped. they had no experience and they didn't have a homicide

department. >> now, some people across the country are reevaluating the case on social media from all angles. >> i'm so conflicted watching this. i don't really know what to think or believe. >> it also really showed us how the media and the police twisted the facts and had us all believing that the parents were the killers. >> while armchair sleuths searched for clues on social media. >> i find it strange with the dna. they keep saying the dna was so compromised at the scene. well, why was it compromised? it seems like someone was maybe tampering with it. >> ramsey, now 80 years old, says the documentary has led to leads. >> well, i did get a letter yesterday from a lady that said, i think my husband is a killer. and please call me and i will call her. you know, that isn't the first time we've gotten that kind of lead. we always follow up. >> i've had quite a few people reach out with information and tips that we're sorting through as well, and it's not an

isolated phenomenon. >> blue chip series like the fictionalized retelling of the menendez brothers in monsters, bringing a frenzy of new attention and potentially leading to action in the courtroom. >> we've seen cases explode, both in the sense of popularity, but also in terms of resources being put towards the solution of these cases. people are drawn to these stories to try to solve the very questions we've been asking for decades. >> the response to the menendez. what do you think about your case? as you see the success of that series and what's occurred in that case? >> i'm encouraged more than i've been in a long time. you know, years ago i said, why doesn't god reveal the killer? you know, he's a god of justice. and that's my belief anyway. and somebody said, well, maybe you're not ready for that yet. and i thought, well, that may be right, because initially you put me in the room with this creature and we won't need a trial. the rage was so intense and i would have had no remorse.

but obviously that's not the right thing to do. >> if i may ask. god willing, they find the person or persons responsible for your daughter's death. what would you want to say to them? >> certainly. why did you do this? i just want this chapter closed for the benefit of my family. >> japanese autopsy determined she had been sexually assaulted, strangled, and her skull was fractured. unknown dna was found under her fingernails and in her underwear. john and patsy quickly became the suspects, despite the lack of evidence linking them to the crime. >> he wasn't legally, wrongfully convicted, but he was wrongfully convicted, and his his wife, patsy. the family were wrongfully convicted in the court of public opinion. >> it would take 12 years for the boulder district attorney's office to completely clear the ramseys and their son, burke. by that time, patsy had died of ovarian cancer. all the while, jonbenet's killer has never been found. >> jonbenet's blood was mixed with a foreign dna. we need to

separate out those two profiles, which can be done now. >> john ramsey says he is confident that advances in dna technology can find his daughter's killer. >> there's been a number of old, old cold cases solved using this genealogy research. let's do a reverse family tree and see if he had a relative living in boulder in 1996. that's what we're asking the police to do. >> a lot of cold cases have been solved recently with genealogical dna, like the golden state killer and the green river killer. >> since the golden state killer case, science has moved forward. a lot, and we're able to work with smaller and smaller samples. we work with mixed samples, highly degraded sample. but that still doesn't mean that every single case has a viable biological evidence for us to work with, and we just really don't know what they have in jonbenet's case. and so i caution the public to hold their criticisms. i am very confident

that if they have a dna sample that is viable for genetic genealogy, they are doing everything they can to try to find her killer. >> sources tell abc news it still remains to be seen whether there will ever be enough provable information and evidence to support charges. for john ramsey, the questions about what happened that fateful day still loom large. i have pictures on my cell phone, so anytime i pick up my cell phone, there's a little picture and it's just it's reassuring. >> it's like, okay, that's a it's a way. she's kind of with me. somebody asked me once, what would you say to jonbenet if you could? she knew she was loved. i mean, we told her that every day, but i would tell her, i'm sorry i didn't protect you. that's a father's job. >> our thanks to byron. and when we come back, james vanderbeek opens up about his cancer diagnosis and about going real diagnosis and about going real full monty to raise awareness. ,

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more@starlight.org. >> welcome back. some would call james vanderbeek a lucky guy. he's been a star. his entire adult life since landing the lead in dawson's creek at age 20. the actor says his recent cancer diagnosis taught him exactly how lucky he is. hollywood heartthrob james van der beek has been on the scene since the 90s, playing the popular benchwarmer in varsity blues let's be heroes and later playing himself on don't trust the b in apartment 23. >> you told me your name was

simone and you sold me a condo. i don't wanna way to many. >> he still dawson leery from dawson's creek. >> i saw you at the movie theater with that lipstick on. i remember thinking how pretty you looked. >> like his fans. he's now all grown up. at 47, he's a husband and father to six children. >> it's kind of therapeutic. my pants. i don't have a solution for that one other than a chang. >> but his world turned upside down after a routine colonoscopy revealed he had colon cancer. now, in his most recent role, he'll be baring it all for an upcoming tv special, the real full monty, to raise awareness for prostate, testicular and colorectal cancer testing and research. >> if we can do a striptease in front of a live audience, hopefully that'll inspire people to go get checked. >> opening up to my colleague robin roberts about keeping the faith while dealing with his diagnosis. >> about a year and a half since your your diagnosis. so how are

you physically and emotionally right now? >> physically i'm great. i'm feeling really good. emotionally, you know, it's a lot. it's really it's really a ride. >> how would you. no one wants to hear those words. you have cancer. yeah. what went through your mind when you when you first heard those words? >> i was honestly in shock. i was doing what i thought i needed to do, but getting the colonoscopy, which obviously i didn't need to do. i was an amazing cardiovascular shape. i was eating what i thought was healthy, and i had a whole agenda for what i thought my year would be and what i thought my priorities would be in the next couple of weeks and months. and the reality that all of that was going to change and take a different trajectory was it felt like a nightmare. honestly, at first that i, that i couldn't quite wake up from and, you know, yeah, it's a lot. >> and you said your optimism, your optimism is helping you a great deal. how so? >> yeah, i mean, i there are a couple of things that i knew as soon as i got diagnosed, i, i

knew. all right. this is going to add many happy years to my life. i'm going to make changes that i never would have made otherwise, that i'm going to look back on in 30 years and say, thank god this happened. so what can i do right now in order to make that the case? and that's how i was about 90% of the time. i would say about 10% of the time i was a sobbing, terrified mess. sure, it's been an exercise in just being present to all of it. >> i'm so grateful that you were able to be private about this for so long. >> i was really lucky. >> yes. yes. yeah. so why now? why have you decided to share your story now? >> well, i mean, a couple of things. i had a tabloid call and say we have the story and we're running with it. fortunately, i had started to put some of the wheels in motion about how i would talk about it. i had agreed to do the real full monty, which is a two hour special on fox, where a bunch of celebrities learned and performed the full monty striptease to raise awareness for early cancer detection. and

i just thought that would be a that would be a really good thing to do. it'd be a good, supportive group of guys and, you know, just having been in the public eye as long as i have, as soon as this happened, i thought, you know what? there's going to be a purpose to this. i think by sharing this, i can i can do some good. especially my type of cancer is twice as prevalent now as it was in the 90s. >> yeah. >> i was younger and younger and healthier people. so the more i could get the word out to get tested, get your colonoscopies, get scanned even before you have symptoms. they just dropped the age from 50 to 45 and even to 40. if you have a history of it. so whatever i can do to get that word out and to, you know, as amazing and cathartic as this year has been, it's been really tough. i'm sure if i can help anybody, if i can spare anyone the experience of my last year, i would definitely want to do that. >> and the outpouring, the outpouring of love since that time you had your wife, kim. she

was there. you said that she has been your rock. how has she helped you? >> she's i this is what i'm going to lose. >> it. oh. she's she's been amazing. she's really taught me what unconditional love i'm someone who is always in the past, trying to do everything for everybody. and never asked for help. myself. and this has put me in a position of having to ask for help and having to receive help. >> and the beautiful blessing of that has been seeing how many people in my life have shown up. >> and you and kim are blessed with six incredible children. yeah, i was telling you in the break, i love how you said same ingredients, same recipe, but they're all different. >> they all come out different, man. >> how are they handling everything? >> it's a lot of little hearts to look after. yeah, that's a

lot of, you know, and they all respond differently. they all hide differently. you know, some of them are very outward with their fears and they talk about them. and some of them it manifests in other ways and other behavioral ways, or they get really quiet. you know, if i could get them to stop calling it butt cancer, oh, i'd be psyched. >> what is your message, your hope for people that are hearing your story for the first time today? >> my message would be, first of all, get get tested, get scanned. i mean, that was the whole point of the full monty was if we can stand on a stage and strip, you know, to raise awareness for this, you can have a conversation with your doctor. >> well put. that's true. >> that's that's kind of the idea behind it. and then the other one is, you know, wherever you're at, wherever that diagnosis is, there's always hope. there's really so much we don't know about cancer and how to treat it. and people are discovering things every day. and there's a lot of research you can do. so i would just say, yeah, have have hope. you're not

alone. and you got this and you're doing things to help raise money. >> yeah. yeah. varsity blues. >> yeah. i started selling some varsity blues jerseys on my instagram. just because cancer is expensive. yeah, it's really even with insurance. and so i'll be paying some of my own medical bills and helping a friend who's got an organization that helps families deal with just the financial burden of this. because not only a lot of times people can't work. i'm lucky i'm back at work. so that's all going well. but yeah, it can be really just financially devastating for people. so i think that's an area that i that i want to get into. >> hey james, thank you so much. >> thank you so much for having me. >> your message. you're making a difference. making an impact. >> thank you. and thank you for sharing what you have as well. >> our thanks to robin when we return the two greatest pop stars of the 21st century. according to billboard. good karma is my boyfriend. >> karma is a god. karma is the

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>> and finally, tonight, all hail the queen bee billboard naming beyonce the greatest pop star of the 21st century. let the name say my name. landing her first billboard number one. say my name way back in 2000 with destiny's child and her 12th number one of this year with texas hold em. >> this ain't texas. ain't no