Linda Hoffman-Pugh, Once a Potential Suspect in JonBenet Ramsey Case, Dead at 82

The investigation into the brutal murder of child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey has taken another shocking turn with the death of the family housekeeper, who was once named a person of interest in the case that has gripped America’s attention for nearly 30 years.

Linda Hoffman-Pugh, who died May 2 at age 82, was working for the Ramseys when 6-year-old JonBenét was found dead in their Boulder, Colo., home the day after Christmas in 1996. At press time, Hoffman-Pugh’s cause of death was still a mystery.

In the aftermath of the tyke’s killing, Hoffman-Pugh claimed in a 1999 interview with The Daily Camera that Patsy Ramsey, the child’s mother, had named her as a possible suspect. But dad John Ramsey tells the National Enquirer that his late wife knew Hoffman-Pugh well and Patsy “said early on that if Linda was involved ‘she would never hurt JonBenét.’ ”

The housekeeper was eventually cleared by authorities but sued Patsy and John over claims in their book — The Death of Innocence: The Untold Story of JonBenét’s Murder and How Its Exploitation Compromised the Pursuit of Truth — that she may have played a role in JonBenét’s death. A federal court dismissed the suit, and the decision was upheld on appeal.

Hoffman-Pugh joins a growing list of witnesses, investigators and persons of interest who have died since the pageant princess was snatched from her bed on Christmas Day, sexually abused, then bludgeoned and garroted.

Among the dead are famed forensic pathologist Dr. Henry Lee, who hunted for DNA evidence during the early stages of the still-unsolved murder and died in March at age 87, and Patsy, who died of ovarian cancer at 49 in 2006.

Retired detective Lou Smit, who was hired by John to investigate his daughter’s heartbreaking case, died in 2010, and Bill McReynolds, a close family friend and person of interest who was never charged, passed in 2002.

Last year, Tom Haney Jr., the hard-boiled Denver Police Department detective brought in to interrogate and unsuccessfully elicit a confession from Patsy, died suddenly in August at age 77. In 2024, a neighbor who reportedly heard JonBenét’s bloodcurdling death scream passed away at age 77.

“These people are dying, and justice is just fading away,” an expert JonBenét investigator tells the Enquirer. “With all these witnesses dying, they are going to have a tough time prosecuting this case if and when they make an arrest.”

As the Enquirer previously reported, before his death Smit compiled the names of dozens of suspects in a spreadsheet, which he said included approximately a half-dozen “priority one” suspects.

One was David Cooper, the alias of a man who contacted John 20 years ago and claimed to be a professional killer hired by one of his disgruntled ex-employees.

“The police had no interest in looking at him,” John, now 82, told the Enquirer in December 2024.

The grieving father remains frustrated over the lack of progress by blundering lawmen, who’ve failed to solve the murder, and expressed hope that testing of DNA samples taken at the crime scene could crack the case — especially if investigators employ forensic genetic genealogy (FGG).

“We have been pressing the police very hard to employ FGG, using the male DNA recovered from various clothing items worn by JonBenét the night she was murdered,” John tells the Enquirer.

“FGG is a new, very powerful tool, and if used by the Boulder police, I believe we would have a very good chance of identifying the killer.”

John has vowed to Today: “I won’t give up pressing the authorities to do their job until I see that they do their job.” And to the killer he says: “We will find you.”

The Boulder Police Department has assigned a fresh pair of eyes to the case — former Alabama deputy sheriff and patrol officer Kenny Beck, a development that some experts believe may help solve the murder.

Renowned gumshoe Jason K. Jensen and investigator Michael Vail, author of the upcoming book I Know Who Killed JonBenét: My 29-Year Journey for Justice, have met with Beck several times to discuss the case and believe he’s the real McCoy.

Sources say they’re ready to nail seven new suspects!

Jensen hopes Beck uses AI technology to comb through 1 million pages of documents from 40,000 reports, 1,000 interviews across 17 states and two foreign countries, 2,500 pieces of evidence and thousands of tips.

“New eyes mean new perspective, and I applaud the new detective the Boulder police have assigned,” Jensen tells the Enquirer. “He’s really on the case!”