EXCLUSIVE: JonBenét Ramsey Suspect Found Dead — Inside Housekeeper's Mysterious Death After She Sued Child Beauty Queen's Parents for Hinting at Her Involvement in Murder Case
Linda Hoffman-Pugh once sued John and Patsey Ramsey.
June 5 2026, Published 3:30 p.m. ET
Linda Hoffman-Pugh, a former housekeeper turned suspect in the JonBenét Ramsey cold case, has died, RadarOnline.com can reveal, years after she sued the child beauty queen's parents.
The 82-year-old, who died on May 2 at the age of 82, was once suspected of being involved in the gruesome murder of the little girl, but was cleared by authorities.
Linda Hoffman-Pugh Sued John and Patsy Ramsey
A suspect connected to the JonBenét Ramsey case has died, and she was close to the family.
However, despite being cleared, Hoffman-Pugh was left livid over claims Patsy and John made 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 their daughter's murder.
Attorneys at the time had claimed the couple made "deliberate false statements made by the Ramseys against our client … making her look as if she may have been involved."
A federal court dismissed the suit, and the decision was upheld on appeal. Despite the apparent feud between Hoffman-Pugh and the Ramseys, John defended the ex-housekeeper and revealed that his late wife once said, "If Linda was involved, she would never hurt JonBenét."
In 1999, three years after JonBenét's death, Hoffman-Pugh sat down with The Daily Camera and pointed out, "Why would she think I’d do something like that and then invite me to the memorial service? Why would she hug me at the service?"
A Long List of Deaths Connected to the Unsolved Case
Ramsey housekeeper Linda Hoffman-Pugh was once viewed as a suspect before being cleared.
Hoffman-Pugh is just the latest name involved in the JonBenét saga, which includes witnesses, investigators, and even persons of interest who have died.
Earlier this year, the man who had searched for DNA evidence in the early stages of the infamous case, forensic pathologist Dr. Henry Lee, died at the age of 87. JonBenét's mother, Patsy, also died of ovarian cancer in 2006, never knowing the person responsible for her daughter's death.
Four years after Patsy's death, retired detective Lou Smit, whom John had hired to solve the case, died. In 2025, detective Tom Haney Jr., who was unable to get a confession from Patsy, died at age 77, while a year before his death, a neighbor who had claimed to hear JonBenét’s death scream also passed.
"These people are dying, and justice is just fading away," a source explained. "With all these witnesses dying, they are going to have a tough time prosecuting this case if and when they make an arrest."
The Search for the Killer Continues
The child beauty queen was 6 years old when she was murdered.
The case has remained cold, even 30 years after JonBenét was found dead in her parents' basement the day after Christmas. Despite the lack of key movement in the case, John has continued to look for answers, accusing the Boulder Police Department of bumbling the investigation.
Investigators have also been accused of refusing to turn over DNA evidence to an advanced genealogy firm to hopefully find the killer. John previously offered to fundraise to cover the cost of investigative genetic genealogy. The technology has already been utilized to solve other cold cases, including the Golden State Killer case.
"I am absolutely convinced that's the gold standard today. So I've been pushing that pretty hard in terms of what I think ought to happen," John told Fox News Digital. "And I don't know that they're doing it. I know they listen, but I don't know where they are mentally in terms of making that happen."
He added at the time. "To me, it's a no-brainer that it would be done, but I don't know how to make it happen. All I can do is ask."
John Ramsey on Investigation: 'Clueless' Cops
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Grieving father John has continued to search for his daughter's killer.
In a previous exclusive interview with Radar, John also slammed the "clueless" cops who felt the young girl's parents were not acting "right," and claimed police decided "day one before any evidence" they were to blame for JonBenét’s death.
"The DA told us that years later, said, 'their whole case was you didn't act right that morning.' Between the time that we discovered JonBenét was missing and found her," the 82-year-old recalled.
John shared that investigators "made up their mind on day one" and decided they should "arrest him on probable cause."
Kenny Beck, a former Alabama deputy sheriff and patrol officer turned detective, has since been brought on to try to solve the case.
