It was a criminal case that stunned a quiet Colorado town and captivated TV news viewers: the murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey in her own home on Christmas Day.
With the 20th anniversary approaching, and the case still unsolved, CBS announced earlier this year it was committing 6 hours of its new fall schedule delving into the case. CBS calls Case Closed a “limited event docu-thriller”. It revisits the gruesome crime and sensational investigation. It will air over three nights: Sept. 18, Sept. 19 and Sept. 25.
Dateline NBC which has been covering the case since day one, will beat CBS on the schedule with a 2-Hour special that promises “first-ever TV interviews” and “never-before-seen case documents.” Dateline’s special, reported by Josh Mankiewicz, airs this Friday at 9 p.m. ET.
CBS is jumping into the true-crime genre kickstarted by Making a Murderer and The People v. O.J. Simpson with The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey, as original investigators and other experts re-examine the case. Case Closed is being produced by Critical Content, which is led by Tom Forman, who, earlier in his career, was a producer at 48 Hours.