KING: We welcome to LARRY KING LIVE, good to see them again, Antrim City, Michigan, John and Patsy Ramsey, the parents of JonBonet Ramsey who was found strangled in the basement of their home in Boulder, Colorado,
Seems hard to believe, December 26, 1996. The Ramsey's are joining us tonight from Stone Waters Inn in Bell Aire, Michigan, where John has kicked of his campaign for a Michigan House seat.
Why, John, why politics?
JOHN RAMSEY, PARENTS OF LATE JONBENET RAMSEY: When we lost JonBonet, our life changed. Certainly that changed a lot of what was important to us. We realized a lot of things we thought important weren't important. But any parent who's lost a child knows what I'm talking about. More, in addition to that, through the next four or five years, hundreds and hundreds of people reached out to us with compassion, caring, sympathy. People took time out of their lives to reach out to us. And what we realized, were these people fellow strugglers, they were dealing with difficult issues in life. It opened our eyes to a different world than we had really been sensitive to. I think those two events really gave me a compassion to try to help my fellow man. All of a sudden I realized selling computers wasn't that important. And -- as we tried to work through that issue, how do we do that?
This door opened, let's go through it and see if that's what we're supposed to be doing. As we look at it, it's a way we can serve our fellow citizens, make a difference here in northern Michigan and so far so good.
KING: Why Michigan, is that where you grew up?
J. RAMSEY: Well, I did. Most people think of me, don't know me otherwise as the guy from Colorado, but we actually only lived there four years. I moved to Michigan when I was 12, went to junior high school, high school, college here, went off to the navy, came back for a master's degree and than left to find my fortune. And that's frankly a problem we have in Michigan, we export a lot of our youth. That's one of our objectives is to see if we can help with the issues of jobs and job retention. That's not a unique problem toward Michigan but the rest of the country as well.
KING: Patsy, John mentioned the loss of a child, one can only mention how tragic that is. But you had a double thing going, not only did you lose a child, but you're accused by many as being the cause of the child's death.
Is this going to help coming through that?
PATSY RAMSEY, MOTHER OF JONBENET RAMSEY: I think we've already coming through that. Naturally, we're still hopeful and have every hope that the killer will be caught. But we have to get on with our lives. Like John said yesterday, we will not let evil prevail. This family has a lot to live for. We have a lot to contribute. We have coming through some difficult times. And the people of northern Michigan have stood the test of time with us. They have been walking side by side with us for years. And we just love Charlevoix, and the whole northern Michigan area so much, so John is really committed to these people, to return some of the good that they've sent into our lives over the past seven years.
KING: In that matter what do you make of the story today, Patsy, the tabloids may be changing. They used to attack you all the time. Now, there's a big story in one, the killer was actually -- they found the killer and he committed suicide.
How do you react to that?
P. RAMSEY: I tell you, I really don't read the tabloids. I really, don't put a whole lot of faith in that. I really think they just sometimes write things to sell newspapers. But we have more important things to deal with than reading the tabloids everyday.
KING: You're not hopeful in that regard maybe the killer was found and maybe he has passed away, maybe this is a conclusion.
P. RAMSEY: You can say maybe, maybe, maybe this, maybe that. We know the DNA evidence is very strong. We have been told they've the killer's DNA and that the killer can be found and will be found. So, there's no reason to speculate until the time that the people in authority and the district attorney's office say that they have apprehended the murderer.
KING: Do you keep in touch with them John, on a regular basis?
J. RAMSEY: They update us periodically, which we're very grateful for. And we certainly tell them anything they need from us, we will comply with instantly. But not on a daily basis. You know, once very month or so.
KING: Patsy, how you doing?
Reports you had a serious illness. You have cancer. Get us up to date.
P. RAMSEY: I had a doctor's appointment today. A really great report. No change of the last CT scan. I do have a recurrence ovarian cancer. My CA-125, for those of you who know about the silent symptoms of ovarian cancer, the CA-125 was an 8, which is very, very good. And I feel so good I've been working everyday in my new business. I started a new business in Charlevoix, webbookusa.com. And I'm in there everyday working. It's a Web site directory online and in print that brings local focus to small to medium companies much like the ones that are here in northwest Michigan, specifically like the Stone Water Inn we're here in Belliare tonight. We discovered on webbookusa.com. So...
KING: Isn't ovarian cancer most of the times a killer?
P. RAMSEY: Well, cancer is not a death sentence any longer. Fortunately we have wonderful medications. Chemotherapy is a tough road to hoe, I have to tell you that. But it is -- I'm grateful we have it. I respond very well to chemotherapy. I have a genetic form of ovarian cancer and do respond very well. So, that and the power of prayer. I believe God is still in the healing business, and he has a lot left for me to do on this earth. I will leave it in his hands. KING: What's -- what's the prognosis as of today?
P. RAMSEY: Larry, I say to everybody that asks me what is my prognosis, I say, it's the same as yours. Everybody's going to live until they die. Nobody knows that until God decides when that is.
KING: We're all terminal.
P. RAMSEY: You're absolutely right.
KING: We're going to take a break. I'm going to ask John Ramsey about running in a race, how he thinks the race might play out, what people might say about him or opposed to that. We'll also see a sample of his commercial. We'll also include some of your phone calls with the Ramsey's.
Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J. RAMSEY: I've very excited to tell you, we have filed the paperwork today and we're off and running for the opportunity to serve the citizens in northern Michigan as your next representative in state legislature.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: By the way, just to get things up to date, the status of the murder investigation, a federal judge and new Boulder D.A. have said that the weight of the evidence now is more consistent with the intruder theory than any other theory.
John is running for public office. He's running for the statehouse in the state of Michigan. Here's a sample of that campaign. Let's look at a TV commercial. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J. RAMSEY: My name is John Ramsey. I'm running for state representative from Northern Michigan. My family has been in Michigan for nearly 50 years. But sadly, most of you know my name only from the tragic death of my daughter JonBenet. Were it not for our faith, the grief of that event and the veil of suspicion cast upon us would have destroyed our family.
The federal judge, the district attorney and new DNA evidence have confirmed that these accusations were groundless. But we were left to pick up the pieces.
This episode gave me a great sensitivity to the plight of so many other families, here in our community and across the country. People victimized by crime, people who lost their jobs, had their dignity stripped away, young already people disillusioned by government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: And of course, the supportramsey.com is that bullet point at the bottom of the commercial.
John, how do you think that will play? The death of your daughter, how's it going to play in this race?
J. RAMSEY: You know, we think that -- we hope that most people understand the facts of this case now, a lot of significant changes took place about a year or so ago. Certainly, there was an avalanche of accusation for a number of years.
What we found, we found this really for the last eight years, people treat us wonderfully, with compassion, with sympathy. People asked us long ago, what's it like to be out in public. It's wonderful to be in public, people are so kind.
So, we have never, with rare exception, felt anything but compassion from our fellow man. How that plays out in an election, I don't know. My task, I think, is to let people know what I would like to do, and how I think I can help. If they choose that for me, they can do that, great. So -- go ahead.
KING: Couldn't one have easily said, John, why not just go away? You go into the night, start a new life, your wife is ill, fighting through that, live a life out, why go back into the public eye.
J. RAMSEY: Well Larry, we have to keep swinging until they haul us away in box. That's one of my fundamental philosophies in life. We're not going to give up. We're not going to make the highlight of our day going to the post office. I think we've got more to contribute than that.
And I think the real question for us is how do we contribute and how do we make as significant contribution as we can make.
You know, I've really changed in from being focused on really personal success to how do I make a difference in the community that I live? It's not matter of what used to be important to me. I'm not interested in building a company again, or rebuilding assets or getting a bigger home. Life's gotten a lot more sober for me, but a lot more real. That's a gift that my daughter's gave me.
