JonBenét Murder House: Who Lives There Now & More

JonBenet Ramsey and family home
Netflix; Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

The murder of JonBenét Ramsey is back in the news due to a new Netflix docuseries, but two people who won’t be tuning in to the series are the current occupants of the infamous house in Boulder, Colorado.

According to TMZ, Carol Schuller Milner and her husband, Timothy Milner, who own the property where JonBenét was murdered in 1996, were approached by the producers of Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? but passed on the project.

“We want nothing to do with the exploitation of that poor family,” Carol told the outlet, noting that she and her husband have turned down several Hollywood offers over the years, including one from Dr. Phil and another worth seven figures.

Carol also touched on the potential of increased interest in the house following the release of the new docuseries, which premiered on Monday, November 25. She told TMZ she isn’t too worried about visitors as the property is gated, so long as the snoopers remain respectful.

John Ramsey and his late wife Patsy Ramsey purchased the property on the 700 block of 15th Street in Boulder in 1991, according to Boulder County assessor records. They paid $500,000 for the house.

JonBenet Ramsey's house

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

The house became one of the world’s most notorious crime scenes in December 1996 when John and Patsy’s six-year-old daughter JonBenét was found brutally murdered in the basement. The case drew immediate mainstream attention, and John and Patsy quickly became suspects in the crime, though neither were ever charged. Patsy died in 2006.

John and Patsy sold the house in 1998 to a group of investors for $650,000. According to the Denver Post, in 2001, the address was changed, and big trees and fencing were added to discourage snoopers.

Carol and her husband Tim purchased the 1927 five-bedroom, 5.5-bathroom Tudor in 2004 for $1.05 million. They have put it on the market several times over the years as Carol found her time split between Colorado and California due to work projects.

Carol Milner outside Ramsey home

Carol Milner outside former Ramsey home; Inside Edition YouTube

“This has become a dark monument, this thing that was just sitting there, just a constant reminder of something horrible that happened, and I’m just a believer in undoing stuff like that. It is a wonderful place to live. It is home,” Carol said, per the Manchester Evening News.

At the time of the purchase, Carol, who is the daughter of the late televangelist Robert H. Schuller, was in the process of setting up a ministry in Boulder with her husband. They were on the market for a sizeable property to host their gatherings.

Carol and Tim have unsuccessfully attempted to sell the residence on six separate occasions. They first listed it for sale in July 2008 for $2.68 million, then again in May 2009 for $2.29 million. In February 2011, the house went back on the market at $2.3 million, then again in 2014 at $1.98 million.

The current listing was first posted in 2022 at $7.25 million before being re-listed at the reduced price of $6.95 million in March 2023.

“Stately and modernized 1920’s Tudor estate in an epic Boulder location, on three lots, stunning curb appeal with amazing Flatiron views,” the Zillow listing reads. “Surrounded by luxury homes, a beautiful stroll to Pearl Street shops, restaurants, CU and easy access to Denver. An impressive Boulder estate with timeless appeal in an unbeatable location.”

Speaking to Westword in 2019, Carol claimed they had offers on the house, “But we didn’t take any of them, more out of our attachment to the house. It’s our home, and we really, really love it.”

Carol first moved to Colorado from California when she was 16 to be on a ski team. She was a competitive ski racer, despite having lost a leg in a motorcycle accident when she was younger.

“I was thirteen years old and my parents were out of the country. I was by myself. I got seventeen pints of blood in 24 hours, and I was bleeding to death,” she told Westword. “My leg was just hamburger meat, and after it was amputated, I was in the hospital, in isolation, for eight months.”

Carol explained that it was her faith that got her through that ordeal, and she said her faith was also what led her to take the leap into buying the infamous Ramsey home.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know about this,'” she said, referring to her first time looking around the house. “But I’ve never been one to back away from something just because it’s a challenge or odd. I’d been tutored by my father and my faith to be thinking outside the box constantly. In fact, one of his famous sayings is, ‘Make your box big enough for God to fit in,’ which I think is pretty cool.”

She added, “So I thought I couldn’t just not go in because of this silliness in my brain. And the minute we walked across the threshold, there was such a whoosh of peace and anticipation.”

Carol also opened up about telling her and Tim’s four children about the home’s history.

“I actually found out afterward that [the kids] been attending the same school where JonBenét had gone, a charter school in the area, even before we bought the house,” she shared. “But we did sit down with them, because we didn’t want them hearing about it from anybody else. We always believed in being honest with them.”

She continued, “So we said, ‘This happened here. Some really bad things happen in the world. But our faith says God’s bigger than the bad things. We can let the bad things have the last word or we can believe that restoration can come where bad things have happened. How do you guys feel about this?’ And they were like, ‘We think we should move in right away.’ They just felt this incredible empathy and compassion for the family and, of course, for JonBenét.”

Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey, Premiere, Monday, November 25, Netflix