Why JonBenét's Mother Carried a Blue Dress Everywhere She Went

When news broke that 6-year-old beauty pageant queen, JonBenét Ramsey, had been murdered in her family's home in 1996, the nation stood in shock. Soon thereafter, JonBenét's parents, John and Patsy, along with her 9-year-old brother, became the prime suspects, when no other leads were discovered. 20 years later, the case remains an unsolved mystery.

After being publicly exonerated in 2008, John Ramsey joined Oprah to discuss life after the death of his daughter and then in 2006, the death of Patsy, who passed away after a battle with ovarian cancer.

John told Oprah that he and Patsy never gave up hope that the police would find the guilty parties and bring them to justice. Patsy was prepared to receive the phone call they were waiting for at all times. "Any time we traveled," John recalled of Patsy, "she took a blue dress with her, and the blue dress was to—in case they found the killer, and if she was asked to be interviewed, she could wear her blue dress. And she did that for years, and then finally gave up hauling the blue dress around."

"Blue because blue looks great on TV," Oprah confirmed with John. "Was she able to go on with her life and have some meaning in her life?" Oprah then asked him.

"We realized pretty early on that we needed to get our life back to normal as best we could for the sake of our son, who at the time was nine," he answered.

Original airdate: September 10, 2008