Burke Ramsey shuts down this popular (and awful) theory about the JonBenét case

This Christmas, it will be 20 years since 6-year-old pageant queen JonBenét Ramsey was killed and left in the basement of her family’s Boulder, Colorado home. The murder, which to this day remains unsolved, has long gripped the nation — and new interviews with her brother, Burke Ramsey, on Dr. Phil are bringing the case back into the spotlight.

Burke’s three-part interview with Dr. Phil McGraw marks the first time the older Ramsey sibling has spoken publicly about his sister’s death. In the second installment of the series, which aired Tuesday, Burke, who was nine when JonBenét died, insisted that a popular theory that his mother, Patsy Ramsey, killed JonBenét is absolutely unfounded.

Disputing the rumor that his mother had become suddenly angry and violent, Burke said,

"It doesn't make sense. Not to say she never got upset, but nothing near laying a finger on us, let alone killing her child."

He added that Patsy never even spanked him or his sister.

JonBenét was discovered Christmas night in 2006 strangled to death with a cord around her neck and duct tape over her mouth. A ransom note, also found in the Ramsey home, demanded $118,000 for the safe return of the girl.

No one has ever been charged in the case, and there has long been suspicion that one of the Ramseys was involved. But Patsy, her husband, John, and Burke were all cleared of the murder in 2008 thanks to DNA evidence (sadly, Patsy didn’t live to see her name cleared — she died in 2006 from ovarian cancer).

Part three of the Dr. Phil interview airs Sept. 19 — we’re curious to see what else will be revealed.