JonBenet's parents agree to lie detector

JonBenet Ramsey: Murder still unsolved

The parents of the murdered American child beauty queen, JonBenet Ramsey, have agreed to submit to a lie detector test.

John and Pat Ramsey told have Newsweek Magazine that they were prepared to take the polygraph test having refused to do so in 1997.

The Ramseys are currently trying to clear their names of persistent accusations of involvement in the death of their daughter.

JonBenet was found dead in the basement of the family home in December 1996.

In a series of high-profile interviews, given to coincide with the publication of their book about the case, the Ramsey's suggest that the killer was a paedophile who may have been known to the family.

The book, The Death of Innocence, has immediately appeared on best seller lists in the United States where the case has attracted massive interest and debate.

Still under suspicion

Despite being cleared of the murder of their child last October by a grand jury, the couple are still under an official "umbrella of suspicion".

The local police force in Boulder Colorado have publicly criticised the couple for their failure to co-operate with the investigation.

JonBenet found dead in the basement of the family home

In the US, most opinion polls show that the general public believes the Ramseys are guilty of sexually abusing and strangling their daughter.

Mr Ramsey had, early in the investigation been asked to take a lie detector test by investigators. He says that he refused because the request offended him as a grieving parent.

The couple claim that the suspicions are allowing the police to stop looking for the real murdered.

They say that the police are trying to "trip them up".

Child beauty queen

Mrs Ramsey, a former child beauty queen herself, has been criticised for dressing her daughter inappropriately in order to win local pageants.

JonBenet Ramsey's parents reported their daughter missing on Boxing Day 1996.

Pat Ramsey says she found ransom note

Mrs Ramsey said kidnappers had left a ransom note demanding $118,000 for her return.

However, the six-year-old's body was discovered just hours later in the basement of the family home in Boulder.

She had been strangled and beaten to death. An autopsy revealed that she may have been sexually assaulted.

Suspicions rapidly fell on her parents, who resisted police attempts to interview them for months after the killing.