If you have a hankering for a nearly century-old Tudor-style home in a tony neighborhood just blocks from the University of Colorado at Boulder, the iconic house where JonBenet Ramsey died can be yours for $7 million.
Never mind the annoying stream of looky-loos who still trickle by to see for themselves where the child died 27 years ago.
Tim and Carol Milner bought the home in 2004 and though it was offered for sale several times in the last 19 years, it never sold.
A call to LIV Sotheby Realty was unreturned, but tours for interested buyers started this weekend.
Carol Milner is the daughter of “Hour of Power” televangelist Robert Schuler and has said in previous interviews that though she was hesitant to move in at first, she came to love the home. She told Westword that she would sit during quiet times at night to watch shooting stars.
She did not respond to a text from The Denver Gazette to expand further.
The mansion is one of the most iconic tourist sites in Boulder. In fact, street traffic got so bad in the years after the murder, someone installed a tall wrought-iron fence with brick pillars, a security gate and a grove of trees in the front yard to provide privacy.
The LIV Sotheby’s Zillow description describes the 15-room house as having “stunning curb appeal.” It further invites future owners to “Relax in the 1,141 sq. ft. top floor penthouse primary suite with two full baths, fireplace, intricate millwork, incredible Flatiron and city views." The room this description is referring to is John and Patsy Ramsey's former master bedroom suite.
Are realtors required to disclose a murder?
The ad ignores the basement where John Ramsey found his daughter’s body except to say it is “partially finished.”
There are reports that the dark, windowless utility room where JonBenet was discovered has been sealed off with dry wall.
Andrew Malkoski, Associate Broker and minority owner with The Denver 100, said there are laws around whether a realtor must disclose whether a murder or death happened in a home. Section 5.2.5 in the exclusive seller agency contract by state law states that realtors are not required to talk about any “facts or suspicions regarding circumstances that could psychologically impact or stigmatize the property.”
For example, Malkoski said "If there was a death in the house, the estate doesn’t necessarily have to disclose that. But it’s up to the seller to specifically ask the realtor not to say anything about it," he said. “Realtors have a duty to decide whether to take the listing with those options.”
This law doesn't apply in this case as most everyone knows the history of the 7,240 sq. foot home.
The Ramsey home's history
The house had a somewhat storied history.
It sat empty for two years after the child’s death and then it was bought by a group of investors for $650,000 in Feb. 1998. A CU strength and conditioning coach lived in it as a renter before he moved out in 2001. That year the original address of 755 15th Street was changed to 749 15th Street.
The Milners bought it for just over a million dollars three years later.
The Ramsey family never returned to the home after they were whisked out by police on the afternoon of Dec. 26, 1996. When they left, JonBenet’s body was lying underneath the Christmas tree and stayed there until the Boulder County coroner showed up that night.
An autopsy was performed the next day in which JonBenet’s death was attributed to “asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma,” meaning that she was beaten and strangled.
The home was referred to as “that hellhole” by Patsy Ramsey’s mother, Nedra Paugh, when asked by a reporter if they would ever go back to live.
Boulder Police maintain that the investigation into JonBenet Ramsey’s death is still an open case.