Prosecutors in Colorado said Wednesday that new DNA tests have categorically absolved the parents of U.S. child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey of her unsolved murder almost 12 years ago.

In a letter addressed to the Ramsey family and released to the media, prosecutors in the U.S., by the voice of Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy, apologized for contributing to suspicions over the family. Prosecutors reached the conclusion that new testing techniques on male DNA found on JonBenet's clothes did not match any family members.

"This new scientific evidence convinces us that it is appropriate ... to state that we do not consider your immediate family, including you, your wife Patsy, and your son Burke, to be under any suspicion in the commission of this crime," said Lacy.

JonBenet Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado, on December 26, 1996. John Ramsey, the child’s father, found the body while Patsy Ramsey, his wife and JonBenet’s natural mother, discovered a ransom note. Although the investigation hardly advanced, both of the Ramseys and Burke, JonBenet’s elder brother, soon came under suspicion.

According to prosecutor Lacy, analyzing DNA samples from Ramsey’s underpants using a new technique revealed that an unidentified outsider had been involved.

Videos of the tiny blonde competing in child beauty pageants and the suspicion surrounding her parents, made headlines around the world. No one has ever been charged. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer in 2006, still struggling to clear her name.

Teacher John Mark Karr, 43, was arrested in Thailand two years ago after confessing to JonBenet’s murder but was released when DNA evidence showed he could not have been the killer.