Burke Ramsey filed the lawsuit Friday morning in the Third Circuit Court for Wayne County, Michigan, after Werner Spitz and other investigators appeared on "The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey," a CBS special that aired last month.
In an interview that aired as a part of the special, Spitz said: "It's the boy who did it, whether he was jealous, or mentally unfit or something … I don't know the why. I'm not a psychiatrist, but what I am sure about is what I know about him, that is what happened here."
JonBenét was 6 in December 1996 when her body was discovered in the basement of her family's Boulder, Colorado, home.
The child beauty queen was buried in Marietta, Georgia, where her mother, Patsy Ramsey, was buried in 2006 after dying of cancer. The 20th anniversary of JonBenét's death has sparked renewed interest in the case.
Courthouse News Service reported that the lawsuit calls Spitz a "publicity seeker" and says that he "once again interjected himself into a high-profile case to make unsupported, false and sensational statements and accusations."
"Defendant Spitz harbored personal ill will and spite against the Ramsey family, including Burke Ramsey, because he believes the Ramsey family shut him out of the investigation -- thereby frustrating his pursuit of self-promotion," the paperwork says.
The complaint also says that Spitz accused Burke Ramsey "without ever examining JonBenet's body, without viewing the crime scene and without consulting the pathologist who performed the autopsy of JonBenet … This complaint seeks to hold defendant Spitz fully accountable for his vicious, unsupported attacks on this young man, which have needlessly and selfishly added to the already heavy burdens he endures while trying to lead as normal a life as possible under the circumstances."
Burke's attorney, L. Lin Wood, told E! News that "the accusations by Werner Spitz against this young man are outrageous. Such false accusations have no place in an orderly society. This lawsuit is the first step to holding Spitz accountable for his wrongdoing."
Ramsey seeks $50 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages from Spitz.
Cox Media Group
