'He was a hellraiser': JonBenet Ramsey private investigator opens up about man who may be responsible for six-year-old pageant queen's 1996 murder who killed himself just months after the crime

A private investigator who has spent two decades on the JonBenet Ramsey murder case says there has been a new break in the case. 

In an interview with the Today show on Friday, Ollie Gray said a local 26-year-old man named Michael Helgoth may have been involved in the six-year-old pageant queen's disturbing 1996 murder and that a taped confession may even exist. 

'There are probably three or four people who should have been investigated earlier and still need to be investigated,' Gray told NBC. 

'The latest development in this particular case as far as I'm concerned is Michael Helgoth. He was basically a hellraiser,' Gray added. 

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Ollie Gray, a private investigator originally hired by JonBenet Ramsey's family to investigate her murder, says he believes a 26-year-old man named Michael Helgoth was behind the 1996 killing 

Helgoth's name reportedly came up early on in the investigation, but Boulder, Colorado investigators never got any answers because he committed suicide just months after the murder. 

Gray says he has reason to believe though that Helgoth may have admitted to the murder in front of family and friends, in a taped confession.   

'I don't think Mike did all of this by himself,' Gray added, inferring that Helgoth may have been murdered by a conspirator to keep his mouth shut. 

Gray blames the 'totally inexperienced' Boulder police for not investigating Helgoth as a possible suspect earlier on. 

'You have to look for something in order to find something, and unfortunately for this particular case you gotta totally inexperienced police agency,' he said.  

Case solved? Helogth, a local 26-year-old man whose family owned a junkyard in the city, committed suicide months after 6-year-old JonBenet's murder 

Linked? Gray called Helgoth (pictured) a 'hellraiser' and says he may have been killed by a co-conspirator in the murder  

Gray was originally hired by the Ramsey family to independently investigate JonBenet's murder, but has continued to work the case for free for several years. 

He remains optimistic that the girl's killer will eventually be found, settling a decades-long cold case. 

'If you are asking whether or not I think that somebody will eventually be caught - yes I do. somebody out there knows what has gone on,' he said.  

Gray's interview comes just a month after he spoke out to InTouch over his suspicions of Helgoth.   

'Based on what we know now, I believe Helgoth and his accomplices committed the crime. There's no doubt about it,' said Gray. 

His opinion was backed up by John Kenady, a man who used to work for Helgoth, who told the magazine; 'There was a tape recording made by Helgoth. And in it, he said he killed JonBenet.' 

Helgoth's family owned a junkyard on the outskirts of the city.

Kenady also claims that someone close to Helgoth still has the tape, which was overlooked by police during the investigation. 

Family: Her parents were the primary suspects in the case for over a decade, but were finally cleared in 2008, two years after Patsy died of ovarian cancer (JonBenet, John, Patsy and Burke in their 1993 Christmas photo)

Kenady claims that he first grew suspicious of Helgoth a month before the murder.

'In late November, Helgoth had told me that he and a partner were going to make a great deal and they each will bring in around $50,000 or $60,000,' said Kenady.

'I will never forget we were walking toward his house and he said, "I wonder what it would be like to crack a human skull."

'I was amazed. I thought it was a very odd thing to say.'

The body of JonBenet was found bludgeoned and strangled hours after she was reported missing and covered by a white blanket with a nylon cord around her neck, her wrists bound above her head and her mouth covered by duct tape.

Her skull was also cracked. 

Her parents John and Patsy had called police to report her kidnapping and said they found a note demanding a ransom of $118,000 for her safe return - and that they had not contact the authorities.

Despite this, police arrived to their home shortly after in clearly marked vehicles.

John and Patsy would remain the primary suspects in their daughter's death for more than a decade, and it was not until 2008 that police finally cleared them of any wrongdoing.

At that time, Patsy had been dead for two years after a lengthy battle with ovarian cancer.

She was initially suspected by many of being the murderer after reports emerged that handwriting on the ransom note was similar to her own, but after she willingly provided a sample to police it was determined she did not write the note.

Many also suspected someone in the family as they claimed there were no footprints in the snow around the house and the ransom amount was the exact amount that John had just received in his annual bonus.

Gray however says that if police had just listened to Kenady they could have solved the case, but they refused to call him back despite the fact that he reached out almost 20 times with information about Helgoth.

Tragedy: The body of JonBenet (above in 1996), a child beauty queen, was found bludgeoned and strangled in her basement on December 26, 1996 when she was just six-years-old

'Kenady provided very relevant information that should have been a priority lead,' said Gray.

'But I got the distinct feeling that the Boulder police had absolutely no interest in anything that took away from the theory that John and Patsy Ramsey killed their daughter.' 

Then, on February 13, 1997, Alex Hunter, who was then the district attorney, held a press conference where he spoke to JonBenet's unknown killer, saying; 'The list of suspect narrows. Soon there will be no one on the list but you.' 

Helgoth died of an apparent suicide two days later at his home. Kenady believes he was murdered by an accomplice or accomplices who were with him when he killed JonBenet.

'The gun was found on Helgoth's right side, but the bullet hole goes from left to right. It doesn't make sense why someone would commit suicide in that manner,' said Kenady.

'He was murdered to keep his mouth shut.'

A few years after his death however Helgoth was cleared when it was revealed that none of his DNA was found under JonBenet's fingernails or in her underwear. 

Gray however thinks that he is the killer, and claims he knows how to officially solve the case once and for all. 

'If they could find out who killed Helgoth it could lead police to his accomplices in her murder,' he explains.

Difficult: John says that after his daughter's death, he and his wife Patsy did everything they could to could son Burke from the allegations he killed his sister (John above in 2006 with his father at his mother's funeral)

Suspects: John and Patsy Ramsey leave their attorney Lin Wood's office after questioning by Boulder Police shortly after their daughter's death

Many however still believe it was a member of the family, something JonBenet's father addressed in an interview with Barbara Walters that aired last year. 

Appearing on Barbara Walters Presents American Scandals, John said that he and his late-wife Patsy did everything they could to protect their son Burke from learning that he was being accused of murdering his sister.

No one in the family was ever charged in the death of the six-year-old, but for years tabloids and members of the public believed they were the culprits of this unspeakable crime.

Most of these stories focused on parents John and Patsy, but some went so far as to claim that Burke had been responsible for his sister's death - despite the fact that he was only nine-years-old at the time.

'We tried to shield him from that,' John said.

'Friends would ask us, "What can we do to help?" We said, "Next time you go in the supermarket, call the manager over when you see our child’s photo on the front cover, and ask him to remove it." A lot of them did that.'

Stories would point to the fact that Burke was in the house when JonBenet was reported missing, but his parents always stood firm on the fact that he was sleeping the entire time and did not wake up until after they called police.

He was exonerated by DNA evidence in May of 1999, a little over two years after the murder.

Burke - who is now 29-years-old - has never spoken publicly about his sister's death and has kept a low profile for the past decade.

John also said that he still believes the killer will be found.

'I think we will have two ways that will happen,' John tells Walters in their interview.

'It will either be a DNA match or someone who knows something will become angry or bitter against this person and will tell.'

Male DNA was found on the underwear of JonBenet when her body was discovered, but authorities have never been able to match it to a suspect.

There was also a bowl of pineapples found in the kitchen when the young girl was first reported missing but police on the scene allowed someone to clean the bowl.

This ended up being a crucial error as JonBenet was found with pineapple in her stomach when her body was examined by the coroner.

The house was also not sealed off by police and friends and family were allowed to come and go during the initial investigation, contaminating the crime scene. 

Scene: The Boulder home where the family lived at the time of JonBenet's murder, which was sold for $650,000 in 1998 

John - who was briefly linked to Natalee Holloway's mother Beth in 2007 and remarried in 2011 to Jan Rousseaux - also discussed how he lost his millions after the death of JonBenet when he decided to move the family out of Boulder and back to Atlanta, not realizing the stigma that would be placed on him by the public and how difficult that would make it for him to obtain a job.

'I was told by a very experienced FBI person that most victims of violent crime end up broke,' said John.

'It's very expensive to deal with the justice system. You make bad decisions - you sell your home, you quit your job, you move, you change jobs.'

In addition to losing JonBenet, John had also lost his oldest daughter Elizabeth from a previous marriage in 1992 when she was 22-years-old after she was in a car accident.

As a result of what he has gone through, he now has advice for others who might face a similarly tragic situation.

'When something really tragic happens in your life, put your life in park. Give your checkbook to a trusted friend. Avoid making any big decisions,' said John.

'Because you're just not capable of making good decisions.' 

The case will be revisited later this year on CBS, where they are planning an unscripted miniseries which will reunite members of the original investigation team and bring in new experts to re-examine the murder mystery.

JonBenet, who would now be 25 years old, is buried next to her mother Patsy in Georgia. 

Two detectives remain assigned to the case and review tips on a regular basis, the Boulder Police said in a statement to NBC.