Grand jurors actually voted to indict JonBenet Ramsey's parents on charges of child abuse resulting in death, according to the Feb. 11 edition of People Magazine.
A conviction for the offense in the indictment could have resulted in a prison sentence up to 48 years.
People Magazine cited Boulder's Daily Camera as its source for the article.
"We felt the adults in the house may have done something that they certainly could have prevented, or they could have helped her and they didn't," one grand juror said to the Daily Camera.
It was in 1999 that D.A. Alex Hunter announced a partial version of the grand jury's findings.
"Our attorneys had us prepared to go to jail," father John Ramsey said of himself and then wife Patsy Ramsey of the moments before the dramatic announcement.
What Hunter evidently neglected to tell everyone was that the grand jurors had actually voted to indict the Ramseys, according to the People Magazine report.
Instead of revealing the grand jury's vote, Hunter simply said that he lacked "sufficient evidence" to file charges against anyone."
He released the grand jury.
Hunter never signed the indictment.
An assistant DA in the office called Hunter's determination not to prosecute the case the right decision because he believed it was unwinnable.
However, defense attorney Scott Robinson, a Denver expert on the case, called Hunter's decision "unprecedented".
John Ramsey, who was officially cleared in 2008 along with his deceased wife Patsy, didn't appear to be bothered by this latest revelation.
"It's just more drama," said Ramsey, now 69, who lives with his third wife, Jan, in Nevada and Michigan.
Since the statute of limitations has run on the indictment, that particular charge can never be prosecuted, according to James Kolar, an investigator when Hunter was in office.
However, there is no statute of limitations for the crime of murder.
Will this case ever be solved?
Only time will tell.
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