JonBenet Ramsey docu-series and TV movie in the works at different networks

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Lifetime says production has begun on Who Killed JonBenet?, an original TV movie it plans to air in the fall.

Starring Payton Lepinski, Eion Bailey, Michel Gill and Julia Campbell, the small-screen drama is based on the true story of JonBenet Ramsey, the six-year-old beauty queen whose 1996 slaying in her Colorado home remains unsolved.

"Who Killed JonBenet? revisits the infamous murder of pint-sized beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey and the lurid details that captivated the nation," a press release said. "Starting with the 911 call and investigation led by Detective Steve Thomas, Who Killed JonBenet? provides a closer look into what exactly happened the day after Christmas 1996, when she was found beaten and strangled in the family's basement. With the addition of recently surfaced information, the film takes a fresh look at the events and the competing theories about the murder. Were Patsy and John Ramsey responsible or covering for someone else in the family? Was this a kidnapping gone wrong, or was this the work of a predator who had seen JonBenet in one of her pageants? Twenty years after the tragic events, the question remains: Who killed JonBenet?"

The cable network announced the project Wednesday, the same day CBS said it was working on The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey, a six-hour limited docu-series from executive producers Tom Forman and Eddie Schmidt.

The program will feature interviews with original investigators from the case, including former New York City prosecutor, retired FBI supervisory special agent and profiler Jim Clemente; world-renowned forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee; former chief investigator for the District Attorney in Boulder, Colo., James Kolar; leading forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz; and retired FBI supervisory special agent and forensic linguistic profiler James Fitzgerald.

New experts reviewing the case are former New Scotland Yard criminal behavioral analyst Laura Richards and retired FBI supervisory special agent and statement analyst Stan Burke.

The series will be broadcast Sept. 18, 19 and 25.