Because Of Unsigned Indictment
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4170502.html
The unsealing of the four-page indictment 14 years after the grand jurors convened revealed that they voted to charge both John and Patsy Ramsey with child abuse resulting in death and being an accessory to a crime, including first-degree murder of their daughter, though never directly accusing them of killing her. Being convicted of "knowingly and recklessly" causing child abuse resulting in death is a Class 2 felony that could have carried a sentence of four to 48 years in prison, though the three-year statute of limitations had long expired by the time the public ever heard about the indictment.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4170502.html