Little girl's death transfixed nation

MOST Americans knew JonBenet Ramsey only in death - as the blonde-haired little girl in the ruffled pink cowgirl outfit, bouncing across the stage with a million-dollar smile.

"I want to be a cowboy sweetheart," she sang, with a white hat atop her moussed, golden curls.

The performance captured on video was played around the world after the six-year-old beauty pageant competitor was found strangled and beaten on December 26, 1996. The images persisted on TV talk shows for years afterwards, helping feed theories about her killer.