The family's longtime attorney, Lin Wood, said the district attorney's decision marked a welcome milestone in the family's "long and lonely journey" that continues along with the search for the child's killer.

"I'm just sorry that Patsy Ramsey is not here to read the (district attorney's) letter," Wood said.

Wood said the new evidence, which he described as "irrefutable" in clearing the Ramseys, would be checked against other profiles in the national DNA database managed by the FBI.

"The potential for this to be resolved is there," Wood says, adding that he plans to meet with Ramsey next week.

"I've never seen John exhibit bitterness or anger," Wood said. "These people had a dignity about them, an unusual grace under fire."