Less than a year after burying his wife Patsy next to their murdered daughter JonBenet, John Ramsey is in love.

And incredibly, the woman who captured his heart is Beth Twitty, mother of missing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway.

Their common bond of coping with tragedy helped start the romance. John's lawyer Lin Wood told The ENQUIRER: "John and Beth have a great deal of respect and admiration for each other in terms of how they have publicly and privately handled their respective tragedies."

Their lives torn apart by unsolved crimes that made international headlines, John, 63, and Beth, 46, first met at the Nashville Speakers Bureau, where they are among the organization's motivational speakers.

Their agent Jay Pesek told The ENQUIRER that love bloomed for his clients late last year. "It would have been sometime in the fall when Beth and John were here together. That's when they first met," said Pesek.

Beth's husband George filed for divorce on Dec. 29 last year, although the couple had separated earlier. Their divorce became final on April 20.

But as early as last January, John and Beth were having dinner and shopping together in Birmingham and nearby Mountain Brook, where Beth lived.

"They looked cozy," said a source, who revealed John and Beth enjoyed romantic dinners at Satterfield's restaurant in Birmingham.

Another Birmingham insider told The ENQUIRER that John and Beth "have been seen shopping together in Mountain Brook, looking very much in love."

Beth has also visited John at his home in Charlevoix, Mich., where he took her to Whitney's, one of the town's most popular restaurants. "People couldn't believe their eyes - John Ramsey with Beth Twitty," said a town source. As the world knows, John and his wife Patsy, a former Miss America contestant, saw their lives change forever the day after Christmas 1996, when their 6-year-old daughter JonBenet, a kiddie beauty pageant queen, was brutally murdered in their home in Boulder, Colo. Patsy died last June from cancer.

Like John, Beth was thrust into the media spotlight when her 18-year-old daughter Natalee vanished on a trip with high school friends to the island of Aruba in May 2005.

Although John hasn't introduced his new love to Patsy's family yet, they're convinced he'll marry Beth.

"He's not the kind to just date," said a family insider. "If he's in a relationship, he wants it to be a full commitment."

And John knows he would have Patsy's blessing. One family friend told The ENQUIRER: "The one person who wouldn't be upset is Patsy. As she lay dying, she told John she wanted him to find someone who'd take care of him."

By DON GENTILE and DAVID WRIGHT