BOULDER, Colo. - A man suspected in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in a surprise breakthrough in one of the nation’s most lurid murder cases — a decade-old crime some feared would never be solved.
District Attorney Mary Lacy said the arrest followed several months of work. She would not disclose any details about the suspect, but the Ramsey family’s attorney in Atlanta said the man was a schoolteacher who once lived in nearby Conyers, Ga.
Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, a 42-year-old American, and said he was already being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. CBS reported he will be brought back to the United States this weekend.
The Ramsey family attorney, Lin Wood, refused to say if the Ramseys knew the suspect and said he knew nothing else about the man. JonBenet was born in Atlanta in 1990, and the Ramseys lived in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody for several years before moving to Colorado in 1991. The couple moved back to Atlanta after their daughter’s slaying.
Wood said the arrest was vindication for JonBenet’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, who had come under suspicion in the slaying. The attorney said the Ramseys learned about the suspect a least a month before Patsy Ramsey’s death June 24 after a long battle with ovarian cancer.
“It’s been a very long 10 years, and I’m just sorry Patsy isn’t here for me to hug her neck,” Wood said.
Murder and ransom noteJonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of the family’s home in Boulder on Dec. 26, 1996. Patsy Ramsey reported finding a ransom note demanding $118,000 for her daughter.
The image of blonde-haired JonBenet in a cowgirl costume and other beauty pageant outfits has haunted TV talk shows ever since, helping feed myriad theories about her killer.
Investigators said at one point that JonBenet’s parents were under an “umbrella of suspicion” in the slaying. But the Ramseys insisted an intruder killed their daughter, and no one was ever charged.
In the months after the slaying, Patsy Ramsey went before the cameras, vigorously defending herself and her husband, chastising the media and blasting local law enforcement as incompetent.
Over the years, some experts suggested that investigators had botched the case so thoroughly that it might never be solved.
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Timeline: Key events in the JonBenet Ramsey case
In a statement Wednesday, John Ramsey said: “Patsy was aware that authorities were close to making an arrest in the case and had she lived to see this day, would no doubt have been as pleased as I am with today’s development almost 10 years after our daughter’s murder.”
Lib Waters of Marietta, Ga., visited the gravesites of Patsy and JonBenet Ramsey in the Atlanta suburb immediately after hearing news reports about the arrest.
Waters, who described herself as a longtime friend of the Ramsey family, taped a piece of notebook paper to JonBenet Ramsey’s headstone that read: “Dearest Patsy, Justice has come for you and Jon. Rest in peace.”
Work of an intruder, judge concludedIn 2003, a federal judge in Atlanta concluded that the evidence she reviewed suggested an intruder killed JonBenet. That opinion came with the judge’s decision to dismiss a libel and slander lawsuit against the Ramseys by a freelance journalist, whom the Ramseys had named as a suspect in their daughter’s murder. The Boulder district attorney at the time said she agreed with the judge’s declaration.
Wood said Wednesday’s arrest further vindicated his clients.
“I am sure there were still doubts in the minds of individuals whose thinking had been poisoned against this family because of the years of false accusations,” Wood said.
“Today is additional vindication of the family, but I think that knowledgeable individuals familiar with the evidence in the case have known for many years that this family was falsely accused, that they were innocent and that what they lived through in the last 10 years was an American tragedy.”
Wood said he and the Ramseys “have been totally amazed and impressed with the professionalism of law enforcement” under Lacy’s direction. Lacy became district attorney in 2001.
KUSA-TV of Denver, citing no sources, reported that the suspect has confessed to certain elements of the crime.
Bob Grant, a former Adams County district attorney who worked on the case, said there was never enough evidence to convince him that any potential suspect could be successfully prosecuted.
“I wasn’t convinced it was an inside job, nor was I convinced it was an outside job,” he said. “All the outside suspects were cleared after exhaustive investigation, and there were a whole lot of outside suspects.”
A reminder of events:
1996
Dec. 26
ZUMA PressJonBenet Ramsey, 6, is found dead in the basement of her Boulder, Colo., home. Patsy Ramsey says she found a ransom note demanding $118,000 for her daughter.
Dec. 31
Ramsey family hires attorney, publicist and investigators.
1997
Feb. 24
Ramsey spokesman says family members know they are “at the top of the list of possible suspects.”
April 18
District Attorney Alex Hunter says Ramseys are under an “umbrella of suspicion.”
April 30
Ramseys interviewed by police in first formal sessions.
May 14
Two detectives, including the first to arrive at the Ramsey home, are removed from the case.
Oct. 10
Police Chief Tom Koby admits mistakes made early in the case.
1998
June 23-25
Ramseys are questioned by police, their first interviews in more than a year. JonBenet’s brother Burke, 9 at the time of her death, is interviewed for six hours.
Sept. 15
Grand jury begins investigation.
1999
Oct. 13
District attorney says no indictments will be issued, cites a lack of sufficient evidence.
2002
Dec. 20
New District Attorney Mary Keenan takes over investigation and promises a fresh look.
2003
March 31
A federal judge in Atlanta concludes that the weight of the evidence is more consistent with the intruder theory than with the theory that Patsy Ramsey killed JonBenet.
April 7
Keenan issues a statement agreeing with the judge.
June
Retired detective Tom Bennett is hired by the Boulder district attorney’s office to lead a refocused investigation.
2004
June 4
The Ramseys’ attorney says DNA found in JonBenet’s underwear did not match any samples in an FBI database of convicted violent offenders.
Source: The Associated Press
© 2006 The Associated Press. Reference only.
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5 comments:
I recall SOUTH PARK did a parody on this murder, along with the OJ Simpson case and that senator. In it, Butters accidentally discovers his father is having gay sex and innocently tells his mother, who then goes mad and attempts to kill her son to protect him. When his pater and mater confront each other about what they've done, they try to patch things up and cover up the 'murder' of their son by blaming an intruder. Soon the media jumps on board, looking for the villain. To console the grieving parents come The Empathisers: OJ, the Ramseys and the Senator, all relating how 'a stranger' killed their loved ones. When the parents are reunited with their son, they tell the truth. In doing so, they shout at the Empathisers to stop lying and tell the truth too, that they were the ones who killed their loved ones.
I wonder if the Misters Parker and Stone will do a retraction episode.
Further developments to follow. But first, I had already begun working on a story-line for Castro Straits based on recent events which had a high-profile unsolved murder case reach a similar breakthrough. Later, after the suspect is extradited back to the US, it's learnt that he feigned involvement in order to duck suspicion of another crime whilst abroad and enable him to get a free trip home. Unfortunately for the Fake, another person connected to the case thinks he's the real murderer.
BOULDER, Colo. - For a moment, it seemed the decade-old mystery surrounding the slaying of a child beauty queen had been solved. But authorities Thursday cautioned against rushing to judge the schoolteacher who made a stunning confession that he killed JonBenet Ramsey.
For now, the only public evidence against John Mark Karr is his own words. And questions have already been raised about the details of his story, including whether he drugged the 6-year-old girl, sexually assaulted her or was even in Colorado at the time of the slaying.
Those questions led some to wonder whether Karr was the answer to the long-unsolved slaying or a disturbed wannabe trying to insert himself into a high-profile case.
“We should all heed the poignant advice of John Ramsey,” Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy, quoting the little girl’s father. “Do not jump to conclusions, do not rush to judgment, do not speculate. Let the justice system take its course.”
Paraded before a raucous crush of reporters in Bangkok, Thailand, the sullen Karr told how he loved JonBenet, was with her when she died but that her death was an accident. And while vague on the details — “it would take several hours” — he answered flatly when asked if he was innocent: “No.”
“The bottom line is that they now have a confession and until and unless they can corroborate that confession with either physical evidence or strong circumstantial evidence, that’s all they have,” said Scott Robinson, a Denver attorney who has followed the case from the beginning.
Added former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman: “I have to believe they have more than this kooky confession.”
Holes in Karr’s story
Karr told investigators he drugged and sexually assaulted the little girl before accidentally killing her in her Boulder home, according to a senior Thai police officer who was briefed about the interview with U.S. authorities.
Yet JonBenet’s autopsy report found no evidence of drugs, saying her death was caused by strangulation after a beating that included a fractured skull. And while it describes vaginal injuries, it makes no conclusions about whether she was raped. Investigators later concluded there was no semen on JonBenet’s body.
According to Thai police, Karr also said he picked JonBenet up at school and took her back to her home. But the slaying came during the holiday vacation season.
Karr’s ex-wife told TV reporters she cannot defend him, then insisted he was with her in Alabama during Christmas 1996, when JonBenet’s battered body was found in the basement of her home.
And authorities have not said whether Karr could have written the detailed ransom note found in the Ramsey home, with its demand for $118,000 (the bonus that had recently been awarded to the girl’s father, John Ramsey).
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Fact file: Disparities in JonBenet confession
Discuss: Your thoughts on JonBenet case
Timeline: Key events in investigation
Karr’s description of the case as an accident also rang false to experts.
“It’s hard to imagine a more intentional, deliberate murder than hitting a little girl in the head so hard that she had almost a foot-long fracture in her skull and then deliberately fashioning a garrote to twist until it buries in her neck and slowly stops her breathing,” said Silverman, the former Denver prosecutor. “This has always been a case of deliberate murder.”
Lara Karr, who lived with him in Northern California, said her ex-husband spent a lot of time studying the cases of Ramsey and Polly Klaas, who was abducted from her Petaluma, Calif., home and slain in 1993.
Even the Colorado professor who swapped four years’ worth of e-mails with Karr and brought him to the attention of prosecutors in May refused to characterize the suspect either as killer or kook.
“I don’t know that he’s guilty,” said Michael Tracey, who teaches journalism at the University of Colorado. “Obviously, I went to the district attorney for a reason, but let him have his day in court and let JonBenet have her day in court and let’s see how it plays out.”
‘Not what it seems to be’
Karr himself added to the mystery, telling The Associated Press in Bangkok that JonBenet’s death was “not what it seems to be.”
Asked what happened when JonBenet died, he said: “It would take several hours to describe that. It’s a very involved series of events that would involve a lot of time. It’s very painful for me to talk about it.”
Karr’s background includes an arrest in Petaluma in April 2001 on five misdemeanor counts of possession of child pornography, to which he pleaded not guilty. He had not been seen by authorities after violating the terms of his release, which included avoiding child pornography and places where children congregate, such as schools, beaches and parks.
Any previous relationship between Karr and the Ramseys remained a mystery Thursday, though both have ties to suburban Atlanta. District Attorney Lacy refused to discuss the case during a brief news conference and suggested Karr’s arrest may have been forced by concern over public safety and fears the suspect might flee.
“There are circumstances that exist in any case that mandate an arrest before an investigation is complete,” Lacy said.
Thai police said Karr told them the slaying was only second-degree murder. One expert suggested his confession was geared to spare him a first-degree murder charge.
“He seemed convinced that what he said would make him guilty of a lesser crime,” said Sharon L. Davies, a former prosecutor at the Ohio State University law school who has studied confessions. “It’s hard to understand how that would be the case and how the physical evidence that has been at least reported about her killing would support his description of this as an accident.”
Legal experts said DNA evidence will likely be key: DNA was found beneath JonBenet’s fingernails and inside her underwear and authorities have never said whether it matches anyone in an FBI database. U.S. and Thai officials did not directly answer a question at a news conference about whether there was DNA evidence connecting Karr to the crime.
Karr was given a mouth-swab DNA test in Bangkok, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. The results of that test were not immediately known. Karr will be given another DNA test when he returns to the United States in the next several days, the official said.
‘Serious questions’ about the case
Karr will be taken within the week to Colorado, where he will face charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and child sexual assault, Ann Hurst of the Department of Homeland Security told reporters in Bangkok.
Lin Wood, the Ramsey family’s longtime attorney in Atlanta, said Karr went to great lengths to conceal his identity in e-mails to the university professor, going so far as to use a computer server in Canada.
Asked if authorities could tell whether Karr had firsthand knowledge of the murder or had just picked up information from news accounts, Wood said: “There is information about the murder that has never been publicly disclosed.” He did not elaborate.
Karr’s ex-wife was quoted by San Francisco television station KGO saying she was with her former husband in Alabama at the time of JonBenet’s killing and she does not believe he was involved in the homicide.
Denver attorney Larry Pozner, past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said there were “serious questions” about the case.
“I hope we have found the murderer of JonBenet, but I have not heard the evidence that compels that conclusion,” he said.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved Archival reference use only.
On Tuesday, prosecutors offered Karr a plea deal that would waive three of the five child pornography possession charges against Karr if he pleaded guilty to the two remaining ones. Karr would get credit for time served, would be placed on probation for three years and would be required to register as a sex offender.
“I wonder if that was the impetus of the offer today,” Karr’s attorney, Robert Amparan, said. “It seems like a pretty embarrassing mistake for the Sheriff’s Department to admit.”
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Assistant District Attorney Larry Scoufos denied any connection between the missing computer and the plea deal offer.
Karr first made headlines when he was arrested last month after making phone calls and writing e-mails suggesting he killed JonBenet, a six-year-old beauty queen, in her Boulder, Colo., home in 1996.
He was returned to the U.S. from Thailand only to have the Ramsey case collapse when DNA failed to connect him to the crime.
© 2006 The Associated Press
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. - John Mark Karr, who made what turned out to be bogus claims of killing JonBenet Ramsey, was jailed Saturday in a domestic argument at his father’s house in suburban Atlanta.
Officers received a 911 call late Friday from the house about an argument between Karr, his girlfriend and his father, Sandy Springs Police Lt. Steve Rose said.
Karr, who was arrested last summer in Thailand after making bizarre, detailed confessions in the 6-year-old beauty contestant’s death, was arrested in the domestic case shortly before midnight and charged with battery and obstruction.
Officers took Karr to a hospital after he complained of chest pains, and took him to jail late Saturday morning, Rose said. No other details were immediately released.
Karr’s confession last summer was a sudden turn in the decade-old Ramsey killing in Boulder, Colo.
But after Karr, a sometime teacher obsessed with the little girl’s slaying, was brought back to the U.S., he was freed for lack of corroboration for his claims — or even any solid indication he’d been near Boulder at the time of the killing.
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