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   Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey

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Topic: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey (Read 299 times)

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Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« on: Aug 17^th, 2006, 4:22am »

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(CNN) -- In a shocking twist to an already bizarre and riveting mystery, Thai police on Thursday said the man arrested in connection with the 1996 slaying of little JonBenet Ramsey has confessed to the crime.

The suspect, John Mark Karr, 41, told interrogators that he didn't mean to kill the 6-year-old girl, authorities said.

Karr's arrest came nearly a decade after the body of the child beauty queen was found in the basement of her family's sprawling Boulder, Colorado, home -- setting off a media sensation and years of speculation regarding her killer.

The arrest also came less than two months after the little girl's mother died of cancer at age 49.

Karr is a former schoolteacher and an American citizen. He was arrested Wednesday at his apartment in Bangkok.

Lt. Gen. Suwat Thamrongrisakul, chief of Thai immigration, said Karr had confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey but that he claimed the killing wasn't intentional.

According to colleagues at the Thai detention center where Karr was questioned, the suspect asked police what charges he was facing and when they replied first-degree murder, he said: "No, it's second-degree -- it wasn't intentional," Suwat said during a news conference in Bangkok. (Watch authorities describe what Karr has said -- 14:54)

Karr will be extradited to Boulder within the next week and has been charged with murder, kidnapping and sexual assault on a child, Ann Hurst, Department of Homeland Security attache at the American Embassy in Bangkok, said. Thai officials said Karr's visa had been revoked.

The former schoolteacher had been a suspect for "a while," Hurst said, adding that her office and the Thai police worked closely for two months on the case before a judge believed there was enough probable cause for an arrest.

Karr was "surprised" when he was arrested at his Bangkok apartment, according to Hurst, who was present at the time, and asked why he was being detained.

Two law enforcement sources told CNN that Karr was under investigation for an unrelated sex crime when information led to his arrest in the Ramsey case.

Mary Lacy, the district attorney in Boulder, said in a written statement the suspect was arrested "following several months of a focused and complex investigation." Lacy's statement did not identify the suspect. (Watch how the investigation was a "complex" one -- 1:51)

Law enforcement officials said the investigation was being led by the Boulder County District Attorney's Office, along with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A horrific slaying
The arrest will likely dispel the cloud of suspicion that has hung over JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, ever since the girl's death on Dec. 26, 1996, in their Boulder home.

It was John Ramsey who found his daughter's body. Earlier that morning, the girl had been reported missing, and Patsy Ramsey reported finding a three-page ransom letter demanding $118,000 on a staircase in the home.

Autopsy results showed JonBenet had received a massive blow to the head and was strangled with a rope that the killer tightened by twisting an attached paint brush handle.

The Ramseys maintained an intruder killed their daughter, but they remained the subject of suspicion and speculation in the case, which provided years of fodder for news networks and tabloids. Though no one was ever named as a suspect, at one point the Boulder police said the Ramseys were under "an umbrella of suspicion."

Officials: Online communications were key to probe
Karr confessed to some elements of the crime, law enforcement officials earlier told CNN, and had been communicating off and on with someone in Boulder who was working with law enforcement on the case. Earlier, CNN affiliate KUSA had reported that the elements the suspect had confessed to were unknown to the public.

Karr's online communications were a key part of the probe, the officials said.

The arrest came too late for Patsy Ramsey, who died in June of ovarian cancer at age 49. However, John Ramsey said he and his wife knew investigators were pursuing a suspect prior to her death.

"The investigation of the individual arrested today in connection with JonBenet's death was discussed with Patsy and me by the Boulder district attorney's office prior to Patsy's death in June," he said in a written statement. "So 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." (Read the full statement)

John Ramsey told KUSA on Wednesday, "I was notified this morning that an arrest had been made. I'm just absolutely impressed with the effort that went into accomplishing this by the Boulder DA's office and the other agencies that were involved. ... It's just beyond impressive what they accomplished."

But Ramsey also added a note of caution.

"Based on what happened to us, I don't think it's proper that we speculate or discuss the case," John Ramsey told KUSA. "It's important that justice be allowed to run its course and do its job."

"We have, in a sense, turned the justice process over to the media," he said. "I think it's gotten out of control."

Pam Paugh, Patsy Ramsey's sister, said, "I don't feel that I need to stand here and say to the world, 'I told you so.' We are a family that has lived on the truth, and the truth as we knew it was that neither John nor Patsy, Burke (JonBenet's older brother) nor any other family member had ever laid a hand on JonBenet." (Watch JonBenet's aunt react to the arrest -- 4:36)

Lacy's office has scheduled a news conference on Thursday.

Suspect's brother: 'Whole thing is ridiculous'
Ramsey attorney Lin Wood of Atlanta said Karr "has some background" in Conyers, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb, and at one point was a schoolteacher.

Karr's father and brother still live in metro Atlanta, in the suburb of Sandy Springs, but were not home Wednesday night. However, Karr's brother, Nate, told CNN: "This whole thing is ridiculous."

Asked by KUSA whether he knew the suspect, John Ramsey said, "I really can't comment on that. To my knowledge, no, I didn't, but I don't know enough yet (to say for sure)."

The Ramseys also lived in the Atlanta area before they moved to Boulder. The day after JonBenet was buried in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, the Ramseys gave CNN an exclusive interview. "There is a killer on the loose," a tearful Patsy Ramsey said in that interview. "I don't know who it is. I don't know if it is a he or a she, but if I were a resident of Boulder, I would tell my friends to keep your babies close to you. There's someone out there."

Patsy Ramsey was laid to rest beside her daughter in Marietta. On Wednesday, a family friend taped a note to her grave. It read, "Dear Patsy, justice has come for you and John. Rest in peace."

Wood said he regretted "that Patsy's not here to be able to speak to you herself and express her feelings to you. I am confident she would urge the media to refrain from speculating about this individual, despite his arrest."

Speaking of John Ramsey, Wood said: "I know that he feels some sense of relief.

"I know that he feels that this is a major step, potentially, in the final resolution to the case. We may be, and I say may be, one step closer to the final resolution of the case. But again, I would urge that Mr. Karr be given the presumption of innocence."

A statement issued by another Ramsey attorney, Hal Haddon, said: "It is our hope that this arrest will bring some closure to the Ramsey family after a 10-year ordeal."

In 2003, a federal judge dismissed a libel-slander lawsuit against the Ramseys and said evidence suggested an intruder had killed JonBenet. The lawsuit had been filed by a freelance journalist whom the Ramseys had described as a suspect in a book they had written.

The Boulder County District Attorney's Office concurred with the judge's opinion the following month, saying there was little evidence against the couple.

Asked about the worst part of the whole ordeal, John Ramsey said, "The hardest part was losing a child, by far."

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Rhune
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Re: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« Reply #1 on: Aug 17^th, 2006, 1:16pm »

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JonBenet Ramsey suspect working as teacher
'I loved her,' man says, calling girl's death an accident

Thursday, August 17, 2006; Posted: 1:53 p.m. EDT (17:53 GMT)

BOULDER, Colorado (CNN) -- John Mark Karr, a 41-year-old schoolteacher, has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the 1996 killing of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, authorities said at a news conference Thursday in Boulder.

Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy wouldn't comment on the evidence, the nature of the investigation or the timing of Karr's arrest Wednesday in Thailand.

"There have been no charges filed at this time. There is a presumption of innocence," Lacy said.

The district attorney said authorities continue to examine evidence in the case. "There is much more work to be done," Lacy said.

"Let us do our job thoroughly and carefully," she told the media.

Karr had begun working as a second-grade teacher at the International School in Bangkok on Tuesday, Lacy said.

Authorities in Boulder said they had been searching for Karr for months.

Karr said in Bangkok he was with the child beauty queen when she died and called her death "an accident."

"I loved JonBenet," he said.

Asked by a reporter if he was an innocent man, Karr replied, "No."

Karr will be transferred to Boulder within the next week, said Ann Hurst, a Department of Homeland Security attache at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok.

Karr's arrest came nearly a decade after JonBenet's body was found in the basement of her Boulder home.

The arrest also came less than two months after JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, died of cancer at 49.

Karr told The Associated Press he wrote the girl's mother before she died to express his remorse.

"I conveyed to her many things, among them that I am so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet," he told the AP, which described him as sweating and stuttering.

Karr added that he believed Patsy Ramsey had read the letters he sent her.

According to colleagues at the Thai detention center where Karr was questioned, the suspect asked police what charges he was facing. When they replied first-degree murder, he said: "No, it's second-degree -- it wasn't intentional," said Thai police Gen. Suwat Thamrongrisakul.

Abduction gone awry?
Suwat quoted Karr as saying that he tried to kidnap JonBenet for $118,000 ransom but that the plan went awry and he strangled her, according to an AP report.

Karr had been a suspect for a while, Hurst said, adding that her office and the Thai police worked closely for two months before a judge believed probable cause existed for an arrest.

Authorities in Boulder said the FBI, police in Atlanta and Cobb County, Georgia, and diplomats in Washington and Bangkok assisted in the investigation.

Karr's arrest was the culmination of a probe that began after a University of Colorado professor, Michael Tracey, contacted authorities in Boulder.

Tracey, who produced a documentary about JonBenet's killing, had been in touch with Karr for at least two years, according to university spokesman Barrie Hartman.

A law enforcement official said that Karr's e-mails to Tracey were initially innocuous, but when they became "weird" the professor contacted authorities with information that included a code name for the source of the e-mails.

With the help of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, authorities tracked the communications to Thailand.

Karr's ex-wife, Lara Karr, told KGO-TV in California that she does not believe her former husband killed JonBenet because he was with her in Alabama at the time.

The arrest likely will dispel the cloud of suspicion that has hung over JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, ever since the girl's death on December 26, 1996.

John Ramsey discovered his daughter's body after the girl had been reported missing that morning and Patsy Ramsey said she found a ransom letter demanding $118,000.

Ramseys always blamed intruder
Autopsy results showed JonBenet received a massive blow to the head and was strangled with a rope that the killer tightened by twisting an attached paintbrush handle.

The Ramseys maintained an intruder killed their daughter, but they remained the subject of suspicion in the case. A grand jury investigation ended with no indictments.

Pam Paugh, Patsy Ramsey's sister, said, "I don't feel that I need to stand here and say to the world, 'I told you so.' We are a family that has lived on the truth, and the truth as we knew it was that neither John nor Patsy, Burke [JonBenet's older brother] nor any other family member had ever laid a hand on JonBenet." (Watch JonBenet's aunt react to the arrest -- 4:36)

Ramsey attorney Lin Wood said Karr "has some background" in Conyers, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb. Karr's father and brother live in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs.

Asked whether he knew the suspect, John Ramsey told KUSA-TV, "To my knowledge, no, I didn't, but I don't know enough yet to say for sure."

JonBenet is buried in Georgia, where the family lived before moving to Colorado.

Patsy Ramsey was laid to rest beside her daughter in Marietta, another Atlanta suburb. On Wednesday, a family friend taped a note to her grave. It read, "Dear Patsy, justice has come for you and John. Rest in peace."

CNN's Kelli Arena, Andy Flick, Randi Kaye, Jeanne Meserve, Ed Lavandera, Narunart Prapanya and Atika Shubert contributed to this report.

Copyright 2006 CNN.

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Rhune
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Re: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« Reply #2 on: Aug 17^th, 2006, 1:16pm »

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It seems odd that his ex-wife would insist he was with her in Georgia the night of the murder...either there was someone else involved or she's mistaken/covering for him.

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Re: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« Reply #3 on: Aug 17^th, 2006, 5:28pm »

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Karr's Chilling Confession

August 17, 2006

A surprise breakthrough in the 1996 murder of JONBENET RAMSEY has once again captivated the nation with the circumstances surrounding this disturbing and mysterious case.

Former school teacher JOHN MARK KARR reportedly confessed to accidentally killing JonBenet after he was arrested Bangkok, Thailand on Wednesday. He then gave a chilling press conference regarding the child beauty queen's death.

"I was with JonBenet when she died," Karr told reporters in Bangkok Thursday. "I loved JonBenet and she died accidentally."

When asked by a reporter if he was innocent, Karr replied, "No." He also confirmed that he was in the basement of the Ramseys' Colorado home, the scene of the crime.

Karr told an Associated Press reporter that he had been sending letters and attempting to communicate with the late PATSY RAMSEY before she died of ovarian cancer in June, revealing he'd conveyed how "very sorry" he was about JonBenet's death: "It's very important for me that everyone knows that I love her very much."

As details continue to trickle in about the events leading up to Karr's arrest, some analysts are reportedly unsure of his claims. Karr supposedly told Bangkok investigators that he drugged JonBenet and then had sex with her. However, an autopsy showed no drugs or alcohol in her body.

According to the AP, Karr's ex-wife, LARA, told KGO-TV that she didn't believe her former husband was the killer because he was with her in Alabama at the time of JonBenet's death.

Karr also reportedly had a fascination with child killings -- including the Ramsey case and the murder of POLLY KLAAS -- and was planning on writing a book about JonBenet.

Karr, 41, was living in Bangkok, Thailand and reportedly attempting to find work as a teacher there. He is being accompanied back to the United States within the week by an investigator from the Boulder County, CO, DA's office. He faces charges of first degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault on a child.

The Alabama native was previously arrested in Sonoma, CA in 2001 on five counts of possession of child pornography. After posting bond, Karr never showed up for his court hearing and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He lost his teaching license in 2003.

Aside from his startling admission Thursday, the evidence against Karr has not been made public. Officials in both the U.S. and Thailand did not wish to directly answer questions in relation to DNA evidence connecting him to the crime. Karr was reportedly given a mouth-swab DNA test in Bangkok, where he was questioned for the last two days.

The Boulder County DA's Office released a statement following the arrest, noting that the suspect was arrested "following several months of a focused and complex investigation," and that JonBenet's parents were both consulted during the course of the investigation.

JonBenet's father, JOHN, said in a statement to the Associated Press on Wednesday: "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."

The Ramsey family attorney also released a statement in response to the news of the arrest: "The diligent investigation of JonBenet Ramsey's murder by Boulder District Attorney Lacy and detectives working with her has been extraordinary. It is our hope that this arrest will bring some closure to the Ramsey family after a ten-year ordeal. We respect the legal process and will have no further comment about the case or the evidence until that process is concluded."

JonBenet, 6, was discovered murdered in her Boulder home on December 26, 1996. A child beauty pageant winner, JonBenet was found in the basement of the house, strangled and beaten.

John and Patsy Ramsey were initially under the spotlight of public opinion as potential suspects, despite their unwavering insistence that an intruder committed the crime. Patsy said she found a ransom note demanding money for the safe return of her daughter, and John later found his daughter's body in a basement room eight hours later.

A subsequent grand jury investigation into the murder ended without charges being filed. This is the first arrest that has been made in the case.

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Re: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« Reply #4 on: Aug 17^th, 2006, 6:48pm »

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This could be a sick, fame seeking individual, who's fixated on this case. He has made statements that aren't true, so I'm far from convinced. At least while he's in custody, he can't harm any children.

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Re: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« Reply #5 on: Aug 17^th, 2006, 6:58pm »

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Yeah, I'm starting to feel that way too Pocket, but I'm gonna witholld judgement for sure until I hear if they have any DNA evidence that points to him. If they don't have it, then it's probably as you say. If they have any DNA from him on her, then his goose is cooked regardless of what his ex-wife says.

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Re: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« Reply #6 on: Aug 19^th, 2006, 12:39pm »

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YES, his statements do ring a flare for the dramatic, don't they?
IF he is seeking 15 minutes of fame, confessing to a murder
is not the way to get it! GEEZ, this guy has to be mentally off!

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Re: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« Reply #7 on: Aug 20^th, 2006, 10:09am »

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He's an educator, how could he be doing things like this!

And he better not be confessing to the murder just for the sake of fame, it's dumb!

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Re: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« Reply #8 on: Aug 21^st, 2006, 7:55pm »

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Sadly, many of the pedafiles who have been busted are or have worked as educators. While most educators are NOT pedafiles, pedafiles flock to jobs that will put them in contact with children, and schools & churches are prime spots for doing that.

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Re: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« Reply #9 on: Aug 23^rd, 2006, 1:32pm »

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He's been banned from teaching at 4 schools or something around the world.

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Re: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« Reply #10 on: Aug 23^rd, 2006, 8:57pm »

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Well whether or not he killed Jon Benet, I'm glad he's in custody. I hope they lock him up and throw away the key. He's a repeat offender pedafile and that's all I need to hear.

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Re: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« Reply #11 on: Aug 28^th, 2006, 6:54pm »

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Well, no surprise....they won't prosecute John Mark Karr, because the DNA doesn't match. I don't know who to be mad at, so I'm mad at him, and the prosecutors for this fiasco.

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Re: Suspect confesses to JonBenet Ramsey
« Reply #12 on: Aug 28^th, 2006, 7:40pm »

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I'm not mad at the prosecuters at all, I think they did the right thing by bringing this guy in either way. He's clearly a pedafile scumbag and he's still wanted in California. I'd rather have him in custody and not out running more "daycare" services around the world like he's been doing. I'm mad at him, he's the one who wanted all this attention and made crap up to waste everyone's time to feed his ego.

« Last Edit: Aug 28^th, 2006, 7:55pm by Rhune »

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