Psychic Drawing Spooky.
Posted on 08/17/2006 8:05:29 AM PDT by freespirited
John Mark Karr's arrest in Thailand after he had vanished for several years was a mixed blessing for his 85-year-old father.
"I thought someone had killed him," Wexford Karr said Wednesday afternoon while sobbing during a telephone interview from his home in Atlanta. "This is such a surprise that he is alive."
But learning his son was alive came with the news that his son, who is 41, was arrested in the Dec. 26, 1996, slaying of JonBenét Ramsey, he said.
John Karr had disappeared after his release from jail in 2001. Karr, who relatives said had long spoken of a fascination with the Ramsey case, told his father at the time that he was being held for investigation of murdering the girl.
In truth, John Karr was being held while awaiting trial for five counts of child pornography, said Sgt. Rob Giordano, spokesman for the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department. When he finally was released on bond, he disappeared and was convicted in absentia.
Wexford Karr had never heard that his son had been arrested on any previous criminal charges. But a Colorado state official said John Karr has an extensive criminal record for sexual assaults across the South, including Tennessee.
John Karr's father said his son didn't go to college as a youth because he didn't have enough money to send him. John and his wife, Lara, had three sons in three years, his father said. The oldest boy is about 14, he said.
It wasn't until all three children were born that John Karr went to college, majoring in education. He graduated with honors, Wexford Karr said.
"He is just an exemplary son," he said.
His son's troubles can be traced back to a decision while he was still in college to write a school paper about the JonBenét Ramsey case several years ago, Wexford Karr said.
John Karr's college professor was so impressed with the paper that he encouraged him to write a book about JonBenét's case, his father said.
"He researched everything he could about her," Wexford Karr said.
John Karr spoke with JonBenét's grandparents, but her parents refused to speak with him, Wexford Karr said. John Ramsey told 9News on Wednesday that he does not believe the family knew Karr.
When Wexford Karr asked his son about what he uncovered for his book, John was quiet.
"He wouldn't talk about it," he said.
The research continued when John Karr moved his family to Petaluma, Calif., and he told his father he had taken a job at a Catholic girls school in San Francisco.
While teaching at the school, John joined the Catholic Church, his father said.
Karr applied with a school district in Sonoma County, Calif., to be a substitute teacher in their K-12 system and received a state teaching permit in January 2001, said Superintendent Carl Wong.
In April 2001, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department alerted school officials that John Karr had been arrested on a "non-school-related incident," Wong said.
"Based on the serious nature of that, we issued a notice of personnel action in June 2001, and he was never again employed in any capacity in the K-12 public school system," he said.
Asked whether students, teachers or parents ever had a complaints about Karr, Wong said, "None whatsoever."
After John Karr's arrest, Lara Karr filed for divorce.
"She said the name Karr has destroyed her life," Wexford Karr said.
The divorce prohibited John Karr from seeing his three sons.
"He loved those boys," Wexford Karr said. "They meant everything to him."
He said his son never lived in Colorado and had nothing to do with the crime.
"We are taking no stock in it because it's not his nature," Wexford Karr said. "This JonBenét Ramsey has destroyed my life as an old man. I thought my son was dead. I couldn't take it."
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
The father thought someone had killed his son, but never did anything to find out who and bring that individual to justice?
This is either a story contrived for the moment or the strangest family I have read about in a long time.
Karr had disappeared on purpose.
Well, the son is certainly a dead ringer for Norman Bates, in one of the photos up on Drudge.
She's lucky they were boys and not little girls!
He needs to be in custody in the US immediately and a gag order instituted.
If any of that "research" stuff, and his obsession with the case, is true then there's at least a good chance they guy's just a whacko confessor - and he gets a bonus by getting out of the Thai jail system.
I agree this is too weird. There is some other aspect to this case that we will learn soon, no doubt.
Except for the murderous pedophilia part I guess.........
Yeah, lots of weird stuff with this family and this creepoid.
Yesterday I heard a report that his family said he couldn't have done it because he spent that Christmas with them (can't remember what state)--then today on Mike Gallagher's show he said the guy's ex-wife is saying he stayed with HER and their 3 kids that Christmas in North Carolina, I believe (different state than what was mentioned by the guy's family)--Greta's gonna have a ton of stuff to discuss about this case until this time next year if this keeps up!
He is guilty of being a complete whack job and a creep. I am not all that sure he killed JBR.
Now we get to have the "WHO CAN BREAK THE NEWS FASTER, OR GET THE EX WIFE ON THE SET." grrr
Get the "DIRTY LAUNDRY" song out.
"Brother Nate is out defending his globe trotting pedophile brother. The ex-wife is providing an alibi. What an absolutely lovely bunch of people...such a nice family."
On the other hand, they could be fine folks with a creep in their midst. Most families have a black sheep. Don't rush to judgement, particularly on an old man who is already grieving.
Karr might just be a lying pervert who wants notoriety for something he didn't do. Authorities could hardly check out his alibi with family prior to an arrest, for fear of alerting the suspect.
Let's see how this plays out. DNA will probably tell the tale.
I think this guy is a wannabe. His ex-wife says she can alibi him for the time of the murder of the child. This guy is shaping up as a howling at the moon nut.
Not if you were the boys.
"he gets a bonus by getting out of the Thai jail system."
He wasn't in the Thai jail system.
He was on the verge of it.
Ex-wife said they were in one place, brother says they were in another. Look at the original quotes by these two. (Can be found in several threads on FR.) They either have poor memories or they're covering up for him and doing a poor job for him.
And his brother said he can alibi for him.. only one problem, the place mentioned by the brother isn't even in the same state as the one mentioned by the ex-wife
No way he was anywhere near the house? So the family (meaning Karr's family) telling inconsistent stories doesn't suggest that may not be the case? I'm sure in a few days they'll have their stories matching, but they can never take back what they first said in public.
News conference revealed exactly...nothing.
Mary "No Comment" Lacy, Colorado DA prosecuting the
case, could have simply faxed a one-page info sheet
to the media for what she told at the conference (although
I understand why she has to be tight-lipped about things).
There's a TON of unexplained things about this case.
I thought it was interesting when the DA specifically said today, "We consider John Ramsey innocent until proven guilty; we consider John Mark Karr innocent until proven guilty as well." (not verbatim, but that was the gist of what she said)
Who told the father he was dead?
We have a couple of BIG pieces missing but it's their case and we're going to have to be patient.
More "cold cases" to be re-opened?? I'd say they would be more successful against an insanity plea if they had "more cases" with "intent". Karr was VERY careful to say it was an accident "publicly".
Sounds like John Mark Karr is doing anything and everything possible to get his sorry ass out of Thailand. White paedophile in Thai prison, or white paedophile deported to the US and a jury trial where the sycophant can get his 15 minutes of fame before he's sentenced to life?
Maybe there was a deposit slip or check stub laying around the house.
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