Posted on 08/17/2006 5:29:08 AM PDT by varyouga
(Bangkok, Thailand-AP, Aug. 17, 2006 Updated 8:08 AM) _ A former American school teacher said publicly Thursday he was with JonBenet Ramsey when she was killed and called the 6-year-old's death "an accident," a stunning admission that should help answer 10 years of questions in the unsolved murder case. "I am so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet," he told The Associated Press.
John Mark Karr, 41, 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 a news conference in Bangkok.
"I was with JonBenet when she died," Karr told reporters afterward, visibly nervous and stuttering as he spoke. "Her death was an accident."
Asked if he was innocent of the crime, Karr said: "No."
Later, as he was escorted to his guesthouse to pick up his belongings, he told the AP: "I am so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet. It's very important for me that everyone knows that I love her very much, that her death was unintentional, that it was an accident."
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 also told the AP he contacted JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, before her death in June and that he wrote her letters about "many things." He said he hoped that she received the letters.
Karr confessed to the killing after his arrest Wednesday at his downtown Bangkok guesthouse by Thai and American authorities, said Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul, head of Thailand's immigration police.
He said Karr insisted his crime was not first-degree murder but that JonBenet died during a kidnapping attempt that went awry.
"He said it was second-degree murder. He said it was unintentional," Suwat said.
"He said he loved this child, that he was in love her. He said she was very pretty, a pageant queen. She was the school star, she was very cute and sweet," Suwat said.
Karr declined to say what his connection was to the Ramsey family. Dressed in a turquoise polo shirt and khaki trousers, he appeared ashen with an expressionless look on his face.
An attorney for the Ramsey family said Wednesday that Karr once lived near the family in Conyers, Ga.
JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of the family's home in Boulder, Colo., on Dec. 26, 1996.
Wednesday's arrest was a surprise development in one of America's most lurid murder cases, which had left a cloud of suspicion over her family after years went by with no arrests. Some feared the case would never be solved.
Striking video images of the blonde-haired girl in child beauty pageants helped propel the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the United States.
A law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP that Karr had been communicating periodically with somebody in Boulder who had been following the case and cooperating with law enforcement officials.
A University of Colorado spokesman, Barrie Hartman, said journalism professor Michael Tracey communicated with Karr over several months and contacted police. The university spokesman said he didn't know what prompted Tracey to become suspicious of Karr.
Tracey produced a documentary in 2004 called "Who Killed JonBenet?" A woman who answered the phone at a number under his name said he didn't live there anymore; his office phone mailbox was full.
DNA was found beneath JonBenet's fingernails and inside her underwear, but Lin Wood, the family's longtime attorney, said two years ago that detectives were unable to match it to anyone in an FBI database. It was not known whether investigators had any DNA evidence against Karr.
The Ramseys learned that police were investigating Karr at least a month before Patsy Ramsey's death in June of ovarian cancer, the family said.
In a statement Wednesday, father John Ramsey said that if his wife had lived to see Karr's arrest, she "would no doubt have been as pleased as I am with today's development almost 10 years after our daughter's murder."
Suwat quoted Karr as saying he tried to kidnap JonBenet for a $118,000 ransom but that his plan went awry and he strangled her. Patsy Ramsey reported finding a ransom note in the house demanding $118,000 for her daughter.
Investigators said at one point that JonBenet's parents were under an "umbrella of suspicion" in the slaying, and some news accounts cast suspicion on JonBenet's older brother, Burke. But the Ramseys insisted an intruder killed their daughter, and no one was ever charged.
Over the years, some experts suggested that investigators had botched the case so thoroughly that it might never be solved. The Ramseys moved back to Atlanta after their daughter's slaying.
"It's been a very long 10 years, and I'm just sorry Patsy isn't here for me to hug her neck," said Wood, the family attorney.
"John and Patsy lived their lives knowing they were innocent, trying to raise a son despite the furor around them," Wood told MSNBC.
Suwat said U.S. authorities informed Thai police on Aug. 11 that an arrest warrant had been issued for Karr on charges of premeditated murder. The warrant was sent to Thai police on Wednesday.
"Through investigation we were able to determine where his residence was and the Thais arrested him," Hurst said. "He did not resist. He did express surprise."
Hurst said Karr has been "very cooperative" with authorities and that he's shown a "variety of emotions."
Suwat said Karr arrived in Bangkok on June 6 from Malaysia to look for a teaching job. It was not clear whether he had gotten a job, the police officer said.
Karr's visa has been revoked as an "undesirable person" given the accusations against him, and U.S. authorities were expected to take him to the United States in the next few days, Suwat said.
Hurst, with the department's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Bangkok, said that Karr had left the United States several years ago and had not returned.
The immigration and customs office had assisted the Boulder County District Attorney's Office and the Royal Thai Police in the investigation.
The suspect, who has been in Thailand five times over the past two years, was being detained by immigration police pending arrival of U.S. officials, Suwat said.
When asked how he could travel for so many years in Asia, and whether he was independently wealthy, Hurst responded, "We're asking the same questions."
Police said Karr had been living in a dormitory-style guesthouse called The Blooms in a neighborhood of massage parlors and travel agents that cater to expatriate residents and sex tourists. The nine-story hotel offers rooms for as short as three-hour rentals.
The district attorney in Boulder, Mary Lacy, said the arrest followed several months of work.
She said Karr, who had traveled extensively across the world, may also be connected to a prior case in Santa Rosa County, Calif. She did not provide further details.
Sonoma County Chief Deputy District Attorney Joan Risse confirmed the child pornography charges and arrest warrant against a John Mark Karr, though she cautioned that she didn't know if he was the same person held Bangkok. State records show Karr lost his teaching credential in 2002.
>>>Another wierd thing in the case that was never really answered. Apparently, several friends/neighbors claimed JonBenet told them that she was going to have a "special" visit from Santa Clause. She was quite emphatic about it.>>>
Oh I'm going to be sick. If that monster claimed to be Santa and that is what that poor little girl thought before she went through what she did... I just want to cry all over again today. This case really bothers (as other cases do) since I have three little girls. Dear God.
>>>What is this story that keeps coming up in threads about him writing a term paper in college about this murder? He is 41 (or 42). What was he doing in college at 31? Plus he has been "teaching" (I shudder to think what!)for many years including when she was murdered.>>>
According to his father, he didn't go to college until after married and with three chidren.
Which psychic was that?
he writes the note first with material he finds in the house, it takes him a long time, even writing a practice note. writing a ransom note after he had killed her, makes no sense, so the note had to be written first.
Ha!...that is exactly what I think......also...I've been thinking about the Boulder connection....I wonder if John and Patsy took the kids back home to Ga to visit family and Karr somehow notices her....there could have been a local write-up in their papers or he noticed them in the area.....just thinking...
>>>..BUT, the SINGLE thing I alwasy come back to is the AMOUNT on the ransom note...EXACTLY the amount that Mr. Ramsay received in bonus weeks earlier....HOW could this guy know that?>>>
If this guy was stalking her (as he claims he was 'in love', why wouldn't or couldn't he have picked up the amount in a conversation between someone?
Add to that she could of also been a perv and was looking at watching this guy rape his daughter or getting it on with three way sex, The girl started screaming, they gag her and accidentally killed her. Know matter what happen I think somehow she was involved, her husband knew it and was protecting her, himself and the family name.
I know that. He is wanted in CA.
I heard a tv interview with a Boulder detective this morning. He said he never thought the parents were involved, saying he tried to only focus on the material evidence. He did say something about the parents being sort of "off" or some such. This would explain why so many investigators did scrutinize them heavily.
In my mind the parents did have odd behavior whether guilty or not. Many could see it in tv interviews. It was odd. And these parents did "use" their daughter for their own egos by parading her on stage in pageants. They also violated her by dressing her in sexy clothing. Any mother with sense knows that dressing her little girl in some of those outfits is going to arouse attention from the wrong kind of people.
Until I hear evidence solidly proving this arrested pervert is solely responsible, I guess I will always wonder if these parents played some part in this.
If not directly, at least indirectly by parading this young child around as a sex object.
If the parents are innocent of being participants in any part of the murder, then I do feel sorry for them. But parents who "use" their children for ego aggrandizement are not applaudable.
I don't see how parading a six year old girl on stage like this in a sex-saturated society like ours can be taken lightly. Plenty of parents do it and they're really irresponsible in doing so.
musikman? Which psychic was that?
They definately were involved in some fashion in the ransom note ... even if this is the guy (which I doubt).
One or both of the Ramseys were involved in their daughter's death. They dressed their child up to look like a hooker and at some point one of them probably accidently killed her and tried to cover it up
Egads. I just realized this perv was a teacher and was trying to get hired as one in Thailand.
Great. :/ Another in a long list of stories about school teachers molesting students.
Makes the point that sending children to public schools is sending them to spend time with strangers we know very little about.
I bet this guy has abused hundreds of poor children if he doesn't have other murders on his hands. :o(
This guy is disgusting, I feel doubly bad for the parents...but I remain equally disgusted at this whole pageant biz for little teeny girls. I always found those mini-adult poses of Jon-benets creepy and wonder why parents push their kids into this kind of crap at that age. And please...no one tell me it's the teeny girls who are begging their parents. The poor Ransey parents, unbeknownst to them were waving candy at the monster.
LOL
this guy is just a fraud.
Very well said!!!
LOL!
This question may have been asked already on other threads, but have there been any reports of Karr being looked into regarding the Klaas case as well -- since he lived nearby in CA?
Klaas case was solved....the muderer is sitting in prison...
bwahahahahaha
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