Suspect arrested in JonBenet Ramsey case (Ramsey Tip Led To Arrest!)

Yahoo ^ | 8/16/06

[Mr. Brightside]

Suspect arrested in JonBenet Ramsey case

By CATHERINE TSAI, Associated Press Writer

34 minutes ago

BOULDER, Colo. - A former schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey — a surprise breakthrough in a lurid, decade-old murder mystery that had cast a cloud of suspicion over her parents.

Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, a 42-year-old American, and one law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Boulder police had tracked him down online.

The Ramsey family's attorney in Atlanta pronounced the arrest vindication for JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer on June 24.

"John and Patsy lived their lives knowing they were innocent, trying to raise a son despite the furor around them," Lin Wood said. "The story of this family is a story of courage, and story of an American injustice and tragedy that ultimately people will have to look back on and hopefully learn from."

The attorney said the Ramseys learned about the suspect a least a month before Patsy Ramsey's death. "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.

Karr was a teacher who once lived in Conyers, Ga., according to Wood. The attorney said the Ramseys gave police information about Karr before he was identified as a suspect.

Wood would not say how the Ramseys knew Karr. But 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.

A source close to the investigation said Karr confessed to elements of the crime. Also, 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.

District Attorney Mary Lacy said the arrest followed several months of work, but she said no details would be released until Thursday.

Karr was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges, authorities said. CBS reported he will be brought back to the United States this weekend.

JonBenet 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 in the house demanding $118,000 for her daughter.

The image of blonde-haired little JonBenet in a cowgirl costume and other beauty pageant outfits has haunted TV talk shows ever since, helping feed myriad theories about her killer, and the case became one of the most sensational unsolved murder cases in the nation.

Over the years, some experts suggested that investigators had botched the case so thoroughly that it might never be solved.

Investigators at one point said JonBenet's parents were under an "umbrella of suspicion" in the slaying. And some news accounts cast suspicion on JonBenet's older brother. 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.

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."

The Ramseys moved back to Atlanta after their daughter's slaying.

Wood lashed out at the frenzy that long surrounded the case, and he accused the media of "the most obscene false accusations." "I think the public's mind was so poisoned against this family that no one was able for too many years to look at the evidence," he said.

Patsy Ramsey's sister, Pam Paugh, of Roswell, Ga., said the family was celebrating the news of the arrest. "We are elated. We are elated. If this is, in fact, the killer, then we have a very heinous killer off the streets to never harm another child," Paugh said.

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."

In 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.

"Today is additional vindication of the family," Wood said.

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.

Lawrence Schiller, author of the 1999 book "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town" about the case, said Wednesday he understood the man had been on a list of sexual offenders who were suspects for a long time.

"There are a lot of facts about her actual death that the public does not know." Schiller said. "If he did confess to some facts of the murder, to reveal those facts of the case, that would finish the puzzle."

Among the facts he said were not generally known was the murder weapon and what the killer did with it.

DNA was found beneath JonBenet's fingernails and inside her underwear, but Wood said two years ago that detectives were unable to match it to anyone in an FBI database. It was not immediately known Wednesday whether investigators had any DNA evidence against Karr.

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."

[barker]

Karr was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges, authorities said.

Good grief! Just what do you have to do to get arrested for this in Thailand. Maybe I really don't want to know.

[KC_Conspirator]

Any reports on the veracity of the DNA report? I have yet to see anything that places this guy in Colorado the night of the murder.

[04-Bravo]

I'm still skeptical. Maybe this guy did it, but maybe he gave a confession to a well-known U.S. crime just to get extradited out of Thailand. I imagine if you are convicted of a sex crime in Thailand, you don't get dinner and a movie.

If his confession included details that only the real killer could have known, then the D.A. has something solid.

I realize none of us has access to the investigation, and we only know what was made available to the public, but I have always been puzzled by the ransom note. If I remember correctly, it was a multi-page, hand-printed note, written with materials found in the house, along with some type of "practice note."

Would even a crazy kidnapper/murderer take the time to handwrite a ransom note in the victim's own house, with the other family members asleep inside? If kidnapping was the original plan, wouldn't the suspect bring a prepared note, not in his own handwriting?

And if ransom was a real motive, or even if the note was to temporarily throw the police off track, why leave the body behind?

It seems that even a panicking murderer/rapist wouldn't leave both a body and a rambling hand-written note.

Oh well, maybe I'm wrong. If this suspect murdered the 5-yr old girl, I hope his confession is admissible, and I hope he is convicted.

[MeekMom]

re: 2
I agree. Her parents acted plenty creepy.

[SR 50]

ping

[Rte66]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1685065/posts
Police: Suspect denies link to Ramsey
AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/16/06 | Sutin Wannabovorn - ap

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1685022/posts
Teacher held over murder of US child beauty queen
The Times ^ | August

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1685013/posts
Suspect arrested in JonBenet Ramsey case (Ramsey Tip Led To Arrest!)
Yahoo ^ | 8/16/06

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1685007/posts
Jon Benet Ramsey Suspect a Sonoma County Fugitive (California)
KRON ^ | August 16, 2006
......
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1684960/posts
Suspect's DNA is a match in JonBenet Ramsey case
KUSA-TV | 8/16/06 | KUSA-TV

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1684918/posts
John Ramsey on Today's Arrest in Connection With the Murder of His Daughter, JonBenet Ramsey
Yahoo, PR Newswire ^ | August 16, 2006

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1684907/posts
Man arrested in death of JonBenet Ramsey ***UPDATE*** Name of suspect - John Mark Karr
AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/16/06 | Catherine Tsai - ap

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1684897/posts
Suspect arrested in JonBenet death
Rocky Mountain News ^ | 8-16-06 | Charlie Brennan

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1684888/posts
Arrest Made In JonBenet Ramsey Case (CBS Story)
WFRV ^ | 8/16/06

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1684872/posts
Arrest in JonBenet Ramsey Case Expected "Shortly"
8.16.06 | Michael King

[truth_seeker]

"If his confession included details that only the real killer could have known, then the D.A. has something solid."

Maybe he can get famous DNA expert lawyer Barry Scheck, to discredit the DNA evidence?

I'll betcha.

[antceecee]

They're all crawling out of the woodwork tonight to come to the defense of this scum.... just in time for tomorrow's headlines.

[garbageseeker]

Reuters photo of John Mark Karr. Guilty as Sin

[antceecee]

P.O.S. squared....

[Recovering_Democrat]

Just like Richard Jewell, where do these people go to get their reputation back? The SLIME BALL MEDIA all but convicted them, and Patsy Ramsey died knowing most people believed her to be a murderer.

[Brian Allen]

<< She said it's nice by day but at night the perverts come out

As opposed to FR, where the pervs are out 24/7. ;o) >>

Some of us 24/7 pervs even posting from Thailand!

B A - Chiang Mai, Thailand!

[mewzilla]

Wood would not say how the Ramseys knew Karr.

Wait a minute. I thought I saw someone on the tube last night stating that the Ramseys didn't know Karr from Adam. Or words to that effect, anyway.

[Brian Allen]

<< Karr was a teacher .... >>

One of a group, that is, that perpetrates upwards of thirty thousand sexual assaults on children every year.

As compared to Catholic Priests, who, during the past several decades, have averaged fewer than an annual average 200 such assaults.

But then, who'd a guessed that?

(Journalists and other liberals, after all, love school teachers and hate priests)

[Loyal Buckeye]

Over the years, some experts suggested that investigators had botched the case so thoroughly that it might never be solved.

Goes to show you...

[Dixie Yooper]

"6-year-old beauty queen!~~WTF!!"

Since moving to NC 3 years ago I can't help but notice how common it is for families to get all wrapped up in the beauty pageant thing. It's just like getting your little boy started in little league down here. It's nothing more than a good way for mothers to spend time with their daughters. Most of the smaller clothing stores for women and girls have pageant sections where they can by any gowns or accessories they need. In the local Christmas parade, there were at least 5 or 6 cars with with very young pageant winners of various events. Well over 20 cars in all with girls of ages from 5 to 25. From what I hear, this is very common in the south, including WV where Pasty Ramsey was from.

[Sacajaweau]

We've advanced from fingerprints to DNA for identification purposes.

Our D.A. is all for this and I consider him the best. He said if it had been activated sooner, we'd still have two live little girls in our area.

[Sacajaweau]

So how SHOULD one act when their child is killed?

[Sacajaweau]

"Southern Belle" syndrome. Even fits Jon Benet's costumes.

[subterfuge]

Well gosh, maybe they acted "creepy" because their daughter was murdered?

Sounds like you still blame them, regardless.