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| I came out to log onto my computer this morning and lying on my desk in plain sight One could look in the console of my car and reconstruct my entire financial history dating from the age of the vehicle. |
Posted on 08/17/2006 7:51:23 AM PDT by Arec Barrwin
Ex-wife gives alibi for JonBenet suspect
By ALISA TANG, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 1 minute ago
A former American school teacher said publicly Thursday that he was with JonBenet Ramsey when she died in what he called "an accident," a stunning admission after a decade without answers in the 6-year-old girl's murder. But the suspect's ex-wife said she was with him in Alabama at the time of JonBenet's 1996 death.
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. "Her death was an accident."
Asked if he was innocent of the crime, Karr said: "No."
As he was escorted to his guesthouse to pick up his belongings, Karr told The Associated Press: "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."
He told the AP he made "several efforts to communicate with Patricia before she passed away," referring to JonBenet's mother, who died in June, "and it is my understanding that she did read my letters."
No evidence against Karr has been made public beyond his own admission. U.S. and Thai officials did not directly answer a question at the news conference Thursday about whether there was DNA evidence connecting him to the crime.
Karr's ex-wife, Lara Karr, told KGO-TV in California that she was with her former husband in Alabama at the time of JonBenet's killing and she does not believe her former husband was involved in the homicide.
She 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.
Karr on Thursday refused to say what his connection was to the Ramsey family. An attorney for the Ramsey family said Wednesday that Karr once lived near the family in Conyers, Ga.
Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul, head of Thailand's immigration police, said Karr confessed to the killing after his arrest by Thai and U.S. authorities Wednesday at his downtown Bangkok guesthouse.
Suwat said Karr insisted 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 with her. He said she was very pretty, a pageant queen. She was the school star, she was very cute and sweet."
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.
JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of the family's home in Boulder, Colo., on Dec. 26, 1996.
Patsy Ramsey reported finding a ransom note in the house demanding $118,000 for her daughter.
Images of the blonde girl competing in child beauty pageants helped propel the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the United States.
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.
A law-enforcement source told the AP on condition of anonymity 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.
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," Wood said.
"John and Patsy lived their lives knowing they were innocent, trying to raise a son despite the furor around them," he told MSNBC.
The Ramseys learned that police were investigating Karr at least a month before Patsy Ramsey's death from ovarian cancer, the family said.
In a statement Wednesday, 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."
Bob Raines, principal at Wilson Elementary School outside Petaluma, said he twice hired Karr as a substitute in second- and fourth-grade classes in 2001. After observing him, Raines said he concluded Karr hadn't been trained, had poor skills keeping classes focused and was ineffective.
A couple months later, Sonoma County sheriff's officials sent a letter to school officials saying Karr had been arrested, said Carl Wong, the Sonoma County superintendent of schools.
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.
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.
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 for being an "undesirable person" after 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 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Bangkok, said that Karr had left the United States several years ago and had not returned.
The media are being much maligned now (thankfully) to have said such heinous things about the Ramseys. Talk about giving an immediate guilty verdict and a conviction.
I came out to log onto my computer this morning and lying on my desk in plain sight was the top portion of a check of a refund from my escrow account. Looked around more and all sorts of financial records were lying out in the open which BTW are all now filed. If the perp used paper from the desk, he could have very easily seen the notification of the bonus of that amount of money.
The brother says he THINKS that he (John) was there.. he said they'd have to look at family albums and stuff...
Which tells me that he wasn't with them EVERY Christmas. Since he'd have to check..
He looks like a pedophile nut case, but I'm serioulsy quite sure he had nothing to do with this murder. I may eat my hat after the news conference....
I never thought they did it. I did believe that the police botched it horribly.
The media except for a few had them guilty. I found it strange that Greta did not believe they had done the crime. As much as I don't care for her most of the time, I think she has good instincts.
Drudge has several links to this story. One of which states that he had skipped out on bail in California for child pornography and been convicted in absentia. If he wanted to confess and be transferred back to the US. He could have been extradited just for that reason. The whole thing seems wierd, and I bet his attorneys make some insanity plea if he indeed is found to be a DNA match.
His obsession with the case and that of Polly Klass leads me to believe that he didn't do it.
I am with you 100% -- always thought the authorities blew the whole case with their one track mind focused on the Ramsey's.
Read the new Best seller: "Why I lied to Save My husband the perverted murderer of Little Jon."
Thus putting suspicion on the Ramseys. Hmm.
If the DNA matches, it will be over. Bet the DA does not confirm or deny a DNA match during this mornings news conference. She was clearly a friend of Patsy's if she took time out on her own money to attend her funeral.
Very true! Good find!
Depends. Was he obsessed with Klaas first, or Jon Benet? If Klaas, it might have given him ideas.
OK, that settles it...parents exonerated.
But, that ransome note, that pesky ransome note and the amount of $118K that just so happens to match Mr. Ramsey's bonus.
And that line in the note about John using his "southern charm". If ever a line was written by the wife of a husband, that is it.
Also, several handwriting experts have said the handwriting, while not exact, is very similar to Mrs. Ramsey's...another coincidence, I guess.
The little crud knew about the little girl "somehow" and also about the $118,000. He grabbed the paper and pencil or pen or whatever while he was at the party and cased out the house at the same time.
This was "revenge" for getting kicked out of the school system where people who know people still have their jobs AND against the "pretty" and "rich". He took away what they treasured most.
He mentions that she was the "school star".
He's a watcher, a planner, clever and has access to children. I think we'll find more people paying attention to his "history" and people who he worked for.
By that, zero in on his obsession with the case, college papers and research for writing a book...he might be a whacko "confessor" with the side benefit of getting his skinny ass out of the Thai justice system.
Strange, strange, strange scenario...
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| I came out to log onto my computer this morning and lying on my desk in plain sight One could look in the console of my car and reconstruct my entire financial history dating from the age of the vehicle. |
My heart just goes out to that family, could you imagine living under that kind of suspicion. And their poor son, growing up under such circumstances. I had posted before that poor Patsy died with this cloud over her, someone pointed out to me that she is with JonBenet now.
Given the length of time that it took them to hang the yellow crime-scene tape when they first responded to the call, I wouldn't count on it.
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