http://html.thedenverchannel.com/sh/news/stories/nat-news-20000603-195421.html
Posted on 08/17/2006 1:51:06 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BOULDER, Colo. (Reuters) - An American schoolteacher said he was with 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey when she died, but questions surfaced over his story a day after his arrest in Thailand.
A Colorado prosecutor cautioned that more work remained in the case.
John Mark Karr, 41, who was arrested in a dramatic breakthrough in the sensational 1996 murder, spoke to reporters on Thursday while being escorted by authorities in Bangkok. Asked if he was innocent, Karr shook his head and said, "No."
JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her Boulder, Colorado, home on December 26, 1996 -- hours after her mother found a bizarre, three-page letter claiming the girl had been kidnapped -- and the unsolved case has since fueled countless theories.
Karr was detained in Bangkok on a U.S. warrant seeking his arrest for murder, kidnapping and sexual assault.
"I was with JonBenet when she died," Karr said. "The death was an accident."
Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy said Karr had started teaching second grade in a Bangkok school on Tuesday. She said investigators would have preferred more time to develop evidence but public safety worries and the possibility of flight sometimes prompts an arrest in criminal cases.
"There is much more work to be done now that the suspect is in custody," she said. "John Karr is presumed innocent."
Lacy would not say what evidence her office had against Karr, who came to the attention of authorities by writing a series of e-mails to a Colorado journalism professor who made three documentaries about the murder.
It was not yet clear if Karr's DNA had been tested to compare with fluids found in Ramsey's underwear, or whether other evidence tied him to the crime scene. An unidentified footprint and a handprint were found near the girl's body, which was discovered by her father, her mouth duct-taped and neck tightly garroted.
'I LOVED JONBENET'
Lacy would not comment when asked whether Karr, who once lived near JonBenet's hometown of Atlanta, could have made a false confession. Karr fled Northern California after being charged with possession of child pornography.
Questions arose about Karr's story when his ex-wife, Lara, told KGO-TV in San Francisco that he was with her in Alabama the entire Christmas season when JonBenet was killed.
His father, Wexford Karr, told the Denver Post that his son had been deeply interested in the JonBenet Ramsey case and had researched a book on the subject. KGO said Lara Karr told it her ex-husband had also been fascinated by the case of another murdered girl, Polly Klaas, which had attracted wide publicity.
Educators in Alabama, where Karr had studied education and served a teaching internship, said his interaction with children had raised concerns and he told many contradictory stories about himself.
"I did not think he could interact with children or adults .... You never knew what was true and what wasn't," Janice Myhan, a professor of education at the University of North Alabama, told Reuters.
Lacy's chief investigator, Tom Bennett, said talks were under way with Thai authorities to have Karr returned to the United States. Officials in Washington said Karr would not require extradition from Bangkok and could simply be deported.
Slender, sandy haired and dressed in a blue polo shirt and beige trousers, Karr looked pale and dazed as he appeared briefly at a Bangkok news conference, surrounded by police.
"I loved JonBenet," Karr said in a quiet voice. Asked if he had killed the girl, he appeared to shake his head, but said again: "She died accidentally.
University of Colorado journalism professor Michael Tracey, whose correspondence with Karr attracted the interest of authorities, told Reuters that he began getting the e-mails after the broadcast of his documentary "Who Killed the Pageant Queen."
He said he turned the e-mails, which did not use Karr's real name, over to authorities, who used them to track the suspect to Thailand.
"I am convinced an intruder killed JonBenet," Tracey said. "This guy has the right to be presumed not guilty. Let him have his day in court. The Ramseys were never given the right to be presumed innocent.
(Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles, Rosalind Russell and Tanny Chia in Bangkok and Deborah Charles in Washington)
I'm just waiting for the day when a moonbat starts chanting, "Bush lied, Jonbenet died"
http://html.thedenverchannel.com/sh/news/stories/nat-news-20000603-195421.html
Only one problem with your theory...he was not in prison for sex charge in Thailand...he was arrested at the request of the American authorities in his apartment. In fact, he was looking for a job as a teacher at the time. People don't get charged with sex crimes in Thailand...child molestation is not against the law...it's a booming industry.
I think he is a nut who became obsessed with her after the murder and is admitting to a crime he did not commit. Hopefully, the DNA will tell.
Ok, I'll make up some other wild story... :)
He had been arrested in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. I would start confessing to crimes in the U.S. too if it got me out of a Bangkok prison and on a flight back to the U.S.
I'm listening...I went to the dentist had much drugs...am terrified of dentists so now I am staring at my hand in my nice office doing absolutely no work.
Why, that's John Ramsey.
I begin to suspect another triumph for Colorado's investigators.
That Boulder is hesitant about any DNA match to this current suspect, raises suspicion here. After all, a DNA match to this current suspect is absolutely key! If Boulder police and DA's office had not tried so hard for so long to frame Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey, I might be inclined to cut them some slack here. But their record is their record, and all of us need to watch them very, very carefully.
I wonder when Spike Lee is going to do a movie about this case. With Katrina now under his belt, this is the logical next step.
And why not take the body with him? Especially since he left the ransom demand? And I still want to know how he knew the amount of John Ramsey's bonus (same as the ransom amount demanded, $118,000). Lots and lots of things don't add up here.
Who is Spike Lee?
He was one of the munchkins in the Wizard of Oz I think.
I really didn't see much resemblance between the psychic's sketch and JMK.
I believe Petaluma was where Polly Klaas -- reportedly JMK's other obsession -- was killed. Did JMK live there before or after Klaas was killed? Just curious . . .
That was my first thought.
There was an article posted yesterday that said he had been arrested in Bangkok on "unrelated sex charges." What the hell would you have to do to get arrested on sex charges in Bangkok?
Count our blessings. At least we will FINALLY stop hearing recycled minutiae about Natalee Holloway.
I would think you would have to molest an influential person's child. You must keep your hands off children of good families...I expect-quite sickening.
Actually he had been hired as a second grade teacher. That's apparently why he was arrested now instead of later. It seems they were hoping to keep watching him and investigating his possible involvement for a while longer, but letting him teach a class full of second-graders was out of the question. (And just imagine how parents of kids who attend that school are reacting -- I doubt the person or persons responsible for hiring this obvious nut will still be employed 24 hours from now.)
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