Posted on 08/19/2006 9:22:16 AM PDT by beaversmom
HAMILTON, Ala. - Tara Estes was almost breathless with excitement because she thought one of the more mysterious elements of the JonBenet Ramsey ransom note finally had been revealed.
She climbed the steps to Jeff Brown's rickety porch, brushed aside an orange wasp and sat down on a dirty ice cooler.
"Shall be the conqueror," she said Friday afternoon to a couple of quizzical looks. "S.B.T.C."
Ah, yes. The ransom note that asked John Ramsey to turn over $118,000 for the safe return of 6-year-old JonBenet has been analyzed over and over for nearly a decade.
The long, rambling ransom note ends with the word, "Victory!" and then "S.B.T.C" below it.
But no one knows what the initials mean.
Estes had just gotten off the phone with a friend in South Carolina who was a classmate of John Mark Karr, the man who has said he killed JonBenet on Dec. 26, 1996.
The friend had her yearbook from the early 1980s, and in it Karr signed a lengthy missive filled with the usual teenage angst.
Teresa Alligood had been watching the arrest this week of Karr on television in South Carolina and decided to do a little Googling with her yearbook near the computer. She stumbled on the page Karr had signed and stared at the message.
Alligood then tracked down the ransom note on the Internet and saw "S.B.T.C" at the bottom. She looked back at the yearbook and saw one of the last parts Karr had written:
"Sometimes, so blurred by my own eyes, I've seen the best things come and go simultaneously; Though deep in the future, maybe I shall be the conquerer (sic) and live in multiple peace."
Alligood said she called her family immediately. She also called Fox News and the Boulder district attorney's office Wednesday to alert them. The next day, she talked at length with a Boulder investigator. He assured her they were taking it seriously. However, they hadn't requested her yearbook yet.
Boulder County officials could not be reached for comment Friday.
Estes said the revelation was enough to convince her that Karr did what he said he did. But sitting on Brown's porch, childhood friend Gary Spear had a tougher time reconciling that idea.
Spear, nicknamed "Wolfman," leaned back in his chair and said he couldn't imagine Karr doing anything like that. Back then, he said, Karr was interested in his music - even having a sound studio inside the home where he lived with his grandmother.
Spear said that Karr was smart, generous and easy to get along with - especially because he had the only red DeLorean sports car around. He painted it.
"Nobody had a DeLorean," he said. "But he said he was going to get one after seeing Back to the Future. And damn if he didn't."
Brown, also a high school friend, thought it was a stretch to think that Karr could have killed JonBenet. Brown said Karr was friendly, funny and had instant popularity when he got the sports car.
So neither seemed to be enthralled with the "S.B.T.C" explanation - although in deference to Estes, Brown appeared interested in the theory.
For almost 10 years, there have been theories on what those initials meant. Some said it was "Saved by the Cross," a reference to the Ramsey's Christian faith. Others have suggested it references the Subic Bay Training Center where Ramsey served at the U.S. Naval base in the Philippines.
But on the porch, on this hot, muggy Friday, Alligood's theory was new. Fresh. And after two days of speculation - something people here seemed weary of - it was something to talk about.
IF Karr is the killer then MAYBE this explains it. Since he fancies himself a poet, the initials could really mean all sorts of things. He would have been 31 at the time of the murder and one would hope that he'd have moved past high school by then.
I find it interesting that so many claim he knows details about the murder that the general public doesn't know. Yet the CU professor knows them, the Ramseys attorney knows them, every LEO and prosecutor in Boulder seems to know them. So maybe what a skilled and persistent person knows isn't such a big secret after all.
I'm still dubious. If the truth is ever known, I'm expecting it to be somebody the Ramseys might want to protect and there's no reason for them to want to protect this worm.
He is not charged with any sex crimes in Thailand. How can they imprison him?
He probably used both with flat latex paint. I had a neighbor do that with his old beater. Looked great for a week.
As a Back To The Future nut myself, I feel yucky knowing that.
In this article, it sounds like he was charged or was about to be charged...
Here's something new which might make us all take a look at his history a little more closely:
A couple of days ago, he was interviewed: Suwart said the suspect described the encounter as a "blur".
From the yearbook...after a friendly dissertation to Theresa: "Sometimes, so blurred by my own eyes" or, I've seen the best things come and go simultaneously.
I now believe "blur or blurred" means crying. Maybe there's a someone who always called him a "crybaby"? or he was "crying" while he was killing her...
Oh. man. I'll bet Karr has his own yearbook still. I'd like a list of ALL the students, who they were, who they married and where they have lived.
LOL....up on a lift........where the DeLorean spent most of it's lifecycle.
Yeah, but his ex wife is saying she is without a doubt certain that he was with them at Christmas of 1996. So far there has been no proof offered by her, but that aliby alone tears apart the case against Karr.
I got to ride around in one for an afternoon (as passenger)...I don't recall being particularly impressed with it.
That early report has a lot of people confused and keeps showing back up. In subsequent pressers, it was found out that he was picked up and held by Thai police at the request of the US.
You could afford one now. Look on Ebay. They go from 5k to 16k.
Good luck getting parts though.
I looked.
There aren't any for sale right now.
"Good luck getting parts though."
I hear ya. But it would still make a nice lawn ornament!
:)
Well, this morning Fox was reporting she wasn't all that certain. With the media "facts" can change real fast!
Seems like this same kind of tenacity could be applied by him after
seeing then wanting little JonBenet
Twisted evil
Colorado DOES have the death penalty.
Fox just reported that Arkansas is interested in this guy for a 6yo girl there too. Didn't get all of the other details.
Yeah, and if you park one of those babies in the front yard at Christmas time with the flashers on, you have redneck Christmas lights! ;)
Or, put a watering tub in the back of the pickup truck in the summer, and you have a redneck hot tub!
What I saw yesterday was that she admits to not specifically remembering that year at Christmas that Jon Benet was murdered. It was just a general statement that he spent Christmases with the family and she couldn't remember a specific time when he didn't. But again, admitted she could not recall exactly what did or didn't occur at Christmas of '96. I think the door is open a crack on her alibi for him.
Well, if he's the JonBenet killer, he might have killed others. Makes sense to at least check, given his perverted background.
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