Man arrested in death of JonBenet Ramsey ***UPDATE*** Name of suspect - John Mark Karr

AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/16/06 | Catherine Tsai - ap

[NormsRevenge]

BOULDER, Colo. - A man suspected in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey nearly a decade ago was arrested Wednesday in Thailand, the district attorney said.

District Attorney Mary Lacey said the arrest followed several months of work. She disclosed no details about the suspect before a news conference scheduled for Thursday.

Federal officials familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the man was already being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. CBS reported that the suspect, a 41-year-old second-grade teacher, will be brought back to the United States this weekend.

Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood said in Atlanta that he has been told that the suspect once lived in Conyers, Ga., outside of Atlanta. He would not comment on whether the Ramseys knew him, and he said he knew nothing else about the man.

Lin said the Ramseys learned about the suspect a least a month before JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, died in June.

"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.

The girl was found beaten and strangled in the basement of the family's home in Boulder on Dec. 26, 1996.

[Twinkie]

jennyjenny, you are so right about the sports fanaticism that permeates the "rah rah sis boom bah" school "programs" of today (as well as in the past). The little girls flounce, rip, strut and jiggle, either acting like mock men or little tartlets in front of crowds consisting of numerous dirty old men for hours on end in order to stroke the egos of the school "planning committees". - It is pretty off-putting to watch the old men (who probably consider themselves paragons of virtue) leering at the little girls in the "dance troupe" at half time as they gyrate in short, skimpy outfits appearing for all the world like they are simulating sexual acts. . and it is getting worse all the time. - When I was in high school 40 yrs. ago, the majorettes wore super short silly red Santa Claus type outfits with long sleeves with fur cuffs and legs as nekkid as jaybirds. I distinctly remember one of these majorettes who always had a red nose which ran all the time - and all to tittillate the leches whether it was conscious or not. - I was thankful when our nieces and nephews who were musicians in the band graduated so we would NEVER be expected to attend one of these football games again.

If I had it to do again, our child would either have been home schooled or in a solid Christian fundamental school as I wish I had been. My memories of high school especially could be summed up mostly with "rah rah sis boom bah, bee bop a loo loo bam boom bang" to describe the "school spirit" dynamic of that time. Sadly, when there's a school reunion, they try to "recreate" all the old garbage that was so uncomfortable back then.

[isthisnickcool]

Too bad Patsy died before this man was arrested.

From what I have heard she knew they were on to the guy.

Patsy is in heaven with her little girl. But this SOB is here with us. As a person that knows people who's child was abducted and butchered I say that the state of Colorado better put this devoid on death row and kill him quick. Colorado has not executed anyone since 1976. So it look like John Ramsey's hell continues for the rest of his life. It's likely that this turd will outlive John Ramsey.

This guy deserves a very swift trial and a very swift execution!

[patriciaruth]

The police in Boulder were really inexperienced in missing children and homicide investigations, and so it wasn't just the media that fed the hysteria.

I remember that the father was also a suspect in the Elizabeth Smart disappearance, and then vindicated when she was recovered from the slimey mental case that took her.

And also there is Steven Hatfill, that the FBI suspected in the anthrax letters. He has yet to be vindicated, but I believe one day he will be. OTOH, I could be wrong.

I was wrong about Patsy Ramsey. I never posted but I did suspect she was covering up for someone.

I'm glad that she knew before she died that this fellow was going to be arrested. Anybody else hear the news that this suspect had sent Patsy Ramsey emails with lurid details of what he had done with her daughter?

If that is the "confession" -- the emails -- then there is no Miranda problem with it. The "confession" would be voluntary. All he would have had to do was "confess" that he had sent the emails.

[mockingbyrd]

yes, on a dish Pasty denied existed and said she had never seen before when shown photographs of it.

[JNL]

Oh that's bull. My son had an accident when he was 3. It was pretty horrific and really tested our faith. However, if you were to ask either myself or my wife what happened that day you wouldn't get the same story.

We rarely discuss it but a couple of weeks ago we did and she was amazed at how I remembered details she couldn't recall.

Even when I look back at it I block out certain parts that only resurface late @ night.

BTW

He fell out of a third floor window when the plate glass gave way. The owner of the building was found @ fault. We watched him fall past as we were on the second floor.

He's O.K. now, really lucky.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

With over 700 posts!

Most of them saying "Thailand"

[garbageseeker]

Apparently, John Mark Karr has lived in California.

[garbageseeker]

I did get a hit on USSearch of a John Mark Karr living in California

[Segovia]

The person on "my-space" says, (says) he is John Mark Karr, the SECOND, of course when you post info in the web, you don't have to prove any of it. Could be the same man---could be the son of a sexual predator----. I'm very glad that they are finally getting to the bottom of this case; but, I am not ready to stipulate that the parents had no complicity in what happened to the child. That man is a pedophile, found in the pedophile capitol of the world--, Thailand is not famous for rapists, it is famous for children sold for sexual exploitation. I want to know how he got into the Ramsey's house, and perpetrated a crime this gruesome, at his leisure, without anyone in the house knowing what the hell was going on. There are still a lot more unseen things here than things that are seen.

[garbageseeker]

The person on "my-space" says, (says) he is John Mark Karr, the SECOND, of course when you post info in the web, you don't have to prove any of it

All I said I got a "hit" on USSearch.If you bothered to read post 108

[garbageseeker]

of course when you post info in the web, you don't have to prove any of it
I never said he was. If you bothered reading the post.

[ladyinred]

There were rumors at the time of her death of a child porno ring in the Boulder area that may have involved some big names there. Really makes one wonder now for sure. But who knows, his ex wife says he was with her in Alabama that Christmas season.

[garbageseeker]

http://preview.ussearch.com/preview/newsearch?searchtab=people&adID=2180003042&adsource=81&comjsessionid=ROPODRFKWxKSmITvQlIwFOOoxNI2aLHLP9C0QEYdYepIjONRhIwh%7C-4043419852585950925%2F167838013%2F6%2F7501%2F7501%2F7502%2F7502%2F7501%2F-1%7C3003917095767672412%2F167838004%2F6%2F7501%2F7501%2F7502%2F7502%2F7501%2F-1%7C1155780109476&searchFName=John+&searchMName=M&searchLName=Karr&searchCity=&searchState=CA&searchApproxAge=41&x=47&y=3

[garbageseeker]

Any questions?

[NormsRevenge]

one more article Update

---

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.

Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, 41. Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the name, and one law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Boulder police had tracked him down online.

Wood said the arrest vindicated JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer June 24.

"John and Patsy lived their lives knowing they were innocent, trying to raise a son despite the furor around them," 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.

Thai police said that when Karr was arrested, he denied any involvement in Ramsey's slaying. But a source close to the investigation in the U.S. said Karr confessed to certain 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.

U.S. authorities said Karr was initially taken into custody in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. But Thai police Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul said he was unaware of any criminal charges the suspect faced in Thailand.

Thai police said Karr was arrested at his apartment in downtown Bangkok at the request of U.S. officials, and was being held until they arrived. Suwat said he expected U.S. officials to take Karr back to America in the next few days.

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."

___

Associated Press Writers Suzanne Gamboa and Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington; Jon Sarche, Judith Kohler, Robert Weller and Chase Squires in Denver; Linda Deutsch in Los Angeles; Harry R. Weber in Atlanta; and Doug Gross in Marietta, Ga., contributed to this report.

[NormsRevenge]

The unmarked grave of Patsy Ramsey is pictured in front of the gravesite of JonBenet Patricia Ramsey, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2006, at the St. James Episcopal Church Cemetery in Marietta, Ga. A man arrested in Thailand is being held in connection with the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, U.S. officials said Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2006. Federal officials familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the man was already being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of the family's home in Boulder, Colo., on Dec. 26, 1996. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

[2111USMC]

Patsy died June 24. I wonder why her grave is still unmarked and still no grass or sod over it.

[varina davis]

I never thought Patsy did it, but I still think she might have known (or suspected) who did.

[3catsanadog]

This guy was caught molesting kids in Bangkok. Then he admits to the authorities he killed Jon Benet Ramsey. Then there is evidence he had a "relationship" with the family. When the DNA results match the crime scene evidence, then there is beyond a doubt that he is guilty. I hope that when he found guilty, they give him the death penalty

I think the guy was facing prison time in Thailand and as someone else said, U.S. prisons would seem like the Hyatt compared to Thailand's prisons. So this Karr guy figures that it'd be better if he finally confessed to the Ramsey crime rather than spend one horrid day in that country's prisons.

[garbageseeker]

My thoughts exactly. I was discussing this with a coworker of mine that once he saw life behind bars in Thailand he found religion and decide to confess. I was thinking just to leave him rot behind bars in a Thai jails. Well, he is facing possible capital charges. What needs to be examined what else this guy has been doing for the last 10 years. He must have committed other crimes in that period.