Posted on 08/16/2006 8:45:44 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BANGKOK, Thailand - An American suspect arrested in connection with the death of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey denied any connection to her murder when he was detained at his downtown Bangkok apartment Wednesday, police said.
The suspect was identified as John Mark Karr, according to Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul, who heads the country's immigration police. Karr denied involvement in the slayings, another police official said.
Karr's visa has been revoked because he was regarded as an "undesirable person" since he is accused of a crime in the United States, Suwat said.
Federal officials in the United States, speaking on condition of anonymity, also identified the suspect as Karr, a 42-year-old American, and said he was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges.
But Thai police said he had not committed any crime in Thailand.
Suwat said he expected American officials to take the suspect back to the United States in the next few days.
The arrest was a surprise breakthrough in one of America's most lurid murder cases — a decade-old crime some feared would never be solved.
JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colo., on Dec. 26, 1996.
"When we informed him that he has been accused of committing a crime at home he denied all accusations. It is normal for a suspect to deny the charges," said a senior police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The suspect, who has been in Thailand four times over the past two years, was being detained by immigration police pending arrival of U.S. officials, the police said.
Suwat said Thai police investigated the suspect and made the arrest at the request of U.S. officials.
The district attorney in Boulder, Mary Lacy, said the arrest followed several months of work. She would not disclose any details about the suspect, but the Ramsey family's attorney in Atlanta said the man was a schoolteacher who once lived in nearby Conyers, Ga.
The story is changing by the hour.
I say we're back to square one by next Wednesday.
There's a story from Colorado how a police official told a reporter there was a "file" for John Karr. But it might not be the same guy! But he said it was "red flagged."
Well, of course it was in case it was the same guy. Doesn't mean it was.
I'd be sitting here all night if I had to type a list of the "facts" in all the "breaking news" and "alerts" blather every 15 minutes.....facts which are as will-o-the wisp as I've ever heard.
Even Mark Fuhrman appeared skeptical on his little gig tonight.
BTW, did anyone catch Patsy Ramsey's sister on Fox tonight? What a piece of work she is. Really slightly weird like Patsy was.
LeniLeni
One thing worth mentioning. A new reality is unfolding in "normal American life" that we need to get used to, and that is people who live and work in very low cost countries. What is doing it is the elimination of defined benefit pensions.
This guy is not to retirement age, but because pension benefits are gone, there is no further point to working somewhere that the cost of living eats up income. In general, one's savings plus Soc. Sec. is the only way to retire in the future, and savings don't happen very easily in the US for the average person.
Point being, this guy living in Honduras and Thailand and wherever -- it need not be all lurid and negative. A lot of this is going on now and it's about money, not crime. It is even more common for retirees who don't discover the math until it slaps them in the face and they have to decide between living in Costa Rica or being a greeter at Walmart.
These stories change quicker than those about Jean Charles de Menezes
I saw Patsy's sister, heard Karr's brother, I am more then content to just let things settle down and let the process work thru all the coming gyrations we will likely be subjected to by the media and experts there and here. ;-)
You are so right. It has been bizarro world! I've been having to surf the net to scrape up anything I can to try and put these stories together. Usually I only depend on Fox and FR.
I wouldn't convict him yet.
It was. John Mark Karr. I wasn't going to mention it. You mean in teacher certification, right?
So there's some more misinformation, courtesy of me.
No they were talking about a criminal file. Sorry for not mentioning that.
That sounds a lot more plausible than what has been conjectured by some so far. Thanks.
Slayings (multiple)????
And his brother said he spent that Christmas in Georgia!
Yeah, in fact it seems the story is starting to disintegrate before our eyes, I wouldn't bet on anything yet.
I heard he was in Cambodia with JFKerry.
You are a good detective!
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