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.
They found the beginings of a practice note on the same pad that the ransom note came from. The War and Peace of all ransom notes, the thing was three frickin' pages long.
This guy is a nut job, and delusional. After reading that he was emailing her mother, and certain Ramsey investigators for four years.....yeah, not buying it.
The sad thing is, statistically speaking, parents are by far the most likely perps in the death of a child. Don't see how its possible. But it's true.
"He wasn't in a Thailand Jail. He was arrested at an 'apartment' in a hotel that is notorious for sexual exploits."
That is correct.
However he was and is still facing a long prison term in a Bangkok prison. If his admission is discovered to be a hoax, then I hope he gets sent back to Bangkok for trial, but I assume that the ACLU will get involved and demand that he not be extradicted back to Thailand.
I think your right....he copped this in order to get back to the states.
Next!
Yeah. Good old sibling support for a pedophile.
yes, the DNA is the question. If it is not this guy's DNA, and no one can substantiate that he was in Boulder, then it would appear that he is just a nutbag.
I didn't say that John said it to his lawyer. I said he MAY have said it to the police who chose to omit it. Just conjecture.
On what charges? And can you provide a link?
Other articles statethat he'd been writing to Patsy Ramsey. From this aRTICLE: 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."
And: A University of Colorado spokesman, Barrie Hartman, said journalism professor Michael Tracey communicated with Karr over several months and contacted police.
I guess...
You know I don't remember WHERE I was... I'd definately have to go back and look. I vaguely remember talking about it with my mom when it happened.. but that would be normal.. we talk about all the big crime stories..
Just because she had southern ties doesn't mean Karr's family would have given it much import. NOW once he was so INTERESTED in it .. you'd think they'd have questions themselves.
The thing I think is interesting is that while they KNOW he wasn't in CO - they (his family.. not ex-wife) clain no knowledge of his arrest in California..
To me the interaction of his family is what is weird...
Teenage boys are not as good at babysitting as girls, by far. We've tried both. More often than not, the boys get carried away playing with our son (not all their fault, our son can get almost any kid amped-up playing) and they end up breaking something.
We don't know he didn't -- a lot of things the police ignored.
And the univ professor contacted police because the perps emails became "very disturbing" according to a report last night.
What are the charges...and what is your source? Thanks.
You are so right! I am a fact person not a feelings person usually.
There is a LOT of collusion going on here. Patsy Ramsey almost certainly knew the circumstances of Jon-Benet's death, and had successfully concealed the facts up until almost the time she died, leaving a deathbed confession of sorts.
If nobody talked, then nobody was going to get caught. Sure, it was accidental, and there was a LOT of covering up after the fact, obfuscating and muddying the evidence, seeming to lead away from the prime suspects in this case.
In many ways Jon-Benet was a very tormented little girl.
For what? Has he been charged for crimes committed in Thailand?
The current charges are from California. He is in jail in Bangkok at the request of the US authorities.
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| "and hence" I didn't know that previously. "and hence" is bad grammar and although even educated people use bad grammar all the time, it is a very unusual combination. Whoever wrote this could have used "and" or "hence" by itself and not altered the meaning at all. Damn, now I'm an 'expert' witness... If FoxNews calls me to fill air this weekend, I'm giving them your name. ;-) |
Just to be clear, the article says he wrote letters to Patsy Ramsey and was emailing journalism professor Michael Tracey
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