buckaroo
Here kitty, kitty, kitty
There has been an arrest of an American in the case of Jon-Benet Ramsey's death 10 years ago. An unidentified suspect was arrested in Thailand. Looks like the airways will be rife with this case once again.
Arrest made in Jon-Benet Ramsey case
- Thread starter buckaroo
- Start date
kelloggs5TLfan
Team Owner
John Mark Karrbuckaroo said:
By CATHERINE TSAI
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - 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 case some feared would never be solved.
Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, a 42-year-old American, and one law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Boulder police had tracked him down online.
The Ramsey family's attorney in Atlanta pronounced the arrest vindication for JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, who had long been under suspicion in the slaying.
"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 on June 24 after a battle with ovarian cancer. "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 in their daughter's slaying.
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.
Wood said Karr confessed to elements of the crime. 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 she said no further details would be released until Thursday.
Authorities said Karr was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. CBS reported he will be brought back to the United States this weekend.
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 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.
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. 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.
Over the years, some experts suggested that investigators had botched the case so thoroughly that it might never be solved.
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.
Author Lawrence Schiller, who wrote 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.
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 contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - 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 case some feared would never be solved.
Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, a 42-year-old American, and one law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Boulder police had tracked him down online.
The Ramsey family's attorney in Atlanta pronounced the arrest vindication for JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, who had long been under suspicion in the slaying.
"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 on June 24 after a battle with ovarian cancer. "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 in their daughter's slaying.
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.
Wood said Karr confessed to elements of the crime. 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 she said no further details would be released until Thursday.
Authorities said Karr was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. CBS reported he will be brought back to the United States this weekend.
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 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.
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. 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.
Over the years, some experts suggested that investigators had botched the case so thoroughly that it might never be solved.
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.
Author Lawrence Schiller, who wrote 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.
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 contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
buckaroo
Here kitty, kitty, kitty
Hmmm, something smells rotten in this. I know that we all would love to see the case solved, but some things just aren't adding up. We'll see if the DNA matches and then they will really have a case.
M
Mopardh9
Guest
buckaroo said:
I agree, too many inconsistencies in Karrs' admissions that do not jive with the original reports. I was in Colorado when most of this case hit the news, every day we were bombarded with details from it. Most of the entire case was put out there for the media or they got a hold of it somehow. Anyone that had the slightest where with alll to take a significant interest in this case could really get a hold of a lot of information. Something about this guy Karr just doesn't work for me, although i hope he is the guy, i really don't think the "real" killer will ever be found.
Professur
Team Owner
Guilty or not, this guy's got a US shelf life of about 20 minutes outside of solitary.
Feds Starting to Question Karr's Confession
Updated 4:34 PM ET August 18, 2006
Federal investigators say they're very interested in some of the things the confessed killer of JonBenet Ramsey has been saying. But they're also dismissing some of his claims.
John Karr exchanged many e-mails with a University of Colorado professor, and some of those turned up in today's Rocky Mountain News. In one, Karr writes that he's under federal investigation for "child murder and child molestation" in four states.
Not so, says a federal law enforcement official in Washington. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official tells The Associated Press there's no four-state federal case in which Karr is suspected, much less wanted.
Still, the feds say Karr has piqued their interest and they want to question him.
Meanwhile, the Ramsey family lawyer says Patsy Ramsey was asked back in May if she'd be willing to meet with Karr. But authorities didn't get back to her before she died in June.
Ramsey said she would meet with John Mark Karr if it would advance the investigation into JonBenet Ramsey's Christmastime 1996 slaying, but the meeting never took place because authorities did not get back to her before she died in June, attorney Lin Wood said.
The attorney also said the written correspondence Karr sent to Patsy Ramsey either in the form of e-mails or letters was never received by her because it was routed to someone else. He said police or someone else set up an address for the correspondence to be sent to make it look like he was writing to Ramsey. It was turned over to the police instead.
"He thought that he was corresponding with Patsy, but he wasn't," Wood told The Associated Press.
A spokesman for the Roswell, Ga., Police Department, which helped to identify and locate Karr, declined to say Friday whether his agency conducted the correspondence ruse.
"We're not commenting on any part of the investigation," Sgt. James McGee said.
Karr, 41, was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, this week in a surprise twist in one of the nation's most lurid unsolved slayings. The former teacher told the AP he "was with JonBenet when she died. Her death was an accident."
Legal experts had questioned some of Karr's claims -- including whether he sexually assaulted the girl or was even in Colorado at the time of the slaying.
"It's clear to me that he's somewhat interested or maybe even obsessed by the case and the real question is whether he's inserting himself into it for some obscure psychological reason," said author Carlton Smith, who wrote 1997's "Death of a Little Princess: The Tragic Story of the Murder of JonBenet Ramsey."
District Attorney Mary Lacy refused to say whether authorities have evidence linking Karr to JonBenet's death at her Boulder home on Dec. 26, 1996.
"We should all heed the poignant advice of John Ramsey," said Lacy, quoting the girl's father. "Do not jump to conclusions, do not rush to judgment, do not speculate. Let the justice system take its course."
Karr's ex-wife, Lara Knutson, told reporters she cannot defend him, then insisted he was with her in Alabama that Christmas.
"She cannot think of a Christmas while they were together when he was away from the family on Christmas day or immediately thereafter," said her attorney, Michael Rains, though he added she could not specifically recall Christmas 1996.
Authorities have not said whether Karr could have written the ransom note demanding $118,000 found in the Ramsey home. And the professor who swapped four years' worth of e-mails with Karr and brought him to the attention of prosecutors in May refused to characterize the suspect either as killer or kook.
"I don't know that he's guilty," said Michael Tracey, who teaches journalism at the University of Colorado. "Obviously, I went to the district attorney for a reason, but let him have his day in court and let JonBenet have her day in court and let's see how it plays out."
Correspondence obtained by the Rocky Mountain News between Tracey and a person investigators believe to be Karr included one message in which the professor was asked to visit JonBenet's home in Boulder to read aloud an ode called "JonBenet, My Love."
"JonBenet, my love, my life. I love you and shall forever love you. I pray that you can hear my voice calling out to you from my darkness this darkness that now separates us," read one of the e-mails, which the newspaper said Friday it obtained from a source close to the investigation.
It said the message was part of a small sample of correspondence between Karr and Tracey. In other e-mails, Karr said he was under federal investigation for "child murder and child molestation" in four states.
In Washington, federal law enforcement officials said Karr's comments since his arrest have piqued their interest and they want to question him. Regarding Kerr's purported claims in emails that he was under federal investigation for child murder and molestation, one law enforcement official said "there is no four-state federal case" in which Karr is wanted or even suspected. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is being handled by local prosecutors in Colorado.
In another e-mail, the Rocky Mountain News reported, Karr said he sympathized with Michael Jackson, who has been accused of molesting young boys.
"I will tell you that I can understand people like Michael Jackson and feel sympathy when he suffers as he has," Karr wrote.
"I can relate very well to children and the way they think and feel," one Karr e-mail said. "I think you are asking if I am much a 'Peter Pan.' In many ways, the answer is yes. In other ways, I suppose it is no because I am trapped in a world that does not understand."
In one correspondence, Tracey asked whether Karr's "fascination with little girls -- which clearly has a strong erotic component -- is a way of going back."
"Maybe I am not going back but have simply stayed consistent," Karr responded. "My peer group has not changed since I was a little boy, and girls were the people I was with always. Referring to them as a peer group is somewhat incorrect, but might also be the very definition of what they continue to be in my life."
Tracey refused to discuss the e-mails with reporters on Thursday and declined comment for the newspaper story.
Legal experts said DNA evidence will likely be key to the case: DNA was found beneath JonBenet's fingernails and inside her underwear, and authorities have never said whether it matches anyone in an FBI database.
Karr was given a mouth-swab DNA test in Bangkok, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. The results of that test were not known. Karr will be given another DNA test when he returns to the United States in the next several days, the official said.
Karr began teaching at Bangkok Christian College, an elite private school with about 5,500 male students in 12 grades, in early June, school officials said. He worked there for about two weeks before being dismissed.
"John Karr came to us with a good resume and with credentials, but then we allowed him a trial (period) with students, we found he was too strict," said Banchong Chompowong, assistant director of the English immersion program at Bangkok Christian.
Banchong said Karr gave the students "time outs" and another teacher said he had a reputation for yelling at students.
Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul of the Thai immigration police changed some details Friday of the account he had given of what Karr told investigators. In a telephone interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Suwat quoted Karr as saying he had sexually assaulted the girl and given her drugs. He also told reporters before a news conference that day Karr had claimed to have picked up JonBenet at her school, though her 1996 death came during the holiday break.
On Friday, Suwat confirmed to the AP his account of the sexual assault. But asked if Karr gave the girl drugs, Suwat said the suspect described the encounter with JonBenet Ramsey as "a blur."
"It may have been drugs, or it may have been something else because (Karr said) it was a blur, blur," Suwat said.
Suwat also said Friday that his statement about the girl being picked from school was based on a documentary he had seen and not the interrogation.
JonBenet's autopsy report found no evidence of drugs, saying her death was caused by strangulation after a beating that included a fractured skull. While it describes vaginal injuries, it makes no conclusions about whether she was raped. Investigators later concluded there was no semen on JonBenet's body.
Suwat said Karr wants to return to the United States to fight the case. He said U.S. authorities were preparing documents and plane tickets for the return journey. The departure could take place at any time, he said.
Associated Press writers Harry R. Weber in Atlanta, Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok, Lara Jakes Jordan and Matt Apuzzo in Washington, Chase Squires in Boulder, Colo., Jordan Robertson in San Francisco and Marcus Wohlsen in Petaluma, Calif., contributed to this report.
We need a "FISHY" emoticon!
Updated 4:34 PM ET August 18, 2006
Federal investigators say they're very interested in some of the things the confessed killer of JonBenet Ramsey has been saying. But they're also dismissing some of his claims.
John Karr exchanged many e-mails with a University of Colorado professor, and some of those turned up in today's Rocky Mountain News. In one, Karr writes that he's under federal investigation for "child murder and child molestation" in four states.
Not so, says a federal law enforcement official in Washington. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official tells The Associated Press there's no four-state federal case in which Karr is suspected, much less wanted.
Still, the feds say Karr has piqued their interest and they want to question him.
Meanwhile, the Ramsey family lawyer says Patsy Ramsey was asked back in May if she'd be willing to meet with Karr. But authorities didn't get back to her before she died in June.
Ramsey said she would meet with John Mark Karr if it would advance the investigation into JonBenet Ramsey's Christmastime 1996 slaying, but the meeting never took place because authorities did not get back to her before she died in June, attorney Lin Wood said.
The attorney also said the written correspondence Karr sent to Patsy Ramsey either in the form of e-mails or letters was never received by her because it was routed to someone else. He said police or someone else set up an address for the correspondence to be sent to make it look like he was writing to Ramsey. It was turned over to the police instead.
"He thought that he was corresponding with Patsy, but he wasn't," Wood told The Associated Press.
A spokesman for the Roswell, Ga., Police Department, which helped to identify and locate Karr, declined to say Friday whether his agency conducted the correspondence ruse.
"We're not commenting on any part of the investigation," Sgt. James McGee said.
Karr, 41, was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, this week in a surprise twist in one of the nation's most lurid unsolved slayings. The former teacher told the AP he "was with JonBenet when she died. Her death was an accident."
Legal experts had questioned some of Karr's claims -- including whether he sexually assaulted the girl or was even in Colorado at the time of the slaying.
"It's clear to me that he's somewhat interested or maybe even obsessed by the case and the real question is whether he's inserting himself into it for some obscure psychological reason," said author Carlton Smith, who wrote 1997's "Death of a Little Princess: The Tragic Story of the Murder of JonBenet Ramsey."
District Attorney Mary Lacy refused to say whether authorities have evidence linking Karr to JonBenet's death at her Boulder home on Dec. 26, 1996.
"We should all heed the poignant advice of John Ramsey," said Lacy, quoting the girl's father. "Do not jump to conclusions, do not rush to judgment, do not speculate. Let the justice system take its course."
Karr's ex-wife, Lara Knutson, told reporters she cannot defend him, then insisted he was with her in Alabama that Christmas.
"She cannot think of a Christmas while they were together when he was away from the family on Christmas day or immediately thereafter," said her attorney, Michael Rains, though he added she could not specifically recall Christmas 1996.
Authorities have not said whether Karr could have written the ransom note demanding $118,000 found in the Ramsey home. And the professor who swapped four years' worth of e-mails with Karr and brought him to the attention of prosecutors in May refused to characterize the suspect either as killer or kook.
"I don't know that he's guilty," said Michael Tracey, who teaches journalism at the University of Colorado. "Obviously, I went to the district attorney for a reason, but let him have his day in court and let JonBenet have her day in court and let's see how it plays out."
Correspondence obtained by the Rocky Mountain News between Tracey and a person investigators believe to be Karr included one message in which the professor was asked to visit JonBenet's home in Boulder to read aloud an ode called "JonBenet, My Love."
"JonBenet, my love, my life. I love you and shall forever love you. I pray that you can hear my voice calling out to you from my darkness this darkness that now separates us," read one of the e-mails, which the newspaper said Friday it obtained from a source close to the investigation.
It said the message was part of a small sample of correspondence between Karr and Tracey. In other e-mails, Karr said he was under federal investigation for "child murder and child molestation" in four states.
In Washington, federal law enforcement officials said Karr's comments since his arrest have piqued their interest and they want to question him. Regarding Kerr's purported claims in emails that he was under federal investigation for child murder and molestation, one law enforcement official said "there is no four-state federal case" in which Karr is wanted or even suspected. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is being handled by local prosecutors in Colorado.
In another e-mail, the Rocky Mountain News reported, Karr said he sympathized with Michael Jackson, who has been accused of molesting young boys.
"I will tell you that I can understand people like Michael Jackson and feel sympathy when he suffers as he has," Karr wrote.
"I can relate very well to children and the way they think and feel," one Karr e-mail said. "I think you are asking if I am much a 'Peter Pan.' In many ways, the answer is yes. In other ways, I suppose it is no because I am trapped in a world that does not understand."
In one correspondence, Tracey asked whether Karr's "fascination with little girls -- which clearly has a strong erotic component -- is a way of going back."
"Maybe I am not going back but have simply stayed consistent," Karr responded. "My peer group has not changed since I was a little boy, and girls were the people I was with always. Referring to them as a peer group is somewhat incorrect, but might also be the very definition of what they continue to be in my life."
Tracey refused to discuss the e-mails with reporters on Thursday and declined comment for the newspaper story.
Legal experts said DNA evidence will likely be key to the case: DNA was found beneath JonBenet's fingernails and inside her underwear, and authorities have never said whether it matches anyone in an FBI database.
Karr was given a mouth-swab DNA test in Bangkok, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. The results of that test were not known. Karr will be given another DNA test when he returns to the United States in the next several days, the official said.
Karr began teaching at Bangkok Christian College, an elite private school with about 5,500 male students in 12 grades, in early June, school officials said. He worked there for about two weeks before being dismissed.
"John Karr came to us with a good resume and with credentials, but then we allowed him a trial (period) with students, we found he was too strict," said Banchong Chompowong, assistant director of the English immersion program at Bangkok Christian.
Banchong said Karr gave the students "time outs" and another teacher said he had a reputation for yelling at students.
Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul of the Thai immigration police changed some details Friday of the account he had given of what Karr told investigators. In a telephone interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Suwat quoted Karr as saying he had sexually assaulted the girl and given her drugs. He also told reporters before a news conference that day Karr had claimed to have picked up JonBenet at her school, though her 1996 death came during the holiday break.
On Friday, Suwat confirmed to the AP his account of the sexual assault. But asked if Karr gave the girl drugs, Suwat said the suspect described the encounter with JonBenet Ramsey as "a blur."
"It may have been drugs, or it may have been something else because (Karr said) it was a blur, blur," Suwat said.
Suwat also said Friday that his statement about the girl being picked from school was based on a documentary he had seen and not the interrogation.
JonBenet's autopsy report found no evidence of drugs, saying her death was caused by strangulation after a beating that included a fractured skull. While it describes vaginal injuries, it makes no conclusions about whether she was raped. Investigators later concluded there was no semen on JonBenet's body.
Suwat said Karr wants to return to the United States to fight the case. He said U.S. authorities were preparing documents and plane tickets for the return journey. The departure could take place at any time, he said.
Associated Press writers Harry R. Weber in Atlanta, Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok, Lara Jakes Jordan and Matt Apuzzo in Washington, Chase Squires in Boulder, Colo., Jordan Robertson in San Francisco and Marcus Wohlsen in Petaluma, Calif., contributed to this report.
We need a "FISHY" emoticon!
N
NeedForSpeed
Guest
Now maybe they can find the real people that killed Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. The nerve they had....trying to blame that murder on poor ol OJ Simpson!
M
Mopardh9
Guest
Well now for the next few months this is all we will hear in the news......sigh, the media will run with this stuff.
S
SlowNeasy
Guest
I don't know if he did or didn't kill JonBenet Ramsey. I do know he's one very sick individual though...and have little higher opinion of JonBenet's parents.
F
FOURISIS
Guest
I think this guy just wants his moment in the spotlight.For one, how can he pick up Jon from school esp. when school was out for the holidays?or how can he be in CO when he was in GA at the time? Things just don't add up.
buckaroo
Here kitty, kitty, kitty
A lot of what is being reported that he said is turning out to be false. Remember this, if his DNA is found on the body of JB, they will have a case. If it isn't, their case will be much harder to prove. And, as yet, they've not charged him with anything.
Bucky Badger
Go Kyle Go
Charges dropped
http://www.channel3000.com/news/9745293/detail.html
Prosecutors abruptly dropped their case against John Mark Karr in the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, saying DNA tests failed to put him at the crime scene despite his repeated insistence he killed the 6-year-old beauty queen.
In court papers, prosecutors suggested he had a twisted fascination with the little girl and confessed to a crime he didn't commit.
"The warrant on Mr. Karr has been dropped by the district attorney," public defender Seth Temin said outside the jail where Karr is being held. "They are not proceeding with the case."
Karr was returned to the United States a week ago from Thailand, where he told reporters that he had been with JonBenet when she died, but that her death was an accident.
"We're deeply distressed by the fact that they took this man and dragged him here from Bangkok, Thailand with no forensic evidence confirming the allegations against him and no independent factors leading to a presumption that he did anything wrong," said Temin.
There were unconfirmed reports that DNA testing failed to make a match between Karr and the forensic evidence in the case.
KMGH-TV in Denver confirmed that Boulder prosecutors had sent DNA evidence in the JonBenet Ramsey case to Denver for testing. Detective John White refered questions regarding the testing to the Boulder District Attorney's Office.
"The Boulder district attorney did send us an official request to process a DNA analysis, and we are doing that," Det. John White told the Boulder Daily Camera.
Karr's first appearance in Boulder County Court had been scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Monday, an advisement hearing that was expected to last only a few minutes. That hearing was canceled.
http://www.channel3000.com/news/9745293/detail.html
Prosecutors abruptly dropped their case against John Mark Karr in the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, saying DNA tests failed to put him at the crime scene despite his repeated insistence he killed the 6-year-old beauty queen.
In court papers, prosecutors suggested he had a twisted fascination with the little girl and confessed to a crime he didn't commit.
"The warrant on Mr. Karr has been dropped by the district attorney," public defender Seth Temin said outside the jail where Karr is being held. "They are not proceeding with the case."
Karr was returned to the United States a week ago from Thailand, where he told reporters that he had been with JonBenet when she died, but that her death was an accident.
"We're deeply distressed by the fact that they took this man and dragged him here from Bangkok, Thailand with no forensic evidence confirming the allegations against him and no independent factors leading to a presumption that he did anything wrong," said Temin.
There were unconfirmed reports that DNA testing failed to make a match between Karr and the forensic evidence in the case.
KMGH-TV in Denver confirmed that Boulder prosecutors had sent DNA evidence in the JonBenet Ramsey case to Denver for testing. Detective John White refered questions regarding the testing to the Boulder District Attorney's Office.
"The Boulder district attorney did send us an official request to process a DNA analysis, and we are doing that," Det. John White told the Boulder Daily Camera.
Karr's first appearance in Boulder County Court had been scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Monday, an advisement hearing that was expected to last only a few minutes. That hearing was canceled.
Bucky Badger
Go Kyle Go
He's going to face some pretty serious charges in CA. tho. Child porn and fleeing, I think.
M
Mopardh9
Guest
What i don't understand is why they couldn't have sampled his DNA in Thailand, then sent it to the USA for testing. That would of saved a lot of time and money, not to mention he would have had to deal with the Thai authorities.