Arrest Made In JonBenet Ramsey Case

[TXCharlie]

http://www.nbc5i.com/news/9690214/detail.html

POSTED: 3:01 pm CDT August 16, 2006
UPDATED: 3:50 pm CDT August 16, 2006

DENVER -- Several media outlets reported Wednesday that an arrest has been made in the unsolved 1996 slaying of JonBenet Ramsey.

Authorities in Boulder, Colo., informed JonBenet Ramsey's father, John Ramsey, that an arrest was made outside of the United States, according to KMGH-TV in Denver.

In a telephone statement delivered from his Denver office to KMGH-TV, the Ramsey family's attorney, Hal Haddon, confirmed the arrest.


"The diligent investigation of Jon Benet Ramsey's murder by Boulder D.A. Lacey and detectives working with her has been extraordinary," Haddon told the station. "It is hoped this arrest will bring some closure to the Ramsey family after a 10-year ordeal. We respect the legal process and will have no further comment until the legal process is concluded."

MSNBC reported that the suspect was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. The suspect apparently made a confession regarding certain parts of the crime, according to MSNBC.

A source close to the investigation told KMGH-TV that the suspect is a U.S. citizen.

The District Attorney's Office in Boulder said they would not be holding a news conference regarding the arrest, KMGH-TV reported. Boulder police also did not immediately comment on the case.

Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her parents' Boulder home on Dec. 26, 1996. Her death has remained unsolved for almost 10 years.

JonBenet and her mother, Patsy Ramsey, who died last month of ovarian cancer, are both buried in Cobb County, Ga.

Refresh this page for more updates.

[gozling]

you know i hate to say this...
but i wonder how much money mom and dad paid this guy...

oh god i cant believe that came out of my mouth...

i really hope in my heart they didnt have anything to do with all of it.

[Willowdared]

I'm with Gosling on this....it's a shame that this case was screwed up from the very beginning.

[Terminator]

No doubt mommy and daddy dearest were involved.

[Ducky]

I kind of always thought that it looked like the parents were covering for someone, if not themselves. Guess we'll have to wait till we hear what kind of connection this guy has to that family.

[Just KC]

I believe earlier they said this guy used to teach in the area? Was a friend of Patsy's? But had since moved to Thailand. I guess they have been investigating him for some time....and JonBenet's parents knew an arrest was coming up.

[Terminator]

BANGKOK (Reuters) - An American suspected over the murder of six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey during Christmas 1996 has said her death was an accident, a senior Thai policeman said on Thursday.

"He killed the girl by accident," Immigration Police chief Lieutenant-General Suwat Tumroungsiskul told reporters after primary school teacher John Mark Karr, 41, was interrogated a day after his arrest in Bangkok.

"They fell in love with each other. She was very beautiful. So he kidnapped her and killed her by accident," Suwat said.



This is getting more and more strange by the day....

[CopsRCool302]

You can run, but you can't hide from the law. I happy they found the killer, it's sad her mom died before the sicko was cought..

Justice I hope will be serverd.

[TXCharlie]

Maybe that's why Mommy & Daddy appeared to be hiding something: A guilty conscience for putting their daughter in all those beauty pageants so the sick perverts like that could make goo-goo eyes at her and jack off over her pictures

[dla4079]

This just raises more questions than answers to me:

1: Why admit now?

2:

But the suspect's ex-wife said she was with him in Alabama at the time of JonBenet's 1996 death.

"I was with JonBenet when she died," Karr told reporters afterward, visibly nervous and stuttering. "Her death was an accident."

If he wasn't there, why admit to it?

3:

Wood said that Karr had tried to correspond with Patsy Ramsey in the months before the woman's death from ovarian cancer. Wood said Ramsey did not reply, but handed that information over to investigators who used it to link Karr to the case.

Why wait for a confession? Why not go get him and question him?

4:

Wood said Karr went to elaborate attempts to conceal his identity in e-mails to the university professor, going so far as to use a computer server in Canada.

How did they find out it was Karr?

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.

How did he know it was Karr?

To me it just seems that there is an alterior motive here. The peices just aint adding up to me, but then again, I am only getting one side of the story here. I don't have both sides, I am not not able to see the Investigators portion of this story either. Hopefully more will come out on this.

[Ducky]

"They fell in love with each other. She was very beautiful. So he kidnapped her and killed her by accident," Suwat said.

I'm surprised that Thailand is even bothering to help, considering the history of underaged and forced prostitution in that country. And I'm sorry, if any adult thinks a six year old can "fall in love" with a 31 year old (the age the suspect was at the time of the murder) then they are sadly deluded. I'm willing to bet that if this guy really did it, then the reason he moved to Bangkok was so he could continue to have sex with prepubescent little girls who have been tarted up to attract men.

And WTF drives parents to get their kids into beauty pageants anyhow? At that age the kid doesn't care, it's all some desire on the parent's part for accolade and approval from other parents that they didn't give birth to a troll. The girls grow up believing that looks are everything and don't bother to try to be anything more than someone's trophy. They wind up being so desperate for approval that they get into dangerous behaviors and either wind up OD'd or pregnant at 16 or 17. I'd like to see the suicide rates on these kids when they get older and suddenly the world doesn't revolve around them.

But I digress. People are evil and stupid, end of story.

[dla4079]

Questions arise in JonBenet Ramsey case By CATHERINE TSAI and JON SARCHE, Associated Press Writers

If the stunning confession in JonBenet Ramsey's slaying has made the decade-old case any easier to solve, prosecutors aren't saying. And it may have made it more puzzling.

Hours after John Mark Karr told reporters in Thailand he was with JonBenet when she died, questions arose about his claims — including whether he drugged the 6-year-old beauty queen, sexually assaulted her 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, 41, told investigators he drugged and sexually assaulted the girl before accidentally killing her, according to a Thai police officer who was briefed about the interview with U.S. authorities.

Yet 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.

According to Thai police, Karr said he picked JonBenet up at school and took her to her home. But the slaying occurred during Christmas break.

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 his client 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."

Any previous relationship between Karr and the Ramseys remained a mystery, though both have ties to suburban Atlanta.

Karr's background includes an arrest in Petaluma, Calif., in 2001 on five misdemeanor counts of possession of child pornography, to which he pleaded not guilty.

He 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.

"He was qualified to be a teacher. He had a diploma and has experience in teaching in Bangkok for some time," said Banchong Chompowong, assistant director of the English immersion program at Bangkok Christian. "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."

Banchong said Karr gave the students "time outs" and another teacher said he had a reputation for yelling at students.

Karr was arrested at a Bangkok apartment Wednesday. Hours later, Thai authorities sat him before a room of journalists, where he admitted: "I was with JonBenet when she died. Her death was an accident."

"I am so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet," Karr told the AP.

Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul, head of Thailand's immigration police, said a Thai officer asked Karr why he had sex with a 6-year-old girl.

"He said that at the time it was just a blur. He said they were lovers," Suwat told The Associated Press on Friday.

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.

Thai police said Karr told them the slaying was second-degree murder. One expert suggested his confession was geared to spare him a first-degree murder charge.

"He seemed convinced that what he said would make him guilty of a lesser crime," said Sharon Davies, a former prosecutor at the Ohio State University law school.

Legal experts said DNA evidence will likely be key: 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.

Asked if authorities could tell whether Karr had firsthand knowledge of the murder or had just picked up information from news accounts, Lin Wood, the Ramseys' longtime attorney, said: "There is information about the murder that has never been publicly disclosed." He did not elaborate.

Wood said he believes there is more to the case than correspondence.

"I feel like there must be something more here than some e-mail confession," the attorney said.

Karr's description of the case as an accident also rang false to experts.

"It's hard to imagine a more intentional, deliberate murder," said Craig Silverman, a former Denver prosecutor, referring to JonBenet's skull fracture and strangulation. "This has always been a case of deliberate murder."

[Pedro56]

Pedro's Theory

Son did it.

The son was having sex with Johnbenet, she said she was going to tell, and he killed her. Mom and Dad found out, but since they all ready lost the daughter, they didn't want to lose the son as well. So, they helped cover the whole thing up, and the son can't even be talked to now without a slew of attorneys.

As far as Mickey the Mope here confessing to the crime, he got caught up in some bad shit in Thailand and was going to go to prison. We all know what Thai jails are like or at least have heard stories. He was on his way and said screw this I killed her. None of his story matches anything at all. If I am correct wasn't this clown picked up b4 for child porn? If so I bet that might be what they got him for in Thailand. He is innocent, and is looking for a quick ticket out of there.

[BigDawg]

I agree that I think he is just looking for a fast free ticket home. Once he gets here his DNA wont match anything. The biggest question I still have in this case is the fact that she was found in her own house!!!! To me that is a very compelling piece of evidence. I do have my doubts about the son though, and that is only because of the DNA. It has been listed as an unknown male....if it belonged to a family member there would be markers that would show that in the DNA. Unless the family paid some sicko like this to do that to further cover up for the son...but if they were to do that I think they would have had her body moved somewhere else, not keep it in their house.

To many questions, and so far no real answers. Bottom line I don't think this is the guy.

[katiemh]

As far as Mickey the Mope here confessing to the crime, he got caught up in some bad shit in Thailand and was going to go to prison. We all know what Thai jails are like or at least have heard stories. He was on his way and said screw this I killed her. None of his story matches anything at all. If I am correct wasn't this clown picked up b4 for child porn? If so I bet that might be what they got him for in Thailand. He is innocent, and is looking for a quick ticket out of there.

I was considering this as well, but he the Thai police weren't looking at him for anything. They only had him detained for the U.S. in reference to the charges in California (child porn, I believe). Have they even pressed charges on this guy yet for anything relating to the JonBenet case?