Jon Benet Ramsey suspect arrested and being charged

[passin thru]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4921245,00.html

JonBenet suspect named
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Authorities have announced the arrest of a suspect in the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey, who was found dead in her Boulder home the day after Christmas 1996, according to reports on MSNBC.STORY TOOLS
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By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
August 16, 2006
A man arrested in Thailand is being held in connection with the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, law enforcement officials said today.
John Karr, 41, a former Atlanta, Ga., resident, was arrested today in Bangkok, according to two people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition they not be identified.

The connection to the Ramsey family was not immediately clear.

Federal officials familiar with the case, who spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said the suspect was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges.

A third source close to the case who spoke anonymously identified the suspect as one-time resident of Conyers, Ga., and said he was a school teacher.

That source said that authorities had been focusing on him for some time and that Patsy Ramsey had been made aware prior to her death on June 24 that his arrest was being pursued.

Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy today confirmed the arrest,without naming the suspect. She said it followed several months of a focused and complex investigation. "John and Patsy Ramsey both were consulted during the course of the investigation," Lacy said in a brief press release this afternoon.

The Ramsey family has been notified of the arrest, Lacy said.

The district attorney's office has scheduled a news conference Thursday at 2 p.m. at the justice center.

Hal Haddon, who had represented John Ramsey through the first several years of the case, issued a prepared statement.

"The diligent investigation of JonBenet Ramsey's murder by Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy and detectives working with her has been extraordinary," said Haddon, who attended Patsy Ramsey's memorial service June 29, in Roswell, Ga.

"It is our hope that 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 about the case or the evidence until that process is concluded."

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

Law enforcement officials from Boulder were flying to Bangkok to present Thai authorities with documents in the slaying of the 6-year-old beauty pageant contestant, officials in Washington said.

They spoke to the Associated Press but asked to remain anonymous pending an announcement in Colorado.

The girl's parents, Patsy and John Ramsey, had been under an "umbrella of suspicion" in JonBenet's death. The Ramseys said an intruder killed their daughter. A grand jury investigation in Boulder ended with no indictments, and no arrests had been made in the case.

In 2003, U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes 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, who the Ramseys had named as a suspect in their daughter's murder. The Boulder district attorney at the time said she agreed with Carnes' declaration.

The district attorney's has established a web page for information on the case: www.co.boulder.co.us/da.

 

[HAY MAKER]

I just seen this on the news,can you imagine how the Ramseys felt,losing a bueatiful lil girl like that ,then being accused of the crime,to bad her poor mother never got to see justice..................good luck

 

[ranchwife]

About da#@ time!!! I can only imagine what that family went through all these years....and the mom going to her grave not knowing!! How very, very sad!!!

 

[passin thru]

I saw an interview with John Ramsey and he said his wife knew that they had a serious suspect before she died.

 

[Brad S]

I think the cops played this pretty straight, but several news agencies should get in a different line of work. The media even lambasted the cops for not taking down innocent victims.

 

[ranchwife]

I saw an interview with John Ramsey and he said his wife knew that they had a serious suspect before she died.

At least she had some sense of peace, then, before she died!!

 

[passin thru]

Some..........but I can't imagine losing a child and then not being able yo mourn her loss because you are a suspect.

 

[Faster horses]

I heard on Fox News this morning that he was in the house the evening Jon Bonet disappeared. They wondered why we have not heard this guys name before now.

And he was currently looking for a job as a teacher. A registered sex offender!!

I hope this causes more pressure to be put on those blights on society.

 

[Anonymous]

I heard on Fox News this morning that he was in the house the evening Jon Bonet disappeared. They wondered why we have not heard this guys name before now.

And he was currently looking for a job as a teacher. A registered sex offender!!

I hope this causes more pressure to be put on those blights on society.

First thing that came to mind with me- was why was he in Thailand?

Only happens to be the child sex capitol of the world...Where they dress up the 8-9-10 year old little kids like adults and sell them...Many convicted child sex offenders head straight there upon release, because even tho its against the law, its so rampant that the prosecution is hit and miss....

Kind of fits.....

 

[Ranchy]

So glad they are making headway in the case. Hope it's over now........for the Ramsey family.

Hope they get a rope and hang the bas*ard that did it, though.........and he burns in he77 forever. :evil:

 

[Ranchy]

Just saw this on the Home Talk board I post on...............sorry it's long, but thought you all might be interested.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suspect says Ramsey death 'an accident' By SUTIN WANNABOVORN, Associated Press Writer
Thu Aug 17, 6:20 AM ET



BANGKOK, Thailand - A former American school teacher said publicly Thursday he was with JonBenet Ramsey when she was killed and called the 6-year-old's death "an accident," a stunning admission that should help answer 10 years of questions in the unsolved murder case.

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," John Mark Karr told reporters afterward, visibly nervous and stuttering as he spoke. "Her death was an accident."

Asked if he was innocent of the crime, Karr said: "No."

Karr confessed to the killing after his arrest Wednesday at his downtown Bangkok apartment by Thai and American authorities, said Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul, head of Thailand's immigration police.

He said Karr insisted his crime was not first-degree murder but that she died during a kidnapping attempt that went awry.

"He said it was second-degree murder. He said it was unintentional. He said he was in love with the child, she was a pageant queen," Suwat said.

Karr declined to say what his connection was to the Ramsey family. Dressed in a turquoise polo shirt and khaki trousers, he appeared ashen with an expressionless look on his face.

An attorney for the Ramsey family said Wednesday that Karr once lived near the family in Conyers, Ga.

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

Wednesday's arrest was a surprise development in one of America's most lurid murder cases, which had left a cloud of suspicion over her family after years went by with no arrests. Some feared the case would never be solved.

Striking video images of the blonde-haired girl in child beauty pageants helped propel the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the United States.

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.

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.

The Ramseys learned that police were investigating Karr at least a month before the June death of JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, of ovarian cancer, the family said.

In a statement Wednesday, father 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."

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. Patsy Ramsey reported finding a ransom note in the house demanding $118,000 for her daughter.

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," said Lin Wood, the family's longtime attorney.

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

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 as an "undesirable person" given 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 the department's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Bangkok, said that Karr had left the United States several years ago and had not returned.

The immigration and customs office had assisted the Boulder County District Attorney's Office and the Royal Thai Police in the investigation.

The suspect, who has been in Thailand five times over the past two years, was being detained by immigration police pending arrival of U.S. officials, Suwat said.

When asked how he could travel for so many years in Asia, and whether he was independently wealthy, Hurst responded, "We're asking the same questions."

Police said Karr had been living in a dormitory-style hotel called The Blooms in a neighborhood of massage parlors and travel agents that cater to expatriate residents and sex tourists. The nine-story hotel offers rooms for as short as three-hour rentals.

The district attorney in Boulder, Mary Lacy, said the arrest followed several months of work.

She said Karr, who had traveled extensively across the world, may also be connected to a prior case in Santa Rosa County, Calif. She did not provide further details.

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.

 

[HAY MAKER]

I hafta admitt to hearing lotsa sad stories,but this one has to be one of the saddest............

 

[Faster horses]

"sex tourists"...pretty much verifies what OT said.

I wasn't aware of the fact Thailand was the sex capital of the world. :twisted:

thanks, ranchy, for the post.

 

[IL Rancher]

Listening to the news it sounds like he might be phoney confessing.. Said he drugged her when their was no drugs in her system. His ex-wife claims that he was with her the night of the murder.. Wife could be mistaken (Hoping against hope that she didn't marry someone capable of this, although she id marry him at age 16), he could be not remembering thigs right after all it has been 10 years... I HOPE it is him because I would love the person who did this to get the punishment they so richly deserve and he sounds like a creepy person...

 

[Ranchy]

FH, I didn't know that, either........... Sounds like a good place to steer clear of, to me! :nod:

I just hope against hope, that they've found the perp, and that he gets to spend forever, paying for the crime! :evil: