Boulder, Colo. - 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 mystery that had cast a
cloud of suspicion over her parents.
John Mark Karr, an American primary school
teacher and a suspect in the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, appears in an
undated Thai police handout photo released August 17, 2006. Karr was
arrested while travelling in Thailand following a lengthy investigation
into the child beauty queen's death at her parent's Colorado home in 1996.
[Reuters] |
Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, 41.
Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the name, and
one law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Boulder police had
tracked him down online.
Wood said the arrest vindicated JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey.
Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer June 24.
"John and Patsy lived their lives knowing they were innocent, trying to raise
a son despite the furor around them," Lin 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. "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.
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.
A source close to the investigation said Karr confessed to elements of the
crime. Also, 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 said no details would be released until Thursday.
This image made from an undated family video
shows JonBenet Ramsey performing during a beauty pageant. A former
schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2006 in Thailand in the
slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen Ramsey. Federal officials, speaking on
condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, a
41-year-old American. [AP] |
U.S. authorities said Karr was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex
charges, but Thai police Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul said he was unaware of any
criminal charges the suspect faced in Thailand.
Karr was arrested in his apartment in downtown Bangkok at the request of U.S.
officials, and was being held until they arrived in the country, Thai police
said. Suwat said he expected U.S. officials to bring Karr back to America in the
next few days.
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 in the
house 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.
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