[Vision2020] Doubts Linger in JonBenet Case

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (August 18, 2006) Spokesman Review -

>From the article:

"If John Mark Karr is telling the truth, he picked up 6-year-old JonBenet
Ramsey at school, took her home to drug and rape her, and then accidentally
killed her nearly 10 years ago.

But schools were closed for the Christmas break when JonBenet died . . . "

As the article suggests, it will all come down to DNA.  If there is a DNA
match, it becomes a slam dunk.  If the DNA does not match . . .

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Doubts linger in JonBenet case 
Despite confession, questions remain

Catherine Tsai and Jon Sarche
Associated Press
August 18, 2006

BOULDER, Colo. - If John Mark Karr is telling the truth, he picked up
6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey at school, took her home to drug and rape her,
and then accidentally killed her nearly 10 years ago.

But schools were closed for the Christmas break when JonBenet died and the
coroner found no evidence of drugs or sexual assault on the little girl's
body. And few experts believe that a girl who was slowly strangled with a
garrote was killed by accident. There are even questions whether Karr was in
Colorado at the time of the slaying.

The doubts have led some to wonder whether the 41-year-old Karr is the
answer to the long-unsolved slaying of the child beauty queen or a disturbed
wannabe trying to insert himself into a high-profile case.

"We should all heed the poignant advice of John Ramsey," said Boulder County
District Attorney Mary 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."

Experts said the questions surrounding Karr's story put more pressure on
corroborating evidence such as DNA.

"They either have a miss or a match on the DNA," former Denver prosecutor
Craig Silverman said. "If it's a miss, the prosecution has serious problems.
If it's a match, then it's game, set and match for this case. Couple the DNA
with the kooky confession and it's enough for most people to convict."

 
That confession came Thursday when the sullen Karr was paraded before a
raucous crush of reporters in Bangkok, Thailand. Karr told how he loved
JonBenet, was with her when she died but that her death was an accident. And
while vague on the details - "it would take several hours" - he answered
flatly when asked if he was innocent: "No."

"The bottom line is that they now have a confession and until and unless
they can corroborate that confession with either physical evidence or strong
circumstantial evidence, that's all they have," said Scott Robinson, a
Denver attorney who has followed the case from the beginning.

Karr told investigators he drugged and sexually assaulted the little girl
before accidentally killing her in her Boulder home, according to a senior
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.
And 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 also said he picked JonBenet up at school and
took her back to her home. But the slaying came during the holiday vacation
season.

Karr's ex-wife told TV reporters she cannot defend him, then insisted he was
with her in Alabama during Christmas 1996, when JonBenet's battered body was
found in the basement of her home. And authorities have not said whether
Karr could have written the detailed ransom note found in the Ramsey home,
with its demand for $118,000 (the bonus that had recently been awarded to
the girl's father, John Ramsey).

Even the Colorado 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."

Karr himself added to the mystery, telling the Associated Press in Bangkok
that JonBenet's death was "not what it seems to be."

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."

Also unclear is whether Karr - whose record includes a 2001 arrest on
misdemeanor counts of possession of child pornography - had any previous
relationship with the Ramsey family, though both have ties to suburban
Atlanta.

District Attorney Lacy refused to discuss the case during a brief news
conference and suggested Karr's arrest may have been forced by concern over
public safety and fears the suspect might flee.

"There are circumstances that exist in any case that mandate an arrest
before an investigation is complete," Lacy said.

Karr was arrested at a Bangkok apartment Wednesday, a day after he began
teaching second grade at an international school, Lacy said.

Hours later, Thai authorities sat him before a crowded room of news crews.
Karr stunned reporters by admitting: "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.

DNA was found beneath JonBenet's fingernails and inside her underwear, and
authorities have never said whether it matches anyone in an FBI database.
U.S. and Thai officials did not directly answer a question at a news
conference about whether there was DNA evidence connecting Karr to the
crime.

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 immediately known.
Karr will be given another DNA test when he returns to the United States in
the next several days, the official said.

Lin Wood, the Ramsey family's longtime attorney in Atlanta, said Karr went
to great lengths to conceal his identity in e-mails to the university
professor, going so far as to use a computer server in Canada.

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

Karr's ex-wife, Lara Karr, was quoted by San Francisco television station
KGO saying she does not believe he was involved in the homicide.

Denver attorney Larry Pozner, past president of the National Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers, said there were "serious questions" about the
case.

"I hope we have found the murderer of JonBenet, but I have not heard the
evidence that compels that conclusion," he 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 than hitting a
little girl in the head so hard that she had almost a foot-long fracture in
her skull and then deliberately fashioning a garrote to twist until it
buries in her neck and slowly stops her breathing," said Silverman, the
former Denver prosecutor. "This has always been a case of deliberate
murder."

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho


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"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism"

- Thomas Jefferson

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