[Vision2020] Doubts Linger in JonBenet Case

[Art Deco]

DNA evidence brings its own set of questions.  One then is:  Was the DNA 
evidence sent to the test lab a plant?

W.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Campbell" <joekc at adelphia.net>
To: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
Cc: "'Moscow Vision 2020'" <vision2020 at moscow.com>; "Joan Opyr" 
<joanopyr at moscow.com>
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2006 7:57 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Doubts Linger in JonBenet Case


>I have fears that they do not have the right guy in the JonBenet case.
>
> My only hope is that there is something that the authorities know about 
> which we don't. Otherwise it seems that the actions of the authorities are 
> pretty irresponsible. Last night on CNN it was reported that no one has 
> even talked with Karr's ex-wife about any of this, not before Karr's 
> arrest and not after his arrest when she put in a call to the police in 
> Colorado telling them that Karr was with her in Atlanta at the time of 
> JonBenet's murder. Again, hopefully they know something we don't know. In 
> any event, the DNA evidence should clear things up soon.
>
> --
> Joe Campbell
>
> ---- Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:
>
> =============
>>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 . . .
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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."
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>
> ********************************************
>
> "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism"
>
> - Thomas Jefferson
>
> ********************************************
>
>
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