Man Detained In Thailand Over Jonbenet Death

[Thaiquila]

If he is found innocent, he has a great Hollywood career ahead of him playing creepy pervs. Apparently, he can "act"; his resume says so.

Edited August 17, 2006 by Thaiquila

[britmaveric]

If he is found innocent, he has a great Hollywood career ahead of him playing creepy pervs. Apparently, he can "act"; his resume says so.

Helped Bathe them???? That CV sure does make me feel ill for some odd reason.

[jdinasia]

If he is found innocent, he has a great Hollywood career ahead of him playing creepy pervs. Apparently, he can "act"; his resume says so.

well since he was convicted in absentia in California of sex crimes (kiddie porn) ... hw won't be acting anywhere very soon

he's going to jail .. probably won't survive it too .... no worries

[Thaiquila]

Not sure how serious those Cali charges were, but in any case, this is surely one of those truth is stranger than fiction stories.

[brianbrain]

-- A suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey murder has been arrested in Thailand, Denver TV station KUSA reports. CNN working to confirm.

One less American teacher in the system

[John K]

There is something a bit off here. I have not seen tv news footage, but the body language in the stills posted here seems to say ‘look at me’ and not ‘I’m sorry.’

[PeaceBlondie]

I haven't seen any evidence here, yet, that he lived in Thailand more than two months, nor that he ever taught in Thailand.

His resume looks fishy if you study it. Lots of unlikelihoods. A strange resume, including a claim that he checked that the little girls were bathed. Not what you put on a professional resume.

There's no evidence, other than the claims on a phony looking resume, that he ever did more than a few days of substitute teaching (back in Petaluma, for which they stopped calling him, then fired him).

So, it appears from the little evidence we have, that John Karr was not "a farang teaching in Thailand."

You might want to start a thread in our "Teaching in Thailand" about how you think the Thai administrators of the Thai schools can do with baht to spend their own Thai money to solve any problem in Thailand. Most farang teachers have little if any input into Thai schools in Thailand. The Thais are capable of solving this problem. If you child attends school in Thailand, you might want to speak to the owner or manager of the Thai school.

[sriracha john]

An attorney for JonBenet Ramsey's family is offering more details on the family's contacts with John Karr, who's now in custody in Thailand in the girl's killing a decade ago.

Atlanta attorney Lin Wood says Karr tried to correspond with JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, in writing in the months before Patsy Ramsey died this year. He says Mrs. Ramsey didn't reply, but that she handed the information over to investigators, and that it helped link Karr to the case.

Wood is also disputing news reports that say Karr spent a Christmas at the Ramsey home. He says that's not true.

He says Karr has been sending a number of e-mails in recent months to a Colorado professor, in which he made statements about JonBenet's death. He says the e-mails were a key development in linking Karr to the murder.

Wood says authorities should be able to tell whether Karr has first-hand knowledge of the case. He says, "There is information about the murder that has never been publicly disclosed."

- Associated Press

[gburns57au]

Perhaps we should let things take their course before making too many comments.

This is such a high profile case that there will be much speculation before the truth is known.

[blueme]

It'll be interesting to see if the Christian school on Sathorn Rd where he was apparently working manages to come out of this unscathed.

what's the name of that 'Christian school'? St. Joseph? Bangkok Christian?

[sriracha john]

Who is John Mark Karr?

Born Dec. 11, 1964.

Married Lara Knutson 1989, in Alabama. They were divorced in 2001.

Four children: two teens, who live in Petaluma, Calif., and twins named Angel and Innocence who died at birth on Sept. 1, 1989

Elementary substitute teacher for Petaluma City, Calif., Elementary School District from Dec. 8, 2000, to April 2, 2001.

Arrested in April 2001 in Sonoma County, Calif., and charged with five counts of possession of child pornography. Arrest warrant issued after he failed to appear for a court hearing. Convicted in absentia.

Teacher's license suspended by California Commission on Teacher Credentialing on April 11, 2002, for allegedly committing an offense "involving aiding and abetting the unlawful sale, use or exchange to minors of controlled substances."

Teacher's license revoked in 2003.

Colorado Department of Education has a file on Karr, but there's nothing to indicate he was ever licensed as a teacher in Colorado.

Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley School District officials do not have any record of Karr teaching in their schools.

Lived in Alabama and California before moving to Thailand, where he was seeking work as a teacher.

- Boulder County News

[jdinasia]

well the Boulder DA's press conference was boring ... she was legally constrained from saying much of anything

[madi]

They can do a blood test for DNA.

Either he matched or he does not.

His confession means nothing without physical evidence.

My first reaction from him is that he wants attention.

He got it.

But this does not mean a thing.

Do the blood test.

My bet is that the blood will NOT MATCH.

That poor little girl should be a teen ager now.

Did mom or dad kill her? NO--No DNA match.

Someone killed the little girl and likely it was not this poor sick man gotten in Thailand.'

Likely, the killer is laughing as he watched this new junk from his home.

[ronz28]

Thailand should consider requiring all applicants to pass a Government administered background check. In Texas the applicant pays the one time fee of $47 to undergo a background check. Since October 1, 2003 new applicants for Texas educator credentials have been required to submit fingerprints to the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) so that a national criminal background check can be conducted by the FBI. By utilizing the Department of Public Safety’s contractor (Identix) to provide a digital fingerprinting service, the fingerprint process is vastly improved, resulting in a much shorter amount of time required for an applicant to complete the fingerprint process. Such a process would have probably made this guy look elsewhere for a teacher job because he had a revoked teacher's license and child pornography record in the U.S that would have been found out.

[CDB]

He claims he drugged and raped her.

Forensic evidence is that she was not drugged and raped... so his confession looks suspicious. I hope they have DNA evidence or else this sorry tale is going to get sorrier....

[sriracha john]

An autopsy on Ramsey showed she had vaginal abrasions.

[seri thai]

JonBenet was a little girl whose parents took her to competitions where the little girls dressed and acted like pubescent women. They wore makeup (to the max) and attractive dresses and sang songs and danced and did eveything to look and act like they were much much older....alluring even. There is an entire circuit of competitions for this kind of thing....and the competition is fierce.

Then one day someone raped and killed her.

Do you think that there was any connection between the make believe world that JonBenet was immersed in (by her parents) and the fact that she was raped and murdered?

I find this child beauty pageant thing highly unpleasant and suspicious. (It's very popular in Thailand by the way) Children should get their childhood!.

At the same time are you saying that these little girls are asking for or deserving of abuse?

[sonnyJ]

well the Boulder DA's press conference was boring ... she was legally constrained from saying much of anything

I was actually expecting to hear something new

But heard everything

Edited August 17, 2006 by sonnyJ

[sriracha john]

US teacher admits he killed child beauty

John Mark Karr, 41, is suspected of murdering JonBenet Ramsey, whose body was found beaten and strangled to death with traces of sexual assault in the basement of her home in Boulder, Colorado, the day after Christmas in 1996.

Karr was arrested on Wednesday night at The Blooms budget hotel in Bangkok's Sathorn district, just two days after getting a teaching job at an international school in the same area, police said.

Karr fell into the hands of the law after he himself reportedly gave a clue to his whereabouts. He also claimed that he had made several efforts to communicate with JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, who died of cancer in June.

Signing himself "Daxis", Karr sent an email to a professor at Colorado University saying that it was he who strangled and then raped JonBenet because he fell in love with the girl.

The professor received the email after producing a TV documentary titled "Who Killed the Pageant Queen?"

JonBenet was so well known that there was no need to mention her last name.

"Following long correspondence, an envelope reached the professor," Immigration Police Commissioner Lt-General Suwat Thamrongsrisakul said at a press conference yesterday.

He said the envelope bore the address "Rama IV Road, Bangkok" and contained photos of JonBenet and her parents.

Suwat said the address on the envelope provided US authorities investigating the case with a fresh clue.

"The hunt focused on Thailand and the suspect was arrested," Suwat said.

A US court has issued a warrant for Karr's arrest on charges of murder, kidnapping and sexual assault on a child.

Karr has declined to publicly state the nature of his relationship to the Ramsey family or how he knew JonBenet.

According to Suwat, Karr had been travelling in and out of Thailand since 2005. His most recent arrival was on June 6, after which he applied for a teaching job at an international school in Bangkok.

Suwat said Karr admitted assuming the name of "Daxis" when contacting the university professor.

The suspect was also quoted as saying that he did not want to return to the US because he feared lynching.

The Nation

[sonnyJ]

I thought that the parents clamed never meeting this guy. Also the ex-wife gave him an alibi.

[phormio]

CBS News correspondent Erin Moriarty, who covered the case for years and interviewed the Ramseys two years ago, says investigators were led to this suspect because of statements he allegedly made about the case.

An FBI source tells CBS News the leads in this case originated in the United States and went to the FBI in Bangkok, where the suspect's e-mail and phone conversations have been monitored since earlier this summer.

Investigators describe what the suspect talked about in his messages as "hair-raising - to see what he'd done, or contemplated doing to children."

The source calls those accounts "deadly frightening."

Investigators, says the source, knew the suspect was teaching at an international school somewhere in Thailand and that he had a lot of specific knowledge about the Jon Benet Ramsey crime scene.

....

- CBS News

Anybody know which school?

[COBBER]

Ok. Just to clear up a few points.

This guy arived in Thailand sometime towards the end of last year, not in June as previously reported.

He taught at a Bangkok school for 2 months, leaving volunteraly at the end of the last school year,and was regarded as a competant teacher.

A good friend actually interviewed him for a job at another school, didnt employ him , but did a check which showed a clean sheet.

I could be wrong but i have a suspicion that this guy may not be the real murderer, but he is certainly a very sick puppy. DNA tests will prove things one way or the other

[lannarebirth]

There is something a bit off here. I have not seen tv news footage, but the body language in the stills posted here seems to say ‘look at me’ and not ‘I’m sorry.’

I don't watch TV, but I just saw a clip on CNN.com amd I have to agree. For a guy who was just taken by surprise by the Thai authorities, doing the perp walk into the Big Tiger this guy looked amazingly cool and detached and chatty, Looked more a drama queen than anything else. Sumpthin' ain't right here.

[seri thai]

I'll stick my neck out here with the partner in crime theory and say there were 2 men working together "John Steven Gigax" (a pseudonym) for John Mark Carr aka John Daxis. The partner in crime being: # Helgoth committed suicide just one day after Alex Hunter announced in a press conference: "I want to say something to the person or persons who took this baby from us, the list of suspects narrows. Soon there will be no-one on the list but you." The timing therefore seems suspicious.

# "a stun gun was found near Mr. Helgoth's body, as well as boots with a "HI-TEC logo like that left on the basement floor of defendants' home. (SMF P 281; PSMF P 281.)" (Carnes 2003:36).

# However, some of those who believe Helgoth was involved also think he may have had an accomplice originally named SX who was a known sexual offender. SX was subsequently identified as John Steven Gigax.

This would explain contradictory DNA evidence. ALternatively our amn is a serial fantasist and it's back to square one. Keep watching or wait for the movie

[sriracha john]

Investigators, says the source, knew the suspect was teaching at an international school somewhere in Thailand and that he had a lot of specific knowledge about the Jon Benet Ramsey crime scene.

Anybody know which school?

This narrows down the possibilities quite a bit:

Karr was arrested on Wednesday night at The Blooms budget hotel in Bangkok's Sathorn district, just two days after getting a teaching job at an international school in the same area, police said.

[sriracha john]

Ok. Just to clear up a few points.

This guy arived in Thailand sometime towards the end of last year, not in June as previously reported.

The police have said that he has entered Thailand 4 times over the past 2 years. I believe when they say he entered Thailand in June, they are saying it was his most recent entry... not that it was necessarily his first time to be in Thailand.

He taught at a Bangkok school for 2 months, leaving volunteraly at the end of the last school year,and was regarded as a competant teacher.

If you happen to know,

1. Which school was it?

2. Why did he leave?

A good friend actually interviewed him for a job at another school, didnt employ him , but did a check which showed a clean sheet.

If you happen to know,

1. Was there any particular reason they chose not to hire him?

2. Do you know what type of "check" is done? As he was a wanted felon in California with a revoked teacher's license... it's surprising something like that wouldn't show up.

I could be wrong but i have a suspicion that this guy may not be the real murderer, but he is certainly a very sick puppy. DNA tests will prove things one way or the other

[seri thai]

Funny, just watching the video and I was waiting for a Jack Ruby lookalike to step out and cap him!

[phormio]

Investigators, says the source, knew the suspect was teaching at an international school somewhere in Thailand and that he had a lot of specific knowledge about the Jon Benet Ramsey crime scene.

Anybody know which school?

This narrows down the possibilities quite a bit:

Karr was arrested on Wednesday night at The Blooms budget hotel in Bangkok's Sathorn district, just two days after getting a teaching job at an international school in the same area, police said.

Good Point

[sriracha john]

There is something a bit off here. I have not seen tv news footage, but the body language in the stills posted here seems to say ‘look at me’ and not ‘I’m sorry.’

I don't watch TV, but I just saw a clip on CNN.com amd I have to agree. For a guy who was just taken by surprise by the Thai authorities, doing the perp walk into the Big Tiger this guy looked amazingly cool and detached and chatty, Looked more a drama queen than anything else. Sumpthin' ain't right here.

IF he IS the killer and assuming he has sociopathic traits...common among murderers of this ilk, I would EXPECT the egocentric and unremorseful look John saw AND the cool detachment that you saw...

I'd expect something a lot like ....

this.... :

[retirednavyman]

Wow! So Sad Patsy could not have lived to have seen this! There was a huge cloud of suspicion over the family that has not yet completely lifted! Plus a blight on Boulder's reputation due to the police never solving this case! Good News! I sure hope this pans out to be true!

Actually, Patsy had been informed by the authorities that they were reasonably certain they could make an arrest in the immediate future.

I also found out that the crime scene had been contaminated by a bunch of inexperienced officers who had no idea what they were doing. Besides, the authorities always suspect the family first and it seems to me that they target the families unfairly when they should be out looking for other suspects.

I'm sure Patsy and her daughter are in heaven now where they should be

Mike