Suspect in JonBenet Ramsey killing is arrested in Bangkok
BOULDER, Colorado (CNN) -- John Mark Karr, a 41-year-old schoolteacher, has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the 1996 killing of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, authorities said at a news conference in Boulder on Thursday.Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy wouldn't comment on the evidence, the nature of investigation or the timing of Karr's arrest in Thailand on Wednesday.
"There have been no charges filed at this time. There is a presumption of innocence," Lacy said.
The district attorney said authorities continue to examine evidence in the case. "There is much more work to be done," Lacy said.
"Let us do our job thoroughly and carefully," she asked the media.
Karr had begun working as second-grade teacher in Bangkok international school system on Tuesday, Lacy said.
Authorities in Boulder said they had been searching for Karr for weeks.
Karr said in Bangkok he was with the child beauty queen when she died in 1996 and called her death "an accident."
"I was with JonBenet when she died," he said. "I loved JonBenet."
Asked by a reporter if he was an innocent man, Karr replied, "No." (Watch Karr's admission -- 1:15)
Karr will be transferred to Boulder within the next week, said Ann Hurst, a Department of Homeland Security attache at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok.
Karr's arrest came nearly a decade after JonBenet's body was found in the basement of her Boulder home -- setting off a media sensation.
The arrest also came less than two months after JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, died of cancer at 49.
Karr told The Associated Press he wrote Patsy Ramsey before she died to express his remorse.
"I conveyed to her many things, among them that I am so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet," he told the AP, which described him as sweating and stuttering. (Read the interview with Karr)
Karr added that he believed Patsy Ramsey had read the letters he sent her.
Karr was arrested at his apartment in Bangkok.
According to colleagues at the Thai detention center where Karr was questioned, the suspect asked police what charges he was facing. When they replied first-degree murder, he said: "No, it's second-degree -- it wasn't intentional," said Lt. Gen. Suwat Thamrongrisakul, chief of Thai immigration. (Watch authorities describe what Karr said -- 14:54)
Abduction gone awry?
Suwat quoted Karr as saying that he tried to kidnap JonBenet for $118,000 ransom but that the plan went awry and he strangled her, according to an AP report.Karr told questioners he drugged and then had sex with JonBenet before accidentally killing her, Thamrongrisakul told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Thamrongrisakul said he was not present for the questioning, which was conducted by U.S. law enforcement officials, according to the AP report, but was told of the interrogation.
Karr had been a suspect for a while, Hurst said, adding that her office and the Thai police worked closely for two months before a judge believed probable cause existed for an arrest. (A look at John Mark Karr)
Authorities in Boulder said the FBI, police in Atlanta and Cobb County, Georgia, and diplomats in Washington and Bangkok assisted in the investigation.
Karr's arrest was the culmination of an investigation that began after a University of Colorado professor, Michael Tracey, contacted authorities in Boulder.
Tracey, who produced a documentary about the JonBenet murder, had been in touch with Karr for at least two years, according to university spokesman Barrie Hartman. (Read how Karr corresponded with a college professor)
Karr's ex-wife, Lara Karr, told KGO-TV in California that she does not believe her former husband killed JonBenet because he was with her in Alabama at the time.
The arrest likely will dispel the cloud of suspicion that has hung over JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, ever since the girl's death on December 26, 1996. (Watch John Ramsey react to the arrest -- 2:17)
John Ramsey discovered his daughter's body after the girl had been reported missing that morning and Patsy Ramsey said she found a ransom letter demanding $118,000.
Ramseys always blamed intruder
Autopsy results showed JonBenet received a massive blow to the head and was strangled with a rope that the killer tightened by twisting an attached paintbrush handle.The Ramseys maintained an intruder killed their daughter, but they remained the subject of suspicion in the case.
A grand jury investigation ended with no indictments.
John Ramsey said his wife knew investigators were pursuing a suspect before her death.
"Patsy was aware that authorities were close to making an arrest in the case, and had she lived to see this day, would no doubt have been as pleased as I am," the statement said. (Read the full statement)
Pam Paugh, Patsy Ramsey's sister, said, "I don't feel that I need to stand here and say to the world, 'I told you so.' We are a family that has lived on the truth, and the truth as we knew it was that neither John nor Patsy, Burke [JonBenet's older brother] nor any other family member had ever laid a hand on JonBenet." (Watch JonBenet's aunt react to the arrest -- 4:36)
Ramsey attorney Lin Wood said Karr "has some background" in Conyers, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb. Karr's father and brother live in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs.
Karr's brother, Nate, said: "This whole thing is ridiculous."
Asked whether he knew the suspect, John Ramsey told KUSA-TV, "To my knowledge, no, I didn't, but I don't know enough yet to say for sure."
JonBenet is buried in Georgia, where the family lived before moving to Colorado.
Patsy Ramsey was laid to rest beside her daughter in Marietta, Georgia. On Wednesday, a family friend taped a note to her grave. It read, "Dear Patsy, justice has come for you and John. Rest in peace." [/B]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The American suspect in the killing of JonBenet Ramsey told investigators that he drugged and had sex with the 6-year-old beauty queen before accidentally killing her, a senior Thai police officer said Thursday.An autopsy on Ramsey said a blood screening showed no drugs or alcohol in her body but said she had vaginal abrasions.
Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul, head of Thailand's immigration police, said by telephone that he was not present for the questioning, which was conducted by U.S. law enforcement officials.
But, according to what the general said he was told of the questioning, the suspect, John Mark Karr, "said he drugged the child." Suwat did not say who briefed him on the questioning.
Karr claimed he had sex with Ramsey, who was still alive, Suwat said. Karr said he then realized he had "accidentally" killed her, according to the general.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy said it had no information about Karr's alleged actions or what he said to questioners. U.S. and Colorado law enforcement officials were unavailable for comment. [/B]