Teacher admits JonBenet slaying

BANGKOK-A globe-hopping US schoolteacher yesterday admitted to the killing of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, climaxing a decade-long hunt that had mesmerized the American public and left a cloud of suspicion over her family.

The suspect, John Mark Karr, 41, was arrested Wednesday in Bangkok by US and Thai officials halfway around the world from Boulder, Colorado, where the lifeless body of JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in her parent’s basement in 1996. An investigation that seemed to go nowhere, lurid details and striking videos of the girl coquettishly performing in child pageants propelled the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the US, where it raised questions about putting children on display in beauty contests.Some feared the case would never be solved, and as investigators failed to produce suspects, some suspicion fell on the girl’s parents, John Ramsey and his wife, Patsy, who died of cancer in June.”I was with JonBenet when she died,” Karr told reporters in Bangkok, visibly nervous and stuttering as he spoke.But he said her death was “an accident.””No,” he answered when asked if he was innocent.Karr, dressed in a turquoise polo shirt and khaki trousers, spoke briefly to reporters after a news conference by Thai and American authorities.He declined to say what his connection was to the Ramsey family or how long he had known JonBenet.Thai police official Lt.Gen.Suwat Tumrongsiskul said Karr admitted to the killing after he was arrested at his downtown Bangkok apartment, but that he said it was a kidnapping attempt gone awry and that he had not intended to kill her.An official with the US Department of Homeland Security, Ann Hurst, who joined Suwat at a news conference, said Karr would be taken to the United States within this week.He faced first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, sexual assault on a child, and other charges in the US state of Colorado, she said.Karr had been in Thailand five times over the past two years, arriving most recently in Bangkok on June 6 from Penang, Malaysia, Suwat said.He was looking for a teaching job in Thailand, Suwat said.Suwat told reporters that Karr insisted his crime was not first-degree murder.”He said it was second-degree murder.He said it was unintentional.He said he was in love with the child.She was a pageant queen,” Suwat said.The Thai officer quoted the suspect as saying he tried to kidnap JonBenet for a US$118 000 ransom but that his plan went awry and he strangled her to death.Hurst said Karr, who had travelled extensively across the world, may also be connected to a prior case in Santa Rosa County, California.She did not provide further details.Asked how long he had been a suspect, she said, “A long time.I can’t say specifically.”Hurst, with the department’s US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Bangkok, said that Karr had left the United States several years ago and had not returned.Suwat said US authorities informed Thai police on Aug.11 that an arrest warrant had been issued for Karr on charges of premeditated murder.The warrant was sent to Thai police on Wednesday, the day he was picked up in Bangkok.”Through investigation we were able to determine where his residence was and the Thais arrested him at his residence,” Hurst said.”He did not resist.He did express surprise,” she said, describing his reaction when confronted by both Thai and US officials.ICE had assisted the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office and the Royal Thai Police in the investigation.When asked how he could travel abroad for so many years, and whether he was independently wealthy, Hurst responded, “We’re asking the same questions.”Police said Karr had been living in a dormitory-style hotel called The Blooms in a Bangkok neighbourhood of massage parlors and travel agents that cater to expatriate residents and sex tourists.The nine-story hotel offers rooms for as short as three hours from 300 baht (US$8.03) and monthly stays starting from 6 500 baht (US$173.921).The district attorney in Boulder, Colorado – Mary Lacy – said the arrest followed several months of work.The Ramsey family’s attorney in Atlanta said the man was a schoolteacher who once lived near the family in Conyers, Georgia, before they moved to Colorado.Nampa-APAn investigation that seemed to go nowhere, lurid details and striking videos of the girl coquettishly performing in child pageants propelled the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the US, where it raised questions about putting children on display in beauty contests.Some feared the case would never be solved, and as investigators failed to produce suspects, some suspicion fell on the girl’s parents, John Ramsey and his wife, Patsy, who died of cancer in June.”I was with JonBenet when she died,” Karr told reporters in Bangkok, visibly nervous and stuttering as he spoke.But he said her death was “an accident.””No,” he answered when asked if he was innocent.Karr, dressed in a turquoise polo shirt and khaki trousers, spoke briefly to reporters after a news conference by Thai and American authorities.He declined to say what his connection was to the Ramsey family or how long he had known JonBenet.Thai police official Lt.Gen.Suwat Tumrongsiskul said Karr admitted to the killing after he was arrested at his downtown Bangkok apartment, but that he said it was a kidnapping attempt gone awry and that he had not intended to kill her.An official with the US Department of Homeland Security, Ann Hurst, who joined Suwat at a news conference, said Karr would be taken to the United States within this week.He faced first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, sexual assault on a child, and other charges in the US state of Colorado, she said.Karr had been in Thailand five times over the past two years, arriving most recently in Bangkok on June 6 from Penang, Malaysia, Suwat said.He was looking for a teaching job in Thailand, Suwat said.Suwat told reporters that Karr insisted his crime was not first-degree murder.”He said it was second-degree murder.He said it was unintentional.He said he was in love with the child.She was a pageant queen,” Suwat said.The Thai officer quoted the suspect as saying he tried to kidnap JonBenet for a US$118 000 ransom but that his plan went awry and he strangled her to death.Hurst said Karr, who had travelled extensively across the world, may also be connected to a prior case in Santa Rosa County, California.She did not provide further details.Asked how long he had been a suspect, she said, “A long time.I can’t say specifically.”Hurst, with the department’s US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Bangkok, said that Karr had left the United States several years ago and had not returned.Suwat said US authorities informed Thai police on Aug.11 that an arrest warrant had been issued for Karr on charges of premeditated murder.The warrant was sent to Thai police on Wednesday, the day he was picked up in Bangkok.”Through investigation we were able to determine where his residence was and the Thais arrested him at his residence,” Hurst said.”He did not resist.He did express surprise,” she said, describing his reaction when confronted by both Thai and US officials.ICE had assisted the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office and the Royal Thai Police in the investigation.When asked how he could travel abroad for so many years, and whether he was independently wealthy, Hurst responded, “We’re asking the same questions.”Police said Karr had been living in a dormitory-style hotel called The Blooms in a Bangkok neighbourhood of massage parlors and travel agents that cater to expatriate residents and sex tourists.The nine-story hotel offers rooms for as short as three hours from 300 baht (US$8.03) and monthly stays starting from 6 500 baht (US$173.921).The district attorney in Boulder, Colorado – Mary Lacy – said the arrest followed several months of work.The Ramsey family’s attorney in Atlanta said the man was a schoolteacher who once lived near the family in Conyers, Georgia, before they moved to Colorado.Nampa-AP