False Confession in JonBenet Ramsey Case?

On Thursday, John Mark Karr, an American school teacher living in Thailand, claimed that he was with JonBenet Ramsey on the night that she was murdered in December of 1996. He confessed to killing her but said that her death was "an accident." 41 year-old Karr is currently in custody and en route back to the United States to be investigated.

There are several problems with his confession:

-- Karr's ex-wife states that he was not in Colorado at the time of JonBenet's death but rather with her in their home in Alabama.

-- Karr said that he drugged JonBenet but the autopsy revealed no evidence of drugs; there was an indication that a stun gun may have been used based on marks left on the six-year-old's body.

-- Karr claims that he had sex with the child -- i.e., raped her -- but there was no semen at the scene of the crime.

It's possible that Karr is delusional and believes that he murdered JonBenet; that he has a perverse obsession with the case; that he is seeking attention; or that he actually did kill her. DNA can tell for certain if someone did NOT commit a murder, whereas it is not 100% accurate in terms of implicating individuals who DID commit a murder. Thus, if Karr is ruled out by
DNA, which has already been taken from him in terms of a mouth swab, we can rest assured that he wasn't involved in JonBenet's death. But if the DNA is positive, it will not be conclusive. His lawyer will no doubt argue that the evidence has been mishandled over a 10-year period.

Much to-do will probably be made of the new assertion that Karr sought a consultation at a sex change clinic in Thailand. This was confirmed by Dr. Thep Vechavisit, a doctor at the clinic, and by a staff person.

It also seems clear that Karr is a pedophile who has been teaching grade school on and off.

As if the devastating assault and murder of their precious, beauty pageant child wasn't enough, John and Patsy Ramsey and their son were the main suspects in the case for many years. Instead of receiving international sympathy like the parents of Adam Walsh and Polly Klass, and being allowed to grieve, the Ramseys were viewed suspiciously, and were forced to defend themselves in print and on public television.

They were frequent guests on the Larry King show and wrote a book called
The Death of Innocence. After I finished reading their book, I was convinced that they were not guilty and I wrote them a letter of support.

Sadly, Patsy passed away earlier this summer, on June 24, of ovarian cancer but she was aware that an imminent arrest was to be made. It's hard to tell if John Mark Karr is the man that we have been looking for, but so far, it doesn't look likely. However, the news has reported that Karr seems to know specific facts about the case that were not released to the media, so he must be checked out.

John Ramsey has urged everyone to reserve judgment and that's precisely what I'll do.

Sigridmac