After all these years the police have apparently arrested a suspect who has allegedly confessed to aspects of the crime not known to the general public. The suspect is being returned to the U.S. from Thailand.

It is ironic that Patsy Ramsey, who died in June, did not live to see this latest development.

After the way she and her family have been hounded by the tabloid press for years, I'd call it "tragic", not "ironic" that she didn't live to be vindicated.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/08/16/jonbenet.html

A law enforcement source identified the suspect as 41-year-old John Mark Carr, a one-time school teacher.


"It is our hope that this arrest will bring some closure to the Ramsey family after a 10-year ordeal." said the family's attorney, Hal Haddon. "We respect the legal process and will have no further comment about the case or the evidence until that process is concluded."

JonBenet's father, John Ramsey, told 9NEWS in Denver, Colorado, that he has been notified of the arrest. Asked if he knew Carr, Ramsey replied, "To the best of my knowledge, no," the station's Web site reported.

If one believes in an afterlife, there is at least the comfort of knowing that Patsy and JonBenet are together at last. I always thought the Ramseys would be vindicated one day, especially after police statements such as "Mrs. Ramsey just didn't seem to be mouring properly, etc." As if there is a definitive way in which one is supposed to mourn the death of a loved one!

On the news here this morning they said that the Mum was told an arrest was imminent before she died. At least she had that knowledge before she passed.

After reading this report I was sick to my stomach.I hope they silence this person forever.He doesn't deserve to ever breathe again.


MSNBC News Services
Updated: 1 hour, 53 minutes ago
BANGKOK, Thailand - The American suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case said publicly Thursday he was with the 6-year-old when she died and called her death “an accident,” a stunning admission that will help answer 10 years of questions in the unsolved murder case.

“I was with JonBenet when she died,” John Mark Karr told reporters in Bangkok, visibly nervous and stuttering as he spoke. “Her death was an accident.”

Police said Karr, 41, admitted to the killing after he was arrested Wednesday at his downtown Bangkok apartment by Thai and American authorities.

Karr will be transported to Colorado in the next week where he will face charges of murder, kidnapping and child sexual assault, said Ann Hurst, a U.S. official with the Department of Homeland Security.

One law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Boulder police had tracked Karr down online.

The head of Thailand immigration police said Thursday that Karr admitted to the killing after he was arrested at his downtown Bangkok apartment Wednesday night. Karr arrived in Bangkok on June 6 from Malaysia to look for a teaching job, Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul told The Associated Press.

“They fell in love with each other. She was very beautiful. So he kidnapped her and killed her by accident,” Suwat said
___________________________________________________________

This is only part of the news release and I will put in the link if you want to read the whole article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14379566/

PF

Hopefully the dna authorities found at the scene of the little girls murder will show if the latest suspect is the killer. If Karr is the guilty one I will feel slightly guilty myself for doubting the innocence of JonBenet`s family. Up till I read a report about this latest arrest I really thought the father did it.

I heard a report on the radio today that, before her death, JonBenet's mother received several emails from Karr. Because of the details in the emails Mrs Ramsey contacted police about the guy.

Actually, it seems I might have misunderstood the report and that the emails were sent to another person who became suspicious of Karr because of things he said in the emails.

I don't think you misunderstood, Kuu, I think the news agencies were mistaken, because yesterday I am SURE I saw on ABC News that the killer had emailed Mrs. Ramsey before she died. In so many words.

In any case, I was a little disgusted that every news agency and major website (yahoo, aol, cnn.com, msnbc) has this person's photo pastered all over the "front page" when really, I'm glad for the family but otherwise don't much care about this 10 year old murder case. I'd rather see the latest news in Lebanon or Iraq, or...I don't know, I just really feel like in the rand scheme it isn't all that important to anyone but those directly involved. Of course, I feel that way about a lot of news.

His ex-wife is now saying they were in Alabama at the time of the murder:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060817/ap_on_re_as/jonbenet_ramsey_57

Could be a false confession or an ex looking for attention, who knows. At this point, just about anything is possible. In the link I posted, he says something about writing Patsy Ramsey letters, so maybe the press did say emails yesterday. We all know how they screw up.

True enough, there are always people around who will confess to crimes because of some psychological problems, but it's usually about some high profile case, not one that's ten years old. In one of the earlier news statements it was said that the suspect knows things that were kept from the public, which is of course something police do to protect against false confessions.

Regarding the alibi, it can be pretty difficult to remember where you were at a specific time ten years ago. That's a big problem with any investigation that's been going on for so long. In our neck of the woods we've got the Pickton case, where apparently the court case will finally go ahead, years after the man has been arrested and charged, and at least one or two decades after the first women disppeared from Vancouver's streets.

I do hope they got the right guy; the family deserves closure and peace from the media.

I heard on CNN this morning that he came to the attention of the authorities because someone was chatting with him online and he began saying things that aroused this other person's suspicion.

Not saying it's true or anything, just reporting what I heard.

He also says he drugged her, and the autopsy showed no drugs in her system. I heard a Thailand official say in an interview that Karr had said he picked her up from school that day, and the murder happened during Christmas vacation. I guess DNA tests will tell the real truth.

I hope that they have more substantial evidence against this man than just his confession. If they really don't, the D.A.'s office should have downplayed this arrest because they will never be able to get a conviction. If this man does have knowledge of graphic details regarding the condition of JonBenet's body, or other aspects of the crime, which have never been made public, that would help to nail him. A DNA match of some sort would be even better.

Even after 10 years I am still interested in this case. I would like to see it end with a conviction of the real killer. I had also thought that one of the parents, or their son, might have accidentally killed JonBenet. The parents own behavior did heighten the suspicions about them. Unfortunately, some of things they said and did, for some time, after the murder helped to fuel the feelings that they had something to hide.

This man sounds like such a creep, and possible pedophile, I am glad he has been arrested, even if he turns out not to be connected to the Ramsey case. There are apparently other charges they can hold him on.

Looking, again, at all the child beauty pageant shots of JonBenet, I can't help but feel that these pageants must be like magnets for pedophiles, particularly because the little girls are so overly sexualized.

JonBenet's Mom Almost Met With Suspect

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 18, 2006
Filed at 4:49 p.m. ET

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -- Authorities asked Patsy Ramsey in late May -- a month before she died of cancer -- whether she would be willing to meet with the man who claims he killed her 6-year-old daughter, the Ramsey family's attorney said Friday.

Ramsey said she would meet with John Mark Karr if it would advance the investigation into JonBenet Ramsey's Christmastime 1996 slaying, but the meeting never took place because authorities did not get back to her before she died in June, attorney Lin Wood said.

The attorney also said the written correspondence Karr sent to Patsy Ramsey either in the form of e-mails or letters was never received by her because it was routed to someone else. He said police or someone else set up an address for the correspondence to be sent to make it look like he was writing to Ramsey. It was turned over to the police instead.

''He thought that he was corresponding with Patsy, but he wasn't,'' Wood told The Associated Press.

"Looking, again, at all the child beauty pageant shots of JonBenet, I can't help but feel that these pageants must be like magnets for pedophiles, particularly because the little girls are so overly sexualized."


I couldn't agree more. Personally I always felt quite sickened whenever I saw those photos.

As did I. I don't want to blame the victim because nobody deserves that sort of thing, but those pageants are like a buffet for sick individuals.

After doing some reading today, I don't necessarily think this particular pedophile is guilty of her murder. He's a sick man and it's a good thing he's off the streets, but I think he's more of a crime junkie than a killer. Certain things just don't match up. But, the story did just break, so we'll have to see when the dust settles a bit. Hopefully, they'll have some DNA evidence shortly.

I hope when the DNA matches that he gets the book thrown at hin. Also I think a formal apology shoud be givin to the family. They went through years of hell by being accused and thier child being killed.

It will never happed but I believe in the afterlife and he will get what is coming to him and I hope Mrs. Ramsey is in Heaven looking down and thanking god for answering her request, To bring the killer to light

From what I've read, this guy's confession and the actual crime isn't matching up. I'm starting to wonder if he's not trying to enjoy his "fifteen minutes of fame".

Nonetheless, he's a sicko, and needs to be removed from the streets. If he's not guilty of killing JonBenet, we don't need him walking among us, even if his confession is an even sicker joke.

May JonBenet's soul be rested. No child deserves what happened to her.

The local area is aghast as his family still lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and he was here working as a substitute teacher. Now people are asking if subs are safe without as many stringent controls for their FBI files etc as a credentialed teacher.

Jeesh. Now I'm hearing that the Thai government may have embellished a little (maybe a lot) on what this wormy character might have said over there. They just wanted him out of their country in a hurry. So now there's a question as to whether he actually said half the stuff he was given credit for. It's a circus atmosphere building again already and that's just a shame. I heard Mr. Ramsey on a show yesterday, too. I admit to thinking he was a serious "person of interest" [maybe not so much about what he did but about what he knew] but I must say he was very gracious on the line. He mentioned 'being glad justice has been served and complimented authorities on their tireless efforts' - or something like that. First of all, I wouldn't be so quick to think that justice has been addressed at all just yet. We have a weirdo in custody and that's all the truth there is to be known about at this time. And Ramsey must be a bigger man than I would find it in myself to be to thank law enforcement or especially the media for anything. Both let him, his wife and his daughter down with an almost shocking regularity for a decade.

I've been hearing this phrase now for several years. What's the difference between a suspect and a "person of interest"?

I don't think there is much of a difference, Lemmy, except in the way it sounds. 'Suspect' sounds accusatory, I suppose. The other sounds the same just more polite about it?

Thanks Gats. That sounds logical.