Could John Mark Karr Have Lying Disorder?

Aug. 19, 2006 — -- John Mark Karr's stunning confession that he was "with JonBenet when she died" has generated as many questions as it has headlines. The most pressing: Could Karr be making the whole thing up?

"Voluntary false confessions are not that unusual," said Richard Ofshe, a social psychological professor at University of California at Berkeley. "They are a regular problem when it comes to high-profile cases."

Karr may suffer from factitious disorder, according to Dr. Marc Feldman, a psychiatrist who co-authored the books "Patient or Pretender: Inside the Strange World of Factitious Disorders," "The Spectrum of Factitious Disorders," and "Stranger Than Fiction: When Our Minds Betray Us." The condition leads someone to construct a false reality -- sometimes to the extent that they begin to believe their own lies.

"Based on the press conference and the facts that don't fit, I think John Karr has made a spurious confession motivated by a desire for attention," Feldman said. "What he appears to have done is sort of a definition of a factitious disorder. In fact, the term factitious perpetrator might apply to him."

Feldman said that people with factitious disorder usually intensely crave attention.

"His hunger for recognition is so powerful that he's claimed responsibility for one of the best-known crimes in the world," Feldman said. "If you want fame, this is the ultimate crime to admit to. Coverage of this has even pre-empted the Middle East conflict."

Almost 75 years ago, the massive interest in the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's baby created an atmosphere in which over 200 people confessed to the crime. The infamous Black Dahlia murder of the 1940s brought out at least 600 would-be confessors. That murder was never solved.

In the highest-profile case of recent years, police handled at least a dozen people claiming to have killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. None of their claims could be verified, and O.J. Simpson was tried for their murders.

"People who are unstable, want attention, will very often step up to the plate and say, 'I did it,' to get that attention," Ofshe said.

But there are also instances of false confessions given by people so delusional, they actually believe it themselves.