Karr Seemed 'Just Like the Old John' During Jail Visit, Half Brother Says
Aug. 30, 2006 — -- The father and half brother of John Mark Karr, the man who confessed to the murder of JonBenet Ramsey and was then cleared by DNA evidence, says he appeared "stable" when they visited him in a Colorado jail Tuesday.
"He was just like the old John," said half brother Nate Karr in an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America." "We had some touching moments, some laughs," he said.
Nate and Wexford Karr, John Mark Karr's father, saw him for the first time in five years during an emotional, hourlong visit at Colorado's Boulder County jail.
Wexford Karr said his son's first question was about his family. "First thing he wanted to know was, 'How's my son?'"
Prosecutors announced Monday they would not charge the 41-year-old former schoolteacher in the 6-year-old's 1996 slaying.
Though Karr confessed before TV cameras and authorities to the child beauty queen's killing, DNA tests failed to link him to the crime.
Wexford and Nate Karr had always insisted that he was innocent and that he was not in Boulder, Colo., at the time of the slaying.
Nate Karr said the family felt vindicated now that his half brother's innocence was proven.
"It's an innocent person tried and convicted in the media," he said.
The men said they understood that Karr had not been in contact with family members because he was trying to protect them from getting involved in his ongoing legal troubles, which are far from over.
On Tuesday, a judge ordered Karr sent to Sonoma County, Calif., by Sept. 13 to face five misdemeanor child pornography charges dating to 2001, saying he had violated terms of his bond in that state by failing to show up for a hearing on the charges.
If convicted, he could get a year in prison on each count.
The Karrs said they had been advised not to comment on why he had confessed to the crime or answer any questions surrounding the still-unsolved murder.
Nate Karr said to "GMA" in an earlier interview that his half brother's reported obsession with the Ramsey case had started as an innocent project that grew out of a college assignment.
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