Ramsey Suspect: Rush to His Own Judgment?

Aug. 17, 2006 — -- District Attorney Mary Lacy of Boulder County, Colo., urged reporters today to avoid speculation and the "desire for a quick answer" regarding the arrest of John Mark Karr and his admission that he killed 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey in December 1996.

"We should all heed the poignant advice John Ramsey gave yesterday," she said. "Do not jump to judgment. Do not speculate. Let the justice system take its course."

There has been no shortage of speculation and "desire for a quick answer" throughout the nearly 10 years since the body of JonBenet Ramsey was found in the basement of her family's home in Boulder. A careful recounting of what is now known may help avoid the rush to judgment so many made with regard to the girl's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey.

Of course, in this case it is Karr who is getting ahead of the justice system by making claims to reporters about his supposed involvement in the girl's murder.

Producer Mike Gudgell spent many months laboring over the facts in Colorado during the winter of 1996. In a memo, he waves a red flag about several of those claims.

"I'm not sure the case against this man makes sense," Gudgell says. "I have seen the case file. There is absolutely nothing that wasn't revealed by the media in the year or so after the discovery of JonBenet's body. If reports are true, and Karr was one of the many Ramsey case 'groupies,' then he could very well know details of the case and used them in e-mails to [University of Colorado professor and documentarian] Michael Tracey."

Karr has publicly said, it was "an accident." But the coroner's report reveals not only that JonBenet was strangled by a ligature, but also that she was beaten. Both the police and FBI determined that JonBenet's brother Burke did not have the strength to inflict the kind of massive skull fracture that was described in the report. They, at least, do not believe the 6-year-old's death was "an accident."

Gudgell also points out from his earlier reporting that JonBenet's "clothes were changed." He says she was found wearing one of her favorite dresses, and it would be an "incredible coincidence if Karr knew her fashion preference."