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."

Police who investigated the murder said the ransom note Patsy Ramsey found before discovering her daughter's body was likely written by a "woman's hand." That's not to suggest that Patsy played a role, but it does seem to weigh against a man being involved -- unless, of course, two people were responsible, and nothing to date has suggested that.

Karr has also claimed that he "had sex" with JonBenet, but once again the former schoolteacher's confession conflicts with the official record, which found "signs of molestation" but not intercourse. No semen was found, either.

Another inconsistency between Karr's confession to the media and the official record is that Karr claimed to have drugged JonBenet. But according to the toxicology reports, there were no drugs in her system.

In addition, Lara Karr, John Mark Karr's former wife, has said that he was with her in Alabama at the time JonBenet was killed.

It's important to note that in 2003 a federal judge found there was no evidence suggesting that John and Patsy Ramsey had anything to do with their daughter's murder. In connection with a defamation lawsuit the family brought, Federal District Judge Julie Carnes wrote, "There is virtually no evidence to support [the theory] that they murdered their child … but abundant evidence to support their belief that an intruder entered their home … and killed their daughter."

The district attorney concurred and said, "I agree with the court's conclusion … that the weight of the evidence is more consistent with a theory that an intruder murdered JonBenet than it is with a theory that Mrs. Ramsey did so."

A grand jury disbanded in 1999 without issuing an indictment or even a report.

So although it now appears that all the media speculation over the past 10 years may, in fact, have been unfounded, it may also be true that Karr's claims prove to be overstated. The difference is, now it is Karr who is feeding the media frenzy for what the district attorney called "quick answers."

Coming up with a match for the male DNA that was found under Jon Benet's fingernail and additional male DNA apparently mixed in with two spots of blood found in her underwear may be the most useful information in what is still a very perplexing murder case.

Is Karr telling the truth, or is he choreographing his own "15 minutes of infamy"?