Chapter 28 - A new suspect even weirder than we expected

"Never trust a man with three names." - Francis Ford Coppola

Last week I almost posted an apology here to the Ramsey family. I've been one to wonder over the past decade if the stories about them being involved in the murder of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey weren't true. Then, a few days ago, came word of a confession... and it wasn't from one of them.

John Mark Karr, a former substitute school teacher who is in Thailand to escape prosecution for a child pornography charge in California, claimed to have "accidentally" killed JonBenet while drugging and raping her. But, the confession doesn't match up with the known facts of the case:

JonBenet's autopsy report found no evidence of drugs, saying her death was caused by strangulation after a beating that included a fractured skull. While it describes vaginal injuries, it makes no conclusions about whether she was raped. Investigators later concluded there was no semen on JonBenet's body. ... Karr said he picked JonBenet up at school and took her to her home. But the slaying occurred during Christmas break. ... Karr's ex-wife, Lara Knutson... insisted he was with her in Alabama that Christmas.

So much for a quick conviction, and so much for letting the Ramseys out of the suspect circle.

About the only thing we know for certain about Karr is that he had a thing for little girls (his first wife was 13 when he married her, the second wife was 16) and is obsessed with JonBenet and her death. Now, it turns out, he wanted to be a little girl himself. He also identifies with accused (but acquitted) child molester Michael Jackson:

"I can understand people like Michael Jackson and feel sympathy when he suffers as he has ... I do think that he is sexually attracted to certain children but could never divulge this."

So, did Karr do it? He's certainly convinced himself that he's to blame (kind of the opposite of O.J.'s self hypnosis?). But, it's looking more and more like he's just a sick puppy who never met the victim and was hundreds (thousands?) of miles away at the time of the crime.

But, at least we all get the benefit of a little media circus, we get to read the lurid details of a 41-year-old man who thinks he's a pre-pubescent girl, and we get to push the more serious issues of war, peace, and democracy off the front page for a few days.

Tags: JonBenet Ramsey, John Mark Karr, murder, child pornography, confessions, crime, media circus, Michael Jackson