Doubts over Ramsey confession
2006-08-18 08:41
Boulder - US authorities reacted cautiously on Thursday to the confession of an alleged US child murderer arrested in Thailand, while the suspect's ex-wife reportedly gave him an alibi.
As has often happened in the notorious unsolved 1996 murder of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, the media shot into full gear after Wednesday's arrest of a suspect in Bangkok.
Thai police working with US law enforcement officials arrested John Mark Karr, 41, after a US arrest warrant was issued on charges of murder, kidnapping and sexual assault on a child.
In love with her
Thai police said on Thursday that Karr had claimed JonBenet Ramsey's death was accidental and that he was "in love with the girl."
In Boulder, Colorado, District Attorney Mary Lacy said it had taken months to track down the suspect, who on Tuesday had begun working as a second-grade teacher in the international school system in Bangkok.
Presumed innocent
However, she stressed that Karr was presumed innocent under US law.
"The district attorney's office, in conjunction with many other law enforcement agencies, have spent the past few months locating, identifying and finally, yesterday, arresting Mr Karr," Lacy told reporters.
"Much work has been done in those efforts," she said, noting that "there is much more work to be done now that the suspect is in custody".
But she cautioned that "we will continue to presume this person innocent until and if he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."
Alibi from ex-wife
Speculation swirled in the United States about the veracity of Karr's confession to the grisly crime uncovered December 26, 1996, in the basement of the Ramsey home in Boulder, in the western state of Colorado.
Karr's ex-wife claimed she was with him on the other side of the country at the time, a US television station reported.
Lara Karr, who was married to the suspect 1989-2001, said that on the day Ramsey's strangled body was found, she, her husband and their three sons were together in Alabama, San Francisco's channel KGO-TV said.
Lara Karr's comments were not reported directly, but paraphrased by a reporter in Petaluma, a town in northern California.
Studied unsolved murder cases
According to the report, Lara Karr was devastated by the news that her former husband had confessed to the killing and that was why she did not want to appear before television cameras.
Lara Karr said her ex-husband had spent a lot of time studying the unsolved cases of Ramsey and Polly Klaas, who was abducted from her Petaluma home and slain in 1993, KGO-TV said.
Suspect lying, says attorney
Meanwhile, the Denver Post newspaper reported that a veteran Denver attorney Phil Cherner, who has represented clients who have falsely confessed, said he saw evidence the suspect was lying.
"This guy seems to be not just confessing, but openly inviting everyone to a microphone to hear him confess. That raises questions in my mind as to his guilt," Cherner was quoted as saying.
Nate Karr, brother of the suspect, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper: "He's innocent ... I hope they can test him (for DNA) as soon as possible so they can exonerate him."
US media reported that the suspect had had problems with police for alleged inappropriate conduct with children.
- AFP