Arrest over JonBenet killing
2006-08-17 08:11
Boulder, Colorado - A former schoolteacher was arrested in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey - a surprise breakthrough in a lurid, decade-old murder mystery that had cast a cloud of suspicion over her parents.
Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, 41. Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity on Wednesday, confirmed the name, and one law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Boulder police had tracked him down online.
Wood said the arrest vindicated JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer June 24.
"John and Patsy lived their lives knowing they were innocent, trying to raise a son despite the furore around them," Lin Wood said. "The story of this family is a story of courage, and story of an American injustice and tragedy that ultimately people will have to look back on and hopefully learn from."
The attorney said the Ramseys learned about the suspect at least a month before Patsy Ramsey's death. "It's been a very long 10 years, and I'm just sorry Patsy isn't here for me to hug her neck," Wood said.
Karr was a teacher who once lived in Conyers, Georgia, according to Wood. The attorney said the Ramseys gave police information about Karr before he was identified as a suspect.
JonBenet, 6, was found beaten and strangled in the family's
Boulder home on Dec. 26, 1996, in a case that remains unsolved.
Her parents came under the Boulder police "umbrella of
suspicion" but a grand jury issued no indictments.
The killing drew intense media coverage focusing on
JonBenet's success in youth beauty pageants, the family's
affluence and mysterious elements of the case, including a note
that first led police to believe the girl had been kidnapped. - AP/Reuters