John Mark Karr

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John Mark Karr is a pedophile who falsely confessed in 2006 to killing JonBenet Ramsey.

After conducting a bizarre e-mail exchange with Karr, film-maker Michael Tracey passed on Karr's name to the Boulder District Attorney's office, which was then in control of the case. The District Attorney Mary Lacy believed John Mark Karr was the killer. Karr was arrested in Thailand and flown to Boulder, where his confession was determined to be false. He was cleared on the basis of his confession not matching the details of the crime, the fact that he was not in Colorado at the time of the murder, and the lack of any physical evidence to match him to the crime scene.

Origin of the Theory
John Mark Karr came to be viewed as the prime suspect due to the efforts of Michael Tracey, Ollie Gray, John San Agustin, and Lou Smit, who worked together, "collaborated" and "shared ideas" relating to John Mark Karr for many months.


 * Gray said he and his associates initially struggled to get officials at the Boulder DA's office interested in pursuing the suspect. It wasn't until he and his associates considered going to Paris - from where Karr apparently was sending emails at some point - and confronting the suspect themselves that prosecutors "got interested", Gray said.

False Confession
Karr gave a confession to police.

Commenting to reporters in Bangkok, Karr admitted being involved in the 6-year-old pageant competitor's death. "I loved JonBenet, and she died accidentally," he said. Asked if he was an innocent man, Karr replied, "No."

Ramsey Family Reaction
Pam Paugh made a media appearance in which she said, "today all will be laid to rest". She personally thanked Mary Lacy and told viewers, "To Boulder County, re-elect her. She is one in a million."

Ramsey private investigator John San Agustin said that when he heard of Karr's arrest "I was so ecstatic I didn't know what to do."

Police Investigation
Within less than a day, Boulder Police had determined that John Mark Karr's confession was false.

The details of his confession did not match the evidence at the scene.

His ex-wife Lara Karr provided police with photographs from Christmas 1996 proving that Karr was in Georgia at the time of the killing.

Nothing at the scene, including any of the unidentified DNA profiles, could be matched to Karr.

Beckner: My gut reaction was that Mary Lacy did not know the facts of the case and was making a big mistake. His confession, once they shared it with us, did not match the evidence at the scene. After she asked for our help in proving he did it, we knew in about 18 hours he was not the guy. We were able to confirm he was not even in Colorado at the time by just doing some routine checking and then obtained photos of him in Georgia at the time. The DNA test, which she thought would prove he did it, proved her wrong.

Chief Beckner referred to Lacy's decision to arrest Karr as "embarrassing". And said

Ongoing Nonsense
"The rest of us are left to wonder if JonBenet's killer will ever be found. And why did John Mark Karr make himself a permanent footnote to this case?"

- Larry King, 2006

Karr has continued to make media appearances. After agreeing to appear in interviews he routinely refuses to discuss the case while implying that he has more information.