John Mark Karr

(Back to Bottom of the Barrel)

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.

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."

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
Karr has continued to make media appearances.