JonBenet murder suspect awaits expulsion to US

Murder suspect John Mark Karr today awaited expulsion to the US where questions mounted over whether his confession to the killing of six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey would stand up.

While detained in an immigration jail in the Thai capital, slices of his globe-trotting life as a teacher began to emerge. One administrator at an elite Bangkok school described Karr as articulate and polite, but too strict, and that he was fired after two weeks on the job.

“John Karr came to us with a good resume and with credentials, but then we allowed him a trial (period) with students, we found he was too strict,” said Banchong Chompowong, an administrator at Bangkok Christian College.

Following Karr’s surprise arrest in Bangkok on Wednesday, many gaps and questions hovered over one of the most intriguing American criminal cases of the past decade.

Karr, 41, told US investigators that he picked JonBenet up at school, drugged and had sex with her before accidentally killing her in the US state of Colorado in 1996, Thai police Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul said after he was briefed about the interview.

Among the jarring discrepancies between his confession and earlier established facts were these: Schools were closed for the Christmas break when JonBenet died and an autopsy found no evidence of drugs in the little girl’s body and was inconclusive about sexual assault.

And few experts believe that a girl who was slowly strangled with a garrotte was killed by accident. There are even questions whether Karr was in Colorado at the time of the killing.

The doubts have led some to wonder whether Karr is the answer to the long-unsolved killing or a disturbed individual obsessed with, but not involved in the case.

Experts said the questions surrounding Karr’s story put more pressure on corroborating evidence including DNA.

“They either have a miss or a match on the DNA,” former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman said. “If it’s a miss, the prosecution has serious problems. If it’s a match, then it’s game, set and match for this case. Couple the DNA with the kooky confession and it’s enough for most people to convict.”

“The bottom line is that they now have a confession and until and unless they can corroborate that confession with either physical evidence or strong circumstantial evidence, that’s all they have,” said Scott Robinson, a Denver lawyer who has followed the case from the beginning.

“I am so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet,” Karr said yesterday as police took him through his guesthouse to collect belongings following his arrest. “It’s very important for me that everyone knows that I love her very much, that her death was unintentional, that it was an accident.”

Suwat said a police investigator had rented a room next to Karr’s for days in anticipation of an arrest warrant.

The divorced father of three children, once detained on charges of possessing child pornography, apparently travelled globally searching for teaching jobs. Suwat said the suspect had visited several Asian countries in recent years, but provided no details.

In Taiwan, the National Police Administration said Karr entered the country in August 2005 and left two months later. The NPA didn’t know whether Karr taught during his stay and had no indication he engaged in any criminal behaviour.

Karr was arrested a day after he began teaching second grade in Bangkok, District Attorney Mary Lacy told reporters in Colorado.

In June, he taught first graders at Bangkok Christian College, Thailand’s oldest private school established by American Presbyterian missionaries in 1852. The school caters for about 5,500 male students in 12 grades and is regarded as one of Bangkok’s top private schools.

“He was qualified to be a teacher. He had a diploma and has experience in teaching in Bangkok for some time,” said Banchong, assistant director of the school’s English immersion programme.

He was very presentable and had taught at other Bangkok schools, Banchong said. But he was dismissed after two weeks when parents complained that he was too strict with their children.

Banchong said that Karr also had taught at St. Joseph’s Convent, another prestigious elementary and secondary Thai school. But officials there refused to talk to reporters.

Karr will be taken within the week to Colorado, where he will face charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and child sexual assault, US officials in Bangkok have said.

Denver lawyer Larry Pozner, past president of the National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers, said there were “serious questions” about the case.

“I hope we have found the murderer of JonBenet, but I have not heard the evidence that compels that conclusion,” he said.