BOULDER, Colo. – A former schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old 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 said the arrest vindicated JonBenet’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer June 24.
A law enforcement official said that Boulder police had tracked the suspect down online.
“John and Patsy lived their lives knowing they were innocent, trying to raise a son despite the furor around them,” 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 41-year-old 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.
The suspect was a teacher who once lived in Conyers, Ga., Wood said. The attorney said the Ramseys gave police information about him before he was identified as a suspect.
Wood would not say how the Ramseys knew the suspect. But JonBenet was born in Atlanta in 1990, and the Ramseys lived in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody for several years before moving to Colorado in 1991.
Thai police said that when the suspect was arrested, he denied any involvement in JonBenet’s slaying. But a source close to the investigation in the U.S. said he confessed to certain elements of the crime. Also, a law enforcement source said the suspect had been communicating periodically with somebody in Boulder who had been following the case and cooperating with law enforcement officials.
District Attorney Mary Lacy said the arrest followed several months of work, but she said no details would be released until today.
U.S. authorities said the suspect was initially taken into custody in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. But Thai police Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul said he was unaware of any criminal charges the suspect faced in Thailand.
He was arrested at his apartment in downtown Bangkok at the request of U.S. officials, and was being held until they arrived, Thai police said. Suwat said he expected U.S. officials to take him back to America in the next few days.
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