BOULDER, Colo. – If John Mark Karr is telling the truth, he picked up 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey at school, took her home to drug and rape her, and then accidentally killed her nearly 10 years ago.
But schools were closed for the Christmas break when JonBenet died, and the coroner found no evidence of drugs or sexual assault on the little girl’s body. And few experts believe that a girl who was slowly strangled with a garrote was killed by accident. There are even questions whether Karr was in Colorado at the time of the slaying.
The doubts have led some to wonder whether the 41-year-old Karr is the answer to the long-unsolved slaying of the child beauty pageant contestant or a disturbed wannabe trying to insert himself into a high-profile case.
“We should all heed the poignant advice of John Ramsey,” said Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy, quoting the girl’s father. “Do not jump to conclusions, do not rush to judgment, do not speculate. Let the justice system take its course.”
Experts said the questions surrounding Karr’s story put more pressure on corroborating evidence such as 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.”
That confession came Thursday when the sullen Karr was paraded before a raucous crush of reporters in Bangkok, Thailand. Karr told how he loved JonBenet, was with her when she died but that her death was an accident. And while vague on the details – “it would take several hours” – he answered flatly when asked if he was innocent: “No.”
Yet JonBenet’s autopsy report found no evidence of drugs, saying her death was caused by strangulation after a beating that included a fractured skull. And while it describes vaginal injuries, it makes no conclusions about whether she was raped. Investigators later concluded there was no semen on JonBenet’s body.
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