Ramsey Family Lawyer: Karr Might Be Killer

While there's skepticism from some over whether the suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey case really killed the girl, the Ramsey family's lawyer thinks authorities may have something on John Karr.

The lawyer notes that the Ramseys have gotten e-mail confessions in the past, but this is the first time someone's been arrested.

Meanwhile, federal investigators said they're very interested in some of the things Karr has been saying. But they're also dismissing some of his claims.

Karr exchanged many e-mails with a University of Colorado professor, and some of those turned up in Friday's Rocky Mountain News. In one, Karr writes that he's under federal investigation for "child murder and child molestation" in four states.

That is not so, said a federal law enforcement official in Washington. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official tells The Associated Press there's no four-state federal case in which Karr is suspected, much less wanted.

Police: Klaas Killer's Cell Contains No Karr Links

Officials at California's San Quentin State Prison said they have not turned up any material in the cell of Richard Allen Davis that connects him with the suspect in the killing of JonBenet.

Davis is the man on death row for killing 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993.

Prison officials searched Davis' cell Thursday in connection with Karr, 41, who is being held in Thailand until he can return to the United States. Karr claims he was involved in JonBenet's 1996 death.

Over the past two days, information has emerged that Karr may have been corresponding with Davis. Karr, who once lived and taught school in the San Francisco Bay Area, claimed to authorities that he had written to the convicted child killer.

Karr Remains In Jail; Reporters Kept Away

Karr remained in a Thai jail Friday, ready to leave for the United States at any time to face accusations in the slaying of JonBenet.

It's nothing like Thursday, when he answered questions from reporters and stunned them by declaring he was with JonBenet in her Boulder, Colo., home when she died on Dec. 26, 1996. He claimed it was an accident.

On Friday, a sign was posted at the jail telling reporters that Karr is not allowed visitors.

Karr did get a visit Friday from a U.S. consular official, who had no comment on the Ramsey case.

A Thai police official said Karr is ready to return to the United States but now wants to fight the case. He said U.S. officials are preparing documents and plane tickets.

For now, the only public evidence against Karr is his own words. And questions have already been raised about the details of his story.

The district attorney in Boulder said Karr was arrested a day after he began teaching second grade in Bangkok. Karr had been fired from a job teaching first-graders at another Thai school in June because officials said he didn't seem to work well with young children.

Karr was described as "a nice man" with good credentials by the school official in Thailand who hired him in his first job there. However, Karr was dismissed after just two weeks at the prestigious Bangkok school for being too strict.

The official said Karr came across in his interview as clean-cut, polite and experienced, but parents complained about his use of "time-outs" for children who didn't behave. Another American teacher who works at Karr's first school said he found Karr to be an "oddball."

Karr Remembered As Standing Out In Hometown

Karr was known in his Alabama hometown for his flashy red sports car. But he was also dogged by questions about his marriages to teenage girls and behavior in elementary classrooms where he worked as a substitute teacher.

Karr, who lived in northwest Alabama from his preteen years until after JonBenet's slaying in Colorado, stood out in Marion County both for his gull-winged red DeLorean and his intelligence, residents said.

Marion County School Superintendent Bravell Jackson said people couldn't help but like Karr. Jackson taught Karr and later had to fire him as a substitute teacher amid parent complaints.

Sandra Ford, a retired fifth-grade teacher at Kilby School in Florence who supervised Karr's internship, said she was concerned by the way he related to female students.

Karr's marriages to teen girls also generated talk in the area.

Court records show a 14-year-old girl sought an annulment of their "ceremonial marriage" in 1985. She claimed she feared for her life when she agreed to wed him in 1984, when she was just 13 and he was 19.

Karr admitted she was a minor but denied she was 13. A judge granted the annulment.

He later married Lara Karr, who was 16 when their twin daughters died the day they were born on Sept. 1, 1989. The girls, Angel and Innocence Karr, are buried in the cemetery of a rural church in a family plot.

Former Sheriff A.C. Tice said the twins were born at home. Probate Judge Annette Bozeman said Karr apparently delivered his children.

Doubts Arise About Story

Although Karr confessed to JonBenet's slaying, experts are questioning details of his confession, and the district attorney in Boulder cautions against any rush to judgment.

Any previous relationship between the family of JonBenet and Karr remains a mystery -- though both once lived in suburban Atlanta.

District Attorney Mary Lacy refused to say whether authorities have evidence linking Karr to JonBenet's death.

Hours after Karr told reporters in Thailand he was with the child beauty queen when she died, questions arose about his claims. That includes whether he drugged the 6-year-old girl, sexually assaulted her or was even in Colorado at the time she was killed.

Author Carlton Smith wrote 1997's "Death of a Little Princess: The Tragic Story of the Murder of JonBenet Ramsey."

He said of Karr: "It's clear to me that he's somewhat interested or maybe even obsessed by the case, and the real question is whether he's inserting himself into it for some obscure psychological reason."

Karr told investigators he drugged and sexually assaulted the girl before accidentally killing her. Yet JonBenet's autopsy report found no evidence of drugs and stated that her death was caused by strangulation after a beating that included a fractured skull.

Thai police said Karr told them he picked JonBenet up at school and took her to her home. But the slaying occurred during Christmas break.

Karr's ex-wife, Lara Knutson, told reporters she cannot defend him, but then insisted he was with her in Alabama that Christmas.

Jailed For Child Porn

Karr was once jailed briefly in Sonoma County, Calif., for investigation of possessing child pornography but skipped town before going to trial.

Knutson filed for divorce a few days after his 2001 arrest in Petaluma, where Karr had done some substitute teaching at elementary schools.

His ex-wife won custody of their three children and got a restraining order against him about six months later after he was released from jail pending trial. Soon after that, Karr disappeared.

Karr had told detectives he was researching a book on Davis, Klaas' convicted killer. He said he had a letter from Davis and a copy of Klaas' death certificate.

E-Mail Helps Track Karr

A Colorado university professor said he swapped e-mails about the JonBenet case with a man for four years before contacting authorities.

Michael Tracey said something about the messages changed in May, prompting him to give the correspondence to prosecutors. He won't reveal what changed, but he said it led to this week's arrest of Karr.

The University of Colorado journalism professor has produced three documentaries about the Ramsey case and said he has received thousands of e-mail messages in response. Tracey said most come from people with their own wild theories. But Tracey said one he received in 2002 stood out and led to the extended correspondence, but he wouldn't say why.

Tracey has criticized investigators who publicly identified the child beauty queen's parents as suspects. He has praised the current district attorney's handling of the case.