John Mark Karr
Encyclopedia
Alexis Valoran Reich is an American male-to-female transgender
person formerly known as John Mark Karr who in 2006 falsely confessed
to the unsolved murder of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey
. She has, on other occasions, faced a number of other criminal charges.
and spent his early childhood in Atlanta. His father, Wexford Karr had married Patricia Elaine Adcock (John's mother) on August 21, 1958, when he was 37 and she was 18. Wexford filed for divorce
in 1973, saying the marriage was "irretrievably broken," and that John and his older brother, Michael, were in his custody. Soon after, Wexford Karr, then 52 years old, married 29-year-old Susan Simpson, his neighbor in the same apartment complex. His marriage with Simpson ended in divorce six months later.
A family friend, George McCrary, has said that Karr's mother believed John Karr was possessed
by demon
s. His mother allegedly built a pyre
of kindling
around him and attempted to burn him alive as an infant. Adcock was committed to the Central State Hospital
, a mental hospital
in Milledgeville, Georgia
, and later lived in a group home
, according to her stepmother Shirley Adcock.
Karr moved to Alabama to live with his grandparents when he was about 12 years old. He grew up in Hamilton
and graduated from Hamilton High School
in 1983. Karr returned to live in Atlanta at least twice: once to attend one semester at Riverwood High School in Sandy Springs from January to May 1981, and again some years after graduating from high school.
, where they both lived, to marry her. Karr and Shotts lived together as a couple in Hamilton after their wedding, and Karr "was abusing her every way there was," according to Melissa Shotts. Court records show that, in 1985, a 14-year-old girl sought an annulment
of what the records call a "ceremonial marriage," saying she had feared for her life when she agreed to marry Karr in 1984. Karr admitted to the court that she was a minor, but disputed she had been 13. The marriage was annulled in 1985. Shotts later remarried and now bears a different surname.
Karr married Lara Knutson in Alabama on May 19, 1989, when he was 24 and she was 16 and pregnant. She was carrying twin daughters who were delivered via a home birth
on September 1, 1989. The girls, named Angel and Innocence, died later that day. The couple went on to have three boys in close succession, the oldest, John born in 1990, Damon in 1992 and Seven Exodus in 1993. The couple divorced in 2001 following Karr's arrest for five misdemeanor
counts of possession of child pornography
in Petaluma
, California. In the divorce petition, his wife wrote that Karr was never physically violent towards her, but that he was "very controlling" of her. A restraining order
against Karr was granted. Knutson said he purposely set out to get her pregnant, telling her the pregnancy would allow them to skirt the law and get married, according to statements she made in divorce records.
In 2007, Karr became engaged to a 23-year-old woman named Brooke Simmons who had a three-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
In March 1996, Karr registered the domain Powerwurks.com and used it as a cover, claiming on Usenet
to be "a world wide support organization for kids, teens and college students." As well as seeking troubled or depressed children, he also solicited discussion on sex.
Karr also operated a day care center
in northwest Alabama. The Marion County Department of Human Resources issued a license for Karr to begin operating a day care out of his home in June 1997. Under the license, Karr was allowed to care for as many as six children at a time, ranging in age up to 14 years old.
. He pled not guilty four days later. On October 15, 2001, after a series of court hearings, Karr was released from jail, but was ordered to report to a probation
officer. The court records in the case were sealed. In December 2001, Karr failed to appear and a "No Bail" warrant was issued by a Sonoma County Superior Court Judge. Since then Karr had been on the run, living in Asia, Europe and Central America, until his arrest in Thailand.
, a journalism professor at the University of Colorado
.
In June 2006, the Boulder District Attorney's office received copies of the suspect's emails from Tracey, who received the emails from a person with the email address "December261996@yahoo.com." December 26, 1996, was the date of JonBenét's murder. At least one of the emails was signed with the signature "Daxis."
Armed with the email address and Internet service provider
, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) determined the general location of the suspect in Thung Maha Mek, a neighborhood in Bangkok, Thailand. At the time, the suspect's name and exact location was not known.
On August 11, 2006, they notified ICE officials, and from that point on, Karr was placed under surveillance by Thai immigration officials. A sealed arrest warrant
, signed by Boulder County District Judge Roxanne Bailin, was sent by the Boulder District Attorney's office to officials in Thailand on August 15, 2006. The next day, upon receipt of the warrant, Thai immigration authorities revoked Karr's visa
.
, Thailand
, on August 16, 2006, by Thai
authorities, then released to U.S. agents and flown first to Los Angeles, California
, then to Boulder for further investigation. On August 28, prosecutors announced they had decided not to pursue charges in connection with the murder after DNA tests
failed to place Karr at the scene, although serious doubts had been expressed about the veracity of his admission even before the tests were conducted. Karr was held in Boulder until September 12, 2006, when he was transported to Sonoma County, California
to face unrelated misdemeanor child pornography
charges. The charges were dismissed by a California
judge on October 5, 2006, and Karr was immediately released.
JonBenét Ramsey for an $118,000 ransom to be paid by the Ramseys, only to strangle her after his plan went awry. While he was detained in Thailand, officials there had Karr on a 24-hour suicide watch
.
Karr returned on a business class
flight. He was not handcuffed or under arrest during the flight, ate from a free choice of menu and drank Champagne on the Thai Airways
Airbus 340-500 he took to the United States. Experts, such as Denver attorney Larry Posner, have speculated that Karr was given the food and drink to get him to start talking about his involvement in the murder of JonBenét:
Karr was escorted by investigators working for the Boulder district attorney. He had been detained in Thailand because his visa had been revoked by request of Boulder County, Colorado, but he was released to United States
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to ensure he returned to the U.S. Karr was not legally arrested until August 20, 2006, after the airliner touched down at Los Angeles International Airport
. He was first admitted into the country, then he was arrested at the airport on a warrant from Boulder County by the waiting officers of the LA County Sheriff's Department
, and taken by helicopter to Twin Towers Correctional Facility
in downtown Los Angeles. Citing Sheriff's Department policy regarding inmates who are "accused child molesters", deputies stated that Karr was held in isolation while he was at the facility.
On August 24, 2006, Karr was handcuffed and driven by Los Angeles Sheriff's deputies onto the tarmac at the airport in Long Beach, California
, where he boarded a State of Colorado twin turboprop airplane. Karr arrived more than 3 hours later at Jefferson County Municipal Airport
in Broomfield, Colorado
, and then was driven to the Boulder County Jail.
Although Karr had been represented by public defenders in Los Angeles and Boulder, two California-based attorneys, Patience van Zandt (who worked with Karr on his 2001 child pornography case) and Jamie Harmon served him in an advisory capacity. In Boulder, Karr was assisted by Boulder County Public Defender Seth Temin, despite the fact that three dozen lawyers had offered to represent John Mark Karr (for free in many cases) against the charges.
affiliate, KUSA
, the DNA taken from Karr's hair and saliva after his arrest and tested by the Denver Police Department's crime lab did not match the DNA found on JonBenét Ramsey's body; as a result, the District Attorney's Office would not file charges against Karr for the murder. Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy estimated the total public cost of the investigation at about $13,000; other estimates have put the cost at $30,000. Colorado Governor Bill Owens said Lacy should be "held responsible for the most expensive DNA test in Colorado history."
Prior to August 28, George McCrary, a longtime friend of the Karr family, insisted that John Karr is innocent of the murder. "He's a pedophile, not a murderer," said McCrary, who also called John Karr a "genius
" whose "confession" was a deliberate tactic to avoid jail in Thailand, and be taken to the United States where he knew he would be found innocent.
Following Karr's release on August 28, he was quickly rearrested after prosecutors in California indicated that he was to face charges of possessing child pornography.
, where he stood by his original plea of not guilty On September 19, 2006, prosecutors offered Karr a plea bargain
in which he would plead guilty to two of the five counts, in exchange for dismissal of the remaining three counts and a sentence of time served
in jail and three years probation
. Karr would also be required to register
in California as a sex offender
. San Francisco based criminal defense attorneys Robert Amparan
, Gayle Gutekunst, and Benjamin Prince represented Karr in Sonoma County. Karr turned down the plea bargain offer in the case. On September 25, 2006, however, Judge Cerena Wong agreed to consider a defense motion to dismiss all charges against Karr, in light of the Sonoma County sheriff's department's alleged 2002 junking of a computer believed to contain the pornographic
images that are the basis of the prosecution's case. The prosecution maintained that it printed the photos from Karr's computer before it went missing; it is these printed copies that the prosecution planned to introduce as evidence if the case went to trial.
's Good Morning America
was stopped and questioned by police but they determined that no crime was committed. Karr was apparently giving the producers a tour of the neighborhood where he used to live and work when he suddenly exited the limo and approached the school. According to Jeffrey Schneider, senior vice president of ABC News
, "his behavior gave us serious pause, and ABC decided not to proceed with the interview." Karr was the guest on CNN's Larry King Live on October 16, 2006.
On October 26, 2006, Karr sent an email to Bill Hammons
of Bill's List of Literary Agents and Their Authors' Books from a "phoenix rising" email address and stated that "I seek a literary agent who can help me publish a manuscript that some might find controversial."
an Atlanta. The argument was between Karr, his girlfriend and his father. He was charged with battery
and obstruction
. He later was released.
and to transition into a female role. She currently lives as a woman.
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
person formerly known as John Mark Karr who in 2006 falsely confessed
False confession
A false confession is an admission of guilt in a crime in which the confessor is not responsible for the crime. False confessions can be induced through coercion or by the mental disorder or incompetency of the accused...
to the unsolved murder of six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey
JonBenét Ramsey
JonBenét Patricia Ramsey was an American child beauty pageant contestant who was murdered in her home in Boulder, Colorado, in 1996. The six-year-old's body was found in the basement of the family home nearly eight hours after she was reported missing. She had been struck on the head and strangled...
. She has, on other occasions, faced a number of other criminal charges.
Childhood
Karr was born in Conyers, GeorgiaConyers, Georgia
Conyers is the only city in Rockdale County, Georgia, USA. It is twenty-four miles east of Atlanta. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 10,689. Census estimates of 2005 indicate a population of 12,205. The city is the county seat of Rockdale County. By 2009, the reported population was...
and spent his early childhood in Atlanta. His father, Wexford Karr had married Patricia Elaine Adcock (John's mother) on August 21, 1958, when he was 37 and she was 18. Wexford filed for divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
in 1973, saying the marriage was "irretrievably broken," and that John and his older brother, Michael, were in his custody. Soon after, Wexford Karr, then 52 years old, married 29-year-old Susan Simpson, his neighbor in the same apartment complex. His marriage with Simpson ended in divorce six months later.
A family friend, George McCrary, has said that Karr's mother believed John Karr was possessed
Demonic possession
Demonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...
by demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s. His mother allegedly built a pyre
Pyre
A pyre , also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite...
of kindling
Kindling
Kindling is a term to describe small pieces of wood and twigs used to start a fire.Kindling may also refer to:* Kindling, a 1915 film directed by Cecil B...
around him and attempted to burn him alive as an infant. Adcock was committed to the Central State Hospital
Central State Hospital (Georgia)
Central State Hospital , located in Milledgeville, Georgia, is the state's largest facility for treatment of mental illness and developmental disabilities...
, a mental hospital
Mental Hospital
Mental hospital may refer to:*Psychiatric hospital*hospital in Nepal named Mental Hospital...
in Milledgeville, Georgia
Milledgeville, Georgia
Milledgeville is a city in and the county seat of Baldwin County in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is northeast of Macon, located just before Eatonton on the way to Athens along U.S. Highway 441, and it is located on the Oconee River. The relatively rapid current of the Oconee here made this an...
, and later lived in a group home
Group home
A group home is a private residence designed or converted to serve as a non-secure home for unrelated persons who share a common characteristic.-Types of group homes:...
, according to her stepmother Shirley Adcock.
Karr moved to Alabama to live with his grandparents when he was about 12 years old. He grew up in Hamilton
Hamilton, Alabama
Hamilton is a city in Marion County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 6,786. The city is the county seat of Marion County.-Geography:Hamilton is located at , along the Buttahatchee River....
and graduated from Hamilton High School
Hamilton High School (Hamilton, Alabama)
Hamilton High School is a high school located in Hamilton, Alabama, United States. The school is a part of the district. Hamilton was started in 1895 as West Alabama Agricultural School. Hamilton is in the Marion County School District...
in 1983. Karr returned to live in Atlanta at least twice: once to attend one semester at Riverwood High School in Sandy Springs from January to May 1981, and again some years after graduating from high school.
Marriages
In 1984, Karr married 13-year-old Quientana Ray Shotts. Karr evidently told Quientana to lie about her age, and took her out of AlabamaAlabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, where they both lived, to marry her. Karr and Shotts lived together as a couple in Hamilton after their wedding, and Karr "was abusing her every way there was," according to Melissa Shotts. Court records show that, in 1985, a 14-year-old girl sought an annulment
Annulment
Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place...
of what the records call a "ceremonial marriage," saying she had feared for her life when she agreed to marry Karr in 1984. Karr admitted to the court that she was a minor, but disputed she had been 13. The marriage was annulled in 1985. Shotts later remarried and now bears a different surname.
Karr married Lara Knutson in Alabama on May 19, 1989, when he was 24 and she was 16 and pregnant. She was carrying twin daughters who were delivered via a home birth
Home birth
A home birth in developed countries is an attended or an unattended childbirth in a non-clinical setting, typically using natural childbirth methods, that takes place in a residence rather than in a hospital or a birth centre, and usually attended by a midwife or lay attendant with expertise in...
on September 1, 1989. The girls, named Angel and Innocence, died later that day. The couple went on to have three boys in close succession, the oldest, John born in 1990, Damon in 1992 and Seven Exodus in 1993. The couple divorced in 2001 following Karr's arrest for five misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
counts of possession of child pornography
Child pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
in Petaluma
Petaluma, California
Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, in the United States. In the 2010 Census the population was 57,941.Located in Petaluma is the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a National Historic Landmark. It was built beginning in 1836 by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, then Commandant of the San...
, California. In the divorce petition, his wife wrote that Karr was never physically violent towards her, but that he was "very controlling" of her. A restraining order
Restraining order
A restraining order or order of protection is a form of legal injunction that requires a party to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. A party that refuses to comply with an order faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
against Karr was granted. Knutson said he purposely set out to get her pregnant, telling her the pregnancy would allow them to skirt the law and get married, according to statements she made in divorce records.
In 2007, Karr became engaged to a 23-year-old woman named Brooke Simmons who had a three-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
Career
Karr had been working as a substitute teacher in Petaluma, but Bob Raines, the Superintendent-Principal at Wilson School in Petaluma said he was an ineffective substitute teacher: "He just seemed like somebody who thought he wanted to be a teacher... After a day, I could see it just wasn't for him." He worked from December 2000 through June 2001 in as many as 14 schools in the Petaluma, Old Adobe, Liberty and Wilmar elementary districts. His last paycheck for teaching work in Petaluma was issued in April 2001, the same month that he made his first court appearance for the aforementioned pornography charges. When he failed to show up for a readiness conference in December 2001, a judge issued a warrant for his arrest, which was still outstanding as of August 2006.In March 1996, Karr registered the domain Powerwurks.com and used it as a cover, claiming on Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
to be "a world wide support organization for kids, teens and college students." As well as seeking troubled or depressed children, he also solicited discussion on sex.
Karr also operated a day care center
Day care
Child care or day care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child's immediate family...
in northwest Alabama. The Marion County Department of Human Resources issued a license for Karr to begin operating a day care out of his home in June 1997. Under the license, Karr was allowed to care for as many as six children at a time, ranging in age up to 14 years old.
2001 arrest
On April 13, 2001, Karr was arrested for possession of computerized child pornographyChild pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
. He pled not guilty four days later. On October 15, 2001, after a series of court hearings, Karr was released from jail, but was ordered to report to a probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
officer. The court records in the case were sealed. In December 2001, Karr failed to appear and a "No Bail" warrant was issued by a Sonoma County Superior Court Judge. Since then Karr had been on the run, living in Asia, Europe and Central America, until his arrest in Thailand.
Initial investigation
Authorities were made aware of Karr via e-mails he exchanged over the course of four years with Michael TraceyMichael Tracey
Michael Tracey is an English born scholar and researcher, with a specialty in public service broadcasting. He acquired notoriety as a result of his tenure as the head of the Broadcasting Research Unit in London, Britain's leading think tank dealing with media issues, and later with his...
, a journalism professor at the University of Colorado
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
.
In June 2006, the Boulder District Attorney's office received copies of the suspect's emails from Tracey, who received the emails from a person with the email address "December261996@yahoo.com." December 26, 1996, was the date of JonBenét's murder. At least one of the emails was signed with the signature "Daxis."
Armed with the email address and Internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security , responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security...
(ICE) determined the general location of the suspect in Thung Maha Mek, a neighborhood in Bangkok, Thailand. At the time, the suspect's name and exact location was not known.
Discovery of Karr's whereabouts
Authorities identified and found Karr when he sent an envelope to Tracey by regular mail with a return address bearing the name of a major thoroughfare in Bangkok, but no number or cross street. Tracey sent Karr another kind of mail – a photograph delivered to a Thai post office box. Agents arranged a controlled delivery and were ready to spot their suspect. The man who arrived to pick up the mail delivery was using a 21-speed bicycle, the purchase of which was mentioned in e-mails sent by the suspect. The agents followed Karr to his residence and learned his name.On August 11, 2006, they notified ICE officials, and from that point on, Karr was placed under surveillance by Thai immigration officials. A sealed arrest warrant
Arrest warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by and on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual.-Canada:Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code of Canada....
, signed by Boulder County District Judge Roxanne Bailin, was sent by the Boulder District Attorney's office to officials in Thailand on August 15, 2006. The next day, upon receipt of the warrant, Thai immigration authorities revoked Karr's visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
.
Arrest
Karr was arrested in BangkokBangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, on August 16, 2006, by Thai
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
authorities, then released to U.S. agents and flown first to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, then to Boulder for further investigation. On August 28, prosecutors announced they had decided not to pursue charges in connection with the murder after DNA tests
Genetic fingerprinting
DNA profiling is a technique employed by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals by their respective DNA profiles. DNA profiles are encrypted sets of numbers that reflect a person's DNA makeup, which can also be used as the person's identifier...
failed to place Karr at the scene, although serious doubts had been expressed about the veracity of his admission even before the tests were conducted. Karr was held in Boulder until September 12, 2006, when he was transported to Sonoma County, California
Sonoma County, California
Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of the U.S. state of California, is the largest and northernmost of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. Its population at the 2010 census was 483,878. Its largest city and county seat is Santa Rosa....
to face unrelated misdemeanor child pornography
Child pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
charges. The charges were dismissed by a California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
judge on October 5, 2006, and Karr was immediately released.
Detention in Thailand, deportation to United States
Karr was detained in Bangkok, Thailand, on August 16, 2006. Karr said he was with JonBenét when she died, and told a press conference that her death was an accident. He said: "I love JonBenét," and "I was with JonBenét when she died; she died accidentally." When asked if he was an innocent man, he said: "No." Thai Immigration Police Lieutenant General Suwat Tumrongsiskul stated that Karr admitted attempting to kidnapKidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
JonBenét Ramsey for an $118,000 ransom to be paid by the Ramseys, only to strangle her after his plan went awry. While he was detained in Thailand, officials there had Karr on a 24-hour suicide watch
Suicide watch
Suicide watch is an intensive monitoring process used to ensure that an individual does not die by suicide. Usually the term is used in reference to inmates in a prison, hospital, psychiatric hospital, or military bases...
.
Karr returned on a business class
Business class
Business class is a travel class available on many commercial airlines and rail lines, known by brand names which vary by airline or rail company. In the airline industry, it was originally intended as an intermediate level of service between economy class and first class, but many airlines now...
flight. He was not handcuffed or under arrest during the flight, ate from a free choice of menu and drank Champagne on the Thai Airways
Thai Airways International
Thai Airways International Public Company Limited is the national flag carrier and largest airline of Thailand. Formed in 1988, the airline's headquarters are located in Chatuchak District, Bangkok, and operates out of Suvarnabhumi Airport. Thai is a founding member of the Star Alliance. Thai is a...
Airbus 340-500 he took to the United States. Experts, such as Denver attorney Larry Posner, have speculated that Karr was given the food and drink to get him to start talking about his involvement in the murder of JonBenét:
Karr was escorted by investigators working for the Boulder district attorney. He had been detained in Thailand because his visa had been revoked by request of Boulder County, Colorado, but he was released to United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to ensure he returned to the U.S. Karr was not legally arrested until August 20, 2006, after the airliner touched down at Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...
. He was first admitted into the country, then he was arrested at the airport on a warrant from Boulder County by the waiting officers of the LA County Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is a local county law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. It is the fourth largest local policing agency in the United States, with the New York City Police Department being the first. The second largest is the Chicago Police...
, and taken by helicopter to Twin Towers Correctional Facility
Twin Towers Correctional Facility
The Twin Towers Correctional Facility, also referred to in the media as Twin Towers Jail, is a complex erected in Los Angeles, California. In terms of physical size, but not in terms of capacity, it is the world's largest jail...
in downtown Los Angeles. Citing Sheriff's Department policy regarding inmates who are "accused child molesters", deputies stated that Karr was held in isolation while he was at the facility.
Extradition to Colorado
On August 22, 2006, John Mark Karr waived extradition during a three-minute hearing in Los Angeles County Superior Court, clearing the way for his transfer to Boulder. According to CNN, on his way back to the correctional facility after the extradition hearing, Karr was quoted as telling an officer, "Everybody says I couldn't know my way around the house, but I got in the house around 5 o'clock ... and I stayed there all night."On August 24, 2006, Karr was handcuffed and driven by Los Angeles Sheriff's deputies onto the tarmac at the airport in Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, where he boarded a State of Colorado twin turboprop airplane. Karr arrived more than 3 hours later at Jefferson County Municipal Airport
Jeffco Airport
Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport is a public-use airport located near Broomfield, Colorado, United States. The airport is owned and operated by Jefferson County and is situated midway between Denver and Boulder on U.S. Highway 36. It is located nine miles northwest of the central business...
in Broomfield, Colorado
Broomfield, Colorado
The City and County of Broomfield is a prominent suburb and tier of the Denver metropolitan area in the State of Colorado of the United States. Broomfield has a consolidated city and county government which operates under Article XX, Sections 10-13 of the Constitution of the State of Colorado. The...
, and then was driven to the Boulder County Jail.
Although Karr had been represented by public defenders in Los Angeles and Boulder, two California-based attorneys, Patience van Zandt (who worked with Karr on his 2001 child pornography case) and Jamie Harmon served him in an advisory capacity. In Boulder, Karr was assisted by Boulder County Public Defender Seth Temin, despite the fact that three dozen lawyers had offered to represent John Mark Karr (for free in many cases) against the charges.
Charges dropped
On August 28, 2006, the Boulder County District Attorney's Office announced "the case of the People vs. John Mark Karr has been vacated." According to Denver's NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate, KUSA
KUSA-TV
KUSA, channel 9, is an NBC-affiliated television station in Denver, Colorado. KUSA is owned by the Gannett Company, and is a sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD...
, the DNA taken from Karr's hair and saliva after his arrest and tested by the Denver Police Department's crime lab did not match the DNA found on JonBenét Ramsey's body; as a result, the District Attorney's Office would not file charges against Karr for the murder. Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy estimated the total public cost of the investigation at about $13,000; other estimates have put the cost at $30,000. Colorado Governor Bill Owens said Lacy should be "held responsible for the most expensive DNA test in Colorado history."
Prior to August 28, George McCrary, a longtime friend of the Karr family, insisted that John Karr is innocent of the murder. "He's a pedophile, not a murderer," said McCrary, who also called John Karr a "genius
Genius
Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....
" whose "confession" was a deliberate tactic to avoid jail in Thailand, and be taken to the United States where he knew he would be found innocent.
Following Karr's release on August 28, he was quickly rearrested after prosecutors in California indicated that he was to face charges of possessing child pornography.
Extradition to California
On August 28, 2006, the Sonoma County DA's Office announced their intent to have Karr extradited from Boulder to face the five misdemeanor counts of possessing child pornography that had been filed five years earlier. On September 12, 2006, Karr arrived in Santa RosaSanta Rosa, California
Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...
, where he stood by his original plea of not guilty On September 19, 2006, prosecutors offered Karr a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
in which he would plead guilty to two of the five counts, in exchange for dismissal of the remaining three counts and a sentence of time served
Time served
In criminal law, "time served" describes a sentence where the defendant is credited immediately after the guilty verdict with the time spent in remand awaiting trial. The time is usually subtracted from the sentence, with only the balance being served after the verdict...
in jail and three years probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
. Karr would also be required to register
Megan's Law
Megan's Law is an informal name for laws in the United States requiring law enforcement authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders. Individual states decide what information will be made available and how it should be disseminated...
in California as a sex offender
Sex offender
A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and by legal jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions compile their laws into sections such as traffic, assault, sexual, etc. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a...
. San Francisco based criminal defense attorneys Robert Amparan
Robert Amparan
Robert Marlowe Amparan is an American criminal defense attorney currently based in San Francisco, California. He became notable for successfully defending former JonBenét Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr, along with attorneys Gayle Gutekunst and Ben Prince, in his legal battle with the state...
, Gayle Gutekunst, and Benjamin Prince represented Karr in Sonoma County. Karr turned down the plea bargain offer in the case. On September 25, 2006, however, Judge Cerena Wong agreed to consider a defense motion to dismiss all charges against Karr, in light of the Sonoma County sheriff's department's alleged 2002 junking of a computer believed to contain the pornographic
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
images that are the basis of the prosecution's case. The prosecution maintained that it printed the photos from Karr's computer before it went missing; it is these printed copies that the prosecution planned to introduce as evidence if the case went to trial.
Charges dropped
On October 5, 2006, all of the child pornography charges against Karr were dropped after investigators lost the computer seized from Karr in April 2001. The Deputy District Attorney Mary Maxiemer was put up on the stand and questioned by defense attorneys. It was determined he withheld information from the Court and he was appointed an attorney. The case was immediately dismissed by the court. He was immediately released from jail per orders from Judge Rene Chouteau.Later developments
On October 6, 2006 Karr already found himself being questioned again by police when he decided to stop by a school where he used to teach. A limousine carrying Karr and two producers from ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
was stopped and questioned by police but they determined that no crime was committed. Karr was apparently giving the producers a tour of the neighborhood where he used to live and work when he suddenly exited the limo and approached the school. According to Jeffrey Schneider, senior vice president of ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, "his behavior gave us serious pause, and ABC decided not to proceed with the interview." Karr was the guest on CNN's Larry King Live on October 16, 2006.
On October 26, 2006, Karr sent an email to Bill Hammons
Bill Hammons
Bill Hammons is the current chairman of the Unity Party of America.He was born in Germany during the early 1970s to a career army officer during his father's tour of duty there. He was raised in Odessa, Texas from the age of five, and graduated from Permian High School of...
of Bill's List of Literary Agents and Their Authors' Books from a "phoenix rising" email address and stated that "I seek a literary agent who can help me publish a manuscript that some might find controversial."
2007 domestic argument arrest
After a long break from being in the media, Karr was again arrested and jailed July 6, 2007 when he was involved in a domestic argument at his father's house in suburbSuburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
an Atlanta. The argument was between Karr, his girlfriend and his father. He was charged with battery
Battery (crime)
Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the fear of such contact.In the United States, criminal battery, or simply battery, is the use of force against another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact...
and obstruction
Obstruction of justice
The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...
. He later was released.
Transition
Reich subsequently began to undergo hormone replacement therapyHormone replacement therapy (male-to-female)
Hormone replacement therapy for transgender and transsexual people changes the balance of sex hormones in their bodies. Some intersex people also receive HRT, either starting in childhood to confirm the sex to which they were assigned, or later, if this assignment has proven to be incorrect...
and to transition into a female role. She currently lives as a woman.
Further reading
- Boulder arrest warrant for John Mark Karr, signed and issued by Judge Roxanne Bailin
- Larry King Live transcripts on the John Mark Karr confession.
- Does Karr Believe He Did It? The truth in John Mark Karr's false confession.
