Karr classmate offers theory on ransom-note mystery

She suspects link between yearbook message, 'S.B.T.C'

David Montero, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 19, 2006 at midnight

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HAMILTON, Ala. - Tara Estes was almost breathless with excitement because she thought one of the more mysterious elements of the JonBenet Ramsey ransom note finally had been revealed.

She climbed the steps to Jeff Brown's rickety porch, brushed aside an orange wasp and sat down on a dirty ice cooler.

"Shall be the conqueror," she said Friday afternoon to a couple of quizzical looks. "S.B.T.C."

Ah, yes. The ransom note that asked John Ramsey to turn over $118,000 for the safe return of 6-year-old JonBenet has been analyzed over and over for nearly a decade.

The long, rambling ransom note ends with the word, "Victory!" and then "S.B.T.C" below it.

But no one knows what the initials mean.

Estes had just gotten off the phone with a friend in South Carolina who was a classmate of John Mark Karr, the man who has said he killed JonBenet on Dec. 26, 1996.

The friend had her yearbook from the early 1980s, and in it Karr signed a lengthy missive filled with the usual teenage angst.

Teresa Alligood had been watching the arrest this week of Karr on television in South Carolina and decided to do a little Googling with her yearbook near the computer. She stumbled on the page Karr had signed and stared at the message.

Alligood then tracked down the ransom note on the Internet and saw "S.B.T.C" at the bottom. She looked back at the yearbook and saw one of the last parts Karr had written:

"Sometimes, so blurred by my own eyes, I've seen the best things come and go simultaneously; Though deep in the future, maybe I shall be the conquerer (sic) and live in multiple peace."

Alligood said she called her family immediately. She also called Fox News and the Boulder district attorney's office Wednesday to alert them. The next day, she talked at length with a Boulder investigator. He assured her they were taking it seriously. However, they hadn't requested her yearbook yet.

Boulder County officials could not be reached for comment Friday.

Estes said the revelation was enough to convince her that Karr did what he said he did. But sitting on Brown's porch, childhood friend Gary Spear had a tougher time reconciling that idea.

Spear, nicknamed "Wolfman," leaned back in his chair and said he couldn't imagine Karr doing anything like that. Back then, he said, Karr was interested in his music - even having a sound studio inside the home where he lived with his grandmother.

Spear said that Karr was smart, generous and easy to get along with - especially because he had the only red DeLorean sports car around. He painted it.

"Nobody had a DeLorean," he said. "But he said he was going to get one after seeing Back to the Future. And damn if he didn't."

Brown, also a high school friend, thought it was a stretch to think that Karr could have killed JonBenet. Brown said Karr was friendly, funny and had instant popularity when he got the sports car.

So neither seemed to be enthralled with the "S.B.T.C" explanation - although in deference to Estes, Brown appeared interested in the theory.

For almost 10 years, there have been theories on what those initials meant. Some said it was "Saved by the Cross," a reference to the Ramsey's Christian faith. Others have suggested it references the Subic Bay Training Center where Ramsey served at the U.S. Naval base in the Philippines.

But on the porch, on this hot, muggy Friday, Alligood's theory was new. Fresh. And after two days of speculation - something people here seemed weary of - it was something to talk about.

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