Karr case vanishes; DNA doesn't match

Development puts Boulder DA Lacy at center of storm

Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 29, 2006 at midnight

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Case file JonBenet Ramsey: still open.

Hopes that one of this era's most captivating mysteries might be solved were dashed Monday when Boulder prosecutors announced the end of their investigation into a troubled teacher who had claimed he accidentally killed the 6-year-old beauty queen.

John Mark Karr, 41, was just hours away from appearing before a Boulder judge when word spread that Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy was dropping the case.

Lacy made the call - which some say could spell the end of her career - after learning DNA comparisons were a bust.

"The DNA associated with the victim in this case does not match John Mark Karr," Lacy said in a statement released Monday afternoon. "The family of Mr. Karr cooperated by providing circumstantial evidence that Mr. Karr spent Christmas with his family in Atlanta."

Lacy's statement continued: "As I said last week, our role in the investigation of JonBenet Ramsey's murder has been to follow up on all legitimate leads. . . . This case is not closed, and we will continue to investigate leads and pursue justice."

The district attorney is planning to hold a media briefing this morning. But, as it has in years past, the case once again left a legion of victims.

Criticism swift and harsh

Fallout from Lacy's announcement was swift - and in some cases, unforgiving.

"I find it incredible that Boulder authorities wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars to bring Karr to Colorado, given such a lack of evidence," said Gov. Bill Owens. "Mary Lacy should be held accountable for the most extravagant and expensive DNA test in Colorado history."

Boulder County Public Defender Seth Temin emerged from the county jail with harsh words.

"We're deeply distressed by the fact they took this man, dragged him back here from Bangkok, Thailand, with no forensic evidence confirming the allegations against him and no independent factors leading to a presumption that he did anything wrong," Temin said.

If not for a last-minute decision by California to pursue unresolved misdemeanor child-pornography charges from 2001, the man who stunned the world by declaring his love for JonBenet on international television would have walked away free.

A little more than an hour after he was ostensibly released, however, Karr was rearrested and returned to the jail on the West Coast charges. An extradition hearing is scheduled for this afternoon.

Public fascination

The JonBenet case had captured headlines - and the public's fascination - since Dec. 26, 1996, when her body was found in her family's basement after her mother found a ransom note demanding $118,000 for her safe release. The child had been garroted and her skull crushed.

Lacy made clear Monday, through court filings, that the case against Karr was built primarily on a series of e-mails starting in 2002 and, more recently, secretly recorded telephone conversations with University of Colorado journalism professor Michael Tracey.

The e-mails included disturbing letters that Karr thought he was writing to JonBenet's critically ill mother. He told Patsy Ramsey before June 24, when she died of cancer, that he was with the child when she died but does not consider himself a killer.

"I would like to be given the chance to ease your mind and help mend your broken heart," Karr wrote, using the computer name, "Daxis."

"I will never receive closure, but you can - I will make sure of that."

Karr told Patsy Ramsey he was coming to her with "unreal respect and admiration."

"You are the mother of the most wonderful little girl I have ever known - a little girl I love past all others," he wrote.

On Monday, Tracey defended Lacy's conduct in the case.

"The process took its course," Tracey said. "I do still believe it was a courageous decision by Lacy to proceed" as far as she did.

Former Boulder County Assistant District Attorney Bill Wise, who was Lacy's boss prior to his retirement, said, "The impact on that office, I think, will be tremendous. I think the impact will be very negative."

However, Wise added, "She is doing the right thing. . . . I think she felt this guy was a real threat to public safety and a real flight risk, so I don't fault her for making the arrest.

"And, in the events of today (Monday), she is doing a very difficult thing - but it's what a good prosecutor should do. If she doesn't believe she has the kind of evidence necessary to hold him: kick him loose, or kick him back to California."

Interest in Karr grew

Lacy's motion to quash the Karr arrest warrant painted a picture of a disturbed man trying desperately to inject himself into one of the nation's most notorious crimes.

At first, Lacy's office did not have "substantial interest" in the e-mails Tracey had received because they "merely demonstrated that the writer had an intense interest" in the case.

But beginning in April, Lacy wrote, Daxis began to claim firsthand knowledge.

"Although, at first, he claimed to know two people who participated in the crime, he later admitted personal responsibility for the death," the motion stated.

Daxis subsequently participated in 11 phone conversations with Tracey, as well as continuing to exchange e-mails.

The prosecution motion said Daxis revealed a sexual fascination with young girls he was teaching and also started to offer his story to Tracey "in narrative form, which he wanted to be included in a book Mr. Tracey was planning to publish."

In 420 pages of e-mails released Monday evening, Karr claimed to have engaged in sexual activities with JonBenet that included temporarily asphyxiating her.

Karr said he "lost track of time" during those activities, "accidentally" killing her through asphyxiation before delivering the blow to her head which fractured her skull.

JonBenet died, he asserted, only because of a tragic "mistake."

Karr also claimed he cut the child and drank her blood.

Secret collections of DNA

The alarming assertions - coupled with the fact that Karr had started teaching second grade Aug. 15 at a school in Bangkok - forced investigators into action.

Lacy indicated in her motion that officials in Thailand collected several DNA samples without Karr's knowledge before arresting him in Bangkok on Aug. 16.

A source close to the investigation told the Rocky Mountain News on Monday that immigration officials swabbed Karr's bicycle handle.

But, Lacy said, the samples taken overseas were not good enough to compare to the DNA on file from the crime scene.

The first formal DNA sample was taken from Karr on Friday, after he arrived in Colorado.

Greggory LaBerge, a DNA analyst at the Denver Police Department crime lab, completed analysis on Saturday, determining Karr was not the source of the DNA in JonBenet's underwear.

"This information is critical," Lacy wrote, "because . . . if Mr. Karr's account of his sexual involvement with the victim were accurate, it would have been highly likely that his saliva would have been mixed with the blood."

Ollie Gray, a Colorado Springs private investigator who worked the Karr lead along with former El Paso County homicide investigator Lou Smit, admitted to being disappointed by Monday's sharp reversal.

"The guy had a lot of potential" as a suspect, Gray said. "(He) seemed to have a lot of knowledge about this that was not out in the public."

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