JonBenet Suspect's Lurid E-Mail Trail

Correspondence Between Karr And Professor Reveal JonBenet Obsession

(CBS/AP) 
But that is not the way people and court paperwork in Marion County recall it.

In 1984, when Karr was 19, he married a local girl, Quientana Shotts, who was 13 at the time, county court records show. Shotts filed for an annulment the following year, complaining that she was "fearful for her life and safety." In a response filed with the court, Karr contested Shotts' age, saying she was in fact 14.

In 1989, Karr remarried, this time to Lara Knutson, who was 16 at the time.

Karr's sole Alabama experience was being hired as a substitute teacher in 1996. But his time there ended after school officials received complaints about Karr saying things "that didn't need to be said in an elementary class," Jackson said. Karr was "bragging on the students, their dress," said Jackson, declining to elaborate further.

Marion County Probate Judge Annette Bozeman said Karr was in her office frequently, working on car titles, sometimes accompanied by Lara. "He was a very polite fellow, but he was a little unusual," she said.

Bozeman recalls a young man with hair down to his shoulders who told her Lara had not gone to the hospital to deliver their three children. "It seems he delivered his children at home," she said.

In 2000, Karr, who had taken classes at a college in Alabama, received a bachelor of science degree in liberal arts from Regents College, now Excelsior College, a distance-learning school based in Albany, N.Y.

He moved his family to California about the same time and in 2001, Karr found work as substitute teacher. But that came to an abrupt end when Karr, then 36, was arrested on five misdemeanor counts of possession of child pornography, according to the Sonoma County sheriff's office.

In an interview Wednesday with The Denver Post from his home in Atlanta, Karr's father, Wexford Karr, said his son told him he was being held in California as part of the investigation of the Ramsey case. He said his son's intrigue with the Ramsey murder was the start of his troubles. That fascination began with voracious research for a college paper that so impressed a professor that the man suggested he write a book, Wexford Karr said.

Two days after Karr was arrested on the pornography charges, his wife filed for divorce.

In the affidavit filed with her divorce petition, Lara Karr said her husband "was told by one school in or about '97 or '98 that he would not be asked to continue to serve as a substitute teacher because he had a tendency to be too affectionate with children."

Karr pleaded not guilty to the California charges and after a series of court hearings, he was released from jail that October, ordered to report to a probation officer and avoid child pornography, children and places where children congregate, such as schools, beaches and parks.

In November of that year, a judge issued a restraining order for Karr to stay at least 100 yards away from his ex-wife and children — ages 8, 9 and 10 at the time — for three years.

In December 2001, a warrant was issued for his arrest after he violated the terms of his supervised release.

By that time, however, according to Karr's online resumes, he was again working with children, this time overseas.

After working in Europe, Karr told employers, he had made his way first to Costa Rica, teaching English to businesspeople. But Mark Henker, the owner of the school at which Karr says he worked, said Thursday the only person named John he's had working with him over the last few years went by a different name. Costa Rica immigration officials say a John Karr left Costa Rica on Aug. 3, 2004, crossing the border into Nicaragua by land.

Karr's resume, though, said his next stop was Honduras, where he claims to have returned to teaching students at an English school until 2005.

Then Karr arrived in Bangkok earlier this year and found work teaching second grade, a job he started just Tuesday.

Now investigators will rely on the e-mails, DNA gathered at the scene of the murder, and Karr's own statements to determine the truth. CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports that law enforcement officials said Karr was given a mouth-swab DNA test in Bangkok, but the results are not yet ready.

[violetta2]

John Karr no more killed JonBenet than Mickey Mouse. It is a false confession by a delusional mentally disturbed person.

The person who should be charged is Michael Tracey, the professor. This goes on for 4 years and he only contacts the authorities in May?

While corresponding with Karr, Tracey produced a documentary which falsely pointed to a suicide victim and his friend as suspects. The friend was supposedily on the run and was "wanted." Noone would buy the documentary except a station in the UK and someone there was able to screen capture this guy's name from his record, they did a Google search and found that he had a website and was selling jewelry in another state and did not even live in CO at the time of the murder. After being exposed, Tracey completely edited this out of his fictional documentary.

Mr. Tracey has a long time history with Lou Smit and the ramsey detectives, they worked on the documentaries together. Lou Smit has the entire files, he won the right to retain them in court. Who is to say that they did not share some information with Karr? There also is a nut job housewife in North Carolina who professes to be a case historian and also has access to everything, she even sold the Ramsey's interrogations to the National Enquirer for $40,000!! So to arrest someone on NO physical evidence and just because he knew "elements" of the crime only known to authorities is very WRONG, I think the Boulder D.A. is stupider than the Boulder police at this point.

[opinionated2]

This guy is a freak! Definately guilty of something, but not this murder. He's obsessed with the stories. Why would his ex-wife lie? She has no reason to.

[sunnysmile58]

I will reserve judgement as to the nature of his 'confessions'. The one good thing about this is that another child predator is off the streets! I do pray that her murderer WILL found, and dealt with acordingly...whether it be this sick man or no.

[gaiakin]

I want to know what tied karr to the Boulder DA? Did they have any thing that they knew for sure? Or, were they just nabbing a nasty man.

I think that this is something that has to be looked at deeply and we should not cater to his sick story.

What prompted the Bolder Police to think that they had enough evidance. What is it?

[CoffinNails]

Well he is getting out of Thailand safely and getting the notoriety he so desperately seeks.

[igitit]

If Karr did kill Polly Klaas, why wasn't that brought up at Davis's Trail? Would Davis would protect a twinky like Karr?

What evidence is yet to be revealed that would make a DA with a good reputation think that Karr should be arrested. All the public evidence so far indicates that the Confession is bogus.

Perverts are (I hope)are a small community they probably exchange fanatasies, does Karr know who did commit the murder?

[jurasc109]

There are (4) seperate cases that he is being sought for questioning for and that's why he can never return to the US. The children he claims in his online resume that he "cared for" and "taught" were children ages 7, 11 and 12. I can't help but think that he fanasizes about "caring for" his victims even though they are dead. I think that he paid Richard Davis to steal Polly Klaas from her home and that he is the real killer. She would be the 12 yr. old that he fantasizes about caring for and teaching. Who is the 11 yr. old? The 7 yr. old could be JonBenet or possibly the 4th victim. His mother tried to raise him as a little girl, his father was not around much and he was always around girls as a peer group. Could he have seen his own self in JonBenet? I even see a resemblence to her. Polly Klaas seems to have been a slightly troubled girl who may have had some kind of "friendship" with Karr and perhaps was involved in her own kidnapping initially. He may have built expectations of how an encounter (to come and be with him) might go, but it all went awry when the children protested so he "accidentally" killed them. After reading exerpts of a book called "The Story of Polly Klaas" I think he is her real killer. He was obsessed with her case and has worked in Petaluma. Isn't it true that killers will often return to the scene of the crime? Look at Scott Peterson, for example. I bet there is a murder in Alabama that he can be tied to as well.

[highlife0713]

I dunno , i think this guy is a total *** and he is full of it , i dont think he has the brains nor the strength , mentally or physically to do it .