After a week of speculation, skepticism and bizarre revelations, teacher John Mark Karr arrived in Colorado on Thursday, where the probe into his possible involvement in the murder of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was described as “in its very early stages.”
Karr, 41, who was arrested in Thailand last week, was flown from Los Angeles to Colorado, driven to a Boulder jail in a van with darkened windows and booked into custody.
Karr, who has said he loved the girl and was with her on the night she died, is wanted in Boulder on five counts of murder, kidnapping and sexual assault on a minor. He has claimed JonBenet’s death was an accident.
He has not formally been charged. Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told reporters at the jail on Thursday, “We anticipate he will go to court on Monday.”
Ramsey, 6, was found strangled and with a fractured skull in the basement of her Boulder home on December 26, 1996, in an unsolved case that has fascinated Americans for years.
Boulder prosecutors have given no details of any evidence against Karr, fueling doubts over the strength of their case.
In court papers opposing media requests to keep their evidence under seal, prosecutor William F. Nagel wrote that their investigation of Karr was “in its very early stages.”
Nagel said releasing details about their evidence could taint the extensive interviews they need to conduct.
Details of marriage to 13-year-old
Details emerged on Thursday of Karr’s short-lived first marriage in 1984 to a 13-year-old girl, Quientana Ray.
In excerpts of a TV interview given to the syndicated program “The Dr. Keith Ablow Show,” Ray said Karr was controlling and possessive.
“I never got to take a shower by myself at all. If I did want things my way, like alone, in anything he would get in a rage,” Ray said. She also said Karr asked her to smile in a way that made her look younger and she believed he may have drugged her.
Ray left Karr after nine months of the marriage. He later married a 16-year-old, with whom he had three sons before their divorce in 2001.
Fascination with victim known in 2001
California investigators said on Wednesday they told Colorado authorities about Karr’s fascination with JonBenet Ramsey’s murder in 2001 during a probe of the teacher.
But Sonoma County detective Lt. Dave Edmonds said police ”never uncovered any ’confession’ statements, overt murder evidence or other indications Karr possessed secret knowledge that only the murderer of JonBenet Ramsey would know.”
Karr was ultimately charged with possessing child pornography but fled before his trial.
Karr was held briefly in Los Angeles, where he arrived from Thailand, for an extradition hearing that was uncontested on Tuesday.