America's Foremost Pedophile

John Mark Karr is a disturbing individual. I don't doubt for a moment that he is capable of killing JonBenet Ramsey, and I don't doubt he is capable of claiming to have murdered her for attention and as an expression of his deeply troubled mind:

Karr is a man who, while wanted as a fugitive on child pornography charges, sought to impress prospective employers with a long record of accomplishment preparing young lives "for a successful future."

He is a man who twice married teenagers -- one just 13 at the time. Both would later claim they had been coerced.

Almost by definition, the 13-year-old must have been.

And he is the man who years ago confided to family members that he was deeply troubled by the murder of the Colorado 6-year-old, who he now claims to have loved and sexually assaulted.

This, coupled with inconsistencies with his description of the crime, make me lean towards thinking his confession is a fantasy. He was, according to one of his ex-wives, obsessed with the case, and researched the case "voraciously" when completing a distance-learning degree. It's this level of obsession and knowledge that I think will ultimately explain his knowledge of aspects of the crime not divulged by the police. A mind offered sufficient information can deduce many facts.

"I awoke the children in the morning and gave them breakfast," Karr wrote in one online resume, recounting life as a private teacher and caregiver of three girls in Germany, aged 7, 11 and 12. "At day's end, I made sure the children had their evening bath, then put them to bed and read to them before they went to sleep."

It sounds like a fairy tale, and probably is.

Karr, who arrived in Thailand earlier this year looking for work as a teacher, claims to have spent years skipping from job to job, country to country, nearly all the time working with children. Details proved difficult to pin down Thursday.

And that's the problem with crediting his confession.

Here's where the story gets completely creepy. The material below is compiled from separate places in the story linked above.

"He just seemed like somebody who thought he wanted to be a teacher," said Bob Raines, superintendent and principal at Wilson Elementary School, in one of the four districts near Petaluma, Calif. where Karr worked. "After a few days, I could tell it just wasn't for him."

[...]


As an adult, Karr wrote in one online resume that he worked for years in real estate and restored old homes. His work in schools appears to have begun in 1996 -- the year of the Ramsey murder. According to the resume, that was the start of a five-year stint teaching in "some of the most prestigious schools in the United States, working with children from high profile families."

[...]

Contrary to his resume's description of a life in the classroom, 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.

[...]

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 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."

A parent's nightmare.

The man is a pedophile obsessed with the death of JonBenet Ramsey, and think it highly unlikely his confession will hold up once DNA evidence is tested. Despite all the talk, we never really left square one on this case.

Technorati tags: crime | JonBenet Ramsey