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American Morning

Ramsey Case Confession

Aired August 17, 2006 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Miles O'Brien.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad.

O'BRIEN: A stunning turn in a decade-old mystery. A 41-year-old school teacher, John Mark Karr, an American, arrested in Thailand just a few hours ago, admitting he killed JonBenet Ramsey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MARK KARR: I loved JonBenet very much.

QUESTION: We're from the associated press, can you give us a brief statement, please?

QUESTION: Are you innocent?

KARR: I loved JonBenet, and she died accidentally.

QUESTION: Are you an innocent man? Are you an innocent man?

KARR: No.

QUESTION: What happened?

KARR: Um, her death was an accident.

QUESTION: So you were in the basement?

KARR: Yes.

QUESTION: Can you tell us about your connection to the Ramsey family?

KARR: Um, no comment.

QUESTION: How did you get into the basement?

KARR: No comment.

QUESTION: And how do you feel now? How are you being treated?

KARR: Um, I'm being treated OK.

QUESTION: How well had you known JonBenet?

KARR: No comment on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arenas has been working on this story since it first broke yesterday. Let's talk -- Kelly, first of all, what do we know about Karr?

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that he's 41 years old, that he was a school teacher, that he moved around a lot. We were able to get some records yesterday to go through, matching up his name and birth date, saw that he moved around places, several places in Georgia, Alabama, some in California. And he did work with young children, 7 and 8-year-olds.

O'BRIEN: And we don't know, based on all of that, how he came to know or see JonBenet Ramsey at a pageant or whatever?

ARENA: No, right. That is the million-dollar question, you know, how did he come in contact with her? We don't know.

O'BRIEN: What do we know about the investigation then? How were they able to put this one together? I assume we'll know more later today when the district attorney speaks, but I'm sure there's quite a tale to be told on all this.

ARENA: Well, that's what the investigators tell me. They say it's really fascinating.

But at this point, we do know the Boulder, Colorado district attorney's office says that this investigation took several months. They say it was focused. It was complex. The arrest, Miles, was a joint operation between investigators from the D.A.'s office and the Thai police working together, lots of cooperation there. Investigators say that Karr had been communicating on and off with somebody in Boulder who turned around and started working with law enforcement.

Investigators tell CNN that Karr's online communications, his e- mails, were very much a key part of this investigation.

And while this whole thing is being led by the boulder D.A.'s office, immigrations and customs enforcement agents helped track Karr down. Here's what we heard from an ICE official earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN HURST, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS: Boulder County's district attorney's office received information that a subject was providing information and might be connected to the murder of JonBenet Ramsey. Upon investigation, we were able to identify that subject, and that is John Mark Karr.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: Miles, this investigation is still ongoing, and Karr is expected to be transferred to the U.S. some time next week. He'll be taken to Colorado, and then we'll see from there. Do we get a trial? Do we get a plea agreement? Not clear at this point.

O'BRIEN: OK, and no word that he's going to fight extradition at all, right?

ARENA: No.

O'BRIEN: Kelli Arena in Washington, thank you.

ARENA: You're welcome.

O'BRIEN: Carol?

COSTELLO: Patsy Ramsey died last June, still under that umbrella of suspicion, at least in the public's mind. The arrest and confession of John Mark Karr may have finally lifted that shadow. Pamela Paugh is the sister of Patsy Ramsey. She joins us live now from Roswell, Georgia.

Thanks for joining us this morning.

PAMELA PAUGH, SISTER OF PATSY RAMSEY: You're welcome. Good morning.

COSTELLO: You know, the tabloid headlines surrounding this case has been awful for your family, intimating that John or Patsy Ramsey may have had some part in their daughter's death. Do you feel vindicated by this?

PAUGH: First, I'd like to say that the tabloids were awful before JonBenet's death, let's just get that straight. I'm not really certain that there is a need for vindication, because in my mind, Patsy and John were never guilty of anything, and those who know them, who knew them, who have stood by them knew the truth, and we were just waiting for this day, for this to come to light, and we always knew that this day would come.

COSTELLO: The suspect in this case, you know, after his arrest in Thailand, he said he loved JonBenet very much, and her death was an accident. As you were watching that, what was your reaction?

PAUGH: I didn't actually watch it, but I heard it this morning, and to that, I would say a couple things. One, no, you didn't love JonBenet. I loved JonBenet. Second of all, it sickens me that this person has paraded as a school teacher. I am a school teacher. There is a difference between yearning to help children learn and yearning to make them sex toys. And saying it was an accident? Well, by what accident were you even in her home? By what accident did you tie something around her neck and choke her? By what accident did you put an eight-inch crack in her skull? these things are not accidents. Accidents are falling off the couch and bumping your head when you're a toddler. So that's some of the questions I have.

COSTELLO: And we have to say, he has not been tried and found guilty as of yet.

PAUGH: That's correct. COSTELLO: Your family doesn't really know this man. Is it possible that JonBenet could have come into contact with someone her parents weren't aware of?

PAUGH: Well, in these years, I'm sure many parents have done this, you try to determine when is it that my child is not in my eyeshot, and about the only time I can come up with, or we've been able to come up with, is when they're safely asleep in their beds. When they're with playmates, when they're with friends, you know they're under the supervision of other known adults, but you're not quite sure who is catching their eye while playing in a rock park out in the middle of Boulder or, you know, walking down the street or doing whatever. So there are lots of opportunities for other unknown adults to come into contact with children, and children are so vulnerable emotionally, they don't know to keep a wall up, to keep these people out.

COSTELLO: Right. The other curious thing -- your sister and brother-in-law lived in a very large home in Boulder, and some people have described the inside of that house as a maze. If this man was unknown to your family, is it little curious that he was able to find JonBenet's bedroom and take her down to this basement area?

PAUGH: Well, the house was quite a maze, and I think that was because it had been reconstructed, as it were, so many times. I think over the various years different families that had owned the residence had added on, made new additions, changed this wall, knocked this one out, put another one in, so you understand the maze concept.

If you go from JonBenet's room down a spiral staircase, through the kitchen, through another hallway, down the stairs into the basement, it's not that difficult.

But what I would say is that it was quite a large house, and that was a long way to traverse. So it seems logical that you would have to answer the question, was the person who committed this crime in the house on prior occasions to the night of JonBenet's death. I think we might find that and answers to many more questions as we progress.

COSTELLO: Hopefully soon. Patsy Ramsey, of course, died, but she was aware of this man before her death. How much did she know about him?

PAUGH: She physically died and left this earth, but she lives. And let me just say that she was aware that there were investigative happenings going on, she was kept up to date that they had a few good suspects, and that evidently was narrowed down.

In her final days, she was very, very much at peace. She was in peace in two ways -- one, she knew that the good Lord above would at some point have the truth come forward. And the other thing was that she went to meet her maker with a full and clear conscience.

So don't worry about Patsy. Patsy's fine, and she's up there with JonBenet. So all is well on that front.

COSTELLO: The Ramsey Foundation, I want to quickly mention that.

PAUGH: Yes, thank you. We started a foundation. It was Patsy's friend's idea, in honor of her 13-year struggle with ovarian cancer, which is a very silent killer. We usually don't know about it until it's too late, until the disease has progressed.

We've started a foundation whose primary goal it will be to educate women of all ages to perform research, to look for better and earlier detection methods, and also to have funds available for those women out there who can't afford on their own to pay for this very, very expensive treatment. We've got to focus on women's health issues through our legislation, and we'll be doing some of that as well. So please go to patsyramseyfoundation.org.

COSTELLO: We will. Pamela Paugh, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

PAUGH: Thank you. Thanks.

COSTELLO: At noon Eastern, the Boulder district attorney will be holding that news conference. Of course, we'll cover that for you live.

O'BRIEN: An alleged drug kingpin who apparently dug a labyrinth of tunnels to smuggle drugs into the U.S. now in federal custody. Javier Arellano-Felix captured off the coast of California.

More from CNN's Kareen Wynter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Captured, this alleged Mexican drug lord who topped the drug enforcement administration's most wanted list. Federal agents say this wasn't your typical bust. Javier Arellano-Felix, who they say headed a cartel, called the Arellano-Felix organization, had a $5 million bounty on his head.

MICHAEL BRAUN, CHIEF OF DEA OPERATIONS: Javier is not your average drug trafficker. For over a decade, the AFO family has dominated the Mexican drug trade and flooded our nation with literally tons and hundreds of tons of a variety of drugs.

WYNTER: The high-profile fugitive's arrest came in an unusual location, offshore in Southern Baja, California. Authorities got a tip Arellano-Felix and key members of his gang boarded a 43-foot chartered fishing vessel in the Pacific. The U.S. Coast Guard took Arellano-Felix and 10 others on board in custody.

BRAUN: He was the last strong hold in the declining AFO family cartel. When we arrested his brother, Benamin (ph), back in 2002, we called it the beginning of the end of the AFO. Today we've got this brutal organization in a chokehold, and we're not letting up.

WYNTER: Authorities say other members of the Arellano-Felix organization include another of Javier's brothers, Eduardo. Investigators say he is still wanted.

Federal agents say the drug cartel is responsible for a string of brutal murders in the U.S. and Mexico, including the execution-style slaying of a prominent attorney. And they say the group is also linked to the recent construction of an elaborate drug smuggling tunnel under the Mexico-California border, and that Javier Arellano- Felix controlled the organization's finances. He was indicted three years ago in San Diego on felony counts, including money laundering and conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The indictment carries penalties of up to life in prison, and in addition, it includes forfeiture your of almost $300 million.

WYNTER (on camera): Arellano-Felix has not commented on the charges. Officials say his arrest will deal a major blow to a family- run business that once dominated the Mexican drug trade.

Kareen Wynter, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And still to come, a new epidemic involving a potentially deadly super bug. More and more children are getting it, and doctors want to know why.

O'BRIEN: Also, Uncle Sam wants you, but some say recruiters are stepping over the line to fill the ranks.

COSTELLO: And Avon, it's not having any trouble finding a few good men. We'll take a look at why the Avon lady is slowly giving way to the Avon man.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: All right, listen up, parents. If your child has a fever right now, you should be watching him or her very carefully, very closely. Doctors are seeing a startling new infectious disease epidemic. They're calling it a superbug, and it strikes healthy people, apparently for no reason.

CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What in the world made this baby go from happy and healthy to desperately ill in just days?

This did. A superbug so powerful it's alarming doctors across the country for its ability to rip through a child's body. For Evan McFarling it started last Spring when he came down with a fever.

MATT MCFARLING, EVAN'S DAD: It just didn't seem like that big of a deal right at first.

COHEN: The pediatrician told Evan's parents not to worry.

TIERNEY MCFARLING, EVAN'S MOTHER: It's just probably a little bug, it will go away in a few days.

COHEN: But, it didn't. They took Evan back to the doctor.

T. MCFARLING: And once again he said don't worry about it, fevers can last up to seven days.

COHEN: But Evan's fever went on for ten days. His pediatrician tried three different antibiotics, none of them worked. Finally a chest x-ray solved the mystery.

M. MCFARLING: And I mean we went from a checkup to we're going in to heart surgery in about 20 minutes.

Can you smile for me baby? No, we're not ready for smiling yet.

COHEN: The tissue around Evan's heart was filled with bacteria and not just any bacteria, the dreaded superbug called MRSA or Mersa, a staff infection so sophisticated it knows how to outwit most antibiotics.

DR. JAIME FERGIE, DRISCOLL CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: It's becoming sort of a perfect storm in infectious diseases.

COHEN: Many times it's impossible to tell how a child caught the bacteria. The bacteria enters the skin in a way parents might miss, through a scrape or a pimple, sometimes it's mistaken for a bug bite. The number of these infections is escalating quickly in many parts of the country. Here at this hospital in Corpus Christie, Texas in 2,000 they had around 50 MRSA cases. In 2002 that number jumped to 300 cases. In 2005 750 cases. And in the past six months three children have died here from MRSA. Day after day children's hospital see this. Kids like Evan, Sylvester, Veronica, Kevin, Sulema, who were perfectly healthy before contracting the infection.

FERGIE: The patient we saw had really nothing in common. It was not that they came from a particularly school or day care.

COHEN: And that's what scares pediatricians. Take Josh Grant. He was healthy and to this day his doctors don't know for sure how he got the infection. He needed four surgeries to get rid of the MRSA bacteria, which had spread into his lungs, through his spinal cord, into his neck, and into his left arm.

HOYA GRANT, JOSH'S DAD: The doctor went in and scraped his lungs, and they said it was a possibility that he could bleed out and that we could lose him.

COHEN: That was in may. Today Josh is still weak and needs physical therapy. His parents advice to other parents? In this day of superbugs, you can never be too careful. GRANT: If you even get a fever make sure you see the doctor, jump on it with both feet, because no parent ever wants to go through what our family went through.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: What a nightmare. Elizabeth Cohen with that report. You have fever in the house, pay attention.

Coming up in the program, we are "Minding Your Business." President Bush high on the hog! He thinks the Harley might be the key to a new deal on free trade.

Plus, Avon's calling, but its voice is a lot deeper than it used to be. Meet the Avon men. They're manly men, don't worry. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It bills itself as the company for women, but truth be told, real men sell Avon. Thousands of men in fact are now hocking Avon products designed to make both sexes look good and feel good.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): When you think of Avon, you probably still think of the traditional Avon lady. Think again.

S. D'AMICO: Ding dong, Mr. Avon calling!

COSTELLO: Mr. What?

S. D'AMICO: I'm Salvatore, Mr. Avon. This is my wife, Katrina.

COSTELLO: Salvatore D'Amico got into the Avon business a couple years ago, when he began helping his wife.

KATRINA D'AMICO, WIFE OF AVON MAN: I asked to take the brochures into the office, and one day he took one in and the women went crazy with him selling Avon to him. They loved it! He doubled our sales that year.

S. D'AMICO: As you can imagine, my friends tease me a little bit, but I try to be a little harsh with, especially my male friends, in saying, you know, you could use little bit of the eye cream we sell. It looks like you haven't slept in a week.

COSTELLO: Bill Kolber-Stuart tries a similar sales pitch on women at the gym.

BILL KOLBER-STUART, AVON MEN: Free skin care sample?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks.

COSTELLO (on camera): So you're sitting in the locker room and you're a guy and you have a towel on. KOLBER-STUART: One, I make sure I'm wearing more than a towel. Two, I generally do it at the mirror. I will never stand at a gym locker room mirror without a sample to hand to somebody.

COSTELLO: See, that's a good thing, but you have to be teased by your friends as well.

KOLBER-STUART: Occasionally, yes. They say I'm the hairiest Avon representative on the planet.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Reporter: There are about 10,000 of those hairy male representatives, approximately one to two percent of all the company's door-to-door sales people. Avon won't say exactly how many.

(on camera): Ooh, it smells good.

COSTELLO (voice-over): But Avon, which calls itself the company for women, is trying to grow its male skin care line, and more male reps could help with that.

KOLBER-STUART: About two years ago, Avon launched "And the Men's Catalog."

COSTELLO: Look how thin.

KOLBER-STUART: Which is really thin, I know.

COSTELLO: Billy, who's been selling Avon for nine years, says his customers are 50 percent male and family. Salvatore, however, sells mostly to women.

K. D'AMICO: He's flirtatious. He's nice looking. It helps a lot. I'd rather talk to him than me.

S. D'AMICO: We've got foot lotion, and I will give you a free foot massage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't take that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I'd be taking that foot massage, wouldn't you? Get this, though -- last year, Salvatore D'Amico sold some $40,000 in Avon products. Not bad for a second job, is it, $40,000 bucks?

OK, if a guy approached you in the locker room and gave you -- and said, Miles...

O'BRIEN: You're already laughing. Why, because you don't think he'd approach me? Lost cause?

COSTELLO: You're too beautiful already.

O'BRIEN: Keep going.

COSTELLO: But no, would you buy Avon from an Avon man?

O'BRIEN: I'd have no problem with that. You know, I don't really use a lot of creams, but, you know, potentially, I could try it. I'm willing.

COSTELLO: He's a metrosexual, there you go.

O'BRIEN: I'm in touch with my metro side, yes, absolutely.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

O'BRIEN: A look at top stories ahead, after a short break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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