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American Morning

Man Confesses to Involvement in Death of JonBenet Ramsey

Aired August 17, 2006 - 09:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN: Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello, in for Soledad this morning. And you know this morning a major break in a 10-year-old crime. A man has confessed to his involvement in the death of JonBenet Ramsey. The suspect, John Karr, is under arrest in Thailand. And this morning he told reporters he loved JonBenet but that her death was an accident.

CNN's Atika Shubert live in Bangkok, Thailand to tell us more.

Hello, Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

I'm actually at the immigration detention center where they are now holding that suspect John Mark Karr. There was a press conference earlier in the day, where he did make that admission, and later on some more chilling comments that he made to the Associated Press. Here's the video of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MARK KARR: I contacted the Ramsey family, especially before Patricia passed away, and I conveyed to her many things, among them that I'm so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet and it's very important that -- for me that everyone knows that I love her very much and that her death was unintentional and it was an accident, and I made several efforts to communicate with Patricia before she passed away, and it was my understanding that she did read my letters and she was aware of me before she passed away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: Carol, some incredible comments from Karr. According to officials, however, he's not made any more requests to try to get in touch with the Ramsey family, but that he is cooperating with authorities, and they are hoping to get him back to the U.S. within a week, if possible.

COSTELLO: So after this strange -- we're looking at pictures after they arrested him and paraded him before reporters. He is not handcuffed. Looks kind of shell shocked, but he talked in a relaxed manner. Where he is now? And how he is being held?

SHUBERT: He is at the moment being held right here, actually right behind me, in the building behind me. It's the immigration detention center, and he's being held in one of the cells there. It's a very simple cell. He's being held alone. There are no other detainee there with him. All he has is a simple futon, and he does have an officer specifically assigned to watch over him. So those are the conditions at the moment.

Of course officials say they are trying to get him back to the U.S. as soon as possible, so that might happen in the next few days. Also important to point out the reason why he's being held here at the immigration detention center is because they are trying to speed up his extradition, and for that reason he's not in police custody which is why you're not seeing as much security, no handcuffs of that sort.

COSTELLO: Supposedly he could be here as early as next week as here in the United States.

Atika Shubert reporting live from Thailand this morning, thanks.

O'BRIEN: Let's pick up on that point with our next guest. Our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is here to kind of walk us through what is next legally. That point of extradition issue, if he had chosen to fight extradition, I'm not going to put you on spot on treaties between Thailand and the U.S., but it would have taken much longer than a week.

TOOBIN: It would have taken longer, but it probably wouldn't have led to any different result. The only issue in an extradition hearing is, are you the person named in the complaint? And does the extradition treaty between the two countries cover this crime. All extradition treaties cover murder. And he's clearly the John Karr named. I don't think that will be much of an issue.

O'BRIEN: Moot issue. Even if he has a change of heart, this is all -- but likely, if doesn't contest it, we would see him back in the United States in a week.

A couple things since we talked last, Jeff, that have come to light. First of all the Associated Press reporting, and we heard the recording of their conversation. Somehow they got an exclusive interview with him, and a tip of the hat to them for getting it, but one of the things they discovered in the interview is this guy claimed he wrote letters to Patsy Ramsey.

Couple that with what we heard from "The Denver Post" this morning he was e-mailing a documentary filmmaker at the University of Colorado, first expressing interest, then obsession, then something that got troubling enough this guy went to authorities. These kinds of things, admissible in court?

TOOBIN: Absolutely. Totally admissible because they are not compelled, he did them voluntarily, and they could suggest in the first place just an obsession with the crime, and in the second place knowledge of the events of the night in a way that only the murderer would know. So this is certainly admissible. It is apparently -- again we'll know a lot more at noon when the Boulder authorities have their press conference, but it is apparently one way that got the authorities interested in him. That's how they were led to him. O'BRIEN: We've seen the self-incrimination. We've seen the indications of these letters, which got a lot of people upset. There's one other key point here. That is a forensic link, which might be the ironclad link -- DNA.

TOOBIN: Right, and what a lot of people didn't realize about this case until it came to light yesterday was that in 2003, seven years after the murder, the Boulder authorities and the FBI went back to the evidence, JonBenet's clothing, her underwear, and did DNA test and found DNA evidence of an unknown male ton underwear. No one at that point had been tied to it. It excluded the family members, and that was one reason why as of 2003 the family members were sort of conclusively eliminated of suspects. But the obvious question is, does that DNA match John Karr's. Perhaps we'll find out today.

O'BRIEN: Why did it take them seven years to do that?

TOOBIN: I think the technology did change, in fairness. In 1996, DNA technology is very different from 2003. So my understanding is that's why they did the new round of DNA testing.

O'BRIEN: It will be interesting to see what they have to say about that, because what has been said repeatedly, and we talked about this earlier, is we rookie investigators and what on the surfaced seemed to be blinders put on with a focus toward the family.

TOOBIN: Right. And just a generally not very competent police investigation. A lot about the crime scene was allowed to be touched with by the family members and others in the immediate aftermath of the discovery of JonBenet's body. It was just not an especially competent police investigation, but you know, did this guy Karr's name ever come up? I covered the case. I certainly never heard his name. Did he have any ties to the Boulder area? He's suggesting, in his bizarre way, he loved JonBenet, but John Ramsey her father said today that as far as he knows he didn't know John Karr at all. So what was his connection to the family? That's one of the many things to be sorted out here.

O'BRIEN: Yes worth reminding folks that JonBenet was in the paper, she's known to people in parades as a beauty pageant queen. In any case it's -- it will be interesting to see what happens at noon Eastern. I'm sure you'll be with us.

TOOBIN: I certainly -- it's really interesting to watch.

O'BRIEN: It's fascinating, it really is. It's fascinating and it's chilling, really is. Jeff Toobin, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

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 and feel really 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'm still thinking about the foot massage.

Last year, get this, Salvatore D'Amico, the man you just saw, sold some $40,000 in Avon products, mostly to women, 40,000 bucks.

O'BRIEN: And you would appreciate that being a former Avon lady.

COSTELLO: And a flop I was. I got to talking to people. I wanted to talk to them. They talked to me and they never bought anything.

O'BRIEN: Couldn't close the deal, huh?

COSTELLO: No, I couldn't, but I found out a lot about them.

O'BRIEN: Time to become a reporter, find out a lot about them.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

O'BRIEN: Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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