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CNN Live Today

Arrest in JonBenet Ramsey Case

Aired August 17, 2006 - 10:59   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: An arrest in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. Here's what we know right now.
The suspect is American John Mark Karr. The former school teacher is being held in Bangkok, Thailand, and awaiting extradition to the United States.

Earlier today he told reporters, "I was with JonBenet when she died." He also said her death was an accident.

Karr also told The Associated Press that he wrote to JonBenet's mother to say he was sorry. Patsy Ramsey died of Cancer in June.

One hour from now, the district attorney's office in Boulder, Colorado, plans a news conference, and CNN will carry that live.

Police in Thailand announced the arrest in the Ramsey case and led suspect John Mark Karr through a throng of reporters. There, the 41-year-old American made a stunning confession.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MARK KARR, SUSPECT: I loved JonBenet very much.

QUESTION: We're from the Associated Press. Can you just give us a brief statement, please?

QUESTION: Are you innocent?

KARR: I love JonBenet and she died accidentally.

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

KARR: No.

QUESTION: What happened?

KARR: Her death was -- 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: I'm being treated OK.

QUESTION: How long had you known JonBenet?

KARR: No comment on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: John Mark Karr is being ejected from Thailand and being sent to Colorado.

Our Ed Lavandera is in Boulder, Colorado, with the latest from there, where a press conference is to take place an hour from now.

And so, Ed, did Colorado authorities expect that the Thai authorities would parade him out like this?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We haven't gotten any indication from them one way or another if they expected anything like that. We do suspect, however, that they're listening very closely to what he has had -- he has been saying all morning long, as we know that the Ramsey family has as well.

But you know, this -- John Karr came into focus recently. He started e-mailing, according to two reports, published reports here in Denver, was e-mailing a college professor who was working on a documentary on the JonBenet Ramsey mystery. And through those e- mails, the tone started changing.

That professor, we understand, according to these reports, passed them along to Boulder authorities. And that's how they started tracking him down over the Internet as well.

And as you mentioned, the AP reporting as well that he has also confessed to saying that he was writing JonBenet Ramsey's mother about his involvement in this as well. But in those reports there's a little caveat I think we should throw out there as well.

This journalism professor also says -- he's quoted as saying that he thought prosecutors were "taking a real risk and we'll see how things unfold in relation to John Karr." So, perhaps, you know, this journalism professor kind of alluding to the fact that maybe this is someone who, you know, could possibly be writing something or just trying to get some sort of attention or notoriety.

So that's kind of out there as well. Probably important to keep in mind as we approach this press conference earlier.

But we know that the Ramsey family has been watching closely what has been unfolding in Thailand as well. And one of the family members say they are sickened by what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA PAUGH, JONBENET'S AUNT: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: That is the aunt of JonBenet Ramsey speaking on "AMERICAN MORNING" earlier today.

And as we mentioned, Fredricka, here in about an hour, the district attorney and the police chief here in Boulder will be coming out answering questions. We understand the press conference will last about 20 to 30 minutes, and we'll see how much more light they shed. And, of course, we'll be asking whether or not they expected John Karr to perhaps act the way he's acted in Thailand.

WHITFIELD: All right.

Ed Lavandera, thanks so much, in Boulder.

Well, let's go straight to Thailand now, where the suspect, John Mark Karr, is being held.

CNN's Atika Shubert joins me live from Bangkok.

Atika, any know of knowing when Karr might be taken or returned back to the states?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At the earliest, in a few days. At the most, probably a week. That's what officials are saying, they are trying to extradite him as soon as possible.

He's actually being held at the immigration detention center. That's the building right behind me here.

And in addition to that press conference he had earlier, he also made some other chilling statements about trying to contact the Ramsey family.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARR: I contacted the Ramsey family, especially before Patricia passed away. And I conveyed to her many things. Among them, that I am so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet. And it's very important 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's my understanding that she did read my letters and she was aware of me before she passed away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: Now, officials here say he has not resisted his detention, that he is cooperating with authorities. And they are hoping to get him back to the U.S. as soon as possible -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Atika Shubert, thanks so much from Bangkok.

And stay with us for the unfolding developments on the arrest in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. The district attorney's office in Boulder, Colorado, has scheduled a news conference at noon Eastern, 9:00 Pacific. And CNN will bring that to you live.

Let's turn now to more legal analysis now with Jeffrey Toobin.

And Jeffrey, the last time we were talking, you talked about the significance of DNA. Well, how likely is it that perhaps the DNA would be degraded over time, or because of any handling it might be tainted?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, if this case goes to trial, you can be sure that if there's a DNA match, the defense will try to discredit DNA, say the collection was not good, the scientific testing was not good. But in recent years, DNA testing has been very much valued by jurors. Jurors trust it enormously.

And this test was done in 2003. A much more sophisticated test that was -- than was available in 1996, when the crime took place. So, if there is a match -- and I want to stress, we don't know if there's a match between the genetic material found on JonBenet's underwear and John Karr -- but if there is a match, I think it's going to be very hard to defend this case in any other way than an insanity defense or something like that.

WHITFIELD: Now, what about the palm print reportedly that was located, the footprint also found at the home? That doesn't represent DNA. But how critical might those matches be? How powerful in the case?

TOOBIN: Well, I think you have to draw a distinction between the two. Footprints -- that is, the outline of a shoe -- is good evidence for the prosecution. It's not great evidence.

Lots of people have the same shoe size. You can't always identify what shoe it came from and whether the suspect owned the shoe. So a footprint is helpful evidence, not open and shut evidence.

If Karr's palm print was found in the house, that would be devastating evidence. Unless -- and, I mean, it would probably be devastating evidence. One thing that we don't know is somewhat mysterious, one of the many things we don't know, is what was the relationship, if any, between Karr and the family? WHITFIELD: Right.

TOOBIN: Karr said...

WHITFIELD: But both sides are saying "no comment" to that.

TOOBIN: Well, not exactly. Karr said he loved JonBenet.

WHITFIELD: Right.

TOOBIN: I mean, which suggests that he knew her in some way.

WHITFIELD: A relationship, right.

TOOBIN: John Ramsey, in a statement earlier today, said briefly -- he didn't elaborate, but he said, "As far as I know, we didn't know him."

Now, those do seem somewhat contradictory. Could a 6-year-old girl know -- know an adult and her parents not know about it? It seems unlikely. But that's obviously something that -- that investigators are going to want to explore.

WHITFIELD: So why, again, is it so important for them to establish what kind of relationship existed or didn't?

TOOBIN: Well, the prosecution is going to have to tell a story. They're going to have to go to a jury, assuming this case goes to trial, and say, look, this is a man who became obsessed with JonBenet in the following ways and this is what he did, this is how he got in the house.

The jurors are going to have the same questions we all do, is, how did this happen? Who is this guy? Why was he in Boulder? Why did he know JonBenet?

Obviously, the technical evidence is going to be the most important, DNA, fingerprints. But a prosecutor always is going to want to tell a story, and telling the story is about explaining the relationships among people. And at this point, we know almost nothing about that.

WHITFIELD: And obviously the prosecutors and investigators know a heck of a lot more about what is at hand than we do. But how much do you worry that, you know, this is some kook who is starving for attention and may have created part of this detention?

TOOBIN: Well, certainly, when the Boulder authorities got word of this fellow, I'm sure that was the first thought that went into their mind, is this just some lunatic years after the fact trying to associate himself with a famous case? So, presumably, given the fact that they have now filed charges against him, they persuaded themselves that this was something very much more than just a kook. But, you know, ultimately it will be up to a jury to decide if that's true or not.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jeffrey Toobin, thanks so much. We'll be talking again soon.

TOOBIN: OK.

WHITFIELD: There has been a lot of attention focused on JonBenet's parents over the past 10 years. John and Patsy Ramsey were among the social elite in affluent Boulder, Colorado. John worked as an executive at a computer services firm. Patsy ushered her daughter to beauty pageants.

Their daughter's death put them in the national spotlight, one often filled with sensational tabloid headlines. The couple spent the last 10 years under what police called an "umbrella of suspicion."

The Ramseys later moved to suburban Atlanta. That's where Patsy Ramsey died just this past June from ovarian cancer. John Ramsey says his wife knew police had a suspect in the case before her death.

A surprise arrest, a stunning confession, but do all the pieces seem to fit? A well-known criminal profiler weighs in on the JonBenet Ramsey suspect.

And a woman who says she was once married to suspect John Mark Karr puts a hole in his confession. Find out what she has to say coming up on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Stay with us for the unfolding developments on the arrest in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. The district attorney's office in Boulder, Colorado, has scheduled a news conference at noon Eastern, 9:00 Pacific. And CNN will bring that to you live.

Here's what we know about the arrest in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case.

The suspect is American John Mark Karr. The former school teacher is being held in Bangkok, Thailand, and awaiting extradition to Colorado.

Earlier today, he told reporters, "I was with JonBenet when she died." He also said her death was an accident. Karr also told The Associated Press that he wrote to JonBenet's mother to say he was sorry. Patsy Ramsey died of cancer in June.

At the top of the hour, the district attorney's office in Boulder plans that news conference. And we will bring that to you live.

Well, lots of questions about murder suspect John Mark Karr. A woman who says she is his ex-wife has come forward in California.

Laura Karr tell tells San Francisco's KGO-TV she doesn't believe her former husband was involved in JonBenet's killing. She says she was with him in Alabama at the time of the murder. She says she divorced Karr after he was arrested on child pornography charges back in 2001. He had been working as an elementary school substitute teacher at the time. Let's turn now to criminal defense attorney and former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman. He joins us now from Denver.

Craig, good to see you.

CRAIG SILVERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So, do you go into this knowing the kind of televised confession, still that it screams, this is a case that screams more evidence against John Mark Karr?

SILVERMAN: Yes. I mean, the guy seems like a kook, a total wacko. So this confession doesn't mean much without corroboration.

You'd have to believe that the Boulder authorities have corroborating evidence. There were a lot of clues left at the scene.

You have the handwritten ransom note. Does this man's handwriting match? You have the DNA. And...

WHITFIELD: Might they have already taken those kinds of comparison tests? I mean, would they before he was actually arrested and before -- you know, being paraded around like that?

SILVERMAN: I would think so, Fredricka. After all, we know that the Ramseys were told about it many months ago. They've had this guy under apparent surveillance. Maybe he's been in custody.

There are lots of ways to get a man's DNA. You can just follow him around and pick up a glass that he took a drink from, get his DNA, compare it to the DNA found in JonBenet's underwear. It's going to be a miss or a match.

If it's a match, it's game, set and match. And the only issue is, will the prosecutor seek the death penalty?

WHITFIELD: So what do you think elapsed in the past two months? If it was apparent if Patsy Ramsey knew, just prior to her death, that a suspect or the investigators were close to getting a suspect, then she died two months ago, there was a relationship that suddenly built between the D.A., Mary Lacy, and the Ramseys. So much so that the D.A., Mary Lacy, actually attended the funeral of Patsy Ramsey.

Why hold off for two months before making it known? What do you suppose happened in those past two months?

SILVERMAN: I think there might have been some forensic analysis of DNA. Perhaps they had to obtain fingerprints. That doesn't take very long to compare.

There was a palm print that has never been identified. They might have tried to get -- figure out what kind of shoe size he has, because there was an unexplained shoe print.

I think that he may have been in e-mail communication with the authorities and/or people connected with the Ramseys. Maybe they wanted that e-mail communication to continue so that he would make even more incriminating statements.

WHITFIELD: So, it's been 10 years. Just based on your experience as a prosecutor, why would you believe a suspect of his nature would wait 10 years before kind of getting this itch to reach out and make himself known?

SILVERMAN: Well, we're talking about a sick, twisted man. Anybody who could do this to a little girl had to be that sort of individual. So why would a rational person do it? They wouldn't. But a rational person wouldn't have sexually assaulted and then garroted to death this little girl.

WHITFIELD: And now put on your defense attorney hat. You know, does the fact that he has lived in many places, both domestically and abroad, he's worked with kids, how does that help or hurt his defense?

SILVERMAN: I don't think it helps very much. But you certainly have a lot of alternate suspects.

And the Boulder Police Department, that was so focused on the Ramseys being under umbrella of suspicion, the case was taken away from them. All those detectives are still alive and they could be defense witnesses.

But the story is going to be told by the scientific evidence, the DNA, the palm print, the handwriting. Those sorts of indications. Either they match and connect John Karr, or they disconnect and we're going to be shaking our head, wondering, what is all this fuss about?

WHITFIELD: So if you were his defense attorney, how would you proceed? How would you try to build a defense for your client, knowing what we know?

SILVERMAN: The first thing I'd do is to tell this guy to shut up. I mean, this whole thing about it's an accident, and "I was there when JonBenet died," this wasn't an accident. The little girl was hit on the head, almost a foot-long fractured skull, and then slowly garroted, asphyxiated to death.

I'd tell this guy to shut up. I'd, of course, get mental health examinations for this guy. And then I'd look at the DA's file and see what kind of evidence that they had.

If this guy has a prior record -- and it appears that he did -- there were -- there are a lot of statutory aggravating factors that make him eligible for the death penalty. Boulder is a liberal jurisdiction, but you present evidence of this kind of crime on Christmas night in a girl's home, I think even some Boulderites would vote for death.

WHITFIELD: Well, does this kind of speaking out on his behalf kind of imply that he has no intention of trying to plead not guilty?

SILVERMAN: Well, there are a lot of people who say that until they start to realize what they're facing. Some people will do anything for their 15 minutes of fame. Maybe this is what it's all about.

What he's saying right now is nonsense. It appears he's a kook. He has mental health problems.

He's got a lot of problems. And time will tell where it goes. But a lot of people start talking courageously, then they get a lawyer, and then they start to say, hmm, if he's saying, "I just want to be" -- yes, second-degree murder is not going to be the charge. First-degree murder is going to be the charge.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. So, your feeling, Craig, is that they do have the right man, this is not just some guy who's off his rocker who wants that 15 minutes of fame you talked about?

SILVERMAN: That's my feeling. I have known Mary Lacy, who used to be known as Mary Keenan (ph) for a long time. She's risking her whole career on this case. I don't think she's that foolish to base it on this wacky guy's confession. There has to be more to it.

WHITFIELD: Craig Silverman, criminal defense attorney and former Denver chief deputy district attorney.

Thanks so much for your time and your insight.

SILVERMAN: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And now some background on the Boulder County district attorney that we just mentioned. Mary Lacy, she became a DA in 2001, but she worked in the Boulder prosecutor's office for 23 years, inheriting the Ramsey case when her boss, Alex Hunter (ph), retired.

Lacy graduated from the University of Iowa Law School in 1978. She is mother or stepmother to five grown children.

Lacy takes special interest in women's issues and works as an advocate for rape victims. As district attorney, she established Boulder County's sexual assault investigative team.

And there are a lot of questions about John Mark Karr, who he is and what he's like. His former neighbor shared in her opinion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIKA SCHOLZ, KARR'S FMR. NEIGHBOR: John Karr was always the really, really, really nice man next door, who, when I was 7 years old, would buy some of the most gift wrap out of anybody on the street when I sold it for my school, and always bought lots of (INAUDIBLE) and Thin Mints when I was selling them for Girl Scouts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Well, stay with us for unfolding developments in the arrest in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. The district attorney's office in Boulder, Colorado, has scheduled a news conference, noon Eastern, 9:00 Pacific, and we will bring that to you live. Now let's go straight to the newsroom and Carol Lin with some new developments.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, Fredricka.

A former CIA contractor, David Passaro, has been convicted of one felony assault and three misdemeanor assaults on an Afghan detainee. He has been accused of beating him up, a beating that led to this Afghan detainee's death.

Now, David Passaro is the first American civilian charged with mistreating a detainee during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prosecutors in this case said that Passaro beat this Afghan detainee mercilessly for 48 hours during an interrogation with a black flashlight. Fingerprints on that flashlight linked him, as well as photographs that were analyzed of the -- of the detainee's body. And that is how the jury reached its conclusion.

The defense said that Passaro only merely tapped this detainee. And in the defense attorney's words, according to The Associated Press, "If this detainee," as the defense called him, a terrorist, "were still alive today, that nobody would be in court."

But there has been a conviction, according to The Associated Press, of this former CIA contractor. Under the Patriot Act, it was allowed that civilians could be tried for these kinds of crimes.

So, Fred, we're going to get more details. There was an impasse with the jury. They had difficulty in coming to this conclusion.

It's not the maximum. He was not convicted of the four felony assault charges he was charged with. He will not necessarily get the maximum 40 years in prison. That was the potential here.

But significant because of obviously the environment post-9/11 and the questions of detainee treatment and how far interrogation tactics will go.

WHITFIELD: All right. Carol Lin, thanks so much.

Well, it is called the perfect storm of infectious diseases. And it appears to be infecting more and more children. What you need to know ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Stay with us for unfolding developments on the arrest in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. The district attorney's office in Boulder, Colorado, has scheduled a news conference at noon Eastern, 9:00 Pacific. CNN will bring that to you live.

Superbug? An infection that can be difficult to treat and potentially deadly. Doctors say a number of children could be at risk.

CNN's Elizabeth Cohen has the story. (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)

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