USA: JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect arrives in Colorado.

After a week of speculation, scepticism and bizarre personal accounts, schoolteacher John Mark Karr arrived in Colorado on Thursday (August 24, 2006) where he is suspected of the 1996 murder of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. Karr, 41, who was arrested in Thailand last week and claimed JonBenet's death was an accident, arrived in Colorado from Los Angeles on a Colorado state plane. Live local television pictures showed him getting into a black van accompanied by law enforcement officials. Karr is wanted in Boulder on five counts of murder, kidnapping and sexual assault on a minor. He has said he was with JonBenet when she died but has not been formally charged. Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said the Karr's booking started immediately and that his court date would likely be on Monday (August 28). Karr had been held briefly in Los Angeles for an extradition hearing that was uncontested on Tuesday. In Boulder, where six-year-old JonBenet was found strangled in the basement of her home on Dec. 26, 1996, a media throng awaited the next move from prosecutors whose silence on what evidence they have against Karr has fuelled doubts over the strength of the case. 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.

ITN Source | August 25, 2006

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