appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

SCMP Reporter

Nine years after girl's death, John Mark Karr was e-mailing her love letters via a researcher on case

The writings are the stuff of love letters: unrequited obsession, reaching beyond the grave, from a man who pledges all to someone he can never have.

They were written to a dead  six-year-old girl by a schoolteacher named John Mark Karr, who also claims he killed the girl, JonBenet Ramsey,  in her parents' home 10 years ago. And now anything he's ever written is headline fodder.

The Colorado city's prosecutors are in contact with a former classmate of Karr's because a yearbook signed by him more than 20 years ago may explain why a meandering ransom note in the Ramsey home was signed 'S. B. T. C.', the Rocky Mountain News reported on Friday.

In the 1982 yearbook, Karr ended his missive with the line: 'Though, deep in the future, maybe I shall be the conqueror and live in multiple peace.' Investigators wonder if  'S. B. T. C' means 'shall be the conqueror'.

The newspaper also published excerpts of the worshipful e-mails Karr sent to University of Colorado journalism professor Michael Tracey, who produced several documentaries on the Ramsey case.

'JonBenet, my love, my life. I love you and shall forever love you,' said  an e-mail Karr sent on December 23 last year,  just before the anniversary of her death. 'I pray that you can hear my voice calling out to you from my darkness - this darkness that now separates us.'

In another message, he wrote: 'Sometimes little girls are closer to me than with their parents or any other person in their lives. When I refer to myself as JonBenet's Closest, maybe now you understand.'

Police asked JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, if she would meet Karr. The mother was willing, but she died from ovarian cancer in June before investigators went any further, family attorney L.Lin Wood said. And she never saw Karr's words because his messages were secretly being intercepted by authorities. 'He thought that he was corresponding with Patsy, but he wasn't,' Mr Wood said.

Karr, 41, is being held at the Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok, awaiting deportation to face US charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and child sexual assault. He said he was with JonBenet when she died in the basement of her Boulder home on December 26, 1996 but that her death was 'an accident'.

On Friday, a Thai official recanted details he gave of Karr's confession - details that raised suspicions that Karr was lying to gain entry to a  killing that had fascinated him.

Thai Immigration Police chief Lieutenant-General Suwat Thamrongsrisakul  initially said Karr had confessed to sexually assaulting the girl and giving her drugs. But her autopsy showed no signs of drugs.

He also said that Karr had claimed to have picked up JonBenet at school, though her death came during the holiday break.

On Friday, General Suwat confirmed  his account of the sexual assault. But asked if Karr gave the girl drugs, General Suwat said the suspect described the encounter as 'a blur'. General Suwat said the part about JonBenet being picked up from school was based on his recollection of  a documentary about the case.

Other Karr claims drew scrutiny on Friday: prison guards searched the death-row cell of the killer of California schoolgirl Polly Klaas after learning he may have corresponded with Karr. No letters were found. But no public piece of evidence ties Karr, a divorced father of three, to Colorado. Education Department investigator Eric Yoder  said Karr was never given a licence to teach in the state and no record exists  of him applying for a teaching job.

In Washington, federal officials said they want to question Karr about his writings and confessions, including an e-mail from Karr claiming he was under investigation in four states for child murder and molestation.

'There is no four-state federal case' in which Karr is wanted or even suspected, said a Washington official.

But  Mr Wood, the Ramseys' lawyer,  suggested authorities may have more against Karr than his confession.



'JonBenet, my love, my life. I love you'