LOS ANGELES (AP) – California detectives notified Colorado officials five years ago of John Mark Karr’s “apparent fascination” with the JonBenet Ramsey murder, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.
The notification came while he was under investigation in a child pornography case. It is the earliest known time that Karr was brought to the attention of authorities investigating the 1996 slaying of the girl in her Boulder County, Colo., home.
Boulder police referred questions to the Boulder County district attorney’s office. A spokeswoman for that office did not immediately return a call.
Karr remained jailed in Los Angeles on Wednesday awaiting transport to Colorado, which issued a murder warrant for his arrest. He told reporters in Thailand last week that he was with JonBenet when she died and that it was an accident. His family contends he was with them in Georgia at the time of the Colorado killing.
Sonoma investigators learned about Karr’s apparent interest with the Ramsey case and also that of Polly Klaas, who was murdered in 1993, according to a statement issued by the department, located north of San Francisco.
The investigators gathered information from a woman in northern California, Wendy Hutchens, that included tape recordings and e-mails with Karr. The investigation also included search warrants, forensic examination of digital media and surveillance.
In some writings, “Karr mostly spoke of JonBenet Ramsey’s murderer in a manner that suggested he was an unknown subject, but one whom Karr was very interested in and curious about,” the statement said. It did not specify where the writings were found.
“In a few instances while he seemed to be wondering about the JonBenet Ramsey murder, he made uncertain allusions to placing himself in the killer’s role. However, we never uncovered any ‘confession’ statements, overt murder evidence, or other indications that John Karr possessed secret knowledge that only the murderer of JonBenet Ramsey would know,” it said.
The Sonoma department also noted Karr made references to two other crimes in two different states, including a child killing and a child molestation. Information about Karr was provided in 2001 to the investigating agencies in all three states, including Colorado, the department said.
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