The man who said he murdered JonBenet

Year after JonBenet claim, Karr wants normal life

By CHRISTIAN BOONE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/16/07

John Mark Karr, who's achieved infamy without a rap sheet, is a man of many contradictions.

A year after his arrest as a suspect in the death of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, Karr, 42, says he wants to be treated like everyone else. He is engaged to 23-year-old Brooke Simmons and the couple, who live in Sandy Springs with his father, hope to marry soon.

"We want to live a normal life in Atlanta," Karr said. "We want to be accepted as a normal couple, a normal family."

Karr's own words make that difficult. Though the case was dropped long ago, Karr continues to imply that he had some involvement in JonBenet's killing, though he is short on specifics.

"There is not a day that passes that I do not think of JonBenet - a most precious little girl who passed through my life and made the most intense impression," he wrote in a recent e-mail to a reporter. "There is no price that I could pay that would be worthy for the precious life she lost. Though if I could in some way atone for such an enormous sin, I would with all my heart."

Karr vaulted into the public spotlight a year ago Thursday after being arrested in Thailand - where he was ducking child porn charges from California, since dropped - in connection with the decade-old murder that captured the tabloids' imagination.

Karr told reporters last August, "I loved JonBenet, and she died accidentally," he said. Asked if he was an innocent man, Karr replied, "No."

In a recent interview, Karr said he stands by that statement: "I do not rescind it." Two hours after the interview, on the advice of his attorney, he called the reporter and pleaded with him not to mention his latest comments about the Ramsey case.

Two nights after that, he appeared on a Fox talk show and repeated the claims.

"He's obsessed with JonBenet and, like many obsessed people, I think he just wanted to be part of the story," said Scott Robinson, a Denver attorney who followed the case from the beginning.

Less than two weeks after Karr's admission in Thailand, prosecutors dropped their case against Karr when his DNA failed to match the male DNA found at the scene of JonBenet's death in Boulder, Colo. There was no indication Karr had ever even met the Ramseys.

Despite what he says about JonBenet, Karr denies any unnatural attraction to young girls. His two former wives were 14 and 16, respectively, when he married them.

"I would never do anything that would be negative, or cause any grief," he said. "Please don't be concerned about me living here."

Many of Karr's neighbors are deeply concerned, however.

"This is a very strong community," said Michelle Collins, who lives within walking distance of Chastain Park, where Karr visits regularly. "I think somehow it will be uncomfortable for him to stay. His quality of life will not be so good."

Jay Singh, who lives a few doors down from Karr, said his notorious neighbor's presence "creeps out" his wife. "She's hypervigilant," said the father of three young girls.

Karr has had other brushes with the law. A California judge dismissed the child pornography charges against him in October because of lack of evidence. He made headlines again in July when he was charged with battery against his father and obstruction of a 911 call. Those charges will be dropped if Karr completes anger-management counseling.

In the eyes of his fianc?e, Karr is misunderstood - certainly not the monster he sometimes portrays himself to be.

"He's not a child molester," said Simmons, who has a 3-year-old daughter who doesn't live with the couple. "He's a mild-mannered, nurturing, intelligent man."

The couple, who met on the Internet, don't discuss the Ramsey case. "I want to separate our relationship from that," she said.

Karr calls Simmons "a special girl."

"She encouraged me to lead a normal life," he said. "Brooke is my strength, my everything. She brought me out of a situation I couldn't have gotten through without her."

Before Simmons moved in, Karr said he was a recluse, afraid to encounter a hostile public.

He recounts an incident in a grocery store, in which a woman warned other customers that "John Mark Karr was in the store." He said he was chased out of an antiques shop by a man shouting obscenities about him.

There's no doubt that Karr elicits strong reactions. On a recent stroll through Chastain Park, the trim and fastidious Karr received more than a few uneasy glances. One woman, pushing a stroller, steered the other way as he approached.

His infamy has also made finding employment difficult. Before his arrest in Thailand, Karr worked here and abroad as a teacher, though he was removed from the substitute teaching list in Marion County, Ala., after complaints from parents.

"He was bragging on the girls a bit too much," said Superintendent Bravell Jackson. "It was inappropriate in my eyes, and we let him go."

Still, Karr believes he will resume teaching one day.

"Absolutely," he said. "I think I'll work with children somewhere. When people look at my record in teaching, they'll give me another chance."

Karr is conflicted as to whether he deserves one. "There's a side of me that wants to be free, but I may not be worthy.

"We pay for our sins in different ways," Karr continued. "It may not be behind prison bars, but I do suffer."

Despite his often bizarre claims, Karr seems eager for some form of normalcy. As he left Chastain Park, a woman and her dog approached. She seemed not to recognize Karr. They bantered about the weather. Banal stuff, but Karr embraced it.

"Tell people you witnessed me being a nice guy," he told a reporter. "I'm not menacing."