Karr and the JonBenet Ramsey Case

A complete discussion of Karr's public confession and other related material is here. What follows below are official legal documents/evidence that came to light during the course of investigating Karr as a suspect in the JBR killing.

Legal Documents

• All documents related to Karr's arrest and trial are here.
• Peoples' Response in Opposition the Application to Unseal Court File and to Vacate August 15, 2006 Order Sealing Arrest Warrant, Affidavit and other Information Related to John Mark Karr (13 pp.) (Full text).
• People's Motion to Quash Arrest Warrant, August 28, 2006 (5 pp.).
• Warrant for Arrest Affidavit (unsealed), August 28, 2006 (98 pp.)
• Mary Lacy press conference, August 29, 2006 html transcript produced by Internet poster Jayelles. Audio files posted by Internet poster Why_Nut at YouTube. Thanks to both for their efforts.

• KHOW First Request to Boulder DA Mary Lacy for Public Documents, September 1, 2006.
• KHOW Second Request to Boulder DA Mary Lacy for Public Documents, September 1, 2006.
• Response to Open Records Request, September 7, 2006 (includes 8/21/06 affidavit for search warrant to obtain buccal swabs; note that file is a scanned pdf file).
• Federal Authorities Still Investigating. According to 48 Hours, November 25, 2006, Homeland Security is involved in a continued investigation of Karr on grounds that he may have been part of some larger conspiracy to kill her. Internet poster Why_Nut has speculated it is more likely that HLS is involved only to the extent of investigating child pornography charges: it wouldn't make sense for HLS to be involved in a purely domestic killing.
• Boulder DA Not Investigating. Alan Prendergast asserted in a December 21, 2006 article that "the Boulder District Attorney's Office denies that Karr is still under the umbrella in the Ramsey case. "We're not involved in any ongoing investigation of John Mark Karr," says Carolyn French, Lacy's spokeswoman."

Supporting Documents

Michael Tracey E-mails

• Full-Text PDF. Full text version is here: (Tracey-Karr-emailexchanges.pdf). This version is a scanned version from Rocky Mountain News and hence not searchable (420 pp.). Thanks to Internet poster Jayelles for providing a Tracey e-mails.pdf version (380 pp.) created from a text file and hence is searchable. Please note this file has not been proofread - nor has the formatting been tidied up. It's useful to be able to copy and paste quotes and to search for key words but be forewarned that the original PDF file of scans should be consulted for accuracy (or clarification as the case may be)! Most of it is fine, though some of the little graphics have turned out funny.
• Email Highlights. Note that there is a fair amount of duplication in some of these but also that at least some emails appear to have sections missing from the Tracey side of the correspondence. The highlights of these emails were included in the 98 page Warrant for Arrest document cited above.
• Email Timeline. Internet poster acandyrose has posted a detailed log of all the emails going back to 2002 and incorporating them into a timeline of major events in the case so readers can understand what was going on at the time.

Phone Conversations with Michael Tracey

• Key Highlights. A handful of brief selections from the phone calls has been posted here.
• Audio Files. Complete Phone Calls between John Mark Karr and Michael Tracey; these were originally posted on the Boulder DA Website but subsequently removed. Many thanks to Internet poster Mame for rescuing and sharing these.
• Internet poster acandyrose has a nice written summary of the highlights of each call, along with some of the technical details regarding call length, numbers dialed etc.

California Legal Charges

• Felony Complaint. California felony complaint, August 22, 2006; Felony criminal charges filed in California against John Mark Karr, on grounds of being a fugitive from justice. The California charges resulted in Karr waiving extradition to honor the Boulder, Colorado arrest warrant issued against him for the slaying of JBR.
• Trial Begins October 2. Karr's trial date is set for October 2, 2006.
• More Jail Time Unlikely. "District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua has said  that because Karr spent six months in custody in 2001, he probably won't face much more jail time, but if he's convicted, he would be required to register as a sex offender for life."
• Plea Deal Offered. On September 19, Karr was offered a plea deal in which he would serve no more jail time and instead receive 3 years on probation.
• Plea Deal Rejected. On September 21, Karr rejected the plea deal.
• Bail Set at $200,000. Karr's bail has been set at $200,000 because he is considered a flight risk. His trial begins October 2.
• Karr's Computer Lost. Sonoma authorities in 2002 evidently lost Karr's computer on which the pornographic pictures were found; they claim this will not hinder prosecution, but Karr's defense attorney argues that the computer contains evidence that could prove Karr's innocence. It was further reported: "Edmonds said detectives haven't found evidence on Karr's other computers. A laptop returned with Karr from Thailand is in the hands of federal authorities, and Sonoma County detectives are working with them to determine whether there may be any evidentiary value in it, Edmonds said."
• Zip Disk Found. It has been reported that a Zip disk containing 1600 images, some allegedly pornographic images of children, has been found even though Karr's computer has not. It is unclear whether this evidence can be used since a) there is no clear chain of custody documenting that this Zip disk was seized from Karr in 2001 and b) the one year statute of limitations in filing charges for this misdemeanor offense has expired (though technically, the legal clock stopped the instant Karr absconded, so this is arguable). The judge will decide on September 28 whether charges should be dismissed.
• Motion to Dismiss Rejected. Karr will stand trial. The judge rejected  the motion to dismiss.
• 2nd Motion to Dismiss Rejected. It has been reported that Judge Wong rejected a second motion to unseal Karr's records and the trial has been given to another judge. It was further revealed: "Sheriff's deputies arrested Karr five years ago and seized four computer hard drives, according to court documents and detectives' testimony. Besides the missing hard drive, deputies said another hard drive was too damaged to examine and two others were still being examined. It was unclear why the two other hard drives, in a laptop and a computer tower, weren't examined in 2001 during the six months Karr spent in jail as his trial approached. Also, a high-capacity Zip disk and Zip drive that deputies say was found just last month in an archive box from the Karr case is believed to contain 1,600 images, some of which detectives have said are child porn. That drive and disk were never logged into evidence and no criminal charges have been filed related to those images."
• Trial Postponed Indefinitely. "The trial of former JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr on child pornography possession charges remains indefinitely postponed, as a judge wades through a flurry of defense motions aimed at getting the case dismissed....The defense renewed its attempt Tuesday to get the case dismissed, saying a prosecutor deliberately withheld a transcript of an interview with Knutson until last week, when other arguments to dismiss the charges were already under way. According to an excerpt of the interview, Knutson said the couple had one working computer at their Petaluma home - in their bedroom - and "other computer parts and computers" in storage underneath a stairway. Defense lawyers said the working computer was not the one where the images were recovered." full story.
• Charges Dismissed; Karr Released." On October 5, 2006, it was reported: "The former suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey killing left jail Thursday after a judge dismissed child pornography charges against him, saying prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to take the case to trial. John Mark Karr was ordered released immediately by Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Rene Chouteau, ending his two-month odyssey in the U.S. criminal justice system after he was extradited from Thailand on suspicion of killing the 6-year-old beauty queen." It was further reported "prosecutors learned Thursday that it was impossible to determine from a copy of a computer hard drive seized from Karr when the images were obtained or accessed. The original hard drive was lost by the Sheriff's Department, which arrested Karr in 2001."
• 2001 Records Unsealed. On October 7, it was reported that Karr's records had been unsealed. These records show that Karr "sensed that police were closing in on him days before he was arrested in 2001 on suspicion of possessing child pornography." "But there is nothing suggesting any connection to the death of JonBenet Ramsey as Karr claimed when he was arrested. Nor, despite fantasies about Ramsey and other young girls, is there any evidence in the affidavits and police reports that Karr ever had sex with a child. "I am not afforded such a luxury to make any admission of that magnitude," he said in a March 2001 e-mail to Wendy Hutchens, who was acting as a confidential police informant."
• Sonoma County Sheriff's Office Documents Relating to Investigation of John Mark Karr. This 29 page document contains details of the 2001 investigation into John Mark Karr regarding possession of child pornography.
• Internal Investigation. "The Sheriff's Department is continuing an internal investigation into the department's handling of the case. It is trying to determine how a computer hard drive seized from Karr that allegedly contained child sex pictures was lost. That investigation is weeks from conclusion, Edmonds said."

Other Legal Charges

• An excellent summary of whether Karr can be prosecuted for false confession and related issues is here.