Click photo to enlarge

Fundamental steps in the investigation into John Mark Karr's possible involvement in the murder of JonBenet Ramsey didn't really begin until after his arrest.

Though the Boulder County district attorney's office had enough undisclosed evidence to get a judge to order Karr's arrest in Thailand on a first-degree murder count, it was only after the warrant was issued that investigators started asking questions experts say would form the bedrock of a successful homicide prosecution.

For example, it wasn't until Wednesday morning, after Karr was in Thai custody on that warrant, that a representative of Boulder DA Mary Lacy's office called the Marion County School District in Hamilton, Ala., where Karr once taught, to seek anything in Karr's handwriting for comparison to the ransom note allegedly left by JonBenet's killer.

Similarly, Lacy's office has still not contacted the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to compare anything from Karr - DNA, handwriting, a palm print, footprint or even shoe size - to the evidence found at the murder scene.

Nor did the DA's office consult with education officials in Colorado or California to see if they could track Karr's teaching history.

Karr's ex-wife and kids also weren't contacted to see if they would provide an alibi for Karr's whereabouts at the time of JonBenét's murder.



Likewise, the spokesman for the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department in California, which has had a fugitive warrant since 2001 seeking Karr's arrest on five counts of misdemeanor possession of child pornography, said the department was unaware of Karr's possible connection to the Ramsey case until after he was in Thai custody.

At a news conference Thursday, Lacy indicated that "exigent circumstances" forced the arrest of Karr to occur before she would have preferred. She did not disclose any of the evidence she has that ties Karr to the crime. She added that an investigator from her office was dispatched to Bangkok, Thailand, on just a few hours' notice before Karr was picked up at the request of her office.



"You must conclude either Mary Lacy has solid, conclusive evidence or this is massive prosecutorial incompetence," Silverman said.

He said the Sonoma sheriff's office could have been notified by Boulder that Karr was in Thailand and then could have used their California warrant to seek Karr's detention there. Or the U.S. Justice Department could have been asked to issue a warrant charging Karr with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, Silverman said.

While either California or federal officials had him in custody, evidentiary tests could have been performed that would corroborate Boulder's case against Karr or exclude him, Silverman said. That way the public - and potential jurors - would never have known that a suspect was being tracked in the JonBenet case until prosecutors had it nailed down.



Law enforcement sources have previously confirmed the girl was found with "foreign" DNA under her fingernails.




School Superintendent Bravell Jackson of Marion County, Ala., where Karr briefly was a substitute teacher, answered a request Wednesday from the Boulder DA's office and faxed a copy of a letter Karr wrote to the district in 1996 when he was fired from the school.

Silverman said the DA's office could have requested the letter earlier. The ransom letter is critical to solving the Ramsey murder case, he said. If Karr's writing isn't a match, it would be compelling evidence that could exclude him, he said.

"Why create this hubbub when you could conduct all the corroborating tests while he is in someone else's custody?" Silverman asks.



Christopher Mueller, who teaches evidence law at the University of Colorado Law School, said he believes Lacy has strong evidence in the case, either physical evidence connecting Karr to JonBene;t's murder or he has described elements of the crime only the killer would know.


And if DNA tests show that Karr was present in the Ramsey home, it probably won't matter to anyone whether the bulk of the investigative work took place before or after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

"I think it is too early to know if the DA has done something precipitous," Mueller said.




Karr wrote in the unidentified woman's yearbook: "sometimes, so blocked by my own eyes, I've seen the best things come and go simultaneously; though deep in the future, MAYBE I SHALL BE THE CONQUERER AND LIVE IN MULTIPLE PEACE." He signed it "Angelicy Forevermore."

The phrase "shall be the conqueror" matches the cryptic initials "SBTC" left in the ransom note by JonBenet's likely killer. Analysts working the case at the time speculated that those initials probably stood for "Saved By The Cross," though without a suspect willing to talk, there was no way to know.

