Kerre Woodham: American dream turned bad

Even with a prime suspect in custody, it seems the JonBenet Ramsey case is far from over. Many of you will remember the case - indeed, how could anyone forget the images of the little girl, shown on television after her murder.

She was a veteran of countless beauty pageants at the age of six, and there she was, captured for posterity, strutting along the stage coquettishly in a shiny pink cowgirl outfit, singing I Wanna Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart.

For many of us, it was the first time we'd seen that peculiarly American phenomenon of child beauty contests. It was appalling, and so was her death.

Initially, it was thought she'd been abducted for ransom, but later that day, Boxing Day 1996, she was found garrotted, sexually molested and with a fractured skull in the basement of her home.

From the start, the murder investigation was bungled. The police didn't search the Ramsey home, and it took seven years for them to send DNA recovered from JonBenet's clothing to the FBI - DNA that was found to not belong to anyone in the family.

There have been countless books and documentaries produced about the case, with a number of prime suspects named, but until this week, no one had ever been arrested. And the announcement of the arrest of a 41-year-old primary school teacher, John Karr, in Thailand has stunned many followers of JonBenet's murder investigation, who were absolutely convinced that the little girl's family was responsible for her death.

Even now, devotees of the forums dedicated to JonBenet's death are certain that the arrest of the teacher in Bangkok is just another red herring.

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community members strongly suspect the involvement of University of Colorado Professor Michael Tracey, who led police to Karr.

Tracey's made three documentaries on the murder of JonBenet, making a case against a number of suspects, and the sleuthers feel that Karr is just another in the line-up. Colorado police say Karr must be presumed innocent and that the case is still open, which is probably very wise, given that his ex-wife says Karr was with her in another state at the time of the murder.

There is no doubt that Karr is a very confused man. He's told Thai police that he loved JonBenet and that her death was an accident, but whether he is the murderer remains to be seen. And in the meantime, thousands of little girls continue to follow in JonBenet's prancing footsteps. Her death appears to have had no impact on the popularity of child beauty pageants, despite questions about how appropriate it is to train children to be flirts and present them as miniature sexualised adults. Supporters of the pageants, generally clapped-out beauty queens themselves, argue that the little ones learn self-esteem and discipline, and the winners earn money for college, but critics argue that there is something very wrong about infants wearing lipstick and pre-pubescents dressed up like Vegas showgirls. Check out the photos on some pageant websites and see what you think.

It's big business. Stage parents must fork out thousands of dollars for singing and dancing lessons, pageant coaches, the entry fees and accommodation costs, make-up artists and pageants costumes.

One such costume is advertised on eBay. It's a lurid pink two piece with "a cupcake style skirt with three layers of berry twinkle organza - sure to stand out in a line-up and a steal at just $US685".

And then there's the price of petrol as parents criss-cross the southern states in their RVs, transporting their darlings from one pageant to the next.

Combine the promise of riches with the lure of fame and you've got the American dream. Sadly, JonBenet Ramsey, daughter of a computer millionaire and a former beauty queen, became famous for all the wrong reasons.