US man admits JonBenet Ramsey killing, reports say

JonBenet Ramsey

BANGKOK - An American man arrested in Thailand has admitted to the 1996 killing of six-year-old child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, the Associated Press has reported.

The news agency quoted General Suwat Tumrongsiskul, head of Thailand's immigration police, as saying John Mark Karr, 41, confessed to the Colorado killing after his arrest in Bangkok.

"He told police while under arrest that he did kill the girl but so far he has not pleaded guilty in writing. This is needed as official evidence," Suwat said.

Thai police earlier said a man was arrested in conjunction with FBI officers after being followed for three weeks as he sought a job teaching English in Bangkok.

"We arrested him yesterday at an apartment not far from my office after having followed him for 21 days," General Suwat Tumroungsiskul said.

"During the arrest, we were accompanied by American officers. He has been in and out of Thailand a couple of times and the arrest warrant was issued just a couple of days ago."

9NEWS in Denver, Colorado reported JonBenet's father, John Ramsey, as saying that he had been notified of the arrest. Asked if he knew Carr, Ramsey replied, "To the best of my knowledge, no," 9NEWS reported.

Karr was expected to be returned within days to the United States, which has an extradition treaty with Thailand. MSNBC said Karr had lived in Boulder at the time of the December 6 1996 murder.

Thai police said it was Karr's third visit to Thailand, well known for a thriving sex industry which draws tens of thousands of Western sex tourists, including paedophiles.

Suwat said he had arrived on his latest visit with a working visa issued in the United States and was looking for a job teaching English.

JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family home in Boulder, Colorado, where District Attorney Mary Lacy said the man "was arrested following several months of a focussed and complex investigation".

KUSA-TV in Denver said Karr had confessed to elements of the crime that were unknown to the general public.

At the time of JonBenet's murder, a note was left on a staircase of the family home saying she had been kidnapped by a "small foreign faction" who wanted US$118,000 in ransom.

Both JonBenet's father, John, and mother, Patsy, came under suspicion during the initial investigation and in 2002 they reached an out-of-court cash settlement with a former detective who wrote a book accusing them of murdering their own daughter.

Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer in June, but the couple had been kept in touch with the progress of the investigation that led to Karr's arrest.

"So Patsy was aware that authorities were close to making an arrest in the case and had she lived to see this day, would no doubt have been as pleased as I am with today's development almost 10 years after our daughter's murder," John Ramsey said.

Ramsey told KUSA that to the best of his knowledge he was not acquainted with the suspect.

No charges were ever filed in the 10 years since JonBenet was killed, but the murder generated intense media coverage drawn by JonBenet's success in youth beauty pageants, the family's wealth and mysterious elements of the case, including the note.

- REUTERS