Man Who Claimed To Be With Jonbenét Ramsey When She Was Killed Insists ‘I Am Not Crazy’ (Exclusive)

It's been 17 years since John Mark Karr was arrested and extradited from Thailand in what seemed like a major break in the decade-long investigation into murder of JonBenét Ramsey, a 6-year-old girl whose death made international headlines and became one of the most enduring crime mysteries in America.

In 2006, he claimed he was with JonBenét when she died a decade before his arrest. Her death was an "accident," he said at the time, adding that he loved her and that he was "very sorry for what happened to JonBenét."

Unable to link him to the scene of the crime, authorities ultimately released Karr. But not everyone involved in the investigation believed he was lying about his involvement in JonBenét's murder.

"I am not crazy. I am not delusional," Karr, now 58, told The Messenger by phone during his first interview in more than six years.

"There's so much more to my story," added Karr, who said he now lives in a high rise condo somewhere in Europe, but won't be more specific. "I've been investigated by the FBI for many more crimes. I'm living out of the country for my own safety."

An Enduring Mystery
When JonBenét was initially reported missing and then found dead in the basement of her upscale Colorado home on the day after Christmas 1996, authorities began their investigation with a simple question: who would have killed the little girl?

The coroner determined that the official cause of death was "asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma," meaning she was both choked and beaten to death.

A garrote was found around her neck. Although there was no evidence of conventional rape, sexual assault could not be ruled out.

Unknown DNA was found under her fingernails and in JonBenét's clothes.

And a rambling ransom note was found in her family's home.

Overnight, her case ignited a firestorm of public interest. JonBenét had participated in a handful of child beauty pageants, and the media splashed photos and videos of her dolled up for competition on magazine covers and across the airwaves.

Authorities first focused on the Ramsey family — her father John, mother Patsy and brother Burke — but eventually cleared them all as suspects.

The question — and intense public interest — remained: who would beat and strangle the little girl and leave a ransom note in the house demanding $118,000 while her family slept upstairs?

The Suspect
A decade later, a big break seemingly emerged in the case after a possible suspect was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. John Mark Karr, a schoolteacher, had shared a detailed account with a journalism professor about being with JonBenét when she died.

The professor alerted authorities. Karr, then 42, was extradited to the U.S. and questioned by investigators.

He knew details of the case that hadn't been released to the public — and many his claims seemed to be backed up by physical evidence.

Additionally, there were 11 days in December 1996 — including the date of the murder — when Karr's whereabouts were unclear.

Although a relative claimed to have photos of him at a holiday gathering, those photos never emerged. The most that authorities could say was that there was "strong circumstantial support" for his family's "firm believe" that he had been in Georgia when the crime took place in Boulder.

And there was a bigger issue: the DNA found in JonBenét's underwear didn't belong to Karr.

Boulder police, who believed his DNA would have been present at the crime scene if his story were true, released him over the protests of the FBI, who pointed out that the existence of additional DNA didn't clear Karr, but merely implied that someone else might have been involved.

"I didn't want him to be let go quite yet," a former FBI source who worked on the case told The Messenger. "I thought maybe we should have held onto him until we were absolutely sure. But it wasn't my call."

Did the FBI think that Karr was involved at the time?

"There were enough questions that made me raise my eyebrows," the FBI source said. "He was cagey and smart, and he knew a lot. Did that add up to murder? Or involvement on some level? I don't know. But I wanted to learn more."

Karr's Life Today
Four years after his release, the media reported that Karr had undergone a gender reassignment and was living as a woman under a different name.

Karr told The Messenger the reports were untrue — and malicious.

"They wrote that to embarrass me," he said. "I am not living as a woman. My name is John Mark Karr. I am a man."

He acknowledged that he changed his name in an attempt to hide from harassment, but it had nothing to do with his gender.

"They said that I'd want to live as a woman to be closer to children. That's bulls--t. How many transgender nannies do you know?"

Karr has worked as a nanny with children since his arrest, but is currently not employed. "It's hard to find a job with my background," he said. "A lot has been said about me that is untrue."

When asked if he was truly with JonBenét when she died — or if he actually killed her — Karr demurred, saying that he didn't want to incriminate himself as the FBI continues to investigate his activities.

"Everyone was so quick to say that I was a liar or delusional," Karr said. "Did it ever occur to someone that I might have been trying to protect someone else?"

He declined to elaborate.

The Messenger confirmed that the FBI has looked at Karr — and even questioned him — several times about the Ramsey case and other cases involving missing and slain children. No related charges have ever been filed.

A Reopened Investigation
It's been nearly 27 years since JonBenét died, and the investigation is still ongoing.

In fact, authorities are now testing several pieces of evidence for DNA using new technology — though it's unclear whether Karr could be back in on their radar if there's a match.

A spokesperson for the Boulder Police Department did not return The Messenger's request for comment, but the FBI source says that if new DNA testing led to Karr, "of course he would be investigated and questioned again."

The new round of DNA testing comes after JonBenét's father, John Ramsey, publicly castigated the Boulder Police Department for botching the investigation into his daughter's murder.

(His wife Patsy died from ovarian cancer in June 2006, months before Karr's arrest and extradition.)

In a 2022 open letter to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, John begged him for help in solving the case — and to transfer the case away from the Boulder PD to a different agency.

“I am 78 now and realize that time for answers is running out," the letter read. "The murder of my daughter can never be undone. There will never be peace or closure, but there can and should be justice."