The murder of JonBenét Patricia Ramsey in 1996 led to the suspicion of her teacher, John Mark Karr, from Bangkok, Thailand, in 2006. Ramsey was a child beauty pageant queen who was killed when she was six years old, and Karr had claimed that he was in love with her before he allegedly admitted to her murder.
Following child p*rnography charges in April 2001, Karr disappeared into thin air and resurfaced in 2006 to claim involvement in Ramsey's murder. However, the authorities were unable to establish a link between his DNA and the evidence found at the crime scene. Karr was subsequently dismissed.
John Mark Karr now identifies himself as Alexis Valoran Reich. He was last known to move to Aberdeen in 2017, per Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. The details of the long-unsolved murder case of JonBenét Ramsey were covered in the three-part docuseries Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey, currently streaming on Netflix. The official synopsis reads:
"Nearly 30 years since her murder, a three-part Netflix series revisits the death of JonBenét Ramsey, the child beauty queen killed in her Colorado home, featuring interviews with key figures including her father."
Who was John Mark Karr?
John Mark Karr was born on December 11, 1964, and married 13-year-old Quientana Shotts at 19. The two underwent separation within a year, following which John married the 16-year-old Lara Knutson in 1989, and the couple shared three children. He separated from Knutson in 2001 and pursued a brief career in real estate before moving to teaching.
Karr taught in Alabama before he was employed at the Franklin County School System. Thereon, he moved to Petaluma, California, where he continued working. Karr faced allegations of being inappropriately close to children in Alabama and was later charged with five counts of possession of child p*rnography in April 2001. He pleaded not guilty and later rejected a plea deal as well, per NBC News.
Karr absconded in December 2001 and resurfaced from Bangkok in 2006. He had been collaborating with the University of Colorado journalism professor and reporter Michael Tracey. Travey had been working on a documentary related to the infamous murder of the Colorado child beauty queen, JonBenét Ramsey.
Karr mentioned in his emails that he had allegedly s*xually abused JonBenét on more than one occasion, per PEOPLE. Tracey turned in the contact to the Boulder Police Department, who then investigated the case and had Karr extradited from Thailand.
However, the case against John Mark Karr fell flat on its face when there was no match between the DNA samples that were established. Furthermore, his family assured that he had been home at the time of the murder. John Mark Karr was cleared of his charges in August 2006, per NBC News.
Where is John Mark Karr now? Details explored
The 41-year-old was dismissed after the charges against him were cleared, but he was retained in the Boulder County sheriff's office custody as they proceeded to press him with the child p*rnography charges. He was subsequently cleared of the same in October 2006 due to insufficient evidence, per CBS News.
John Mark lives to be a free man and has been accused by his ex, Samantha Spiegel, of being part of a s*x cult called The Immaculates. John Karr now identifies as a woman named Alexis Valoran Reich.
Catch all the details of John Mark Karr's conviction and crimes on Netflix's Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey.