Can ransom note be linked to Karr?

BOULDER, Colo. — It is an intriguing piece of evidence in the death of JonBenet Ramsey: the ransom note, 370 words written with a felt-tip pen and found in the Ramsey home a few hours before the girl's body was discovered in the basement.

As prosecutors prepare their case against John Mark Karr in the 1996 slaying, the note is getting fresh scrutiny, and it is ready fodder for television talk shows and dueling experts. But can it be linked to Karr?

Unusually long for a ransom demand, the note raises a variety of questions. Does the handwriting point to a member of the Ramsey family? Is it the work of an intruder? What about the specific, relatively small ransom demand, or the lines apparently hijacked from movie thrillers?

And what could "S.B.T.C." at the end mean?

Authorities have offered no clues, refusing to disclose any evidence in the case against the 41-year-old teacher, who is jailed in Los Angeles awaiting a transfer to Colorado.

The Rocky Mountain News on Tuesday cited a handwriting analyst who was "99.9 percent certain" samples written by Karr matched the note.

On Wednesday, the paper reported the same expert had been disqualified this year as an expert witness by a federal judge.

New York attorney Darnay Hoffman dashed off a letter to the Boulder County district attorney last week claiming his experts had proved Karr could not have written the note, adding "You may be the victim of a hoax."

Mark McClish, a federal marshal and author of "I Know You Are Lying: Detecting Deception Through Statement Analysis," said reading the note and listening to Karr's statements reveal clues, but they alone do not make a case.

"It is a valid science, but there are not too many absolutes," he said.

That said, some in the field are having no trouble being absolute.

Gideon Epstein, a forensic document examiner from Rockville, Md., wrote in 2001 that he had "no doubt" it was JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, who wrote the note. Another examiner, Larry Ziegler of Sterling, Va., agreed.

Hoffman sent reports by both men to Boulder prosecutors.

In an online analysis of the letter, McClish picks at every line, finding inconsistencies throughout: The amount demanded, $118,000, is too small for a kidnapper. And it matches a bonus JonBenet's father, John Ramsey, had been awarded by his company.

The note is too wordy for the real thing, McClish says, and it's unlikely kidnappers, even if they were from another country, would call themselves a "small foreign faction" or take the time to tell John Ramsey "we respect your business."

What can be learned, he said, is from what he calls subconscious references. A threat to behead JonBenet indicates a man was involved.

The same goes for references some say are straight from Hollywood: Repeated threats that the "girl dies" are from "Dirty Harry," while "Don't try to grow a brain" is from "Speed."

But from what he has seen of Karr, McClish said he's not the same person who wrote the note. "It does appear he may be living in a fantasy world," he said. "He's portrayed as being very meek and mild, and that doesn't go with the ransom note."

In his early analysis, McClish suggested "S.B.T.C." under the word "Victory!" at the end of the note stood for "Saved By The Cross," a reference to Jesus Christ.

Father Stephen Sauer, assistant professor of theological studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, said "saved by the cross" is a short statement of faith that has its roots in many Christian religions.

After Karr's arrest, others linked the initials to a notation he made signing a classmate's high-school yearbook as "Shall be the conqueror."

In other developments Wednesday:

• The Sonoma (Calif.) County Sheriff's Department said it notified Colorado officials about Karr five years ago. "We never uncovered any 'confession' statements, overt murder evidence, or other indications that John Karr possessed secret knowledge that only the murderer of JonBenet Ramsey would know," the statement said. The Boulder County District Attorney's Office did not return a call for comment.

Sonoma investigators learned about Karr's apparent interest in the Ramsey case and that of Polly Klaas, who was slain in 1993, when Karr was investigated in the 1997 slaying of a 12-year-old girl in Petaluma, Calif. Karr does not appear to be a suspect in the 12-year-old's death, the statement said.

• Karr's relatives offered the book and film rights to the family's story in hopes of raising money for a high-powered attorney to defend Karr. Larry Garrison, a producer the family hired to represent it in media deals, said relatives are "looking to support John's boys' college education and to make sure all legal fees are covered."

• Lawyers Patience Van Zandt and Jamie Harmon, whose office is in San Jose, said they had been retained by Karr. But Los Angeles County deputy public defender Haydeh Takasugi said Karr told her he planned to have the Boulder County public defender's office represent him.