JonBenet killer kaught?

This was going to be a Colorado crap roundup, but I guess I better get the breaking news up. So, dit-dit-dit, dit-dit--flash (and take it easy, Snaps)! This just up on the Post front page:

"Arrest made in JonBenet case."

KRLA in Los Angeles is leading with the JonBenet story. Oh, and here's the News' front-page story. It sounds like they may have a good suspect. Yikes.

The Post's story quotes a statement from JonBenet's father, John Ramsey:

"I want to have only very limited comment on today's arrest because I feel it is extremely important to not only let the justice system operate to its conclusion in an orderly manner, but also to avoid feeding the type of media speculation that my wife and I were subjected to for so many years. I do want to say, however, that the investigation of the individual arrested today in connection with JonBenet's death was discussed with Patsy and me by the Boulder district attorney's office prior to Patsy's death in June. 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. Words cannot adequately express my gratitude for the efforts of Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy and the members of her investigative team."

Damn, it really sounds like they got him. Two Ramsey attorneys thanked investigators:

"The diligent investigation of JonBenet Ramsey's murder by Boulder DA Mary Lacy and detectives working with her have been exrtraordinary. It is our hope that this arrest will bring some closure to the Ramsey family after a 10-year ordeal. We respect the legal process and will have no further comment about the case or the evidence until that process is concluded," the statement said.

Update: A second grade teacher arrested in Bangkok on "unrelated" sex charges. Mmm-hmm.

Update II: The News' Charlie Brennan called "famed criminalist" Henry Lee, who either was or was not surprised at the arrest:

Lee declined to say whether he considered it a surprise that the suspect appears to be a man with no immediate family ties. At one point, JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, had been labeled as being under an "umbrella of suspicion" in their daughter's Dec. 26, 1996 murder.

"As always, there are many possibilities, and this is one of the possibilities. We never really develop tunnel vision."

Yep, ol' "something wrong" Lee (scroll to August 25) goes all inscrutable again. The Rocky also has a story about the ten-year "umbrella of suspicion" that hovered over the Ramseys. The Post (at 4:47 p.m. MDT) still has only the main story and their old JonBenet archives. Bad Post!

Update III: Ever'body's got it now.

Update IV: MSNBC is wall-to-wall JonBenet--oops, now it's Howard Dean . . .

Update V: Local Fox affiliate Channel 31 has Ramsey lawyer Lin Wood, tearing up . . . pleading for the media to allow the process to work . . . yeah, surrrre . . .

Update VI: Fox is saying that the suspect, John Mark Karr, may have been e-mailing Patsy Ramsey and "a CU professor," perhaps tauntingly. Totally bizarre.

Deborah Sherman of 9News: "Of course, JonBenet was born in Georgia, and is currently buried there" (my emphasis). Now they're interviewing the neighbors. Snore. Boulder DA press conference 10 a.m. MDT.

Update VII: "A CU professor?" You don't think . . . Help me, Snaps!

Update VIII: The Post fights back girlishly with a weird Diane Carman piece from last month on Patsy Ramsey's "plagiarism" of a painting. I believe I'm going mad.

Update IX: Other Colorado junk now moved to post above--whenever that might show up.

Update X: The D-blog owns this story, doesn't he? Except he got the suspect's name wrong. It's John Mark Karr. Fixed now.

Update XI: MSNBC's Joe or Chuck or Bob Scarborough (I'm lousy with names) is all-JB.

Update XII: Anyone think this coverage marks a distinct lowering of Drunkablog standards? Yeah, me neither.

Update XIII: Jerralyn Merritt of Talkleft is on Scarborough right now, also sounding pissed about how John and Patsy Ramsey were treated by the media. There's gonna be a whole lotta that the next few days. That Talkleft post also says 9News claimed there was a DNA match, but I can't find it on their website.

Update XIV: Ramsey attorney Lin Wood on the Dan Abrams show on MSNBC said that Lou Smit, the Boulder detective who quit in protest of the handling of the JonBenet case, is "an American hero."

Update XV: Pirate Ballerina declares Snapple Appreciation Day, hangs self.

Update XVI: Karr's brother told Fox31 that Karr e-mailed Patsy Ramsey while researching a book on the case. Karr was also wanted on a charge of possession of child pornography. The Ramseys brought his name into the investigation, though nobody will say that they knew Karr.

Update XVII: Dammit, now MSNBC is spelling his name "Karr." Sh*t. Fixed, but subject to change. They also say Karr is a "convicted" pedophile.

Update XVIII: It's that time again.

Update XIX: According to everyone, Karr has confessed to killing JonBenet.

Update XX: The CU professor involved is not Churchill. Rats. The Rocky:

The investigation that led law enforcement to John Mark Karr can be traced to a single e-mail, sent some four years ago.

Karr sent the correspondence to University of Colorado journalism professor Michael Tracey after viewing the first of three Tracey-produced documentaries on the JonBenet Ramsey case.

Apparently, Karr was intrigued by what he saw and wanted to talk things over with Tracey, a man whose rigorous documentaries have challenged conventional police theories about the case and criticized what he saw as a rush to convict John and Patsy Ramsey in the court of public opinion.

Since then, Karr and Tracey swapped hundreds of e-mails in an exchange that led the Boulder County District Attorney's Office on Wednesday to name Karr as the prime suspect in the murder of 6-year-old JonBenet almost 10 years ago . . . .

Tracey hinted in his third documentary that a major break was coming in the case. A 2004 CU press release promoting Tracey's third documentary said, "A new team of investigators has uncovered dramatic new evidence about the murder, resulting in the identification of a key suspect."

But it's not clear if that was the suspect now under arrest.

"This compelling evidence points to a new way of thinking about who it was that actually killed JonBenet," Tracey said in the December 2004 press release.

"Previously, media leaks about the evidence and absurd theories as to how JonBenet died helped to convince the public that the parents did it.

"A whole new theory of who should have been investigated - but was not - is at the forefront of the investigation reported in the documentary."

Update XXI: Creepy stuff, from the AP story linked in update XIX:

"I was with JonBenet when she died," John Mark Karr told reporters in Bangkok, visibly nervous and stuttering as he spoke. "Her death was an accident." . . .

Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul said U.S. authorities informed Thai police on Aug. 11 that an arrest warrant had been issued for Karr on charges of premeditated murder. The warrant was sent to Thai police on Wednesday.

At the press conference, Suwat said Karr insisted after his arrest that his crime was not first-degree murder. "He said it was second- degree murder. He said it was unintentional. He said he was in love with the child. She was a pageant queen," Suwat said.

Update XXII: Don Imus on his radio/TV show just now (6:00 a.m. MDT Aug. 17), over video of Karr: "He looks just like Ned Lamont, doesn't he?"

Update XXIII: Local radio loudmouth still skeptical. On his show right now Boyles is reading his hate mail. It's quite hateful.

Update XXIV: MSNBC: "Ramsey family attorney says no conclusive DNA evidence yet." Whut-oh.

Update XXV: News conference about to begin; so is new post.