``He thought that he was corresponding with Patsy, but he wasn't," Wood said. Police in Roswell, Ga., where Ramsey spent the last days of her life, declined to say whether they conducted the correspondence ruse.
Karr, 41, is in a Thailand jail awaiting deportation to face charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and child sexual assault. He told reporters that he was with JonBenet when she died in the basement of her Boulder home on Dec. 26, but that her death was an accident.
He said this week that he thought Patsy Ramsey had read his letters in which he ``conveyed to her many things, among them that I am so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet."
Yesterday, a Thai official backed off other details he gave of Karr's story -- details that raised suspicions about whether Karr was really involved or just a wannabe trying to insert himself into a high-profile case.
Lieutenant General Suwat Tumrongsiskul of the Thai immigration police initially quoted Karr as saying he had sexually assaulted the girl and given her drugs, even though the autopsy showed no drugs in the girl's body. He also told reporters before a news conference that Karr had claimed to have picked up JonBenet at her school, though her death occurred during the holiday break.
Yesterday, Suwat confirmed to the AP his account of the sexual assault. But asked whether Karr gave the girl drugs, Suwat said the suspect described the encounter with JonBenet Ramsey as ``a blur."
``It may have been drugs, or it may have been something else because [Karr said] it was a blur, blur," Suwat said.
Suwat also said his statement about the girl being picked from school was based on a documentary he had seen and not the interrogation.
Other of Karr's writings also drew scrutiny yesterday. Prison guards searched the death row cell of Polly Klaas's killer after learning he may have corresponded with the suspect. No letters were found.
The Rocky Mountain News reported that Boulder prosecutors were in contact with a former classmate of Karr's because a yearbook signed by him more than 20 years ago may reveal why the ransom note left for the Ramseys was signed ``S.B.T.C."
