twist of fate

As Mike Tracey publishes a few of the emails (made available by the Boulder DA) from Daxis , aka John Mark Karr in his series on media, democracy it's worth spotlighting the predator's seduction in Karr's own words - -that gooming process - - and the innocent responses of a child.

Karr writes to Tracey of his new target Melanie, whose name has been changed to protect her in this story, just weeks before Karr's arrest in Thailand:

"...We continued to eat together and to talk. Finally, I let go of herhand. My hand then dropped under the table. She kept tapping me with her little foot. I suddenly held on to her foot underneath the table. She was wearing sandals and I massaged her little foot with her sandalon. She looked at me intently and with pleasure.

"Oh Melanie, I love you. Your little foot is precious."

I eventually let go of her foot. In a matter of a second or two, she pushed her little foot back into my hand. She had quickly slipped off her little sandal. She wanted the full effect of her little foot in my hand. It was so special that she would toss that shoe aside and seemed to indicate that she was expressing interest in a serious interaction with me. Her naked little foot felt so sexy in my hand.It was almost like feeling her naked body sliding up next to me. Her little foot was divine. I looked down at it as I caressed it. Her little toe nails were painted with glitter polish.

"Oh sweetheart, I love this little foot."

She just looked at me with that same smile. I rubbed her little footall over. I caressed her little toes and massaged the sole of little foot. It was truly intimate and very sexual.

And it all happened right there under that little table, in the middle of the school lunchroom.

At the end of our time together, Melanie looked at me very seriously and said,

"Will you please come back and be with me tomorrow?"

It was the sweetest request and was expressed from her heart. Her voice was soft and so intense. I replied,

"Oh yes, my love. I will be back tomorrow to be with you."

And so, my little Melanie left me with all her wonderful and profuse goodbyes. But tomorrow never came for us. Her mother came to get her early on that day and she was not there for lunch. It would be the last day I would see her for a month. I deeply regret that she willnot be my student in the Fall. She will be a first grader and I teach second grade. But I will see her again. The problem is, her first grade teacher doesn't like me for some reason and will most probably make it hard for me to have any contact with her. In a year's time, if either of us are still at the same school, she will be my student.This is when Melanie and I will become closer. I cannot wait.

Over the briefest period of only two days, I had the loveliest interaction with a little girl named Melanie.

With Melanie and many others in the past, a bond was formed quickly - romantically attached almost instantaneously.”

Is it too presumptive to suggest something similar could have happened to JonBenet that led up to her death? A brief encounter between a charming, loving and trusting child whose responses are misinterpreted as sexually romantic within the twisted mind of one lustful predator, one compulsively and sexually attracted to children?

Some would contend Karr meets the personality and perversions of JonBenet's killer.

And this encounter and others like it can take place in public places, like a school lunchroom. In a twist of fate, we should in some detatched way be thankful to Mr. Karr for writing so clearly and detailed how one so inclined initiates the grooming process with an innocent child, while the pedophiles themselves might be livid for Karr's vast disclosures - and subsequent claim he accidentally (but obviously so brutally) murdered the object of his affection.

A valuable map of the warning signs for those that care about children lies in Tracey's experience. Those concerned might be beholding to Tracey for the unqualified courage to persevere and the fortitude to publish, all degredation he may received considered. Few have had his experience, that opportunity to interact with the non-convicted sexual predator of a very young child, so unguarded and verbose.

The entire email and others from Karr to Tracey are published in full in the chapter
Meanings, pt. 4: an awful, dark year