Magnetic Personality.

I've mentioned from time to time that the primary therapy used in prison settings for convicted sex offenders is reverse role playing and that this therapy is generally considered to be at best useless and is most likely actually enjoyable to the offenders and acts to reinforce their desires and consequently their behavior. Long ago a prisoner sought to have an experimental application of a powerful magnetic field to his skull and as one might expect the prison officials refused this experimental treatment.

In a recent SlashDot entry there was a discussion of moral choices and magnetism:
"Discovery News reports that scientists have identified a region of the brain which appears to control morality and discovered that a powerful magnetic field can scramble the moral center of the brain, impairing volunteers' notion of right and wrong. 'You think of morality as being a really high-level behavior,' says Liane Young, a scientist at MIT and co-author of the article. 'To be able to apply (a magnetic field) to a specific brain region and change people's moral judgments is really astonishing.' Young used functional magnetic resonance imaging to locate an area of the brain just above and behind the right ear known as the right temporo-parietal junction (RTPJ), which other studies had previously related to moral judgments. Volunteers were exposed to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) before reading stories involving morally questionable characters. The researchers found that when the RTPJ was disrupted volunteers were more likely to judge actions solely on the basis of whether they caused harm — not whether they were morally wrong in themselves. The scientists didn't permanently remove the subjects' moral sensibilities and on the scientists' seven point scale, the difference was about one point, averaging out to about a 15 percent change, 'but it's still striking to see such a change in such high level behavior as moral decision-making.' Young points out that the study was correlation; their work only links the RTJP, morality and magnetic fields, but doesn't definitively prove that one causes another."

a plea to the public

Seems like a good time to re-up this release from the Foundation - -

The Fair Justice Foundation Seeks Information and Tips in the
1996 Murder of JonBenét Ramsey

Child’s Murder Remains Unsolved after 13 Years

ATLANTA, GA Dec. 23 -- The Fair Justice Foundation (www.fairjusticefoundation.org) today released a list of behaviors and potential scenarios which may have been noticed about the person who killed JonBenét Ramsey, around the time of the murder. Six year old JonBenét Ramsey was found murdered in the basement of her home on December 26, 1996. After thirteen years the case remains unsolved.

In issuing the public plea, John Ramsey, JonBenét ’s father said, “We are hoping to jog memories and in doing so, asking everyone to examine their consciences.” He continued, “We’d like them to share any doubts or information they have about someone they know who may have behaved strangely or acted out of character around the time of my daughter’s murder.”

This public plea for information regarding the murder of JonBenét Ramsey is part of the foundation’s Discovery Project. The program was initiated in 2008 to serve families of victims of unsolved violent crime. The Discovery Project is uniquely positioned to support law enforcement efforts by new generating information such as in the Ramsey case, where initiatives may help to identify the unknown male that left his DNA in multiple locations at the Ramsey crime scene.

“We have very good reason to believe that the individual that committed this crime may have done so in the past and is absolutely capable of hurting someone else”, said detective Lou Smit who has worked on JonBenét’s case on behalf of law enforcement and independently since 1997. “The criminal community may have its own set of values and principals” added Smit, “but even so, can still come forward with information as there is a code of decency that cannot condone what happened to JonBenét.”

Personality traits that may be recognized by someone that knows an individual who was in Boulder, CO on Christmas day 1996:

Judgmental: strong or persistently expressed opinions about organized religion, capitalism and US participation in global affairs.

Cold: one perceived as capable of acting without compassion that very well may be violent toward others, set fires or killed animals in the past.

Kidnap interest: may have described a fantasy or the risks of what it would be like to abduct someone.

Fascination and fantasy regarding little girls and boys.

Secretive: maintains spaces or possessions he is extremely protective of that is strictly off limits to others.

Bondage: discussed, demonstrated or practiced the construction of garrotes and/or other strangulation devices and body restraints on himself or others.

Stun Gun: having a stun gun and paid excessive attention to it by frequent maintenance, display and practice using it

Someone that knows the person that took JonBenét’s life may have noticed one or more of the following scenarios following JonBenét’s murder at Christmas 1996:

Superficial wounds: Bruises scrapes or scratches on the face, neck or hands that were unexplained or for which the explanations changed.

Absent: nonattendance at work, church, school or other routine habits or hobbies.

Isolation: a spontaneous trip or sudden need to spend time alone.

Change of physical appearance: sudden new hair style or alteration of facial hair.

Intense interest: following case updates and news releases with heightened attention and focus.

New or used vehicle: abrupt and perhaps seemingly impulsive change in the car or truck he usually drove.

Relocation: a hasty change in geography relating to his living, working or regular friends and hangouts.

Collector of memorabilia: saving images or videos of JonBenét from newspaper, television or the internet

Vengeance: stating or hinting that the Ramsey’s – or JonBenét – are getting what they deserved.

Complimentary toward killer: impressed with perpetrator as a criminal mastermind while attributing great intelligence, skill or even luck.

Possessions: has items that came from the Ramsey home.

The Discovery Project has set up an email (tips@fairjusticefoundation.org) and crime tip hot line (206-312-7399) to intake information from the public, which has received messages from all across the United States. Investigators are hoping for a fresh impetus to their quest for justice in this appeal to the public for any information they might have, regardless of how small or insignificant it may seem.

“It's only going to take one email or phone call to solve this case, and it's going to be from somebody out in the public that knows something and wants to do the right thing," said retired Sheriff’s Captain and Municipal Court Judge OM Gray. Gray, an investigator involved with the Ramsey case since 1996, went on to say “I would appeal to everyone to think back to Christmas 1996 - did they see or hear about something suspicious? Do they know anyone acting peculiar or out of the ordinary that was either unaccounted for on the holiday or known to be in vicinity of Boulder, CO on 12/25/1996?"

About the Fair Justice Foundation

Founded by John Ramsey in 2008, the Fair Justice Foundation is a not for profit organization dedicated to providing information and awareness to state legislators considering passage of a DNA Fingerprint Law. The DNA Fingerprint law would require that any person arrested for a felony is DNA Fingerprinted and that data is submitted to the National CODIS database. The Discovery Project was initiated in late 2008 to serve families of victims of violent crimes where the case remains unsolved by reassuring them that people continue to care and will not let the case be forgotten. For more information you may visit FJF on the web at www.fairjusticefoundation.org

Contact:

Fair Justice Foundation
Crime tip email: tips@fairjusticefoundation.org
General email inquiries: info@fairjusticefoundation.org
Crime tip hotline: (206) 312-7399

touchDNA leads to arrest 18 year unsolved murder

TouchDNA analysis, used to isolate the unknown male assailant's DNA from skin cells he left on articles of clothing worn by JonBenet Ramsey when he molested, tortured and killed her, is the forensic powerhouse that helped crack a 1992 cold case; the murder of Charles Cromwell. TouchDNA has been around since early 2000, only a few cells from the outermost layer of skin are required to create a complete DNA profile- -

Touch DNA' helps crack 1992 Bethel murder
Published in Danbury NewsTimes
By John Pirro

BETHEL -- The same kind of DNA testing that cleared JonBenet Ramsey's family of involvement in her 1996 murder helped Bethel police arrest the man they claim strangled Charles Cromwell to death four years earlier.

"Touch DNA," samples left behind when a person touches or come in contact with an item, led investigators to 49-year-old Donald Gregory Krauth, a one-time alcoholic and drug addict who helped clean the basement of Cromwell's Milwaukee Avenue home a few days before the retired contractor was killed in March 1992, according to court documents...

The samples were found near a tear in the upper right sleeve, a part of the garment the technician said was likely damaged in a struggle...[read more]

that particular number

I am not sure yet what the equivalent of 10 million rupees was in 1996, the year a ransom note demanding the same in USD ($118,000) was left for the safe return of JonBenet Ramsey. Just a few weeks ago an 'international gang of kidnappers' took a 5 year old boy, demanding that mysterious $118K. But unlike the torture, molestation and murder of JonBenet, little Sahil Saeed was returned, apparently unharmed, to his grateful parents due to the Pakastani authorities according to British Foreign Secretary David Miliband - -

British boy kidnapped in Pakistan freed unharmed
Reuters
By Salman Rao

"JHELUM, Pakistan - A British boy kidnapped nearly two weeks ago while on vacation in Pakistan was freed unharmed by his abductors on Tuesday after a ransom was paid, officials said, ending a high-profile ordeal...

Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told Reuters an "international gang of kidnappers" was responsible for the abduction of the boy...Gunmen held Sahil's relatives at gunpoint for hours and took away 150,000 rupees ($1,750) and some gold during the kidnapping, and later demanded a 10 million rupee ($118,000) ransom.

Kidnapping is a major problem in Pakistan and many of the crimes go unreported. Local media said on Tuesday that the dead body of a two-year-old Pakistani girl who was kidnapped for ransom was found near the northwestern city of Peshawar." [read more]

dream confession

In a plea for DNA testing like that which cleared JonBenet's parents after 12 years of persecution, the family of convicted killer Ryan Ferguson is using the media to turn up political pressure to check for genetic material on evidence from the 2001 murder of much loved family man and Tribune Sports Editor Kent Heithol. Ryan's conviction is based on the now infamous 'dream confession' by Ryan's high school buddie. Ryan's family convinced that a lack of Ryan's DNA on the clothing combined with no other physical evidence would help to exonerate their son - -

Watch CBS News Videos Online


Ferguson makes DNA plea
Published in the Columbia Daily Tribune
By Brennan David

"The family of Ryan Ferguson and his attorneys are challenging the Boone County prosecuting attorney to allow them to perform “touch DNA” analysis on the clothing of slain Tribune Sports Editor Kent Heitholt.

The family wants the state to release or agree to escort the evidence to the Bode Technology laboratory in Lorton, Va., for touch DNA analysis.

Experts say the technique can help develop fresh leads in unsolved cases and is most widely known for clearing the family of JonBenet Ramsey in the 1996 murder of the 6-year-old Colorado girl.

Gregory J. Davis, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, told USA Today in 2008 that, “In select cases, this has the potential to find a person’s DNA when it couldn’t be found before..."[read more]

free to choose

I watched the IE report last night on 45 year-old self-profiled pedophile and fantasy child killer John Mark Karr's transformation into 29 year young Alexis Reich, apparently still obsessed with the murder of JonBenet.

Honestly, as a stand-alone subject I haven't one issue with a gender change - or the name change to go along with it. It is however irritating that Karr publicly claimed the impetus for his gender change for solely deceptive purposes, i.e. evading law enforcement. A 2006 false confession and subsequent nonsense aside, this guy should never question why he is never believed.

No matter what gender I do have a major issue with pedophiles. A huge issue; no secret there. And in this case it seems like the gender change is the focus of the media and gossip chain, not the fact that Karr seems only interested in positions as a teacher of children, or as a nanny, all wrapped up in a new gender and identity that erases his delusional past and boasting of his sexual attraction. How deceptive is that...for a condition of which there is no known cure that even a radical castration has been proven not to be the fool poof resolve.

IF Karr were a committed educator, he could seek teaching in an adult-only classroom and I think a rational argument could be made against anyone that would take exception with that, on the condition no little ones are present. Yet this guy seeks appointments with children, under the guise of 'making up for what he has done', even though he has been terminated from at least a dozen elementary schools globally, reportedly due his unprofessional performance and social skills. He is also rumored to be rather computer literate, albeit a bit behind the curve I am told, and could easily teach comp-ed classes to adults. There are all kinds of options for this guy or gal, but he insists on choosing to work closely with children - the very object of his passion and sexual desire. And one child the he-of-several-identities continues to claim he tortured, molested and killed. Anyone with a brain that has read his emails or so-called manuscript would be justifiably concerned, prior victims an unavoidable issue.

But set pedophile dangers and gender transition aside for just minute to consider the distraction caused by the 2006 false confession at high cost to tax payers; multiple government agencies; media companies; reputations, not to mention a momentary disruption of the search for the man who left his DNA behind at the heinous murder of JonBenet. If Karr truly wanted to slip away to live quietly as a woman (or otherwise) one might anticipate that the uninvited threatening, indecent or foul mouthed contact, self-promoted news stories and the myriad of ridiculous antics calling attention to himself would at the same time come to an end as he rode off into the sunset. I suppose if Karr truly was remorseful for whatever sins he may have committed and sought a fresh start within the quiet life as a woman teacher or nanny he would grab the ring and do just that. But he either won't or can't help himself - and all the while he wants to continue to claim he is JonBenet's killer while being responsible for influencing, educating and caring for young children the way a teacher and nanny does--

John Mark Karr Gets a Sex Change

INSIDE EDITION has obtained the first photo of Karr as a woman. It's on his Facebook page. He's also legally changed his name to Alexis Reich...So where is he now? Court documents obtained by INSIDE EDITION show that he's living in Seattle. When we went there to check out the address, it turned out to be just a mail drop. It's believed Karr is out of the country today. Possibly back in Thailand where he first was arrested, living a new life, as a woman...."[read more]

you can't make this stuff up

Nearly 4 years after he lied about being 'with JonBenet when she died', IE is covering what John Mark Karr, aka Daxis, now a woman is up to - -

"Coming up on Inside Edition....you remember John Mark Karr?..."

Read more about the changes to one time suspect, self-admitted pedophile and nanny/teacher John Mark Karr, aka Daxis.

alexis valoran reich aka john mark karr

That very cool reporter Alan Butterfield from the National Enquirer is covering the story about John Mark Karr changing his name to Alexis Valoran Reich --

Read more about nanny/teacher Alexis Valoran Reich once John Mark Karr aka Daxis.

gab

A lassie o'me own heart, I had no idea the attorney correspondent that has covered JonBenet's case for over a decade, Erin Moriarty, is Irish. Not that I am in tune with or even especially curious about the ancestry or origins of any particular media personality. The exception being Christiane Amanpour for her absolutely delightful accent that to me at least, lends to her untarnished credibility for truly serious news reporting.

Irish Erin Morarity makes the top 30 in media - -

Media 30
Published in Irish Central, Irish Voice and Irish America Magazine

"The Irish are great communicators. In whatever industry in which communications is a key skill, you will find the Irish very close to the top. "The gift of the gab" is what our ancestors called it, and in the modern day context, despite the era of iPhones and multimedia, it is still all about getting your message across. The Irish do it superbly, as our list of Top 30 Irish in Media reveals...

Erin Moriarty has been a correspondent for 48 HOURS on CBS since 1990. She has covered the death of Princess Diana, the JonBenet Ramsey investigation, the murder of financier Edmund Safra, and the war in Iraq.

Before that, Moriarty was the consumer correspondent for CBS This Morning and the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.

Drawing on her training as a lawyer, Moriarty has examined some of the most important social and legal issues of the day, including DNA testing of evidence in death-row cases, the abortion controversy and battered woman's syndrome.

Moriarty has received numerous honors, including nine national Emmy Awards, a 2001 Overseas Press Club Award for her work on 48 HOURS and three Association of Women in Radio and Television Gracie Allen Awards for the weekly talk show that she co-hosted with Nancy Giles on WPHT Radio in Philadelphia (2003-04).

In both 2000 and 2003, she was honored with a Top 100 Award from Irish America magazine..." [read more]

the value of red and blue

I am not sure which flabbbers-my-gasteds more - the trashy statements about the visciously murdered 6 year old JonBenet Ramsey or the findings of Dr. June Carbone and Dr. Naomi Cahn in their book Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture. One is so ridiculous and mean spirited it is unbelievable; the book however I will be buying today.

"....evidence should force all of us – conservative and liberal alike – to think carefully about the policies we set to help American families thrive in the 21st century..."

June Carbone, UMKC prof, examines the blue-red divide
Published in The Pitch: Kansas City News Blog
By David Martin

June Carbone, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, was working on a book during the 2008 election....

Carbone and co-author Naomi Cahn began their research after 2004 election. They set out to understand why the so-called "values voters" tended to live in states with highest divorce and teen birth rates. Among those to note the correlation was Vanity Fair culture critic James Wolcott, who called miniature beauty pageant contestant JonBenet Ramsey "the pre-pubescent red-hot-mama mascot of red-state Babylon." [...read more]

For more on Red Families v. Blue Families, check out an essay that Carbone and Cahn recently published: High divorce rates and teen pregnancy are worse in conservative states than liberal states

hunters

Aside from being mothers of a daughter, I never expected to find a whole lot in common with Rielle Hunter, but I liked what she had to say about why people make harsh judgments about others. It reminded me not to jump to conclusions without a few strides in another woman's Louboutin's and made me think of the all-about-me types that have spent the better part of a decade and more persecuting the Ramseys.

But before I forget, having been away off and on for the past couple months, kudos to the folks over at the National Enquirer for the subsequent nomination acceptance by the Pulitzer Prize Board for the investigative reporting on the Edwards-Hunter scandal. And congrats to the Pulitzer Prize Board too for demonstrating it's objectivity by seriously considering the NE's effort, skill and production.

--Back to Rielle, image cropped as she may have anticipated (or not?), and a reaction to her

interview in GQ - -

Rielle Hunter Sounds off on Oprah, Shows Off Creepy Photo in GQ
Published in Twirlit
By Amanda Pendolino

“I have had an interesting life,” says Rielle Hunter, the mistress of former Presidential candidate John Edwards. “And I have gained a lot of wisdom,” she adds. Wisdom isn’t quite the word that comes to mind while viewing her new picture in the new April GQ, however. Sans pants...

Rielle says that the media has their facts wrong about her....What is true, she says, is that she was Jay McInerney’s muse and she was married to Kip Hunter, the son of the Boulder, CO, District Attorney during the JonBenet Ramsey case.

Rielle said. "..people’s judgments and opinions have only to do with themselves.."[...read more]

our friend carla

I really like Carla Baron. Not only is she a trusted professional but off case or camera she is really a wonderful and compassionate person. So I am elated to see her career continuing to soar - you go Carla!

Carla Baron, Famed Psychic Profiler - Primed For More "Primetime"
Published in Online PR News

Online PR News – 19-March-2010 – Carla Baron, internationally known psychic/medium, and psychic profiler, has appeared on numerous television programs including Court TV’s Psychic Detectives, ABC’s Primetime, MTV’s Fear, Biography Channel’s Dead Famous, and recently seen on History Channel’s MysteryQuest. She hosted a long running nationally syndicated radio program for CRN called The Crystal Palace.

Baron was catapulted into the limelight as a psychic profiler on the successful TruTV (formally Court TV) reality series, “Haunting Evidence,” where she assisted police departments in identifying perpetrators of unsolved crimes, homicides, and abductions. Several of the cases that have been profiled on the show include some of the nation’s more notorious murders such as JonBenet Ramsey, Natalee Holloway, Madeleine McCann, and the Zodiac Killer....

You can learn more about famed tv psychic/ medium Carla Baron @ www.carlabaron.net

[...read more]

dueling doctors

Compared to other medical examiner experts who from a distance have weighed in on the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, Dr. Michael Baden's opinion rings more level headed than most others, although troubling in his claim JonBenet's case can never be solved for the incompetency that began at the crime scene.

"...The worst of them, Jon Benet Ramsey. They call up (ph) a kidnapping. The police come, and they don't protect the scene. They muck up the scene. They never solve it properly..."

Now Baden is facing off in the courtroom against the notorious Cyril Wecht (who was factually retained in this case unlike the investigation of JonBenet's murder) in a 43 years-old homicide of a Philly police officer. --

Barnes trial: Clash of the celebrity medical experts
Published in the Philadelphia Inquirer
By Joseph A. Slobodzian

"In this corner, for the defense, from Pittsburgh, coroner of choice in the deaths of Elvis Presley, JonBenet Ramsey, and Vincent Foster: Cyril H. Wecht.

And in the opponent's corner, for the prosecution, from New York, star of the HBO series Autopsy and expert for the congressional probes of the murders of President Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: Michael Baden.

With just seven weeks until trial, the case of William J. Barnes - accused of murdering Philadelphia Police Officer Walter T. Barclay Jr., who died 41 years after he was shot - is shaping up as a battle royal of medical experts..." [read more]

no blarney

Happy Saint Patricks Day!


May you always walk in sunshine.
May you never want for more.
May Irish angels rest their wings
right beside your door.

curiouser and curiouser

I have never been able to figure out why so many love to hate JonBenet, meaning those that speak derogatorily of a brutally murdered 6 year old. Makes me wonder. There is the one extreme - those creeps that fantasize and covert from afar with the other end of the spectrum being those that seem to somehow hold a six year old responsible for her own murder.

The article below is a new angle and low in negativity. Apparently horribly miscast as the muse for a 1985 production of Alice in Wonderland, this movie occurred long before JonBenet was even born and a nearly a decade before the vicious murder - -

Alice, Bratty in Wonderland
Published in the Daily Beast
by Nicole LaPorte

"From Lewis Carroll to Tim Burton, Alice has always been one of fiction's biggest pills. Nicole LaPorte traces her evolution from Victorian know-it-all to '50s princess to JonBenét clone....

Alice entered her JonBenét Ramsey stage in 1985—of course, on American television. In this small-screen movie, directed by Harry Harris, Alice is a walking American Girl doll, played by Natalie Gregory, and she's so young that the script has her state her age, 7 and a half, though that feels like a stretch. Here, she transforms into that classic, distinctly American child who is alternately cute and bratty and, ultimately, supremely annoying....[...read more]

the right stuff

With few case updates from Boulder authorities, from the public's view it might appear that only the Ramsey's and their investigators are still leading the search for leads to the killer of JonBenet. I am not at all convinced a lack of updates is any indication that law enforcement still considers the Ramsey family under a parasol of persecution after the family was exonerated in 2008, long after some 200 others were cleared because their DNA and other forensic evidence is not consistent with that which was left behind at the crime scene.

On that note, one of wrongful prosecution, the story attorney and award winning CBS correspindant Erin Moriarity is about to unveil on 48 Hours will demonstrate some of what it takes for a law enforcement officer to step outside 'group think' in pursuit of justice in the murder of Mischelle Lawless - -

Lawless murder case to be subject of '48 Hours Mystery' episode
Published in the Southeast Missourian
By Erin Hevern

"A murder case more than 17 years old, a man wrongfully convicted of the crime and a sheriff determined to find the real killer are the essence of Saturday's "48 Hours Mystery" hosted by Erin Moriarty....

In 1992, Lawless, 19, was shot three times in her vehicle on the Interstate 55 offramp near Benton, Mo.

Walter and Lawless' family hope the 60-minute segment, set to air at 9 p.m., will prompt people with information to come forward.

"That's what you hope for every day, especially when we're closer than we've ever been in solving the case," Walter said Wednesday.

Moriarty, who has been a correspondent for the show for 20 years and reported on the JonBenet Ramsey investigation and the defense of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, said Saturday's broadcast is special to her.

Walter "is a very impressive individual who really does seem to put the whole issue of justice ahead of his own personal interest," Moriarty said. "I've never run into this. A sheriff bucked the system to do what's right." [...read more]