The Karrs

The many faces of John Mark Karr

Alexis Valoran Reich; Delia Alexis Reich; Daxis das Verdammte; Caelitus, Dark Prince of the Immaculates; John Mark Karr, Freak of Nature, et cetera, et cetera

There is something poetic in the the life and times of John Mark Karr. Gentle readers will perhaps remember Karr as the bizarre personality who stepped forward in 2006 to take credit for the kidnapping and murder of JonBenet Ramsey. After a short investigation, police determined that he had in fact done nothing wrong, was kurbashed for annoying everyone for a few hours, and sent on his irrelevant way. Then, we knew him as a bent individual obsessed with the 6-year-old beauty queen--twisted and disturbing as that is in itself. Now he has emerged as a certified freak of nature. The man, and I use the term loosely, has built a resume most of us only dream about, usually after a blurry night in the vomit runnels of Old Cancun. He helps us to define life's elusive quality of "afictivity," that is, being too strange to operate as fiction. Here, then, are a few articles detailing his rich exploits:

John Mark Karr Re-Emerges to Form a JonBenet Cult

Search Warrants Issued for JonBenet Lookalike Cult Leader John Mark Karr

I mentioned a poetic quality in all of this--assembled fragments of the very strange reportage read almost like found poetry:

John Mark Karr, 46 * reputed pedophile * falsely confessed to murdering JonBenet Ramsey 2006 stirs international sensation * has had a sex change operation in the past two years * now goes by various names * "Alexis Valoran Reich," occasionally "Delia Alexis Reich" * married a 13-year-old and later a 16-year-old in the 1980s * has been trying to create a cult of JonBenet Ramsey lookalikes he calls "the Immaculates" * may be armed, seeking shelter from followers * blond girls 4 - 6 years old with small feet * internet aliases Daxis das Verdammte, Drk Prnz, Caelitus, F.O.N. (Freak Of Nature) * rules the only place on the Web that tells the truth about him * written in third person and called Lei Sussurra (Latin for "I murmur") * Occupation: Nanny, teacher, tutor, child care giver, computer repair and instruction * threatened 19-year-old Samantha Spiegel * met Karr when she was 9 and he was a teacher's aide at elite Convent of the Sacred Heart Catholic School in San Francisco * he taught her fourth-grade class * voluntarily surgically castrated in 2006 * Karr demanded that she recruit young girls into The Immaculates * Alexis was last seen in a metropolitan Seattle, WA shelter * "If you deceive me," he replied, "I will kill you. I know where you live" * "Reich" has as many as 30 "minions" * Principius Caelitus Immaculatae * often lives in homeless shelters and uses Craigslist to find rooms for a few days at a time * "If you cost me my little girls I will hunt you down and kill you" * lei sussura * "He checks my website 80 times a day" * Reich failed to respond to e-mail messages from Fox News * refused to comment * he was trying to look younger * last seen living in a shelter for battered women in Seattle * In one of his last messages, Karr wrote: "I want to hurt you..." * I murmur * "The life he leads is purely speculative."