Les Jones

True Crime > Karr Handwriting Comparison

This Rocky Mountain News article plays up some questions about handwriting expert Curtis Badgett's qualifications, but reading between the lines there seems to be an indication from people in the field that John Mark Karr wrote the ransom note found in the Ramsey's house.

Several other document examiners have said they are strongly leaning toward Baggett's conclusion based on a comparison of Karr's writing in a high school yearbook with the three-page note left on the Ramsey family stairway on the day JonBenet was reported missing.

In 2004, a federal magistrate in Maine also challenged Baggett's credentials and excluded his testimony in a civil case there.

Baggett said he was staking a large part of his reputation on his judgment that Karr wrote the ransom note. He said there were at least 12 points of similarity between the ransom note and the yearbook entry.

Texas document examiner Linda James, however, said that while there are similarities between the yearbook writing and the ransom note, more evidence is needed. "There are too many other things to consider," she said. She also said Baggett had considered similarities, but not dissimilarities.