Ex-suspect pleased Ramsey family cleared

BOULDER, Colo., July 10 (UPI) -- A former suspect in the death of JonBenet Ramsey says he is pleased the family was cleared of the child's death, but it should have happened years ago.

"I'm extremely pleased that District Attorney (Mary) Lacy would acknowledge once and for all that this family and any members of this family is not responsible for their daughter's death, and their sister's death," John Mark Karr said on Fox's "On the Record." "It's just this should have happened a long time ago."

Karr was arrested in August 2006 in Thailand after confessing to the child's murder, but was released after his DNA didn't match DNA found at the crime scene.

Parents Patsy Ramsey, who died in 2006, and John Ramsey have been subjects of intense media speculation since the child beauty queen, 6, was killed in her Boulder, Colo., home in 1996. They were cleared Wednesday because of new DNA evidence testing.

"I think the news today is that the Ramsey family has been granted at least some degree of closure," Karr said, "but I think that it's very important that someone like Mary Lacy, who is the district attorney in Boulder, would acknowledge that they are innocent."