Hamilton, Ala. – John Mark Karr, the man accused of killing of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, kept children at a home day-care center he operated in northwest Alabama, the state welfare agency said today.
The Marion County Department of Human Resources issued a license for Karr to begin operating a day-care out of his rural home in June 1997, said John Bradford, a spokesman with the Alabama Department of Human Resources.
He said the sheriff’s department conducted a background check before the license was issued and no problems were found.
Karr didn’t receive any complaints before the two-year license expired in 1999, Bradford told The Associated Press.
“We do know he kept children, but it is really hard to get a handle on the number,” he said.
Karr, 41, has said he was with 6-year-old JonBenet when she was killed in the basement of her home in Boulder, in December 1996, but he called her death an accident. Karr was living with his ex-wife in Hamilton at the time of the slaying.
Karr is also wanted in California, where authorities have charged him with possession of child pornography.
