aspidistra
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Thank you so much for starting this. I was working on one last night from many sources so please take any of the information I found which you feel is important and add them in; and if there is disagreement among sources, or unverified, you could add a note to that effect. You will note some discrepancies because there are different explanations of dates for his mother's presence in his life. The sources of all this were newspaper stories, and interviews to the media by his relatives and family spokesman.Buzzm1 said:
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US public records index has a record (undated) for John Karr's one time residence:
John M Karr age 42 b 1964
Lara M Karr
2004 Chetwood Dr
Petaluma, Sonoma, Ca 94952
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from psych. profile on Wendy Hutchens' site (she was a police informant whom John gave this information to so some of it may be inaccurate):
John was born in Atlanta Georgia
moved to Hamilton Alabama age 5 (1969)
one older brother Michael and one younger half brother Nate who did not live with him as a child.
John's mother died when he was 14, i.e. 1978 (news reports say 2000).
In 2001, his brothers still lived in town where they were raised i.e. Alabama
The following are from newspaper sources primarily Atlanta Journal Constitution:
John's mother was Patricia Elaine Adcock
she was a travelling evangelist from Lovejoy, Ga, when she
married Wexford Karr on Aug 21, 1958. He was 37 and she was 18.i.e she was born about 1940/he was born in 1921.
They had two chidren, Michael, 47 this month and John, 41. So Michael was born Aug 1959.
John Mark Karr was b. Dec 12, 1964 (other sources say Dec 11)
Nathan S. Karr was born 1971. He is a half brother, so his mother must be Wexford's second wife Susan. Yet Wexford was still married to Patricia in 1971, though she was probably in the mental asylum at that time; he divorced Patricia in 1973. What happened to her after being committed is unknown and should be researched.
Wexford and Patricia separated in 1969. One source says he had tried to kill John as an infant by putting him in the center of a doughnut of kindling and lighting it; his brother rescued him; that this happened before he was one year old, she was either immediately or later committed to Central State Hospital. Wexford filed for div. 1973 in Clayton County.(reported in Atlanta Journal Constitution). Other sources say she was committed immediately after the attack which would mean John was 4 or 5 years old.
Denver Post says the mother laid out a blanket on the living room floor, set a guitar and bible on it and asked the boys to lie down. She then told them she would light the blanket and them on fire. Michael grabbed his brother's hand and took him to a neighbour. John was 4 at the time, and he and Michael went to Hamilton, Ala. to live with his paternal grandparents. Patricia was committed to Georgia State Hospital in Milledgeville, according to several reports (In 1837-42 the Georgia Lunatic Asylum, aka State Asylum for the Insane, Milledgeville State Hospital, now Central State Hospital (its name since 1967) was developed - source:Georgia Encyclopedia). Attorney speaking for Michael Karr, Gary Harris says John Karr has virtually no recollection of his mother. This is contradicted by John's psych profile where he says he was molested by his mother from birth to age 9 and she died when he was 14. In the profile he claims she molested him and was molested herself as a child, which caused his confusion all his life about his sexuality and his attraction to children.
At the time of the murder attempt the Karrs were living in an Atlanta apt. complex that Wexford owned. One of the tenants was Susan Simpson. He married her after Patricia was committed.
The boys were in his custody. Patricia received a $5,000 mobile home and $125 /m. alimony (source court papers; reported at ajc.com). It would be interesting to know if she lived in the mobile home after discharge from mental hospital or whether she remained in hospital the rest of her life.
Wexford remarried, age 52 (1973, right after divorce from Patricia) to Susan Simpson, 23 yrs younger., age 29. Marriage lasted 6 mos. (some sources say 9 months); divorced.
Wexford began career in construction industry in 1965. Son of a deacon from Hamilton, Ala., Wexford Karr moved to Atlanta Ga. after WW II and began construction and real estate business and active in his church. Still actively doing hard labor, climbing on roofs etc. in his 70s and up to the present.
Source: friend George McCrary, 76. Has known Wexford for 40 yrs.and worked with him in construction.
McCrary reported that Patricia tried to kill John when he was a baby. Michael, his older brother, saved him.
He related how Patricia was committed to a mental institution, now deceased. The accounts of her death vary.
One news report said his mother died in 2000 in car crash. However John's psych. profile says she died when he was 14, or 1978, of unnatural causes and that he might even have killed her.
We have no info yet on her treament or length of stay at the mental hospital. It is not clear whether John never saw her again after she was taken away, though the age at which this happened varies from age 4 to age 14.
One news report and several family interviewes said that John Mark Karr moved to Alabama to live with his paternal grandparents when he was about 12. His grandfather was a deacon at the church. John grew up in Hamilton, pop. 7,000, graduated h.s. there. 1982.
John attended one semester at Riverwood HS in Sandy Springs, Atlanta, from Jan to May 81, and lived there some years after graduating in Alabama.
In 1984 in Ala. married Quientana Shotts, born about 1970. He was 19 and she was 13 or 14. Annulled Mar 1985 9 mos later.
John married pregnant Lara Marie Knutson, 16, in May 1989. He was 24. Married at Gwinnett County courthouse in Lawrenceville.
2 infant twin girls named Angel and Innocence either died at birth or miscarried.
3 living sons. One source says the family moved to California where the 3 sons were born. John Mark II, Seven Exodus, and Damon.
Other facts known in brief:
Wexford Karr had a used auto dealership. This is where John obtained his fancy cars such as the Delorean and the Porsche which he considered "chick magnets" as a teenager. Wexford owned several houses and apartment complexes including some that were rented out.
John helped in his dad's construction business.
Note religious influences (evangelical protestant Christianity) on both sides of the family. John's mother and father were both involved in the church and so was his father's father.
John reportedly became a Catholic when working at a Catholic girls school before or around 2001.
