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BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- A suspect in the 1996 death of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey has begun his journey back to the United States where he is to be questioned by Boulder, Colorado, investigators.John Mark Karr, 41, said nothing as he walked out of the detention center in Bangkok, surrounded by Thai police officers, at 3 p.m. local time Sunday. Karr's face appeared emotionless. U.S. officials are accompanying Karr on the Thai Airways commercial flight that is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles at 8:40 p.m. (11:40 p.m. ET). Karr sat in business class and dined on paté and prawns, and drank champagne, a beer, and French chardonnay, while reports circulated in Bangkok that he had been a patient at a sex-change clinic there, an Associated Press reporter on board the flight reported. No decision has been made on where he will be taken upon arrival in the United States, a spokeswoman for the Boulder, Colorado, district attorney's office said Saturday. Several options have been discussed, including the possibility Karr may remain a while in California, Karen Salaz said. Karr, the father of three boys, was employed as a schoolteacher when he was arrested in April 2001 in Sonoma County, California, on five misdemeanor charges of possessing child pornography. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest seven months later when he failed to appear in court, according to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office. Cryptic reference The investigation on Friday was focusing on Karr's writings, including a 1982 high-school yearbook inscription he made for a friend. Karr on Thursday said he was involved in Ramsey's death. Her body was found December 26, 1996, in the basement of her family's home in Boulder. However, questions have since been raised about some of his statements. The yearbook entry ends with Karr writing in capital block letters, "Though, deep in the future, maybe I shall be the conquerer [sic] and live in multiple peace." A ransom note found in the Ramsey home ended with the word "Victory!" and was signed "S.B.T.C." Authorities want to know whether those letters might stand for "shall be the conquerer" and whether they could have been written by the same person. John Hargett, who once ran the documents section of the U.S. Secret Service, told CNN the letters represent "a very interesting coincidence." But he said he saw no similarity between the handwriting used in the ransom note and that in the yearbook. The chain of events that led to Karr's arrest began with a chance meeting in Paris in 2002 between him and Colorado author Michael Sandrock, AP reported. Karr was obsessed with the Ramsey case, and persuaded Sandrock to put him in touch with Michael Tracey, the journalism professor who eventually turned over to prosecutors some suspicious e-mails he received from Karr, Sandrock told AP. Murder scene secrets Under questioning by U.S. authorities in Bangkok, Karr has provided gruesome details about the condition of Ramsey's body -- information that had been kept secret for nearly a decade, a U.S. law enforcement source told CNN on Friday. The details were known only to the medical examiner and investigators looking into Ramsey's slaying, the law enforcement official said. Despite his remarks, Karr's ex-wife and family members insist he was not involved in Ramsey's death. Some observers have speculated that the 41-year-old may have falsely confessed -- either intentionally out of a desire to link himself to such a high-profile case or because he is delusional. Prison official: No tie to Polly Klaas Meanwhile, a search of personal effects of Richard Allen Davis yielded no evidence that Karr was in contact with the convicted child killer, said Vernon Crittendon, a spokesman at California's San Quentin prison. "We now are convinced that we have no evidence that shows that there's any correspondence taking place between Richard Allen Davis and John Karr," Crittendon said. Davis was convicted in the 1993 killing of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, who lived in Petaluma, California, where Karr also lived with his wife in 2000 and 2001. Karr was fascinated by both the Klaas case and the Ramsey killing, according to Karr's ex-wife Lara. Karr was arrested in Petaluma on charges of possessing child pornography. Did Karr contact the Ramseys? In late May, investigators from the Boulder district attorney's office approached Ramsey's parents, John and Patsy, with information that one or more e-mails had been intercepted expressing a desire to meet with them, according to their family attorney Lin Wood. Authorities said they were tracking an individual but did not mention his name, Wood said. Wood said he believed the e-mailer was Karr. The Ramseys had told investigators they were willing to meet with the unnamed person, if doing so would assist the investigation -- but the meeting never took place, Wood said. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer in June. Karr has said he did contact Patsy Ramsey, The Associated Press reported. The Rocky Mountain News published excerpts on its Web site Friday of what investigators say they believe are e-mails between Karr and Michael Tracey, a journalism professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder. One read: "JonBenet, my love, my life. I love you and shall forever love you. I pray that you can hear my voice calling out to you from my darkness. ..."
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