ATLANTA -- It has been almost a year since John Mark Karr was brought back into the United States to face murder charges in the JonBenet Ramsey case.

Ten years after JonBenet's death, the case was back in the spotlight.

The former suspect in the young beauty queen's death opened up to CBS46's Jennifer Mayerle.

"I was with Jon Benet when she died," Karr said in 2006.

The world first met Karr when he uttered those words in August 2006 after being tracked down in Thailand for the murder of JonBenet Ramsey.

The Atlanta native had fled the country in 2001, on the run from child pornography charges in California.

"I had no plans of returning to the United States ever," Karr said.

Karr was working as a teacher with plans to change his appearance by undergoing a sex change, but emails he exchanged about the Ramsey case became public and landed him in trouble with the law.

"I opened the door and was flooded by Thai authorities," Karr said.

When asked if he knew why authorities were there, Karr responded, "Yeah, I did. I mean it was just inevitable that was eventually going to happen to me."

Mayerle asked if Karr was surprised that he was arrested. "No," Karr said. "Absolutely not."

And so Karr was thrust into the spotlight.

Some thought the decade-old murder mystery of the child beauty queen was finally solved. Days later, DNA cleared Karr and the charges were dismissed, starting a firestorm of controversy that still remains.

Mayerle: John, did you kill JonBenet Ramsey?
Karr: I answered that question last year and I'm not taking it back.
Karr: (From August 2006)I was with Jon Benet when she died. Her death was an accident."
Mayerle: When you answered that question you were truthful?
Karr: I was truthful. I do not lie and I did not lie then.
Mayerle: You told me over the phone that JonBenet wasn't afraid, that she did not suffer.
Karr: Yeah.
Mayerle: How do you know that?
Karr: Because it's true.
Mayerle: When she died she was not afraid?
Karr: No.
Mayerle: She didn't suffer?
Karr: No.

Karr claimed that he knew JonBenet Ramsey long before her untimely death and that he had been to the family's Boulder, Colo. home several times, even prior to JonBenet's death.

"I feel her presence every day like we all do who knew her and loved her," Karr said. "She was just larger than life, she was incredible she was always the focus to me. It was just hard not to be focused on her. She's beautiful and colorful and creative and the way she talked and she was just an interesting little girl."

For the first time, Karr allowed a CBS46 camera to roll while he visited the cemetery where JonBenet is buried. It is a place Karr said he visits frequently and a place where he reflects.

"If I spend the rest of my life in prison it will never pay back for the loss of her life," Karr said. "If my life were taken by lethal injection it would not suffice. It would not be good enough. My life is not worth as much as her life."

Just a step away from JonBenet's grave is her mother's, Patsy Ramsey.

Ramsey passed away in June 2006, a few months before Karr's arrest.

"I wanted her to have closure and understanding and peace before she passed away," Karr said. "I thought that it was very important and I pray I was able to give her some semblance of that."

CBS46 will talk to Karr Tuesday at 11 p.m. about his life now, his time in Atlanta, his fiancée and his father.

The three other child deaths he has been investigated for and if he is afraid for his own life will be only on CBS46 News at 11 p.m.

Previous Stories:

• July 13, 2007: Judge Orders Counseling For Karr
• July 9, 2007: John Mark Karr Released On Bond
• July 7, 2007: John Mark Karr Arrested In Domestic Dispute