Paducah police say confession of suspected killer legitimate

PADUCAH, Ky. -- Paducah police say a suspected serial killer's confession to a 1979 kidnapping and murder of a Paducah woman is valid.

Paducah assistant police chief Danny Carroll said Timothy Krajcir's statement about the 1979 strangulation death of Joyce Tharp is legitimate because Krajcir gave specifics about the killing.

"I have no reason to believe that someone else was responsible for her death," said Carroll, who interviewed Krajcir. "He gave us details that were specific enough to totally confirm he was present and responsible."

Krajcir's statements about Tharp's death and eight other murders came into question Friday, when the police chief in Mount Vernon, Ill., said Krajcir's confession to a 1981 attack there was false. Mount Vernon police chief Chris Mendenhall said Krajcir likely got information about the attempted murder of 72-year-old Ida White from fellow inmate Grover Thompson when both were at the Illinois prison's psychiatric ward. Thompson died in 1996.

Carroll said there were two other suspects in the Tharp murder but no evidence they ever crossed paths with Krajcir.

-- The Associated Press