Man Convicted of Fleecing O’Hairs but Not Kidnapping

AUSTIN, Texas —  An ex-convict was acquitted Friday of conspiring to kidnap atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair and her family but found guilty of extorting money from them.

O’Hair, her son Jon Garth Murray and granddaughter Robin Murray O’Hair disappeared in 1995, and authorities believe they were killed and dismembered, though their bodies were never found.

Gary Paul Karr, 52, convicted on four counts involving extortion, could face life in prison under the so-called federal three-strikes law because of his prior convictions. Sentencing was set for Aug. 4.

“There were a lot of missing pieces to the puzzle . . . bodies for one, a smoking gun,” juror Jeff Sloan said, explaining Karr’s acquittal on the charge of conspiracy to kidnap.

During the two-week trial, prison inmates testified that Karr told them he was involved in the slayings. And federal agents presented hundreds of telephone calls, car rentals, airplane trips and other financial transactions they said implicated Karr and showed he extorted money from the family.

Two defense witnesses said they saw O’Hair alive during the time prosecutors say she was kidnapped or killed--during the summer or fall of 1995 in a San Antonio bar and in a restaurant in Romania in 1997.

Karr’s attorney, Tom Mills, questioned the consistency of the verdict and suggested Karr would appeal.

O’Hair, an outspoken atheist, reveled in calling herself the most-hated woman in America and was involved in successful court battles in the 1960s to remove prayer and Bible reading from public schools.

She was America’s most prominent unbeliever--a combative foe of all organized religion--when she vanished at age 77. She suffered from diabetes and heart disease.