People kept calling yesterday, sometimes a dozen in an hour, and Dr. Cyril Wecht's schedule kept stretching, until just about every last minute required the Pittsburgh-based forensic pathologist to speak in complicated terms about a complicated murder case.

The news media was devouring all developments about both JonBenet Ramsey, the 6-year-old Colorado beauty pageant queen killed in 1996, and John Mark Karr, the slender teacher arrested Wednesday in Thailand who confessed to the long-unsolved crime. Some eight years earlier, Dr. Wecht had co-authored a book, "Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?" giving him expert status in the most recent examination of the prurient story lines.

The former Allegheny County coroner had landed back in Pittsburgh at 4:30 Wednesday afternoon, returning from New Orleans. Minutes after, he learned for the first time of Mr. Karr. And 24 hours after that, he'd appeared on MSNBC, Fox News and Court TV, while sitting in the Pittsburgh Video Tech studio on Stanwix Street.

"I don't keep track, but I would say, without exaggeration, that I've had well more than 100 phone calls, including from Australia and Canada and coast-to-coast in this country," Dr. Wecht said.

He performed radio interviews during his spare minutes. He answered a few newspaper reporters' calls. He faced the repeating pattern of questions -- well, at least until the afternoon rolled around, and folks began doubting Mr. Karr's involvement, and a circus case grew even stranger.

Mr. Karr had told investigators a few things that drew suspicions about his confession. He talked about drugging JonBenet, and raping her. But her autopsy -- Dr. Wecht examined the report and based much of his book on his findings -- showed no evidence of drugs or rape. So in interviews yesterday, Dr. Wecht heaped doubt upon Mr. Karr's story, warning about false confessions.

"It's clear [Mr. Karr] has been following this case, and he's developed a fixation," Dr. Wecht said. "But the fact that he stepped forward and said he did that, that does not -- does not -- eliminate the need for more questions. Just because somebody says 'I did it' doesn't mean it's the end of the ballgame."

Dr. Wecht's involvement in the case began in January 1997, when a grocery store tabloid, The Globe, presented Dr. Wecht with photos of the girl's death scene. He concluded that she'd been molested both the night of the slaying and before. A year later -- without traveling to Colorado, but after examining the autopsy report and partnering with an investigative journalist -- Dr. Wecht had his book.

Though it stopped short of suggesting a killer, the book's findings allowed little reason to suspect an outsider.

So by yesterday afternoon, Mr. Karr's story already faced holes, and Dr. Wecht had a practiced, extensive answer designed to highlight them. For instance, Dr. Wecht began -- how does Mr. Karr come to know not only the family, but intimate details about the interior of their house ... the spiral staircase ... the darkened area in the basement, where the body was found ... the mystery point-of-entry, when indeed, little evidence suggested a break-in?

And how, Dr. Wecht continued, can one explain the ransom note, a demand for $118,000, seemingly predicated on inside knowledge that JonBenet's father had received an identical bonus payment one year prior?

And Dr. Wecht rushed forward, gaining momentum while expressing his concerns about Mr. Karr's confession. Dr. Wecht talked about the "instrumentation" used in the note and the "facile, adroit" movements necessary for such a perfect murder.

"[The suggestion] that he drugged her, raped her -- these things are pathologically, psychologically erroneous," Dr. Wecht said.

So far, Dr. Wecht said, his book's contention that no outsider was involved has stood the test of time.

"Depending on what happens with Mr. Karr," he said, "we'll see whether it continues to represent a plausible theory."