In the truth is stranger than fiction department, as if things couldn't get any more bizarre in the coverage of suspect John Mark Karr in the Jonbenet Ramsey murder investigation, now comes this: Karr had made several visits to a sex-change clinic in Thailand.

Staff at the Pratunam Clinic, Thailand's top transgender center, said Saturday that John Mark Karr, 41, was a patient but wouldn't say how close he was to getting "sexual-reassignment" surgery. The disclosure came a day after it was discovered that Karr sought cosmetic surgeons' help changing his face in Bangkok. In his nine months there, he made 12 phone calls from his hotel room, nine to plastic surgeons.

... Two calls were to the Pratunam Clinic, which specializes in putting men under the knife to become "ladyboys," as they are called locally, and sponsors the annual World's Most Beautiful Transsexual competition. It charges $1,600 for the surgery, which could cost $25,000 in the West.

"Yes, he had treatment here," a representative said. "He was our patient. He came a number of times. But we cannot give out details on his treatment as we are ethically bound to keep these things private."

He's on his way back to the U.S. His plane will land in L.A. tonight.