I don't think there was a way to pull this guy in quietly.
Of course there was. They didn't have to alert the media. It's really quite simple.
Hell, they didn't even have to tell the Thai authorities that the guy was suspected of being involved in the Ramsey case. He was wanted for crimes in California, and that's all the Thai police really needed to know.
Someone contacted the media and let them know what was happening. And it wasn't Lacy's fault (entirely) that the media acted as it did (the headlines screaming that the case was "solved" added to the appearance of DA incompetence IMO). However, as a columnist said today, "the media "couldn't have picked this guy out of a crowd, especially in Bangkok -- 'Hey, let's pin this 10-year-old murder on him!'"
I agree that Lacy did the right thing in investigating this guy, but she had choices in how to do it and she constantly made bad choices. She did not have to take the steps she did in the order she did. First, she could have read the case file and become familiar with the evidence (which would have made it apparant IMO that the emails were contradictory and most probably the work of a kook...a sick kook, but nonetheless one that probably wasn't involved in the Ramsey case). Second, she could have kept the guy under survelience in Thailand doing the preliminary investigative work, with the detectives in Thailand moving in to arrest the guy only if he showed signs of fleeing. Or she could have asked California to cooperate, have them contact Thai authorities to pick up the guy for extradition to California while the Boulder LE did their preliminary investigative work. Most of all, she should have told EVERYONE involved that if anyone leaked anything to media that there would be hell to pay, and who on earth made the decision to let Karr give interviews to the media or give the media access to him on the plane???
And THAT is the number one issue I have with how the "investigation" into Karr was handled. There was NO NEED to contact the media. And the fact that, IMO, she didn't realize that the first thing the Ramsey team would do was just that (and I'm guessing it was them) shows how little she understands about the issues surrounding this case.
If Boulder LE ever tries to bring substansive charges against someone, there is no doubt that they will use this episode to try to establish reasonable doubt in the mind of jurors. "Someone else confessed." Or, "Look at these keystone lawyers, rushing half-way around the world to arrest a kook, can you really believe they have the right person?" The whole episode has damanged what was left of this case. And to a great extent the fault rests with the Boulder DA's office.