Colorado authorities were notified in 2001 about John Mark Karr's ''apparent fascination'' with the JonBenet Ramsey murder by California detectives investigating him in a child pornography case, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department said in a statement Wednesday. That notification is the earliest known time that Karr was brought to the attention of authorities investigating the 1996 slaying of the child beauty pageant contestant in her Boulder, Colo., home. The Boulder County district attorney's office did not immediately return calls for comment on the statement. Sonoma officials noted that to protect both investigations, the statement was cleared with the Boulder district attorney's office. Karr remained jailed in Los Angeles on Wednesday awaiting transport to Colorado, where authorities issued a murder warrant for his arrest.