ATLANTA -- The mother of the suspect in JonBenet Ramsey's murder tried to kill him when he was a baby, a family friend told ABC News in an exclusive story published on its Web site Tuesday.

ABC News interviewed George McCrary, 76, who said he was a friend of Karr's father, Wexford Karr, for the past 40 years. He said Karr's mother, Patricia Elaine Adcock, "made a big round doughnut (of kindling) and put him in the middle of it."

"She just boxed the little baby in and tried to light it," McCrary said. The alleged arson was thwarted by Karr's older brother Michael who "came running in just before she got the flame to the flammable material," McCrary added.

ABC News reported that Adcock was later committed to a mental institution. She died in 2000, according to an obituary in the Pittsburgh, Pa., Post-Gazette. ABC News attempted to reach Karr family members to verify the story but were unsuccessful.

McCrary told ABC News he was speaking independently.

"I am doing this because I love John and I love the family and I want people to know that while he certainly has some serious problems, John is a good human being and I love him and I will stand by him," McCrary told ABC News.

Click here to read the full story on ABC News.com.