After about a month away to get out of mental ruts, I've been re-reading the thread.
For a fast up-front summary, now I'm rock solid on 1) it's a woman, 2) she's been criminally assaulted, and 3) however she got like that, no way it's a backbend.
Going the other way, I make more allowance than before that she could be alive in the picture.
When I made the suggestion Alcala was out there hoisting her, I thought it more likely than not the correct interpretation. Now I'm less sure, more like 70-30 the other way. (Better chance it's HER legs in the jeans.)
What follows is rehash, stuff I and others on the thread have said before. It may be a "skip" for those so minded. Nevertheless, to "show my work," here goes.
We have "man" in the thread title, but the question arose early: man or woman?
Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Man Hanging Upside Down In Dense Foilage
The obvious cropping doesn't prove we have a woman, of course. Other scenarios have been offered on the thread.
Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Man Hanging Upside Down In Dense Foilage
The shadow profile on the arm clinched it for me.
The angle of that shadow line on the arm would be far more vertical for a man. At the top edge of the picture, you can see where breasts are starting to come out at you. That's the "fleshy" appearance noted in post 13 linked above. The profile shadow proves they keep right ON coming out well into the cropped area.
Not a man--with or without clenching pectorals--or a flat-chested woman. A woman with a respectable set.
Next issue. "Crime in progress" or "nothing to see here, move along?"
It was pointed out by several posters that the police say they are not publishing the two or three pictures they say they have in which a person looks deceased. Thus THIS picture must be OK.
Indeed yes, if they saw everything we see. (And maybe more in the cropped area.) But, with a thousand pictures to consider, they may not have given this one the close attention it has since received on this forum.
Most of the evidence of foul play is hard to spot. Magnification and cranking of brightness are often needed.
Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Man Hanging Upside Down In Dense Foilage
As pointed out in the post above, a really dark, almost black area lies inside the shadow the arm casts on the forehead. It's also inside a larger area of reddish-brown discolored skin. That's TWO discolorations, black inner and reddish outer. You can maybe dismiss the livid outer area as "exertion flush"--even that's quite a stretch for me--but I don't see how the blackish region is anything but a wound. It's big and nasty. It has not been addressed by those arguing for "nothing to see here."
There are several blood trails and they're on both sides of the face.
Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Man Hanging Upside Down In Dense Foilage
The blood trails go up the face. They can only have been made while the person was hanging upside down. That's very bad.
There's a reddish area visible at the top of the cheek just under the near eye. It looks like this discoloration extends into the facial area hiding behind the plant. Is it bruising, post-mortem lividity, or exertion flush?
Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Man Hanging Upside Down In Dense Foilage
There's the way not all the hair hangs down, some staying plastered to the head as if matted in thickening, drying blood.
An ear-to-ear red stripe on the throat. This shows well in a post that matches features with another Alcala subject.
Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Man Hanging Upside Down In Dense Foilage
Rodney Alcala took this picture. There's visible, concrete evidence within it that this woman has been 1) beaten and 2) strangled. In every case in which the examiner could make a determination, Rodney Alcala's known victims were beaten and strangled. The phrase runs like a refrain through the list.
So, no innocent scenario, and no backbend. She can't be in shape for that. Being choked out even once is bad enough, but that head wound? I've made other arguments from the difficulty of the posture before on the thread but those are irrelevant now.
She may or may not be dead in the photo. The autopsy report on Jill Barcomb mentions MULTIPLE stranglings with different items, the last and fatal time being with the jeans leg still around her neck when she was found. Thus, in the photo, this person may have been choked once--less than fatally. Alcala left the LAST ligature on the body in at least three cases, but there is nothing on the neck in the photo.
The position of the head is off from vertical as though she were raising it. Maybe she is.
Those are all indications she may be alive.
Or, the head may just be lolling freely from some disturbance. Say, if she is being hoisted (or lowered, or just bumped) by a man in blue jeans. Another thing: if the reddened skin areas aren't from the flush of exercise, then they're more likely from choking or post-mortem pooling.
There's the chance he beat her, choked her out, molested her, and let her go. Alcala survivors exist. My heart is rooting for her to still be alive somewhere and over it. My head says not to bet.
Here's a line of reasoning for the blue jeans belonging to Rodney. While he liked posing the bodies, I know of no instance where he put clothes back ON anybody, nor did he leave his victims clothed. So, if those are HER jeans, does that mean nothing much has happened yet? It sure looks like a lot has.
So, if they aren't on her, they're probably on HIM. He shows up in his own pictures once in a while. No third person is needed to explain this. Any high-end camera had the necessary feature, a timed shutter release. Set it up, start the timer, and you have as much as 30 seconds to run around and get ready.
If the blue jeans are on her, what appear to be wet stains could be from her bladder letting go when she was choked out. If they're on Rodney, they could be because he at some point took a spill on his rear into something wet. Then, maybe the wet look is just a trick of the light on the tie-dyeing.