I know I will probably never be able to completely lay to rest the theory that the chloroform came from a combination of cleaning supplies, but since we are nearly in our 40th day of rain up here in CT, I thought I'd give it a shot before I hopped on the ark.
:fish:
Let's talk about bleach. :talker: The odor analysis done by the FBI was pretty thorough in identifying every compound found in the trunk's air. :thumb: Setting aside for now the question as to whether or not bleach would alter the carpet or stain coloration ... if KC used bleach on the trunk stain, one would expect that the constituent compounds of bleach would be detected in the trunk air sample.
The compounds are (from Wikipedia):
sodium hypochlorite
... plus ...
hydrogen peroxide or a peroxide-releasing compound such as:
sodium perborate
sodium percarbonate
sodium persulfate
sodium perphosphate
urea peroxide ... plus ...
catalysts and activators, e.g. tetraacetylethylenediamine and/or sodium nonanoyloxybenzenesulfonate.
Looking through the list of chemicals found in the trunk air sample on pages 6570 and 6571,
not one of the constituent compounds that make household bleach were found.
Acetone and Toluene. Both are common constituents of nail polish remover. They are also both byproducts of human decomposition and were found in the trunk, so their presence does not prove KC tried to use nail polish remover or some other similar
solvent on the stain. Less common ingredients, such as Isopropyl Alcohol and Dibutyl Adipate were not found in the trunk air sample.
IMHO, it would not occur to KC to even think :waitasec: of using a solvent on the stain. Bleach made more sense to me ... as does laundry detergent or even Febreeze, neither of which contain the chemicals necessary to create chloroform.
The paper towels. LE's chemical analysis found VFA's consistent with human and pig decomposition, as well as compounds consistent with marijuana. They did not note any compounds consistent with cleaning fluids. The fact that none were mentioned strongly implies to me none were used.
My personal opinion is that KC first got wind of a trunk odor problem when a facefull of decomp smell surprised her as she opened the trunk to put the empty gas cans in it on the 23rd. :sick: She did nothing about it at that time, and on the 24th had to race George to the car to keep him from noticing.
Sometime between the 24th and the 27th, KC decides she needs an odor alibi :idea: and throws a bag of trash from Tony's in the trunk - just in case. She stops by mom & dad's on the 27th to pick up a few things and ... while she's there decided maybe to see if she can do something about that smelly stain.
Now remember, this is KC we are talking about - the grown woman who left smelly slacks in her car and did not bother washing them. :bang: Lazy KC grabs a few paper towels and dabs at the stain. A little comes up, but by this time most of liquid would have dried out. I can almost hear her thinking to herself "hey, it is pretty much dried out. Maybe it will start going away sometime."
So, having completed her hardest work of the week she tossed the paper towels into the bag and headed back to Tony's. :run: Whistling away as she drove :whistle:, she pats herself on the back and texts Amy to tell her that she took care of that squirrel problem.