The tape rolls were found by the green blanket and the gray hoodie and men's pants, near the stream. So it's not likely they are not part of the crime.
Moxie, really good point that two partially used rolls of tape in the same place would suggest two people, each using one of the rolls. I wish we had more testimony about the rolls. Phaedra initially called them two empty rolls or duct tape. Then someone else (Molly or Max maybe?) said it was actually masking tape and the rolls were partially used, but I never heard an exact careful description.
With Phaedra's first and only glance being near dark and in a distraught state, but she perceived the rolls as empty, I'm guessing they were pretty well used (but not entirely).
Masking tape doesn't have much strength stall compared to duct or strapping tape, but the stickiness might be OK if it is used on something that grabs like a fibrous blanket.
To me the simplest theory is that all or parts of Charli were wrapped in the blanket and left out there, and the tape was used to keep the blanket in place. Then he came back and did something with the remains and left the blanket and clothing.
Not sure if you saw, but several days ago Detective Earls was testifying, basically doing an inventory of all the evidence he'd processed, and he spoke of the 2 thin rolls of yellow masking tape, noting that some tape was left on both rolls. Pictures were shown of the rolls on the courtroom flatscreen. They were found in a puddle between rocks IIRC at Nua'ailua.
I theorize that the tape was used to bind up the pieces of body in tarp - or in a container - at the time of removal (and maybe the zip ties found at Kaumahina were utilized as well, perhaps as a fail-safe). If they were used to secure the blanket on the night of the murder, I feel that pieces of tape probably would've been found on site.
Why would SC start another roll of tape before he was done with the original roll?
Maybe he just eyeballed the original roll, saw that it was very low, so he got the other roll because he knew he'd be needing a lot more tape than what was left on the original roll. This might indicate he was needing long pieces of tape...like long enough to fit around the trunk of a human body, and if he didn't think there was enough length left on the first roll, he started up on the 2nd roll.
Or, maybe there were 2 people there for the final removal, both working simultaneously on binding everything up into a tight, sealed "package."
I wholeheartedly agree that masking tape is an unusual tape to use - its intended use is to mask off areas in painting, but regular yellow masking tape not have a strong stickiness factor, is very easily torn, and does not hold up well at all in water (and we know all the items found were wet from being exposed to rain & the creek water).
