Jana, I'd like to point out that Burke wasn't a small child at the time of his sister's death. He was much taller than his little sister. There's a family photo around here somewhere (Grandpa and Grandma Paugh with the children) that was taken in a time period, December 1996, near JonBenet's death. The photo appears in the photo section of the Ramsey's book "Death of Innocence" just next to page 179. Both children, JonBenet and Burke are standing and Burke is much taller than his sister. In fact, in the photo Burke is standing next to his grandpa and comes up to mid chest of his grandpa, who looks to be fairly tall himself.
Plus of course Burke had already hit JonBenet by accident with a golf club years before...what did they do then? they called for help of course...if he'd accidentally killed her , they would have done the same ,
let's say Burke did in the early hours of the morning accidentally kill his sister...in order to do all that staging the Ramseys must have discovered this pretty soon after it happened....there was no reason for them NOT to call for help...it has been said by Kolar in his book I believe, that JonBenet was alive for at least 90minutes after that blow to the head.....so why would they assume she was dead after Burke accidentally striking a blow ???? they wouldnt they would have called the ambulance...like they did when he accidentally wacked her last time...imo
FairM, I certainly get your point when you compare the golf club accident to an accidental killing Christmas night and that the Ramsey would react the same: call for help.
But there is a different element involved with the Christmas night accident that wasn't there with the golf club accident: JonBenet's body had evidence of sexual activity. I believe this would motivate Patsy, especially, and John probably, to try and keep Burke's name from any part of the accident.
A report on an accidental death caused by her older brother? Yes, call for help.
But, catching Burke playing "doctor" and sexually abusing his sister which then resulted in his lashing out and hitting her once she screamed, in my opinion would definitely be something that would keep the parents from calling for help and would want to cover up. There is no way the parents would want this part of the situation reported. So, in desperation to keep this information a "secret" I do believe Patsy and John would take steps, dramatic steps, to hide Burke's involvement.
I have a feeling the "playing doctor" or whatever you want to call it, was an on-going problem in the household. Perhaps Burke had been caught before and was warned sternly by his parent(s) not to do it again. Therefore, I can see where Burke would react by striking his sister to keep her quiet so he would not be caught again.
It's just my theory. But I think it's one to be considered when you look at the entire picture of what might have occurred and why a cover up by the parents would be warranted.