Yes, there should be some way to tell from the crime scene photos exactly where TA is positioned on the tile and which way his head is facing. I wish we had more crime scene analysis on this issue.
Here's some more analysis. The tile marbling orients us as to the location of Travis' body and the location and direction of the camera for the photo.
The tile marbling shown in the foreground of the first bleeding photo is a match for the tile marbling depicted in the police photo (see circled).
The camera is facing toward the bathroom and away from the carpet. I've also assumed that it is Jodi's right foot that we are seeing in the photo, and added a possible location of her left foot.
For me, this scenario works best, although how the camera happened to be on the floor facing the murder continues to be a mystery. I think this position gets Jodi in a leveraged location to continue the attack after Travis fell on his back. I suspect Travis was putting up a rather weak fight at this point, having been shot in the head and stabbed in the heart at the sink as he turned around to face Jodi (my favorite scenario
)
Note the location of heavy blood stains seems consistent with a lot of blood letting here. I think this is where Travis was almost, but not quite yet, overcome.
To get to the carpet, Travis, in a final instinctive 'fight or flight' attempt at self-preservation, managed to roll to his left, get on his hands and knees, and brush up against the wall, smearing the wall with his blood (notice the blood smear height would be consistent with this). He could get no further than onto the carpet, and collapsed face down, perhaps pushed down by Jodi before she sliced his neck, perhaps leveraged with her knee on his back. She obviously did most of her gruesome work on Travis' left (assuming he is face down), where all the bloody sock-prints are.
As to the issue of whether his neck was sliced on the tile or the carpet, I come down on the side of at least the final coup de grace occurring on the carpet. However, the amount of blood streaming down Travis' shoulder in the photo might suggest he suffered an initial attempt at a throat slash while on his back. She might have hit a major vein/artery during an initial attempt. Travis might have realized he was a goner in this position, prompting his last gasp to roll over to his left and protect himself with what ability and strength he had remaining. Travis' right arm is in a defensive position in the photo, and he might even have a grip on Jodi's knife-wielding forearm at that instant.
I have a hard time imaging Jodi holding onto the camera through all this. I also have a hard time imagining her holding the camera for the last photo. If she is dragging Travis' body back to the shower in the last photo, I would think she would be using both hands.
But that camera. It remains quite the mystery....
Dave
