You said: "It isn't that there were no prints found on the flashlight. It's that no usable prints were found." Are there other types of non-usable fingerprints besides partial or smudged?
Thomas strongly suggested in JonBenet that the flashlight had been wiped inside and out. Since I think the flashlight was probably the murder weapon, it would make sense that the outside had been wiped. An intruder wouldn't wipe the batteries, though. If fingerprints of some type had actually been found somewhere on the flashlight or its batteries, then I might have to revise my thinking. Hence my question.
fr brown,
Some thoughts on the flashlight:
I reckon the flashlight is the prime candidate for causing JonBenet's head injury.
This cannot rule JonBenet falling onto something hard and whacking her head, say as the result of an unwanted act?
Now if JonBenet has an accident then dialling 911 should not be an issue, yet this never occurred.
Head trauma as a precursor to sexual assault is possible but this was not a stranger attack so it looks unlikely.
Meaning the sexual assault came first followed either by the head trauma or asphyxiation?
Asphyxiation could follow the sexual assault as a means of restraint with the head trauma a failed attempt at staging, i.e. cause of death not visible?
Coroner Meyer's autopsy cites the cause of death as: Asphyxia by strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma.
i.e. the head injury plays a part but the major deciding factor is the strangulation.
What role, in your opinion , does the head trauma play in the death of JonBenet?
IMO cleaning the flashlight was a mistake since we know it belonged to the Ramsey's it should have their fingerprints on the surface.
The only reason to wipe the batteries is if you know you touched them, i.e. when changing them say during a staging session?
If the flashlight is the
Murder Weapon would the killer tell the other two residents that this is the case?
Why would the killer need a flashlight say distinct from a hammer? There were ceiling and bedside lighting in all the bedrooms?
Yet JonBenet's bedroom ceiling light was not functioning, only her bedside lamp (new) was working.
So a motive for carrying a flashlight might be to navigate JonBenet's bedroom?
Dr Phil Interview with Burke Ramsey, episode 2, excerpt
Dr Phil: I think your dad had said he used the flashlight that night to put you to bed, and then you snuck downstairs to play?
Burke: Yeah, I had some toy that I wanted to put together. I remember being downstairs after everyone was kinda in bed, and wanting to get this thing out.
Dr Phil: Did you use the flashlight, so you wouldn't be seen?
Burke: I don't remember. I just remember being downstairs, I remember this toy.
Dr Phil: Did you hit your sister over the head with a baseball bat or a flashlight?
Burke:Absolutely not.
Patsy on the flashlight:
1998 Boulder Police Department Patsy Ramsey Interview Excerpt
7 cameras out and other things.
8 PATSY RAMSEY: I'm not a very good
9 housekeeper.
10 TRIP DeMUTH: There was a video camera, I
11 think, on that kitchen island there or something
12 like that. I may not have that exactly.
13 PATSY RAMSEY: I vaguely remember a video
14 camera being out because I was probably turning
15 it up to take pictures Christmas morning but
16 then we never ended up taking any.
17 TRIP DeMUTH: Uh-huh (yes). Did you guys
18 use this flashlight much?
19 PATSY RAMSEY: I didn't, no.
20 TRIP DeMUTH: Who did?
21 PATSY RAMSEY: John used it.
22 TRIP DeMUTH: What did he use it for?
23 PATSY RAMSEY: I don't know, looking in the
24 garage and the car or something like that.
25 TRIP DeMUTH: Okay. Had you ever seen it
0518
1 on the kitchen counter before?
2 PATSY RAMSEY: Not that I recall.
3 TRIP DeMUTH: Would it have struck you as
4 unusual, or would that not be outside the realm
5 of possibilities, given the habits of the
6 family?
7 PATSY RAMSEY: It seems like it would have
8 been unusual to have made it all the way into
9 the kitchen, because usually if somebody was
10 using the flashlight, they were -- John was
11 looking at something in the garage or under the
12 car or something like that.
13 TRIP DeMUTH: Okay.
14 PATSY RAMSEY: But he might, you know, I'm
15 sure you must have asked him if he...
16 TOM HANEY: And maybe I missed it, do you
17 know when you last saw it in the drawer?
18 PATSY RAMSEY: No, I'm not for sure.
19 TOM HANEY: Do you remember ever putting
20 batteries in it or buying batteries for it,
21 somebody says woop, the flashlight is low, get
22 us some --
23 PATSY RAMSEY: No.
24 TOM HANEY: -- C, D cells?
25 PATSY RAMSEY: No, it just kind of wasn't
0519
1 my, my thing, you know.
2 TOM HANEY: Okay. How about, do you recall
3 of using that during say a power outage or to
4 check on the kids at night, anything along those
5 lines?
6 PATSY RAMSEY: No, I don't remember that.
7 TOM HANEY: There are two more photos on
8 the back sides of the same flashlight. Next we
9 have photos that are numbered 113.
10 PATSY RAMSEY: Uh-huh (yes).
In the above cases John is the main user of the flashlight. He definitely wants it out there that he
handled the flashlight the
same night JonBenet was killed.
Yet no Ramsey, including Burke has offered a reason as to how the flashlight made its way back downstairs to the kitchen?
.
