As was stated before, there were no outward signs of violence at the scene. Numerous people were there, LE, the coroner, and EMT personnel, and no one saw anything out of the ordinary. Only after the autopsy at Scottsbluff to determine cause of death, did they know it was a homicide. The body was then sent to the state for further autopsy. If the blow that killed her was to the back of the head, which could mean she was trying to get away, the facial area might not have even been touched so nothing would show at the time.
Just my opinion on why the casket was closed. She had been through two autopsies examining the head and brain area, so along with post mortem bruising, that could explain that. LE has been beat up repeatedly on here for some unfortunate mistakes, and I'm sure they beat themselves up over it after the fact. There is nothing that can be done about that but carry on with what we have and throw out theories and suggestions to try and make up for it.
As far as the sheet washing, the general consensus is body fluid. If it had been blood, someone out of all those people present would have noticed I'm sure. You and everyone else hasn't a clue why they would want to wash and keep them. What else was done by "Friends" at the scene still remains a mystery. If we knew what else was cleaned up, straightened up, or even removed, that would be a highly helpful.
Hope this helps bring you up to speed without having to try and decifer all the posts.
Thats what I was getting at with my King Hit Theory, you know if we were to go down the bf theory of who did it, given his size, one king hit would kill a man so definitely a woman....
Now obviously given that there was no outward signs of violence - chronic bruising, blood and so on , that made the LE think it was a overdose in the first places gives pause to the fact that A) it was somewhere else and B) it was covered up
WHAT IF.....
Someone else was involved in the continual beating / kicking - a woman and then the BF finished it off with a king hit
Then the body was brought back to the house and thats when the sheets were messed up - with bodily fluid
Now I found this http://www.geoectomy.net/doku.php?id=strange:determining_time_of_death
Which shows the following (ive snipped out only up to how long her time was from alive to dead)
Timeline of Changes
The cessation:
Breathing becomes intermittent, and stops. There may be one last death-rattle breath. The muscles relax and the bladder and bowels evacuate their contents. The body generally loses heat at the rate of 1-1/2 degrees Fahrenheit per hour, depending on the environment, of course.
30 minutes after death
Blood sinks to the lower regions of the body, and loses some of the oxygen content. The skin becomes waxy; fingers and toes will turn blue, the eyes will flatten as they dry.
4 hours after death
Rigor mortis (the stiffening of the body) is noticeable. It hits first around the eyelids, jaw, neck and facial muscles before spreading to the larger muscles in the body.
6-8 hours after death
Livor Mortis sets in, causing upper regions to turn pale, while regions closer to the ground will become purplish and discolored. The cornea (the clear part) of the eye becomes blotchy or milky.
12 hours after death
Rigor Morits is in full swingthe body is essentially frozen.
So based on that there has to be an absolute of *when* she died (approximately anyway)
I am just curious where it says in th 6-8 hrs after death upper regions turn pale......what if that hid bruising ?
Also if it was more than one person , what about the application of makeup ? powder or foundation to cover bruises ?
The body wasnt overly bruised and battered at the time of LE arriving so not the case that they infact thought it a od.
So something happened because people bruise and she was not dark skinned.
So perhaps its to do with the time of death ie 6-8 hrs the upper regions turns pale...or makeup was applied ??
Just a few thoughts...
And yes I think its more to do with the two autopsies that the casket was closed and again if that is the case was all the damage internal ? which again its hard to fathom if there was a lot of beating / kicking there would a lot of bruising to the skin and even broken skin...
?