*******graphic*******
http://www.toledoblade.com/Police-Fi...hyxiation.html
"The autopsy report provides a time of death as 9 p.m. on July 22, which was the evening her body was found. An exact time of death was unclear in the report. There was no evidence of sexual assault."
IMO if this info is correct leads me to believe that she passed before he got her to the barn likely while trying to get her there. No sexual assault because he did not get the chance before she passed. I am thankful for that.
" An autopsy report shows that 20-year-old Sierah Joughin died of asphyxiation from a large plastic gag that was found in her mouth...... Her body, which was found intact, was located in a shallow grave in a hog-tied position. Her wrists were in handcuffs behind her back and her wrists were bound with rope to her ankles. Her ankles were taped together. "
My opinion on this is that she was still bound up like that for transporting her to his property. The large plastic gag was probably improvised on the spot. I am thinking a garbage bag or grocery bag. You don't need to gag a dead body. They are not going to yell for help.
Another thought is that he got her back to his property and then he either tried to go back to the scene or had been listening to a scanner and knew he would not have time with her and had to get rid of her. So he left her in the field as she was. I am thinking she may have still been alive when he left her there. His statements to LE was that he didn't steal anything or kill anyone. If she was still alive when he "buried" her and did not keep anything of hers then perhaps in his demented mind he is not lying and could pass a lie detector test. Maybe he thinks that if he left her before she died that he wouldn't be charged with murder just abduction. He talked his way out of that before. I would not be surprised if he was confident that he could talk his way out with a light sentence or slap on the wrist this time. I know to us normal people it is sickening but in his psychotic thoughts he probably has justified what he did as his defensive move after he perceived SJ did something to him that threatened or had potential to harm him in some way.