I thought you learned that the moon was not full that night or that it was overcast or something.
One thing to also consider is there was all kinds of artificial light on the corner where Darlie lived and back to the alley. Actually I should have said from the alley to the corner of their lot since the alley is closest to the entrance of the subdivision. There was a street light near the alley entrance, maybe across from their driveway on the other side of the street, and another street light across the other street (Eagle) which ran in front of Darlie's house, and three flood lights on in her front yard on the fountain. The lots are not huge so you basically have two street lights less than a half of block apart and three flood lights almost on top of them.....more than enough light to keep the area very well lit at night (and a horrible random choice for burglars or rapists). Makes you wonder if they were out of work actors looking for stage lights. (Ok, bad joke, I know.) But......
Now that we know the area is very well lit, we also have to take in consideration the heigth of the privacy fence around the back yard and how much of that light it would block out by creating dark shadows, etc. And were their blinds on the garage windows? If so, were they lowered or raised?
That being said, the window in question was closer to the back gate than I originally thought. Not sure what that means. I guess that it is just another detail to work into the puzzle of was there light or not in that garage?
I guess realistically that if there was an intruder it is possible he could have gotten thru the cluttered garage unscathed, but you almost have to have some evidence that the dude existed and was there that night to even entertain such possibilities.
At best though, I think the garage would not have been well lit. Some light might have helped but it was so cluttered and the path was not in a straight line, it was bound to be difficult for anyone to maneuver in the dark without knocking things over. Just no evidence that anyone other than the family was in the garage that night. So while there is a possibility, I think it is very, very slim in any workable application. You almost have to prove the intruder existed and that he was actually there that night to make this theory believable.