Let_Forever_Be
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2010
- Messages
- 264
- Reaction score
- 16
Welcome to the forum, LFB!
Yes he did. But what he said was "ligature strangulation associated with blunt force trauma to the head. Mayer was unable to determine which came first but both were listed as causes of death and both contributed to her death. Her autopsy determined that she was alive when she was strangled and also alive (for a brief time) after she was hit on the head.
IMO, her head bash came first, possibly to silence her after her scream. Then, when she collapsed (possibly into a coma- that was a VERY severe fracture), her death was seen as inevitable. But one problem- if they'd called 911 at that point, the head bash was the ONLY cause of death, and intended or not, whoever hit her would have been charged with either murder or manslaughter.
So the only "answer" was to provide a visible cause of death, and the ligature was very visible. Not being forensic specialists, they never thought about things like petechial hemorrhages or ligature furrows. It's one of the theories that makes sense to me, in any event.
The things I can't make fit are exactly what caused her to scream. And whether they thought she was dead when they applied the ligature. I can't see it being applied if they knew she was still alive. If she had been in a coma, her breathing may have been so shallow as to be undetectable, and shock would lower her body temp, not to mention she would be unresponsive and unable to be roused.
Thanks for the welcome Dee!
Great points. Thought-provoking to say the least! I must concede -- the issue of what came first, the strangulation or the head wound is a huge area of interest to me regarding this case.
I agree wholeheartedly about the 'scream' and how it fits in. The Ramseys' neighbour asserts she heard a scream about midnight which seems to fit in with the placement of the pineapple in JonBenet's digestion tract (it was perhaps ingested 2 hours prior). Part of me thinks the scream may be associated with the EA device. Not sure though.