Hi ambitioned, my apologies for the late reply- it's been a hectic week, and just trying to catch up now! Thanks so much for posting these pictures- they were exactly the ones I was talking about.
I take them as clear indication that JB was being abused in some way, for some time before her death. Poor little thing! So sad- but she was obviously a brave little girl, to keep smiling in spite of whatever private pain she was enduring. I'm no expert, but I've read and heard that many abused children are determined to try to put a brave face on things and keep smiling in public, when they can.
That's true. We've heard the classic symptoms of abused children, but that's kind of like looking for a rabid dog by seeing which one is foaming at the mouth: you'll only find one out of ten. And you have to figure that, with Patsy as her mother and her emphasis on outward perfection, the "brave face" would be heightened, regardless.
Whoever was doing it, Scandigirl, consider this: JonBenet would have been an even better victim for abuse (whoever was doing it) because of her training to be obedient.