This was what the maid had to say about the children's underwear:
From Perfect Murder, Perfect Town
These weren't naughty children. They dressed themselves, and Patsy did JonBenet's hair. All her daughter's clothes were organized in drawers. Turtlenecks in one drawer, pants in another, nighties and panties in one, socks in another. Dates on all their underclothes.
I remember lots of discussion back in the early part of the case history about the maid saying JB always wore day-of-the-week panties, but this is what I found in a quick google. Linda Hoffman Pugh was on talk show interviews, radio in Colorado, etc., as the case lingered, so I'm thinking she was asked about this again, but I can't swear to it as it's been so long ago.
One other thing off the top of my head: it took some time before LE realized the size of the Bloomies was significant. Thomas was asked by Lin Wood in his Wolf law suit deposition if Thomas had ever seen an autopsy photo of the Bloomies on JB's body, and I believe Thomas said he knew of no such photo existing. (Please correct me if I'm wrong about who asked Thomas about this, but I think it was Wood.)
That's sad in so many ways.
But from an investigator's POV, it's a tragic loss of critical evidence the medical examiner had right in his hands: the size of the Bloomies on the child is very important, and as any defense would, will always be argued as insignificant. Since I believe they were far too large to ever have been put onto or put on by a child JB's size while she was alive and moving, walking, etc., I think those panties put a time frame on when they were put on her which correlates to her death.
I also think the location of that package of 12-14 Bloomies in the home is critical. I think the unwrapped packages in the cellar room, with the Bloomies wrapping paper lying on the floor, are what you think they are, DeeDee: evidence they were unwrapped there, in that dirty room.
OH, to see the full array of crime scene photos. There is a lot in that basement we haven't seen, even though we've been told there isn't.
At any rate, UKGUY: I understand what you're saying about Patsy not knowing the Bloomies package was taken from the house. Personally, I don't think she really had thought it through before LE started pummeling her with questions about the package almost four years later, in August of 2000 in Atlanta. I could speculate a lot on how the package got packed and neither Ramsey knew about it; I believe the Ramseys hired a moving company to move their belongings out after the home was turned back over to them. I don't know the timeline on that, but I remember it was said by the Smit-led publicity spin team online the Ramsey's PIs went over their house conducting searches, etc.
So no one can really say how that package magically got transported across time and space, back and forth, until it came to land once again in Boulder, in Team Ramsey's Lacy-Led Exoneration Brigade. At least, no one other than those who moved it.
The question I'll always ask is did Team Ramsey ever actually have Lacy test the package when they "gave" it to her in 2002? She was their puppet, after all, and she had worked hand-in-glove with Wood once he (IMO) blackmailed the BPD into handing the case over to Lacy.
There should have been fingerprints on it. Yes, "touch" DNA, anyone?
One last thing, as to the excellent question about testing the other panties in the package for matching DNA: the package zipped from one side to another, leaving an opening where all the panties could be accessed individually without taking others out. I'll try to attach a couple of photos if I can.