I'll try to answer all in one post, as they are related.
The paintbrush would have been used as a part of the molestation before any other injuries occurred. Yes, she would have been standing, or possibly kneeling, while the cord was tied loosely to her neck and over something else overhead. In this scenario, when the end of the paintbrush caused pain and bleeding, she would have screamed. This would cause him to hit her over the head inducing unconsciousness. She would then fall forward onto the cord which would tighten in an upward angle toward the back of her neck (the blanched area on her neck). This is the mark of the ligature which strangled her. The other ligature placement, the final resting place of the ligature, the deep furrow, is where the cord either moved by overcoming the laryngeal prominence on its own with the suspended weight, or was moved with the assistance of someone.
Burke didn't break the paintbrush or tie the cord to it. That would be the stagers in trying to conceal what really happened and to obscure how the paintbrush had actually been used. I don't know where the cord was tested for DNA
(actually I had wondered for years why they didn't test it where it was tied to the paintbrush -- and now, according to kolar, they did), but I agree that if all of it was tested and there was no BR DNA, it would pretty much discount this scenario.
Oh,
DD, I really hate to disagree with you but...
As many times as you and I have discussed it, you know I'm aware of the "V" pattern that is common in a typical hanging. But that "V" is only present when the person's full body is suspended completely off the ground. I'm not talking about a typical hanging, but what is technically called a partial hanging or a partial suspension (Google it -- I'm not making it up.). This is a pretty gruesome description because it is being suggested as a means of suicide, but you'll get the idea of what happens that is different from a complete suspension:
http://jiutsu.motionsforum.com/t2-methods-partial-hanging-suspension
The final position of the ligature (in the deep furrow) is obviously not from a hanging. I agree. But the blanched area we have discussed so many times before is where I believe she was first strangled. Look at the angle that goes from the front where the blanching occurs to the back where it disappears into the area where the furrow is in the back of her neck. This would be a classic hanging mark had the ligature been left there. But it was moved to the perfectly horizontal position, with no pulling and therefore completely circumferential, where it remained until her body was "discovered" twelve hours later.
Now... Where did that part come in about the cord being wrapped around her neck several times? This is something new to me. Was that something in Kolar's book? I hadn't heard that.
Et tu, Brute? See above.
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