This post has been written by 'cynic' on FFJ. . I think the information 'cynic' provided - is very informative!...so, I 'stole' it from FFJ...Enjoy reading!
Who was doing the “Undoing?”
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I’ll start with this:
After JonBenét’s body was found, victim advocate Grace Morlock told detectives,
John Ramsey said more than once that he didn’t think the kidnapper meant to kill his daughter, because she was wrapped in her blanket.Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, Lawrence Schiller, page 80
Staging coupled with undoing points very strongly to a Ramsey family member; the most likely scenario being an accident followed by guilt resulting in the need for undoing. Staging was then employed in an attempt to mislead investigators.
While it may be argued that certain actions were driven by the need to eliminate or, at least, reduce evidence, I believe that what profilers have characterized as “undoing” was evident in at least the following aspects of the crime scene.
Cleaning (Pelvic area wiped down)
Covering (Wrapped in a blanket)
Comforting (Nightgown, doll)
Redressing (New (oversized) underwear, long johns pulled up)
(The crime also included several elements of staging.)
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What is undoing?
Another concept sometimes encountered in crime scene analysis is undoing.
Undoing is a behavioral pattern found at the scene in which the offender tried to psychologically “undo” the crime. For example, a distraught or emotionally upset offender, who kills the victim, may try to undo his or her actions by placing the body in bed, gently placing the head on a pillow, and neatly covering the body with blankets. Or he or she may place the victim upright in a chair, trying desperately to return the victim to a natural-looking state.
Introduction to Forensic Psychology: Research and Application, Curt R. Bartol, Anne M. Bartol, page 87
Undoing represents a form of personation with more obvious meaning. Undoing frequently occurs at the crime scene when there is close association between the offender and the victim or when the victim represents someone of significance to the offender.
The following case exemplifies undoing. A son stabbed his mother to death during a fierce argument. After calming down, the son realized the full impact of his actions. First, he changed the victim’s bloodied shirt and then placed her body on the couch with her head on a pillow.
He covered her with a blanket and folded her hands over her chest so she appeared to be sleeping peacefully. This behavior indicated his remorse by attempting to emotionally undo the murder.
Other forms of undoing may include the offender’s washing up, cleaning the body, covering the victim’s face, or completely covering the body. The offender engages in these activities not because he is attempting to hide the victim but because he may be feeling some degree of remorse.
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What is staging?
Staging is when someone purposely alters the crime scene prior to the arrival of police. there are two reasons why someone employs staging, to redirect the investigation away from the most logical suspect or to protect the victim's or victim's family.
When a crime is staged, the responsible person is not someone who just happens upon the victim. It is usually someone who had some kind of association or relationship whth the victim. This offender will further attempt to steer the investigation away from him by his conduct when in contact with law enforcement. Thus, investigators should never eliminate a suspect solely on the grounds of that person’s overly cooperative or distraught behavior.
A double homicide case that received national publicity involved Susan Smith, the mother of Alex and Michael, who purposely let her car, with her two small sons inside, roll into Joh D. Long Lake in Union, South Carolina. Smith first went to a nearby home where she banged on the door, screaming, “He’s got my kids and he’s got my car. A black man has got my kids and my car.” The home owners called 911. Smith told police that she was stopped at a red light when a black man jumped in her car and told her to drive. Eventually Smith said the man told her to her out of the car and he proceeded to drive off with her children.
Smith attempted to steer the investigation away from her by creating a false scenario to detract police. She was interviewed on many occasions, and police began to catch the inconsistencies in her story. In addition, the manner in which she spoke of her children’s disappearances made police question her as a potential suspect. During numerous interviews . Smith spoke about her sons in the past tense; at one point she said, “No man would ever make me hurt my children.” This statement told police that she believed her children were not alive. Police began to focus the investigation on Smith, who ultimately confessed during an interview with an investigator.
The second reason for staging is to protect the victim's family and is employed most frequently with rape-murder crimes or autoerotic fatalities. The offender of a sexual homicide frequently leaves the victim in a degrading position.
One can hardly fault a family member’s protective staging behavior , but the investigator needs to obtain an accurate description of the body’s condition when found and exactly what that person did to alter the crime scene.
This type of staging is also prevalent with autoerotic fatalities. The victim may be removed from the apparatus that caused death (for example, cut down from a noose or device suspending the body). In many cases, the victim wears a mask or costume. The costume often involves cross-dressing, so not only does the person discovering the body have to endure the shock of finding the victim dead, but also the shock of finding the victim in female dress. To prevent further damage to the victim’s or family’s reputation or to protect other family members , the person discovering the body may redress the victim in men’s clothing or dress the nude body. He or she will often stage the accident to look like a suicide, perhaps writing a suicide note. This person may even go as far as staging the scene to appear as a homicide. Nevertheless, scrutiny of forensics, crime scene dynamics, and victimology probably will reveal the true circumstances surrounding death. Evidence of previous autoerotic activities (bondage literature, adult “toys,” eyebolts in the ceiling, worn spots from rope on beams) in the victim’s home also will help determine if an autoerotic activity caused death.
Finally, the investigator should discern whether a crime scene is truly disorganized or whether the offender staged it to appear careless and haphazard. This determination not only helps direct the analysis to the underlying motive but also helps to shape the offender profile. However, the recognition of staging especially with a shrewd offender can be difficult. The investigator must scrutinize all factors of the crime if there is reason to believe it has been staged. Forensics, victimology and minute crime scene details become critical to the detection of staging.
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More on staging and undoing:
In attempting to examine staged crime scenes, the following study selected 25 cases at random. It turned out that all 25 cases had one common element, that there was an intimate or family relationship involved:
The author selected cased from a national database of published and unpublished U.S. criminal and civil court decisions…
For the purposes of this study, crime scene staging refers to the alteration or simulation of physical evidence at a location where a crime has occurred of where a crime is alleged to have occurred in order to mislead authorities or redirect their investigation by attempting to simulate an offense or event that did not actually take place.
…
Given the finding that 100% (25) of the cases studied involved at least one offender and at least one victim with a prior family/intimate relationship and that 84% (21) of the cases studied occurred inside or outside the victim’s home…
Criminal profiling: an introduction to behavioral evidence analysis, Brent Turvey, page 259
…
Of the cases studied, staging was used in 100% (25) of them to conceal the crime of homicide.
Criminal profiling: an introduction to behavioral evidence analysis, Brent Turvey, page 262
Crime Scene Red Flags:
An offender who stages a crime scene usually makes mistakes because he stages it to look the way he thinks a crime scene should look. While doing this, the offender experiences a great deal of stress and don’t not have time to fit all the pieces together logically. Inconsistencies will begin appearing at the crime scene with forensics and with the overall picture of the offense. These contradictions will often serve as the red flags of staging and prevent misguidance of the investigation.
[SNIP]
Investigators often will find forensic discrepancies when a subject stages a rape/murder. The offender frequently positions the victim to imply sexual assault has occurred. an offender who has a close relationship with the victim will often only partially remove the victim’s clothing (for example, pants pulled down, shirt or dress pulled up). He rarely leaves the victim nude.
[SNIP]
With a staged sexual assault, there is usually no evidence of any sexual activity and an absence of seminal fluids in the body orifices.
An investigator who suspects a staged crime scene should look for other signs of close offender association with the victim, such as washing up or any other indications of undoing.
Crime Classification Manual, John Douglas, Robert Ressler, pages 32 - 39
Spontaneous Domestic Homicide:
The crime scene reflects disorder and the impetuous nature of the killing. The weapon will be one of opportunity, often obtained and left at the scene. There is no forced entry and no sign of theft. The crime scene may also reflect an escalation of violence – for example, the confrontation starts as an argument, intensifies into hitting or throwing things, and culminates in the victim’s death.
There are often indicators of undoing. This is the killer’s way of expressing remorse or the desire to undo the murder. Undoing is demonstrated by the offender’s washing of the victim and the weapon. The body may be covered up, but it is not for concealment purposes. Washing or redressing the body, moving the body from the death scene, and positioning it on a sofa or bed with the head on a pillow are all expressions of undoing.The attitude and emotional state of the family members present at the crime scene can offer insight into the victim-offender relationship The offender is often at the scene when law enforcement of emergency medical personnel arrive and often makes incriminating statements.
Crime Classification Manual, John Douglas, Robert Ressler, pages 155 - 156
John Douglas:
When parents kill, there’s generally a softening of the crime scene. Where they take a blanket, cover up the child, roll the child over, face down or something like that…http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14429987/
If a child’s body is found, there’s a very good chance we’ll figure out who did it. Parents aren’t usually as detached about disposing of their children’s bodies as strangers are – they may wrap the body in plastic and bury it someplace significant to them. If they feel remorse over the murder, they may try to lead investigators in the right direction so the body wil be found and buried in a proper ceremony.
Journey Into Darkness, John Douglas, page 148
"The child was found buried in the woods in his snowsuit, wrapped in a blanket, then completely covered with a thick plastic bag. A kidnapper or child molester would not have taken this much care to make him warm and "comfortable," or to try to shelter the body from the elements. While many murder scenes show obvious and prolonged rage, and dump sites often show contempt and hostility, the hallmarks of this burial were love and guilt."
Mindhunter, John Douglas, page 287
Eventually the mother confirmed the profilers’ estimate of what had happened, and admitted to having killed her own child and trying to cover up the crime with a mock kidnapping. She took the police to the site where the body had been left. Here there was no evidence of staging at all, with the little girl buried deep in secluded woodland, wrapped in thick warm garments and a blanket, and covered with a bag to deter predators. Had the body been found for any other reason, the care taken over the disposal of the child’s remains would have tended to focus attention on the mother, for the combination of love and guilt shown so clearly, rather than the indifference to be expected from real kidnappers.
Profiling, the psychology of catching killers, David Owen, page 89
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Now that we know what undoing is, do we see it in the JonBenet case?
Earlier, when White had opened that same door, he had been unable to see anything in the stygian darkness. John Ramsey was kneeling beside his daughter, feeling her ashen face. A piece of black duct tape lay on the blanket, and a long cord was attached to her right wrist.
Nearby was a pink nightgown. White, who had never before touched a dead person, felt JonBenét’s cold ankle, turned, and ran for help.
John Ramsey picked up his daughter, who had been carefully wrapped, papoose-like, in a white blanket, and followed.
JonBenet: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation, Steve Thomas, page 29
LOU SMIT: Again, you had mentioned the fact that the blanket had been wrapped around her almost like, what did you describe it as?
JOHN RAMSEY:
Well, she looked very, like someone had very carefully placed her on the blanket, wrapped the blanket around her to keep her warm.
John Ramsey interview, June 1998
MIKE KANE: All right. Okay. Now, when you went inside to that room, you described the blanket. And you said it was folded like -- I'm just trying to get a mental picture of it. Was it
like –
RAMSEY: It was like an Indian papoose.
MIKE KANE: Okay.
JOHN RAMSEY: You know, the blanket was under her completely. It was brought up and folded over like that.
MIKE KANE: Folded over, okay.
John Ramsey interview, August 2000, Atlanta
Q.
JonBenet was found wearing the Wednesday Bloomi's underpants, and your understanding is correct, that is a fact, you can accept that as a fact, when she was found murdered. Those underpants do not fit her. Were you aware of that?
MR. WOOD: Are you stating that as a matter of fact --
MR. LEVIN: I'm stating that as a matter --
MR. WOOD: - for a six-year-old child?
MR. LEVIN: I am stating that as a matter of fact.
…
Q. (By Mr. Kane)
Okay. Were you aware that these were the size of panties that she was wearing, and this has been publicized, it is out in the open, that they were size 12 to 14? Were you aware of that?
A. I have become aware of that, yes.
Patsy Ramsey interview, August 2000, Atlanta
PATSY RAMSEY: Yeah; right. What I'm saying, I'm -- I remember a Barbie nightgown with a picture, big picture of the head of Barbie on it. So I am not quite sure this is her -- you know, one that she had.
TOM HANEY: Okay. You know, it appears –
PATSY RAMSEY: That is a Barbie doll under there.
Patsy Ramsey interview, June 1998
In the wine cellar, Everett discovered on the white blanket the piece of tape Fleet White had handled.
Next to the blanket was a child-size pink nightgown with the word Barbie embossed on it.
Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, Lawrence Schiller, page 21
Lee suggested that the cellar room in which the body was found was not necessarily the location of the primary attack. He also wondered about the presence of the pink nightgown discovered near the victim. A kidnapper, he ventured, probably would not bring a victim’s favorite piece of clothing along with a dead body.
JonBenet: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation, Steve Thomas, page 166
On the other hand, the killer cared about the victim and wanted her found. He or she didn’t want JonBenét outside in the dead of winter in the middle of the night. The child had been wrapped in a white blanket, her Barbie nightgown found lying next to her. Such caring and solicitude were not usually associated with a malevolent criminal.
Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, Lawrence Schiller, page 498
The FBI profile said that parents typically found it harder to dispose of a child’s body than an intruder would. Listening to the presentation, one investigator theorized that the nightgown might have been bundled up together with the blanket, a gesture not unlike burying the child with her favorite stuffed animal.
Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, Lawrence Schiller, page 662
The coroner told the police that the blood smears on the skin and the fibers found in the folds of the labia indicated that the child’s pubic area had been wiped with a cloth. The blood smears also contained traces of fibers.
Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, Lawrence Schiller, page 57
Since the autopsy, the police had thought there was semen on JonBenét’s upper thighs. Then, on January 15, the CBI came back with the analysis. The substance thought to be semen was in fact smeared blood. There was no semen.
JonBenét’s body had been wiped clean, leaving a residue that was visible under the flourescent light at the autopsy.
Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, Lawrence Schiller, page 172
It appeared that the vaginal area had been wiped, and small dark fibers were collected from her pubic region.
JonBenet: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation, Steve Thomas, page 46
Ressler said he doesn't believe the killer intended to kill the child and feels great remorse about the death. The wiping is a further indication that the killer is not a serial killer or a "career" child molester or predator, Ressler said last night.
http://extras.denverpost.com/news/jon2.htm
