Chrishope, I posted this on the FFJ thread to explain my thinking. Hope this helps.
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Thank you all so much for your responses. See, this helps me think, I can't tell you how much. Each of you has given me ideas, and thinking about what you're pondering, little pieces of this puzzle start moving around and some fall into place, as well.
What prompted me to start this thread is I had an epiphany of sorts...or another stupid idea, who knows? :fingers:
I'm looking at the three questions to answer one final, and critical one:
Could Burke have placed JB by the paint tray, where she was strangled, and where she died?
My epiphany is this: there is only one way Burke could have strangled JB by the paint tray, and that's if he felled her right there, in that spot.
I say that because I don't believe Burke could have carried JB. At 45 lbs. at autopsy, Burke would have had some trouble even moving her from, say, the train room to the paint tray.
There were no bruises or scrapes on her body, as far as I've ever seen or as described in the autopsy, which indicated she'd been dragged. So I'm thinking that Burke, at his own height and weight, wouldn't have been able to pick her up and carry her.
I know this isn't anything hard to figure out, but stay with me.
I'll respond to your posts and ideas separately, but in hopes of keeping this idea from getting too complex off the bat, here's the gist of my thoughts:
The only way I can figure out Burke delivering the head blow and also strangling his sister by the paint tray is if he felled her there. Then she would have been in position for what happened at the paint tray, so he didn't need to carry her.
This might fit the evidence. I'm thinking this through.
One problem I have with this is the 90 minutes between the head blow and the strangulation.
Would Burke, not yet 10 years old, wait around the house/basement for 90 minutes while his sister was dying, and decide then to strangle her?
Does that make sense?
So I'm asking Question 1: where did the head blow occur? If it occurred in the basement, outside the cellar room, then Burke could have also been the person to strangle her, as far as physical capability.
But if it happened somewhere else, like in/near her bedroom, where her blood was found on her pillow, where there is a lot of chaos, open drawers, diapers hanging out of a cabinet, a kitchen knife on a laundry machine, then I think we can all agree Burke did not carry JB down two flights of stairs and strangle her 90 minutes later.
That would put Patsy and/or John in the act of strangulation, as the only other two people in the home and with their fibers on the body and murder weapon.
If the head blow happened in the kitchen or another area, same thing. Burke could not carry his sister, I don't believe. So back to Patsy and/or John being the actual killers.
So question 2: what happened in that 90 minutes? I'm trying to picture Burke hanging out, maybe panicking, maybe not, somewhere in the house, his sister dying by the paint tray where he struck her, then an hour and a half later deciding to go strangle her with a ligature.
It was very late for children. They'd been up since before dawn, as well, excitedly opening their presents, playing with their Santa toys, running around with friends in the hood and such, visiting at the Whites, more children, more toys...then they came home and, according to Patsy and John Burke wasn't put to bed until 10 pm.
But the pineapple is that big bugaboo, isn't it? It puts the lie to JB being asleep as she was put to bed, Patsy changing out her jeans for longjohns, etc.
So there's only two ways this could have happened, if there is any truth to what John and Patsy said:
1. JB woke up and Burke got back up, after the parents went to bed.
OR Patsy and John lied and...
2. JB was awake or woke up when they got back home and whatever happened, it went down before anyone went to bed.
If either of the above scenarios happened, and if Burke were the one who struck that blow, unless it happened in the basement, by the paint tray, and Burke roamed around or did whatever until 90 minutes later, when he strangled JB to death there, there is only one other conclusion I can reach:
John and/or Patsy carried JB to the paint tray and strangled her there.
So this leads to Question 3: How did JB get to the paint tray?
This is important because as I'm looking at this, with the timing between the head blow and strangulation established by Dr. Meyer as 90 minutes, and because I am speculating that a child the size of Burke could not carry the dead weight of a limp, 45 lb. body and there were no drag marks on the body, we might reasonably conclude the head blow occurred by the paint tray if Burke was responsible for that and then he would have been in a position to complete the act of strangulation...or...
Patsy and/or John are culpable for the strangulation. Any other scenario except Burke committing the head blow and strangulation by the paint tray implicates John and/or Patsy, whose fibers are all over the body and crime scene, with Patsy's actually tied INTO the ligature, as well.
I'm struggling with how to express my thoughts on this, so I hope this makes sense. If it does, we're down to one scenario where Burke could have committed both violent attacks on his sister. If it doesn't, then look into this smilie :hypno: and repeat 100 times: I never read it...I never read it....
Thoughts?
KoldKase,
I doubt that JonBenet was whacked on the head next to the paint-tote. If so, then there should have been more forensic evidence available, e.g. bloodstains, as there was on the pillow upstairs.So this leads to Question 3: How did JB get to the paint tray?
This is important because as I'm looking at this, with the timing between the head blow and strangulation established by Dr. Meyer as 90 minutes, and because I am speculating that a child the size of Burke could not carry the dead weight of a limp, 45 lb. body and there were no drag marks on the body, we might reasonably conclude the head blow occurred by the paint tray if Burke was responsible for that and then he would have been in a position to complete the act of strangulation...or...
None of the R's needed a paintbrush from the paint-tote to kill JonBenet. There is no overriding reason for JonBenet to be lying next to the paint-tote?
From memory whomever took the paintbrush from the paint-tote broke it against the wall, next to the wine-cellar door, leaving marks on the wall, and shards on the floor.
Although JonBenet was likely killed in the basement. I tend to view the basement/wine-cellar as a staged crime-scene, its ultimate purpose was to mask what really took place, so stuff associated with JonBenet was placed into the wine-cellar.
If its BDI then for me its a sexual assault gone very wrong, with a head bash delivered in a temper, followed by the realization JonBenet was probably not going to wake up. The rest is staging by stepwise refinement.
Another scenario is one of the R's molests JonBenet. This over, she turns to another R for comfort, say Burke, who loses his temper and whacks her on the head?
What I have trouble with is any one particular R whacking JonBenet on the head with such force, this does not make much sense to me. JonBenet is a 6-year old child, minimal force would be required to restrain her, particularly if it was a relative.
Also if someone is sexually assaulting JonBenet, why do they have the blunt force instrument to hand, was JonBenet under duress? Surely if you want to silence a 6-year old child, a hand over the mouth is sufficient?
Another issue is one of motive, if its BDI, what are Burke and JonBenet doing in the basement so late at night? Did Burke entice JonBenet down to the basement, to open up the remaining gifts, was the Barbie Doll a gift due to be given to JonBenet?
Physically I think a BDI happening, in its entirety, down in the basement is possible. If so, then Burke would be more culpable than if it, took place upstairs in one of the bedrooms.
Did Burke tighten the ligature around JonBenet's neck, with another parent adding the paintbrush handle in an attempt to deflect attention? If so then Burke would much more calculating than we give him credit for?
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