All stated is just my humble opinion...
Reviewing all the news articles it seems to me that what we have is a change of investigator's initial 'take' on this crime once the coroner stated that the TOD was around noon on Monday. 'Everything' changes once "apparently" Kathy was held captive for 36 hours before dying at noon on Monday, and then (after death) left in the empty lot.
But
If the coroner (Dr. Petrone) is incorrect (as he was in Marcia Trimble's case by 15+ days; and even by admission in Lillian Hick's case, that his estimate of TOD could be off as much as 4 hours) then once again,
it is possible that Kathy died within hours of the attack - and perhaps the detective's first instincts are closer to what happened.
We know that the severe bruising means that she lived for a while after the brutal rape - enough time for her body to show the effects. But that could just mean hours, not days. So if the TOD is wrong and she died (let's say) early on Sunday morning then the crime could have happened in the lot or very close by (in killer's vehicle).
Multiple perps could have been involved, grabbing Kathy as he walked along with her skates that night, driving to an isolated spot near by (maybe even behind a business along the alley) where the beating and gang type rape(s) occurred. Once done, they could have pulled up to the empty lot, gathered her belongings and left her in the tall grass.
Since we also know that if Kathy had been in the lot, her body would not have been seen from the street or the alley - the tall weeds were obviously pretty dense (per Bessie shared photo). I believe that any earlier search of that lot prior to Tuesday would have disturbed the weeds and would have factored into the detectives first impression of the crime scene. Surely, this question would have been asked by reporters, as well. Just as the numerous previous searches of the garage were reported in the Trimble case.
I have to say, that it so pains me that Kathy's body was not autopsied. :banghead: However, Dr. P was a medical doctor, so surely his coroner's report holds something that can eventually tie a suspect to her murder.
lease:
Mrs Lillian Hick's article.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19720903&id=0QwrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tJoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2939,1497847