One of the many tragic blunders in this case was how quickly the crime scene (the whole house, really) was released to the family. Within DAYS, a suspect's (Patsy) sister was allowed into the house (still an active crime scene) to remove items from the home. She did this with full police protection, even so far as being given a police jacket to wear (this alone is illegal) so as not to attract attention. The BPD knew it was wrong, believe me.
Before the house could be more thoroughly searched (in retrospect, there was TONS more they could have examined and maybe we'd KNOW which room she was killed in), the movers packed up the house, which was then "sold" to a group of "investors" (aka R friends and attorneys), who proceeded to pull up every scrap of carpet and paint every wall white.
Now....the R house may not have been decorated to everyone's taste, but those carpets were by no means shabby or worn. I believe there was a much more ominous reason for the carpets to be replaced. The walls, too. Forensics even in 1996 would have picked up blood or other fluid, even tiny droplets, on the walls.
By the way, the coroner couldn't wait to release the body either. Not only did the coroner NOT follow proper procedure in determining the time of death, but he spent only about 10 minutes with the body when first examining her. Then, he left some important findings out of the written report, instead saying them to the police who were present at the autopsy. He treated JB like she was a hot potato he needed to get rid of as soon as he could. So when the issue of the stun gun came up, she was buried by this time, so an exhumation was required to settle the question. Her parents refused (why would an innocent parent do that- don't you want to KNOW?). Parental approval wasn't needed, but then a warrant would be, and the spineless DA refused to get one.
