Jumping in to add a few thoughts. I don't think any of this has been covered, but this thread moves fast!
Over the weekend I visited a friend in Texas who has a screening room (she is also interested in the case, lives in the area). We watched the surveillance videos on a 100"+ screen, and things definitely looked clearer... clearer view of the tools, of the feet, etc. Interestingly, our husbands (who know nothing about the case) watched the videos with us and had some interesting insight. My husband, upon seeing the first tool that looks like a pickaxe said, "oh, he shot her and used that to get the bullet out." I told him that there was speculation that she had been bludgeoned, and told him my guess was that she had been bludgeoned first (to take her down- a head trauma is not always fatal) and then shot to kill. He vehemently disagreed, and felt strongly that my order of the trauma was backwards. After thinking for a few minutes, it made more sense to me. Something that has bothered me from day one is that she was pronounced on scene.
I cannot emphasize enough how rare this is in Texas, especially in the case of someone as young and fit as Missy, and especially after only being down MAX 40 minutes. Rigor mortis would not have set in. She would have been cool but not cold.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_on_arrival
Injuries incompatible with life are generally the only traumatic cases that get called on scene (I'll let you read on your own what those entail). A gunshot wound to the head is
NOT an injury incompatible with life. A blow or blows to the head is
NOT an injury incompatible with life. A large open wound with loss of brain matter would be considered incompatible with life (say, if someone used a tool to dig out a bullet-sorry for being graphic). Why would retrieving a bullet be so important in this instance? Maybe because of a stolen gun?
A recent arrest in Midlothian
definitely warrants a closer look (note that the Texas Rangers are also involved in this case):
http://www.midlothianmirror.com/new...-for-stealing-pawning-guns-from-evidence-room
Now this fine law abiding citizen and honorable LEO isn't our perp, he was safely locked up in jail at the time of the murder. Another article mentioned that 17 other guns were found in his trailer, along with steroids (still looking for that link). Hmmmmm...