It's possible, within the Ramsey narrative, for Burke to have gone back downstairs after getting ready for bed, thinking the rest of the family had gone to bed, then John finding him downstairs playing, helping him with his toy then putting him to bed and going to bed himself. There is nothing that proves the parents had actually gone to bed when Burke thought they had, except that they weren't downstairs when he crept down there.
Tortoise, what you're suggesting is not within John's official narrative.
4/30/97 Boulder Police Interview
...Uh JonBenet had fallen fast to sleep. Uh, I carried her inside and took her upstairs and put her in bed, put her on her bed. Uh Patsy came up behind me, and then I went down to get Burke ready for bed, he was down in the living room, working on a toy he got putting it together, and tried to get him to go to bed because we had to get up early the next morning, but he wanted to get this toy put together, so I worked with him on that for 10 15 minutes probably; and then I took him up to bed and got his pajamas on, probably brushed his teeth, and then I went up stairs from there and got ready for bed. I read her a little bit. The lights went out around ten-thirtyish or ten-forty.
TT: How did you sleep Christmas night?
JR: I took a Melatonin tablet because I wanted to get to sleep fast because we had to get up early, and I slept through the night.
12/12/01 Deposition
20 Q. Do you remember whether she woke up
21 at any time between the time you saw her asleep
22 in the car and the time you put her to bed?
23 A. She did not.
24 Q. At that point, after you put her to
25 bed, what, if anything, did you do?
0028
1 A. I went downstairs to get Burke in
2 bed. He was putting together a little plastic toy
3 that he had gotten for Christmas. I helped him
4 finish it so he could get off to bed. And we
5 did that, and then I went to bed myself.
6 Q. When you say you went to bed
7 yourself, do you remember exactly the sequence by
8 which you prepared for going to bed that night?
9 A. I think I took my clothes off,
10 brushed my teeth, put my pajamas on, and crawled
11 into bed. That's --
12 Q. Did you do anything else?
13 A. Not that I remember.
14 Q. Did you use anything to help yourself
15 go to sleep?
16 A. I took a melatonin tablet.
17 Q. Do you know the amount of melatonin
18 you took?
19 A. No. It was an over-the-counter
20 tablet.
21 Q. Was it a single tablet or half a
22 tablet or two tablets?
23 A. I think it was a single tablet, as I
24 recall.
25 Q. Do you remember the brand?
0029
1 A. No.
2 Q. Do you know or remember whether or
3 not you read anything before going to sleep?
4 A. I read for a few minutes, as I
5 recall, before I turned the light out.
6 Q. Do you remember at any point Patsy
7 joining you in bed that night?
8 A. Patsy was in bed before I went to
9 bed.
10 Q. Do you remember what Patsy was wearing
11 when she got into bed or was in bed?
12 A. I don't remember specifically, no.
13 Q. All right. Did you wake up at all
14 during the night?
15 A. I did not.