Kalypso said:
1. Experts have disagreed on whether there was sexual injury. JonBenet's pediatrician treated her numerous times for vaginitis which was not from sexual injury, at all, he said. A lot of little girls get problems with their privates at that age. If a little girl isn't as hygenic as she should be, it's easy to get problems like that.
2. The location of the body would suggest to me even more that it could be a botched kidnap attempt; the kidnapper might not have been able to get her out of the basement window as planned. Or perhaps his rage or whatever built to the boiling point, and had to do it in the wine cellar. He brought his own tape and rope.
3. The ransom note is not so "goofy." The killer was obviously a movie buff, as it quoted portions from the film, "Ransom" (which was playing in a Boulder theater the week before), Clint Eastwood movies, and one other. It might have been written well before the Ramseys came home, but surely not after the murder.
4. The overkill is not proof of that. Once he got going, maybe he just really got into it.
5. The blanket wrapped body was hastily done, not carefully staged. The blanket was only around her mid section; as if he was going to carry her out that way. (Parents would have probably covered up all her limbs to keep the body warm).
6. Maybe JB had been playing with the Barbie gown in the wine celler at an earlier date and no one noticed it missing. Kids love hiding places; and little girls often bring favorite clothes there to dress up in them and pretend.
IMO,
Kaly
Kalypso,
As you can see this isn't a popular thread.
One reason might be that the botched kidnapping theory has already been discussed ad nauseum and relegated to the trash can.
Most folks have already made up their minds about who the killer is. I'm still undecided after all these years.
I opened this thread to give folks another opportunity to state their reasons for rejecting this theory. I've listed some of the contradictory evidence that has been talked about in the past and is still somewhat problematic for me.
One way to approach the subject might be to put yourself in the place of the kidnapper, and try to imagine how you would go about abducting this girl from her bedroom.
It seems to me, if you were a stranger to her (possibly even wearing a disguise so as not to be pointed out in a line-up at some later date), and couldn't count on her cooperation (that's seems pretty optimistic), you'd want to keep her from crying out, or making any sound whatever that could alert the sleeping brother or parents.
After ensuring her silence, you might want to bind her securely for various obvious reasons. You wouldn't want her to be able to escape by walking or running. You wouldn't want her to be able to do injury to you--scratching, kicking or gouging your eyes out or whatever. You wouldn't want her spitting in your face. You wouldn't want her to pick up an object and throw it at you or against the wall or strike you with it or knock over a lamp or whatever.
If you were husky enough to pick her up and carry her, you'd probably prefer to do that. You'd have some stairs to negotiate though, so you'd factor that into your decision.
If you, for whatever reason, decided to allow her to walk down the stairs and as far as the door, or even beyond, you wouldn't want to cover her eyes; that would prevent her from being able to navigate successfully. Frankly, I don't think I'd allow her to walk, because even with a leash on her or even if she were handcuffed to you, she might bolt and screw up your endeavor. At a very minimum, you'd probably have to drag her every inch of the way. Her eyes weren't covered when she was found. I guess that doesn't necessarily mean that she hadn't been blindfolded at some point.
All that said, I think I'd opt for knocking her out (stun her, or whack her on the head, or inject her with a powerful, fast acting sedative, or chloroform her, or whatever--knock her out quick). Simply gagging her might be a good alternative to the knock out; she'd still be conscious and able to see if she weren't blindfolded, but she'd be unable to cry out. If you knocked her out, though, you'd be killing two birds with one stone, so to speak--she couldn't cry out and she couldn't make any move of any kind; couldn't struggle.
Once I had her immobilized and silenced, I'd throw her over my shoulder and head on out of there. I'd hope not to forget leaving the ransom note in a place where it would be sure to be found. I don't think I'd even leave a note. I might first put her in a duffle bag or some such thing to keep her out of sight while carrying her outdoors. A soft-sided suitcase would work good too, providing it were big enough. I dont' think just wrapping her in a blanket would be a great idea in this regard. That would arouse too much suspicion on the part of potential onlookers. Of course, it wouldn't matter what anyone saw or suspected as long as they didn't alert authorites right away. Getting her to a waiting vehicle or into the house next door without being spotted would be ideal--the so-called vanishing act.
I wouldn't spend any more time in the house, post-nabbing, than necessary. Obviously it'd be necessary to do the silencing (at the very minimum) and preferrably the immobilization while still in her bedroom. There were fibers consistent with those of the cord, found there. I suppose cutting the cord there would be more likely to leave fibers, though some could be left just by pulling the cord out of your pocket. I don't know how many were found. Of course, there will be differing opinions on this.
You would probably want to act quickly, but carefully and quietly, so you'd be balancing those three necessities.
Once you got down the spiral stairs--the stairs of choice due to convenience and most direct route down to the first floor--you'd probably opt for the butler pantry exit, as it is closest, but what would you encounter outside in terms of what lay beyond and your chances of being spotted carrying your cargo? You might prefer to exit via the patio door, which many think would be best because you'd not leave any tracks in snow, and could make a bee line for the alley.
So, to summarize, at a minimum, I'd think, you'd want to silence her, immobilize her, take possession of her (pick her up, package her, etc.) and skeedaddle.
To address your comments: My understanding is that experts have disagreed as to whether she had been sexually abused in the past. Obviously they couldn't disagree as to whether she had been sexually injured in conjunction with her homicide.
The location of the body, with respect to kidnapping, suggested to me that might have been a plan B (so to speak). I guessed that he hadn't intended to remove her through the basement window, but that she got loose from him and sought refuge in the basement. Maybe she recognized him at some point and he saw no alternative to killing her, but put the body in the wine cellar in a last ditch effort to conceal it and maybe still collect ransom. However, there are many problems for that theory, it seems to me: some of them I've listed above.
I'm not sure the wrapping was hastily done. John seemed to think otherwise. I believe the blanket was wrapped around the torso. The feet, head and arms were sticking out and the blanket was underneath her also, including under her head. I don't know the size of the blanket. I assume it was large enough to cover the entire body, extended arms and all.
And speaking of the extended arms: we don't have a good description of the position of the arms. The description was so poor that some thought her arms were raised up toward the ceiling of the room. My understanding is that they were thrown back beyond her head and shoulders in what I will call a diving position. I believe John Walsh hypothesized that she had been hanging by her arms and John may have found her and cut her down. This is how he explained the arms. This wouldn't fit with the rigor and the lividity unless she entered rigor quickly and he found the body quite early. Many feel that John found her body earlier that day, cut her down, wrapped her in the blanket and placed her body in the wine cellar. Although this theory has some believable qualities (dignity presentation), I think it falters in many other respects, the most notable of which is that John has never admitted to doing this and if he had admitted to doing this it would have (and still can) assis/ted in the investigation into the murder. Although, an explanation for his not admitting to doing this might be that he knows, or has a strong suspicion of, who killed the girl--a family member, and thinks that his posing of the body and placing it in the cellar, is actually preventing the authorities from figuring out who did it. He doesn't want them to know who did it. It's a theory that would have some appeal, as you can see.
Yeah, the Barbie gown mystery persists.
More about the position of the arms. When the body was found it was in advanced rigor and lividity had set in. The lividity was consistent with the position of her body (the posture) when it was found, except there was no mention of lividity in the arms, so can't be sure about those; however it seems reasonable to assume that the underside of the arms would show some lividity too. If her extended arms are to be explained by her having been suspended by them for some time, they must have entered rigor while she was thus hanging. I believe the onset of rigor occurs before lividity, but there seems to be some argument about this among the experts. Frankly, there has been too much arguing among the experts about many aspects of this case from the beginning. If, however, it is OK to have stiff arms prior to the lividity being set (becoming irreversible), then it's OK to have John cut her body down and place it in the cellar. If lividity had become set prior to cutting her down, then there would be clear evidence of the fact that the body had been moved from a vertical position, or sitting position with arms extended superiorly and anchored there by the cord. There is evidence with respect to knots that might be interpreted as evidence that the arms were thus suspended.
Nice talkin' to ya.
Keep on pondering.....
I believe you're right. It probably wasn't a botched kidnapping attempt.